StarRoms Out Of Business

[amerish]

StarROMs: Message to our Customers
 

Since October 2003, StarROMs has provided a legal source of game ROMs for classic arcade enthusiasts. Unfortunately, we will no longer be licensing or distributing game roms. Without further notice, this site will go away in the near future.
We would like to thank our users for their support over the years. If you are a customer looking for support, please send email to support@starroms.com.
 

[allroy1975]

so are roms purchaced from there still legal?  I would think so but I remember early on, this was a concern.

[quarterback]

we will no longer be licensing or distributing game roms. Without further notice, this site will go away in the near future.

Wow.   That's unfortunate.

Maybe David Foley will come to the rescue and fill this void in a way that will help our community, which he loves so much.

[Witchboard]

It's probably due to most of the classics being put on those Jakk's TV games.  They found out there is a viable market for classics.  I think I've even seen a Mortal Kombat version, but maybe not specifically released by Jakk's.

[SirPoonga]

No, not due to the Jakk's game.  I bet it's due to the fact they only had about 20 games, all like 1980 or earlier, with a niche target customer group.

The bad part about this is it provides an example to the manufacturers that something like this won't work.  It will be more difficult to get something like this up and going again, unless the company had many industry ties.

I was just on there last night showing someone it.  He was going to buy the games.

[JoyMonkey]

That sucks. I still had some credit there, I'm sure they'd refund it but... ahhh fooey!

[Havok]

Probably that Turner thing did them in, as well as the poor selection of games...

[MYX]

According to the retroblast artical some time back, they tried to get the licence to sell other games, but many places did not see this as a market. 

[RayB]

People probably just weren't buying. Not enough to maintain continued hosting costs.

But other possibilities are that their agreement with Atari ran out. No sense staying open with zero ROMs to sell.

[MikeQ]

Atari recently lost a major venture capital firm and their CEO quit.  I bet Atari is going belly up and they took StarRoms with them.

Wonder what this means to Dream Arcades?

[TOK]

Atari recently lost a major venture capital firm and their CEO quit.  I bet Atari is going belly up and they took StarRoms with them.

Wonder what this means to Dream Arcades?

I didn't even realize there was anything physical left of Atari. I thought Infrogrammes bought the name and slapped it on their games because its recognizable and their name sucks.

[SirPoonga]

There is two Ataris.  Atari, Inc. and Atari Games.  I believe Atari Games when to Midway and Infrogames is Atari, Inc.  Atari Games is the coin-op side of the old Atari.

[toasty]

so are roms purchaced from there still legal?  I would think so but I remember early on, this was a concern.

I don't see why they wouldn't be, but it really depends upon the terms of the license.  You obtained a valid license by someone authorized to grant it at the time.  Worst case scenario, it seems to me that you'd be grandfathered in by virtue of the fact that you were operating under color of law at the time it was obtained.

That's the free answer, without the benefit of me doing any actual legal research on it.  In other words, don't rely upon it as actual legal advice...   

[Level42]

Who cares ? Everything is readily available. I still can't understand why in the world these ancient games would need to still bring up money. They were programmed for a game that would have a life-time of let's say 10 years in the arcades. Most of them have brought up their money now and are no longer operated in broad commercial sense. It's like a song from 60 years ago, no copyrights on them anymore. For computerprograms (which these games are), this lifetime should be much shorter due to the lifetime expectance of these programs.

Well, all just my H.O. of course...

[mahuti]

Contact your congressman.

[danny_galaga]

Who cares ? Everything is readily available. I still can't understand why in the world these ancient games would need to still bring up money. They were programmed for a game that would have a life-time of let's say 10 years in the arcades. Most of them have brought up their money now and are no longer operated in broad commercial sense. It's like a song from 60 years ago, no copyrights on them anymore. For computerprograms (which these games are), this lifetime should be much shorter due to the lifetime expectance of these programs.

Well, all just my H.O. of course...

well, if you were to stick to that scenario then you should have to wait 60 years before it becomes freeware. as they are finding out now, there is still value in the old titles and you cant arbitrarily decide which will be free and which can still be sold in one way or another..

[Santoro]

This does indeed suck.   I actully bought ROMS from Starroms, and would have bought a lot more if they were able to get licensing deals with other ROM owners.

And this happened as soon as the Mamedevs made it possible to sell a machine with legal roms, too.  Very unfortunate.  This couldn't be good for the small cab builders that want to stay legit.

[neuromancer]

There is two Ataris.  Atari, Inc. and Atari Games.  I believe Atari Games when to Midway and Infrogames is Atari, Inc.  Atari Games is the coin-op side of the old Atari.

I wonder if it has anything to do with Midway releasing Atari games for PSP. I bought it (the Midway PSP collection) and it's cool. Has old Williams games too. Joust, Defender, and Mortal Kombat to name a few.

Why sell stuff for cheap on-line if people will pay $40 at Wal-Mart.

Bob

[SirPoonga]

Nah, I am sure the reason is they didn't have much business.  With only about 20 games you aren't going to be bringing in any revenue.  Granted I am sure they had constant business with the cabinet makers out there, but there probably isn't enough of a demand.