Will SNK or NGDevTeam ever go after NCI?

dan3skate

Quiz Detective
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Apr 12, 2011
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89
I am surprised that this has not come up yet, considering the implications it has for this forum. At this point NCI (Neo Conception International) is flat out bootlegging any AES game of value.. I guess their legit entry into making AES carts with Bang Bang Busters entitled them to counterfeit the entire AES library? One look at ebay or their Facebook group shows the work they are doing. Shure, they are not sacrificing boards, carts or cases to do it, but what they are doing is no different then any other counterfeiting at the end of the day. I am just curious to see what this forums opinion/reaction is to this..:scratch:
 

oliverclaude

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Shure, they are not sacrificing boards, carts or cases to do it, ...

They're also marking their boots in order to make them different to original releases. So the only questions remaining are those involving copyright violations, something the average consumer is not concerned about. If -- strictly hypothetically -- SNKP would re-relese AES games, it probably wouldn't look any different. Legalize it? Like Mary Jane? I'm opposing, but haven't any definitive arguments to support my opinion either. It's rather a dispute for lawyers, really.
 

ShootTheCore

Bead Banger
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Unfortunately, SNK's games have been bootlegged by several "companies" for quite some time now. NCI, NeoOldStore, SNKCollectors, etc are only a few making reproduction bootleg cartridges. If SNKP wanted to send out the lawyers, I'm sure we would have seen evidence of it by now.

NG Dev Team is a different story. Other than Last Hope, their Neo Geo cartridge games have had anti-piracy hardware added to the cartridge and haven't yet been cracked as far as I know. Piracy of their Dreamcast ports has been rampant, and is one of the reasons that Razion and their later games won't be ported to that platform. I think that NG Dev would unleash the lawyers if their Neo Geo carts started showing up pirated.

What's really too bad is that the popularity of the reproductions shows how much interest there still is in this platform and the games. I would prefer that SNKP manufacture new cartridges of their old games to meet the market demand instead of the bootleggers.
 
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NGCDFreak

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Unfortunately, SNK's games have been bootlegged by several "companies" for quite some time now. NCI, NeoOldStore, SNKCollectors, etc are only a few making reproduction bootleg cartridges. If SNKP wanted to send out the lawyers, I'm sure we would have seen evidence of it by now.

NG Dev Team is a different story. Other than Last Hope, their Neo Geo cartridge games have had anti-piracy hardware added to the cartridge and haven't yet been cracked as far as I know. Piracy of their Dreamcast ports has been rampant, and is one of the reasons that Razion and their later games won't be ported to that platform. I think that NG Dev would unleash the lawyers if their Neo Geo carts started showing up pirated.

What's really too bad is that the popularity of the reproductions shows how much interest there still is in this platform and the games. I would prefer that SNKP manufacture new cartridges of their old games to meet the market demand instead of the bootleggers.
Then I can finally get an AES if the carts are affordable.
 

Niko

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Honestly I dont see how SNKP could even care, its not like these bootlegs are affect their profits. As far as NGDev Team goes, thats up to them. I'm sure they can try but i doubt it will do much. It seems these like most bootlegs are being made in China.

Also, props to the bootleggers for not trying to pass these off as legit products but as reproductions. I think its a good thing, there is obviously a market for reproductions especially since AES carts are retarded high and they are doing a good job at taking advantage of that. Maybe soon they will do some MVS repro kits and I can have an SSVS for what it should actually be priced at.
 

hokuto29

n00b
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Jan 11, 2012
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46
They're also marking their boots in order to make them different to original releases. So the only questions remaining are those involving copyright violations, something the average consumer is not concerned about. If -- strictly hypothetically -- SNKP would re-relese AES games, it probably wouldn't look any different. Legalize it? Like Mary Jane? I'm opposing, but haven't any definitive arguments to support my opinion either. It's rather a dispute for lawyers, really.

Their latest boots are not marked like the SSVS,perfect reproduction of the original,looks scary!! even the staples of the manual are perfect,SNK are not going to do something against these guys,market is worst than ever,Fuck converts!!! :vik:
 

aku

Loyal Neo-Disciple
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Dec 31, 2015
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834
what did everybody expect? actually every "addict" pays unbelievable amounts of money for old submediocre games. of course its much moar eleet to play on an old aes than buying 35 games via humblebundle for 1% of the price of one of their aes carts. and these reproductions are not made for collectors who buy them over the website..

i think that this is the only solution.

I would prefer that SNKP manufacture new cartridges of their old games to meet the market demand instead of the bootleggers.

but collectors would cry rivers, that their collection lost so much value, when you can buy every aes cart for 25$. and if a rolex would cost 100€ "no one" would want one - if the neo geo world would be cheap, a lot of ppl wouldn´t care about the system(s) AES & MVS either...
 

pulstar

Mickey's Coach
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but collectors would cry rivers, that their collection lost so much value, when you can buy every aes cart for 25$. and if a rolex would cost 100€ "no one" would want one - if the neo geo world would be cheap, a lot of ppl wouldn´t care about the system(s) AES & MVS either...

A lot of MVS stuff is still cheap (even if it is on the rise) and people still care. I get your point though, but I'd love a $25 Pulstar AES cart (or Blazing Star etc).
 

xsq

Thou Shalt Not, Question Rot.,
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Jan 17, 2013
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I feel like we had this topic a trillion times already... so my opinion/reaction in short is:

- Organic repros (aka easily recognizable bootlegs that don't destroy any original carts) I don't have any beef with. They might even lower the crazy ass prices for originals.
- If SNKP made another run of rare homecart titles, they would most likely make them distinguishable from the original runs, therefore no collector outcry.
- The NG homecart market is fucked anyway.
 

mahesak

Morden's Lackey
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Mar 1, 2005
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352
For me, original is original. Reproduct AES will make the original worth more and more ... then the price of original will increase continues ...
New collector who would like to collect AES but not have much money for rarest cart, they will choose to buy reproduct AES instead ...
One thing that I dislike, reproduct cart sold as same price as original ... If new comer doesn't know well, they may be stealed money ...

For NGdev, I love their doing and happy for Tim's product. They are unique ...
 

Bar81

Note to self, Place interesting, Custom rank here.
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If they're not saccing anything and everything is new build including cases, and they mark the games and manuals to show that they are not originals and advertise clearly that these are counterfeits and not originally sanctioned in any way, then who really cares? I don't really have any sympathy for idiots dumb enough to pay hundreds of dollars for counterfeits.

However, this isn't what's being done - they're being scumbags and trying to confuse less knowledgeable buyers and also passing off really good repro manuals and inserts which can be used to confuse even knowledgeable buyers.
 

evil wasabi

The Jongmaster
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For me, original is original. Reproduct AES will make the original worth more and more ... then the price of original will increase continues ...
New collector who would like to collect AES but not have much money for rarest cart, they will choose to buy reproduct AES instead ...
One thing that I dislike, reproduct cart sold as same price as original ... If new comer doesn't know well, they may be stealed money ...

For NGdev, I love their doing and happy for Tim's product. They are unique ...

People don't know if their real carts are real or if they are fake.

Which kind of makes everything fake.
 

Xian Xi

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If they ever touch Neobitz, rest assured plane tickets will be bought.
 

Llama

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People don't know if their real carts are real or if they are fake.

Which kind of makes everything fake.

Same with the luxury watch market. Since Rolex was brought up, I'll add this... Everyone assumes a Rolex they see in the wild is fake, so there is little joy to be had from the people that have them. This turned me off to the brand, well that and the high quality replicas that have been flooding the market for several years. Unless you know your stuff and unless you're buying from an AD, then you are probably buying a fake. All replicas have tells, but even those are being masked very well. Exchanging bad parts for real ones further blurring the line between real and fake. At the end of the day, they both keep time. So for the casual buyer, they are in for a rude awakening when they try to sell their watch to someone that knows. Same goes with Panerai and AP watches. I almost bought one, but given the quality of the fakes it is impossible to tell the difference between real or fake without removing the back to view the movement. And even then, it takes someone with great skill to tell the difference. Sorry for the rant, I'm also a watch nut... :)
 

LegoSlug

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Eventually our carts are gonna die, at least they can live on in some shape. They seem well made, and maybe there is some value in that.
 

Fakk2

Crossed Swords 2 Bootleg Artist.,
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Eventually our carts are gonna die, at least they can live on in some shape. They seem well made, and maybe there is some value in that.

Considering the lifespan of most cart games in general, compared to that of the lifespan of the avg human, they will outlast us in the long run, so it won't matter in the end for us anyway. :)
 

DNSDies

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If SNK really wanted to nip this, they'd engineer a new AES cart that uses modern manufacturing an inexpensive NAND/FPGA to re-release official homecarts 1000 at a time for $100 each.
 

Xian Xi

JammaNationX,
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If SNK really wanted to nip this, they'd engineer a new AES cart that uses modern manufacturing an inexpensive NAND/FPGA to re-release official homecarts 1000 at a time for $100 each.

True, if SNK-P really needed money, the market is still here.
 

wyndcrosser

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If SNK really wanted to nip this, they'd engineer a new AES cart that uses modern manufacturing an inexpensive NAND/FPGA to re-release official homecarts 1000 at a time for $100 each.

This. This is what I hoped the neo Geo x would be, yet is it was an ulgy disappointed mess
 

ckchan

Shlong King,
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How many bootleg games have been produced by NCI?
 

todosnk

Crossed Swords Squire
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Prices for these conversions are rising up quickly. Which is kind of scary, basically because people thinks they are originals when they are not and keep bidding as if it was a bargain. There are several places where conversions are sold for around 200, whereas these NCI conversions on eBay are doubling and even tripling the price. Thats crazy.
The time will come, that to sell something you will need to open your cart to prove its legit.... oh wait. We're almost there.
 
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