I'm around, I just don't post as much because I've been focusing on some other things, and I don't mean the SMS site.  This means, I look around, I pay attention, but I say little.  I'm around plenty.

I know, and it's good to see that.  I don't mean to keep comparing, we have plenty of members over there, I'm not sure what it is really, it isn't numbers, there's just something different about it.  I think, personally, it has a big deal to do with the current retro craze the NES has been going through for the past five years or so.  It was around a bit before that, but it's blown up quite a lot.  I've seen 'collectors' who are twelve years old starting to get into this.  Good?  I don't know, it's not like you can count on all of us being around into our 200s, so eventually younger people will take control provided it last long enough.  And the 'back in the old days' thing I'm referring to is just the general attitude and camaraderie that used to exist when it was a small group of people, before the internet even took over.  I remember an old BBS group I used to frequent.  Anyway, again, I think homebrews are awesome, and I know you can do what you want, there's nothing stopping you from gold plating everything and making one copy, I just think it ruins the whole idea behind homebrewing.  Granted, I jumped all over the newer NWC thing, but I did that without really reading anything because I took it to be another Airball debacle, I didn't even know what the money was going to be used for, so my fault on that one.  Just seeing where it is going is what I'm mainly referring to.  If you want to do homebrews, awesome, I'm in the process of learning myself right now.  But I don't think you should be trying to make a ton of money off a hobby or make it seem like you are in some capacity.  I see what the costs are, and I fully understand the time involved, but when I do it, I do indeed expect to pretty much be paying %200 of this out of my own pocket, not from anyone else.  By the way, out of curiosity, because I haven't been looking around for info on this, what is the issue with copyrighting homebrews?  I'd be afraid, looking at what happened with repos awhile back, to have some moron steal my ROM and make their own copies without my consent, but can you get a copyright for something like this?  Just curious, not sure if the law really applies here, even though technically as soon as you make it and have proof (ie computer data showing dates you worked on it), it's copyrighted without any official forms.  But can something like that hold up?  Could you actually get an official copyright on this stuff?  Just curious because I really don't know what people have been doing in homebrewing for any system in this regard.

I'm wondering something.   A couple of code snippets I regularly use were written by other authors.
One is the random number generator code published on 6502.org,  and another is the PAL vs NTSC detection provided by blargg in a forum post.
 
  From what I can tell, neither one had any stipulation about preventing me from using them for free and without consent,  but I figured I better double check. 

  And for the record.  Brian's airball was sold in auction, and so was one of my gold sudokus.  Brian's cart helped reduce the cost per cart of the remaining ones .  Mine just went to charity, so I ended up having to charge more for my greys.  I know the ebay thing rubs some people the wrong way, but technically his approach was better for the community. 

And Brian, you asked before about better ideas for marketing.  I dont have any.   Actually I do have one, but I'm not sharing it yet, because its pretty crazy and I want to see if I can do it.

Al

On the issue about the cardbox costs:

Won't it be easier to give all the homebrew a video box (like the NA NWC 2008 release). Kinda like the megadrive/genesis games.

+ not as expensive (I think)
+ They last longer in comparison with cardbox games
+ If you print the labels yourself (with a good printer) ==> no minimum order

- can't seem to find any downsides

KennyB wrote on 05. Jun 2008 at 19:14:


The downside is there are no new plastic cases that fit NES carts without modification.  The NANWC ones have most of the posts and guides inside cut out so the cart will fit.  That significant time and printing/cutting the insert means they aren't really cheaper than boxes, but they do have no minimum.  Realistically it would add ~$5+ to the selling price of the game, making something like Super NeSnake 2 into a $30+ game.  Adding a box will not get more people to buy, but adding the cost will get fewer people to buy.