Playstation prototypes

[WhiteHenDecapitator]

Just wondering what the Playstation prototypes look like, do they have the black surface with graphics on the disc? Or do they have the silver surface with or without graphics?

I found Driver in a local shop today, it is a silver CD with graphics on the top. Says "Final Full Version" on it (the disc) and has the same product number as the European release (SLES 01816).

Plays just fine on an emulator (both in PAL and NTSC modes), but will not load on a NTSC PS2, I have yet to try it on a Playstation.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[ProgrammingAce]

That sounds like a press review copy to me. They can either have the black bottom, a silver bottom, or can just plain be on a burned CDR.

Most proto ps1 games are just burned to a CD-R. Sometimes the cd is labeled with the company's name, the build date, the build number and the video format. Sometimes it's burned on a disc you can buy at the local office max. Unless you can trace back the ownership of the disc, it can be dificult to tell a legit proto ps1 game from some backup someone made.

Pics would help to identify your disc, but it sounds like a pal review copy to me. Maybe a pirate though.

[udisi]

I have a final fantasy 9 beta, not competely done, and a fina version parasite eve proto, both are silver back, probably just internal CD-R's, you wouldn't even think they were proto's if not for the squaresoft labels on them. they play on a ps1 development station. I think most ps1 protos are like this as all the developers had development stations, there was no need to put them on a format that could be played on a retail PS.

[WhiteHenDecapitator]

I'm really not sure what this game could be, but here is a picture...

http://img272.imageshack.us/img272/1365/dsc000067se.th.jpg (http://img272.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc000067se.jpg)

Thanks.

[ProgrammingAce]

That's a pretty odd disc, the clipart car and the 'engrish' title lead me to believe that it's a pirate, but i have no way of telling for sure. Generally a build sent to the press would have some information on it, but who knows. Could be a press review, could be a pirate. I'm leaning pirate.

[PapaStu]

Theres no company logo's on that so i'm up to thinking that its some kinda pirate. There should be an GTInteractive logo on there somewhere, especially if they went to the effort to acutally press a cover for it.

Of the PS beta's i've got, some are on publisher official media, Sony media and on generic cdr's. I totally second ProgrammingAce's comment on the validity of them because of their ease in being pirated. I've only gotten ones that I could trust their history.

[WhiteHenDecapitator]

Good stuff, I appreciate all the information!

Seeing as this game will not boot on my NTSC PSTwo leads me to believe it is a PAL game, are pirate Playstation games more abundant in Europe?

I could not see the point to producing a pirate Playstation game for sale in North America, never really seen any other pirate stuff from any place other than Asia.

Thanks.

[ProgrammingAce]

you know, thinking about it... there is a way to tell if a 'proto' ps1 game is legit from a developer/publisher. If it was created using sony's official tools, the disc will have the 'master code' in the bootsector. A pirated or burned game will not (unless that person remastered the disc using sony's software, which is highly unlikely).

Unfortunately i don't know of a way to check the master code, but i'll look into it.

[WhiteHenDecapitator]

Wow!

That would be too cool! I would have never thought to have taken that sort of approach to it, I too will look into this and will post here what I have found.

Thanks.

[theshizzle3000]

I know that alot of these prototypes were found on Ebay, but where do the rest of these tend to be found at?

[ProgrammingAce]

you know, thinking about it... there is a way to tell if a 'proto' ps1 game is legit from a developer/publisher. If it was created using sony's official tools, the disc will have the 'master code' in the bootsector. A pirated or burned game will not (unless that person remastered the disc using sony's software, which is highly unlikely).

Unfortunately i don't know of a way to check the master code, but i'll look into it.

BTW, i realized how to check this. I knew how to do it then too, but wasn't really thinking.