Well….where to start

Merry Christmas everyone

It’s close enough to Christmas..for me to announce something special.

I have acquired faceball, I have the ROM of the game. And I’m planning to release it for free.

That is the short story…now for the longer story and why I’m not releasing it with this posting.

I’ve been trying to acquire faceball for awhile now. Everyone talks about Dragon Hopper, but faceball is a ray-casting 3-d first person ‘shooter’ game. And, I’ve been wanting to play this game for years. I’ve wanted EVERYONE to play the game for years.

I talked to a guy that had the game..and he named a price. The price was ..let’s just say..I was forced to taste what I ate that morning.

I didn’t want to get a 2nd mortgage..I love my wife..and I want her to continue to love me. So, I explored my options. I talked to a very good friend of mine..Ben Stevens. And we came up with a deal. Ben would get the capital for the game, and in return..would receive the bulk of my virtual boy collection.

We sold all doubles (special thanx to foil lone wolf) to help with the financial hit. We received the game and with the help of mindstorm extracted the working rom from the game.

So, what now ? A copy of the rom is in safe hands..multiple hands. It will not be lost again and it will be released for free.

BUT…..

I know I will not get back the money from losing my collection. I did it for the community and I knew I would take a big loss. However, I would like to make some of the money back.

To do this, we plan to release the game in cart form first. The details are vague atm. With mindstorm and Tusk’s help, we are planning to release the game in Feb. Morintari (a great 3-d artist) has joined the team on this game to make the artwork. Ben is making the instruction manual. We are planning to make this a very special release. One that’s way overdue.

As for pricing..it will be more expensive then boundhigh. We are looking at 100 dollars per cart..but that’s subject to change. We are also planning on releasing a 2nd cart.. A donators edition that will be very limited and numbered with different artwork and other specials included. All of this is subject to change..

This isn’t a post to pre-order..or anything. After the carts are sold (or it looks like no more will sell hehe). I will be releasing the rom for free. If you can’t afford the carts..just wait..you will be able to play the game :).

I’m sure there is more I was going to post..but it escapes me atm :). Have a good holiday guys…smile..and enjoy life.

-Eric (Bigmak)

Yes, I must know what the donator’s edition is. 🙂

DragonmasterDan wrote:

bigmak wrote:
I’ll post more details about faceball and our plans Sunday 🙂

-Eric

It’s Sunday, and the wait begins.

He didn’t specify which Sunday.

thunderstruck wrote:

DragonmasterDan wrote:

bigmak wrote:
I’ll post more details about faceball and our plans Sunday 🙂

-Eric

It’s Sunday, and the wait begins.

He didn’t specify which Sunday.

Eric told me it was this Sunday, which is today. 🙂

segagamer99 wrote:

thunderstruck wrote:

DragonmasterDan wrote:

bigmak wrote:
I’ll post more details about faceball and our plans Sunday 🙂

-Eric

It’s Sunday, and the wait begins.

He didn’t specify which Sunday.

Eric told me it was this Sunday, which is today. 🙂

🙂 I know. I was just kidding.

Thanks Eric, I´m very excited about the release of Faceball.

It would be interesting to know, how Mr.G did get his hands on the prototype? Could you tell us more? 🙂

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/01/06/lost-virtual-boy-game-nikochan-battle-found-and-being-re-release/

Anyone notice this?

Yep, I read that.

Bunch of assholes in the comments, though. 🙁

Examples of comments from people:
{

… There’s a Virutal Boy forums?

I mean… who goes there? How can there be enough people interested in that to justify a semi active forum? O-o

I forgot how good the Virtual Boy graphics were…puke

$100 for pirated cartridges? Seriously guys?

Yeah. Just for the fun of it (and to teach them a lesson) (and because fuck the Virtual Boy) I’ve forwarded all the relevant info to Nintendo’s antipiracy folks.

}

People like these made me mad.

Heh… even if that commenter who said he forwarded all the relevant info to Nintendo’s antipiracy folks was telling the truth, which I highly doubt, there is no way that there is anyone at Nintendo who would care enough to do anything about it, as Nintendo has virtually disowned the Virtual Boy.

Antipiracy only works on piracy. Selling a prototype of a canceled product cannot, by anyone’s reckoning, be considered piracy.

The real legal issue comes from something I’ve talked to bigmak about: he isn’t the copyright holder, nor does he own any applicable trademarks. However, I’m not sure either could be enforced if bigmak did sell it, since I don’t think a trademark for MIDI Maze was ever filed, and anyone owning the copyright would have to step forth in a sort of “I’m Spartacus” fashion.

I don’t understand these people, if your not a fan of something why try mess it up for others (Not that they could anyway)? I’m not a big fan of PlayStation but if someone wanted to release a prototype of resident evil 1.5 or whatever else I would fully support them.
Silly people, still its all publicist I guess.
Sorry rant over.

VBmills wrote:
I don’t understand these people, if your not a fan of something why try mess it up for others (Not that they could anyway)? I’m not a big fan of PlayStation but if someone wanted to release a prototype of resident evil 1.5 or whatever else I would fully support them.
Silly people, still its all publicist I guess.
Sorry rant over.

You can be pretty sure that none of those guys is older then 16 years (at least mentally).

Oops wrong Faceball thread.

thunderstruck wrote:

VBmills wrote:
I don’t understand these people, if your not a fan of something why try mess it up for others (Not that they could anyway)? I’m not a big fan of PlayStation but if someone wanted to release a prototype of resident evil 1.5 or whatever else I would fully support them.
Silly people, still its all publicist I guess.
Sorry rant over.

You can be pretty sure that none of those guys is older then 16 years (at least mentally).

Oh those comments are funny though, but then most things said about the VB by the uninformed are.
They would be understandable if someone say lost an eye or went blind back in 1995 cos of VB but I’m pretty safe in saying no-body did, no-body was harmed in the playing of this console.

But then if the cool kids think VB is crap maybe I’m wrong……….

Put me down for a copy too (Remastered Version only), can´t wait to hold it in my hands!

VBmills wrote:
I don’t understand these people, if your not a fan of something why try mess it up for others (Not that they could anyway)? I’m not a big fan of PlayStation but if someone wanted to release a prototype of resident evil 1.5 or whatever else I would fully support them.
Silly people, still its all publicist I guess.
Sorry rant over.

Unfortunately, these are the sort of people who don’t give any thought to preservation of a legacy. They may not like the Virtual Boy (if they’ve even ever played one), but they don’t understand that ALL video games — much like books and movies and music — should be preserved.

There’s a section on Wikipedia for lost film and how people try their hardest to preserve every trace of film they can find. It always boggles my mind that people don’t care about our “heritage” when it comes to video games as well.

Don’t worry people, I gave that person a piece of my mind. 3 people liked my reply, so I guess they understand our point of view. 🙂

But yeah, seeing all those comments really made me mad. The hate for this underrated system is honestly just depressing to read.

So I totally want one, How do I get on the list? do I need to send in a dummy cart?

Additionally, Bound High/Dragon Hopper, Any chance I can get one of those still? I have been out of the community so long, and Now, To find out I can score these terrific games, just WOW! any help towards getting these would be appreciated.

ectoglow wrote:
So I totally want one, How do I get on the list? do I need to send in a dummy cart?

Additionally, Bound High/Dragon Hopper, Any chance I can get one of those still? I have been out of the community so long, and Now, To find out I can score these terrific games, just WOW! any help towards getting these would be appreciated.

Hi ectoglow,

Eric received too many threatening messages as a result of all of the attention around Faceball, so he won’t be selling carts. Instead, he’ll be accepting donations to help recover his five figure sum spent on the game and then will be releasing the ROM online, so hopefully you will decide to send him a fair donation as a way to say thank you for helping to recover this almost lost piece of genuine Virtual Boy history and also to show your appreciation that you will be able to play the game. If you want to play it on your Virtual Boy and don’t already have a FlashBoy Plus, be sure to check out the FlashBoy forum on this site to see how to order one from Richard.

As for Bound High, there are only very few CIB copies left, which will be offered for sale soon on this site: http://www.uncletusk.com
So if you want one, be sure to check this site each day for when you can order yours and try to order yours as soon as you can, or send Uncle Tusk a message and see if you can send him a payment now to ensure you get one of the last ones.

As for Dragon Hopper, it still holds legendary, Holy Grail status and isn’t available to anyone except perhaps an elite few who are good at remaining in hiding, so keep your hopes high that it will one day surface and that we can do something to make it available to everyone.

Benjamin Stevens schrieb:
Eric received too many threatening messages as a result of all of the attention around Faceball, so he won’t be selling carts.

That´s too sad. I was hoping to have a full release one day in my hands.

I haven’t been active as of late, but I’ve always been around. Lurking. I can’t ever really stay away from this community.

Anyway, I’m really upset to see all the drama that has unfolded as a result of Faceball. Obviously, no amount of thanks would be enough to compensate for what Eric has done, so you can expect a donation from me, even if it’s comparatively small to what others are doing.

I’ve been happy to (often passively) watch this community grow and it was quite rewarding to watch this whole Faceball story begin with “Mr. G”.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks and show my appreciation to the community here. I sincerely hope you can recoup your losses, Eric. You clearly care a whole lot about us here at PlanetVB.