Gizmondo Demos/Protos

[98PaceCar]

I picked up a Gizmondo unit off ebay recently and it came with a number of what are labelled pre-release demos. I've compared a few of these with the ones floating around and at least 1 of them (Catapult) is different. I'm assuming these are legit as they came in the normal Gizmondo styled cases and all have official looking art on the cards. Anybody have any experience with these? Would they have come with any sort of docs (none of these did)?

http://www.mugzy.org/cm/albums/userpics/10003/Gizmondo%20005.jpg
http://www.mugzy.org/cm/albums/userpics/10003/Gizmondo%20006.jpg
http://www.mugzy.org/cm/albums/userpics/10003/Gizmondo%20008.jpg
http://www.mugzy.org/cm/albums/userpics/10003/Gizmondo%20010.jpg

[ProgrammingAce]

You should talk to red eye, he's the gizmodo expert. Although, i don't think i've ever seen pirate gizmodo stuff, so chances are it's legit.

[Steve W]

Most of those games were never released. They look to be pirated. Although I don't know where they'd get the cases from. All these games were leaked to the Internet by disgruntled developers, and swapped around in assorted Gizmondo forums. A few aren't entirely finished yet, although Hit and Myth and Colors were done. Interstellar Flames 2 was originally part of a 3-pack title.

There's a few more games out there, you just need to Google around for them. I have a CD full of them an Atari Age member sent me. I never managed to get them to work through my Mac.

It's nice to know of another Gizmondo owner locally. I'd assume there's more locals, considering Dallas Galleria had one of the only stores in the Midwest. I bought five titles from them (and a t-shirt) before they closed. You need to find a copy of Sticky Balls, it's one of my favorite puzzle games of all time. Like Bust-A-Move crossed with billiards. Next time we meet, I'll give you a copy of that CD, and maybe play something multiplayer.

[98PaceCar]

You should talk to red eye, he's the gizmodo expert. Although, i don't think i've ever seen pirate gizmodo stuff, so chances are it's legit.

Thanks for the heads up. Is RedEye still active anywhere? I don't think I've seen him post in a while.

@SteveW, I keep going back and forth as to whether or not these are legit myself. The version of Catapult that was leaked and this one are vastly different though, so I'm pretty confident at least that one is legit. Mine looks to be a much earlier version.

Would definately be up for getting together for some multiplayer sometime. I think our chances of finding someone else that would even admit to owning a Giz is pretty slim!

[Buyatari]

Thanks for the heads up. Is RedEye still active anywhere? I don't think I've seen him post in a while.

@SteveW, I keep going back and forth as to whether or not these are legit myself. The version of Catapult that was leaked and this one are vastly different though, so I'm pretty confident at least that one is legit. Mine looks to be a much earlier version.

Would definately be up for getting together for some multiplayer sometime. I think our chances of finding someone else that would even admit to owning a Giz is pretty slim!

If one is legit I'd say they are all legit. In all my years collecting protos I've never purchased a lot of games that included protos AND bootlegs. Not to say its not possible but they are 2 different worlds really.

[98PaceCar]

If one is legit I'd say they are all legit. In all my years collecting protos I've never purchased a lot of games that included protos AND bootlegs. Not to say its not possible but they are 2 different worlds really.

Yea, my gut is that they are legit. I can't imagine somone going to the trouble of bootlegging games that were for sale for as cheap as they were. If it were just unreleased games, I'd be leaning towards the bootleg possibility more.

Here's hoping anyway!

[TheRedEye]

These look exactly like the preview copies we got in the office ages ago. They're legit, and actually not all that rare - the games were just on standard SD cards with cheap printed labels, and they were desperate for press coverage, so it seems like they made a whole bunch of these pre-release cards. Not only were they sent to the press, but sometimes the retailers themselves got 'em.

Neat find though!

[98PaceCar]

These look exactly like the preview copies we got in the office ages ago. They're legit, and actually not all that rare - the games were just on standard SD cards with cheap printed labels, and they were desperate for press coverage, so it seems like they made a whole bunch of these pre-release cards. Not only were they sent to the press, but sometimes the retailers themselves got 'em.

Neat find though!

That would make sense. The entire lot consisted of a lot of extras that would have been likely to go to a reviewer, most of which weren't even open. I can't imagine someone actually buying all this stuff and never opening it only to turn it around to an ebay store to sell.

Do you happen to remember if there should have been any docs with these? I didn't get anything in any of the demo versions. I'm assuming not, but since both Agaju and Catapult need extras to work, seems like they would have been sent along.

[Bojay1997]

These are completely legit. This looks like most of the package that was given to press and distinguished guests who attended the UK product launch where they paid Sting a ton of money just to show up. I believe Curt Vendel sold a similar package a couple of years ago on Ebay, for around $500, although the value of these pre-release demos has pretty much disappeared as a result of the pre-release versions all being made available by various former employees on a few Gizmondo boards. You have a few in that collection that are a little less common, but again, they have all been dumped and widely distributed, so the cover insert and cases are really the only thing of interest there. The other issue is that those are technically UK versions, not that it really matters, but it just means they are somewhat earlier pre-release versions and more common in a lot of ways than what was sent to the few US press members who actually received anything from Gizmondo during their failed US release. Overall, I think you have a neat set there.

[TheRedEye]

Do you happen to remember if there should have been any docs with these? I didn't get anything in any of the demo versions. I'm assuming not, but since both Agaju and Catapult need extras to work, seems like they would have been sent along.

The ones I've seen didn't come with docs.