Star Roms article

[greywolf22]

Hey all,

Was flipping through the latest version of PC Gamer (JUNE) and noticed a nice article on Star Roms.  According to the article Star Roms has over 30,000 registered customers and are planning on expanding their offerings significantly this year.  Pretty interesting reading...thought you might all be interested.  

[Zakk]

I hope it works out that way, I'd have no problem paying for a few hundred of my favorite games just to have them nice and legal.  Probably better for us oldchoolers, since I think you're more likely to see the 80's classics available as opposed to the late 90's sock em ups.

Anyone want to lay bets on if they get the rights to pac/mspac or galaga?

[maraxle]

This would be wonderful.  I sincerely hope they continue to grow their offering.

[Santoro]

I hope it works out that way, I'd have no problem paying for a few hundred of my favorite games just to have them nice and legal.

Amen.  

[bigmoe]

Anyone want to lay bets on if they get the rights to pac/mspac or galaga?

We can always dream.  I'd be surprised (but pleased) if ANY Namco titles showed up.

[patrickl]

I wonder if this isn't gonna take a turn for the worse somewhere in the (near) future. Like the way Namco artwork can only be purchased from TwoBits. They can (and do) charge a fortune and lack the drive to produce good products. All because they have no real competition.

Anyway, I paid for my licenses in full when I was a kid ...  

[bigmoe]

I wonder if this isn't gonna take a turn for the worse somewhere in the (near) future. Like the way Namco artwork can only be purchased from TwoBits. They can (and do) charge a fortune and lack the drive to produce good products. All because they have no real competition.

Good point.

To me, Starroms is a little problematic pricewise as well.

$4-$6 per ROM may be reasonable by some estimations, especially for a game I love.  And Starroms needs to make enough to keep afloat.  I admire and respect what they're doing: lighting a candle and making a compromise.

However, prepackaged, I can buy 20+ mostly-decent Midway games for my PS2 for $20 (less if I go used).  Similarly, if I buy some of the Atari titles Starroms carries repackaged for the PC, the games come out a lot less than Starroms is charging.

I know, the repackages are not the original roms, but they actually cost more to produce and distribute since additional software must be written (if they're not complete rewrites anyhow), packaging made, advertising paid for.  The ROMS are basically already out there...Starroms is just selling rights (that aren't even on a piece of paper, just the Internet).

So I would really like to see the prices come down, or for them to offer some bulk pricing, or something.

b

[DaveMMR]

I wonder if this isn't gonna take a turn for the worse somewhere in the (near) future. Like the way Namco artwork can only be purchased from TwoBits. They can (and do) charge a fortune and lack the drive to produce good products. All because they have no real competition.

Good point.

To me, Starroms is a little problematic pricewise as well.

$4-$6 per ROM may be reasonable by some estimations, especially for a game I love.  And Starroms needs to make enough to keep afloat.  I admire and respect what they're doing: lighting a candle and making a compromise.

However, prepackaged, I can buy 20+ mostly-decent Midway games for my PS2 for $20 (less if I go used).  Similarly, if I buy some of the Atari titles Starroms carries repackaged for the PC, the games come out a lot less than Starroms is charging.

I know, the repackages are not the original roms, but they actually cost more to produce and distribute since additional software must be written (if they're not complete rewrites anyhow), packaging made, advertising paid for.  The ROMS are basically already out there...Starroms is just selling rights (that aren't even on a piece of paper, just the Internet).

So I would really like to see the prices come down, or for them to offer some bulk pricing, or something.

b

I completely agree with you.  Noble effort but the pricing needs to be more realistic.

[Zakk]

What do you get that proves useage rights with starroms?  I figure even if you just get a verification via the net you could print that out and have proof of ownership "on paper".  No?  I should take a poke around their website out of curiosity.

[bigmoe]

What do you get that proves useage rights with starroms?  I figure even if you just get a verification via the net you could print that out and have proof of ownership "on paper".  No?  I should take a poke around their website out of curiosity.

For all my posturing, I have yet to take the plunge  .

I assume one gets an email or somethiing, which as you say, can be printed out.  They must keep a list somewhere, too, because the site says that if your ROMS become inoperable in a new version of MAME, you can email them and get new ones.

[patrickl]

As I understand it they keep a record of all the licensed users. I guess it's a case of: "if your on the list you then you are a legal owner". Your own records probably won't count. I read about this on a thread where they indicated that this method is the reason why cab builders cannot sell cabs including starroms licenses (allthough they were working on that, so maybe they changed it).

[Santoro]

Actually they recently added functionality to their site so you can print a license from the "My Account" page.  Not sure how it would stand up in court though.

If the cab builder has the buyer's name, he can open an account on StarRoms on their behalf and it is legit.  I have it in an email from the StarRoms legal guy.

[patrickl]

So then I guess the buyer cannot sell the cab.

It sounds like a few guys (gals?) envisioned how to make a quick buck and in their haste misjudged their market. They seem to have forgotten the cab builders in their plans.

BTW how many registererd users are on BYOAC ? 30.000?

[Tailgunner]

I've also kept all e-mail they sent when I bought licensed roms through them. Between the mail and the license, I figure I'm pretty well covered.