Mother 3 N64/EarthBound 64...

[Tupin]

Has anyone ever found the cartridges that were playable at Spaceworld 1998?

They are probably either in the deepest depths of NOA's basement or in someone's attic.

So yeah, do you think it will ever be found?

[mr obscure]

Sounds like a job for me,if found a lot of n64 proto's already.
Ill be right on it. LOL

[TheRedEye]

They are probably either in the deepest depths of NOA's basement or in someone's attic.

No, they were probably overwritten with other data, those dev cartridges were too expensive to keep demo builds around for nostalgia's sake.

[ProgrammingAce]

No, they were probably overwritten with other data, those dev cartridges were too expensive to keep demo builds around for nostalgia's sake.

Exactly, the carts were something like $700+ each, they weren't used for archive purposes.

If you want to find those games, you're going to need to find the source code. You'll need the 13 year old PCs the games were compiled with. Hope they haven't been formatted since then!

You'd actually do better trying to bribe one of nintendo's system admins to give you their old backup tapes.

[Apollo]

Although, if you want a really interestring story concerning the N64DD blue carts that supposedly had Mother 3 stuff(been a while since I read it, can't remember if it was the full game or the demo) on them, starmen.net has a really good story about how they almost acquired them. A very good read. I'll post a link.

http://starmen.net/stonehenge/bluedisks/

And then theres a link to the forums where all of the conversations went on about trying to acquire the blue disks.

[Dungeon Master]

As I recall, the discs turned up bupkis. There were four altogether: one was Mario Artist, another Sim City 64, and the remaining two did not boot by last posted statement. Coreycorey2000 is currently in possession of the discs and did most [read: all] of the work to get their contents uncovered. Pretty awesome dude, if you ask me; patient with us over at starmen.net until the crestfallen end. The last time anything new came up on starmen.net was quite a while ago, so asking the man himself might not be too uncalled for.

I'm Dungeon Master over there as well, seldom post though; new here as well (first post) and also an Earthbound collector.

[smork]

I'm curious, why were the dev carts so expensive? Did they have some hardware crypto inside?

[Tupin]

I'm curious, why were the dev carts so expensive? Did they have some hardware crypto inside?
They were on 64 DD Disks, so I can't imagine them costing THAT much.

I do remember actual carts costing a lot, though.

I always just thought that someone got the disks from a person who went to Spaceworld and somehow got a hold of the system.

Plus, Nintendo has archived unreleased games before, why would this be any different?

[ProgrammingAce]

I'm curious, why were the dev carts so expensive? Did they have some hardware crypto inside?

In an industry where the license to develop a title is upwards of $20,000 and the cost of having the game rated by the ESRB is $80,000, honestly what's a few grand for blank carts? Developers didn't need many of them, so they usually didn't have too many on hand.

A stack of blank GD-R for the dreamcast would cost a developer near $1,000 a spindle (Qty 100). Even the Gold master discs for submitting a PS2 game were $500 a spindle, and they're just normal blank CD-R.

The cost to get a game put up on Xbox live or PSN is roughly half a million, not including business costs such as salary and rent.

[SegaAges]

In an industry where the license to develop a title is upwards of $20,000 and the cost of having the game rated by the ESRB is $80,000, honestly what's a few grand for blank carts? Developers didn't need many of them, so they usually didn't have too many on hand.

A stack of blank GD-R for the dreamcast would cost a developer near $1,000 a spindle (Qty 100). Even the Gold master discs for submitting a PS2 game were $500 a spindle, and they're just normal blank CD-R.

The cost to get a game put up on Xbox live or PSN is roughly half a million, not including business costs such as salary and rent.

Hmm, so if I personally wanted to put a game on xbl, it would cost me 500k?

[Tupin]

Hmm, so if I personally wanted to put a game on xbl, it would cost me 500k?
Probably less on WiiWare.

A major reason that these online download places are created is so that indie developers can put their foot in the door without having to pay too many fees.

[ProgrammingAce]

Probably less on WiiWare.

A major reason that these online download places are created is so that indie developers can put their foot in the door without having to pay too many fees.

That's not true at all. Indy developers have a tough time getting their foot in the door for PSN, XBL, and Wiiware games. The platforms are cost prohibitive.

[SegaAges]

That's not true at all. Indy developers have a tough time getting their foot in the door for PSN, XBL, and Wiiware games. The platforms are cost prohibitive.

I was curious because I would love to be a game developer, but do not have the resouces (aka money) to do it.

500k is alot of money.

If I could do it for, like 2000, then I would totally be in, hehehe.

[Tupin]

I was curious because I would love to be a game developer, but do not have the resouces (aka money) to do it.

500k is alot of money.

If I could do it for, like 2000, then I would totally be in, hehehe.
The PC is probably the best place for you to get noticed, then.

[TheRedEye]

I was curious because I would love to be a game developer, but do not have the resouces (aka money) to do it.

500k is alot of money.

If I could do it for, like 2000, then I would totally be in, hehehe.

Put together a demo worth playing, submit it to the IGF, get noticed, and find a publisher to fund the rest of the game.

[ProgrammingAce]

I was curious because I would love to be a game developer, but do not have the resouces (aka money) to do it.

500k is alot of money.

If I could do it for, like 2000, then I would totally be in, hehehe.

If you put your mind to it, it's really not that hard. There's no reason you have to try to be an independent developer though. EA and Ubisoft are always fighting to get new people, particularly in toronto.

[SegaAges]

If you put your mind to it, it's really not that hard. There's no reason you have to try to be an independent developer though. EA and Ubisoft are always fighting to get new people, particularly in toronto.


Already applied for there and got turned down.

I guess I am playing the field for awhile to get my resume built up nice then going and doing some work for a big company

[ProgrammingAce]

Try again around this time of the year, they're looking for people to get things out the door for the christmas rush.