Rare Atari Game Leaked

[pacman000]

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/...was-it-stolen/

But should it have been? Someone’s claiming the ROMS were somehow dumped without permission from the person who owned the machine.

[jb143]

I read about that too. If things went down they way they claim then they really had no right to have been dumped and released (yeah yeah, preservation). Just the way it all supposedly happened wasn't cool at all.

My question though, has the value of rare prototypes ever actually gone down because someone released the ROMs?

[Steve W]

The arcade game owners claim that they want to keep the value of their machines by not dumping the ROMs. But those things don't last forever. How useful will those arcade games be once the data is lost?

I don't agree with the dumper's methods if that is how everything played out (some people wonder if the game's owner didn't release the ROM himself secretly, since the technician would have had to bring in a computer and an EPROM burner and done each chip one at a time, which would have taken long enough for the owner to notice) but I'm really grateful that a long-wanted game has finally gotten out of a few game hoarder's hands and can be preserved. There's too many prototypes that collectors hold on to until bitrot destroys them.

If I found a rare prototype arcade game/console game I'd have no problem with getting somebody to dump it for me. I'd rather have other people happy than hoard something with no real end goal.

Is the ROM for Akka Arrh in the wild? I did a quick search and couldn't find a download link. I wouldn't mind seeing it for myself.

[jb143]

And you'd have to think that the cabinet itself would be pretty valuable and collectible with or without the ROM released. It's pretty unique and cool looking.

[Pr3tty F1y]

Akka Arrh is included in the latest version of MAME, released this past Wednesday. It's an interesting game.

While I feel bad for the owner if such a story is true, I don't think it's a loss for them other than feeling betrayed. The original is still of the same rarity. That's why I'm all for preserving/releasing everything and anything digitally.

To me, what fun is it being the only person in the world to be able to play a specific game (yah, yah, I know that there are like 3 Akka Arrh's out there). But seriously, what are you going to do? Tell all your buddies about how awesome a game is that only you can play. Invite them over to your place to show off your awesome collection (I don't know about anyone else, but I have friends that are friends. I'm not friends with them to appreciate their shit - those are the type of 'friends' one tends to avoid).

I agree with Steve W. If I have something that is rare and could be shared digitally (which means, I'm really not losing anything, I still have the original), I would prefer to be able to share the enjoyment of said games with others.

That's why I'm hoping that maybe the story isn't true and being that there are so few owners, maybe the whole thing is made up out of some sense of paranoia that releasing this game may get the original copyright holder's attention and they're trying to protect themselves (although I highly doubt the copyright holder would invest the time/money to prosecute someone on a 30+ year old game that was never released to begin with and was pretty much thrown out by the company that made it).

[Niku-Sama]

welp no use crying over spilled milk.

but i am kind thinking its some one releasing their rom they had created when they had the game serviced.
a game that age must have had quite a few roms, and like the article said, it would have taken a lot of time to get through them all and back in before any one noticed

[Greg2600]

I find the story doubtful.