Jump to content
Due to a large amount of spamers, accounts will now have to be approved by the Admins so please be patient. ×
IGNORED

US company busted for selling multiboard arcade machines?


Recommended Posts

https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/08/cops-bust-fake-arcade-company-interrupt-baller-lifestyle/

 

I'm assuming from the article they are multiboard - but be they x-in-1 or full MAME setups, it doesn't really make a difference.

 

Can't imagine they'll be knocking on doors of people submitting scores to Twin Galaxies (or MGL for that matter) to make sure they legally own the ROMs, but any company selling arcade cabinets using these multiboards, or maybe even siting and profiting....well if it was me, I'd be a tad nervous.

 

Guess there are no issues with a lot of games because the copyright holders are no longer around - but anything DK or Pac-Man, hmmm, Nintendo and Namco-Bandai seem like they are particularly precious when it comes to their IP which is worth a hell of a lot to them.

 

Discuss :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

$1.2 in cash, couple of cars and half a dozen properties - might be less than US$2m. When you consider the size of the American market for mutli-arcades, $2m isn't an unreasonable amount to catch someone with selling these.

 

As for the Pi - well, there is no issue at all selling machines or PCB's capable of running ROM's via MAME, the issue becomes when you put ROMs on them as a bundle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

None of the PiCade sellers bundle roms (I bought one a year or so ago) but they do advise on how to load them in when you buy one, nothing illegal there..

 

Yeah this has taken how long ?! I bought a xxx-1 multiboard upright 2P cabinet nearly 10 years ago now off ebay and they are still going strong there in different formats.

 

edit: similar issue now with virtual pinball cabinets. the MAME of video pinball "visual pinball" uses a Program called PinMAME and original rom dumps from pinball manufacturers just like mame does with arcade games. hobbyists build the games in the game editor and link it all to the rom. some of the new games like ACDC, Monster Bash, Medieval Madness, etc are incredibly detailed and faithful to the original.

 

It's created an interesting issue for Stern with their IP... the virtual tables made for free by hobbyists are accurate and faithful to Stern's games still in the market now.... meaning you can 'simulate' a $10k Stern product in a cabinet you made yourself with full feedback and use real DMD's, and all using free software and free games....power to the people :)

Edited by Jed
Link to comment
Share on other sites

https://www.coinopstore.com/

 

Multiboard cabs is one part of their business... it's not like these reported riches were made just from selling multiboard pirated games. They also sell genuine PCB's, arcade furniture, and original arcade games.

 

No one ever sites these machines (outside of china lol) they are HUO. Sited machines you see out in pubs etc will be PCB's ie 60-1's cause they are way more reliable (no hidden windows OS) but also legal to site.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well it's not going to impact anyone's home arcade hobby or even the ability to buy xxx-in-1 boards.

 

They have only gone after some hapless local reseller, The ability to stop China producing these boards would be ZERO.

 

There is no copyright infringement selling Arcade Hardware so there are no concerns with projects using Pi or PC etc.

 

And if I were a pinball company, I wouldn't be concerned about a small population of virtual tables.

(People that keen are liable to buy a real pinball anyway - Which ultimately goes in their favor)

They would go after someone making an android app with all their IP (Tables & Art) in it if it wasn't licenced.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Just to note.

 

They have only been charged with offenses - No prosecutions yet.

 

I suspect the prosecution may have a hard time pushing the counterfeiting claims when they were just reselling the PCB's.

 

There is no word that any licencees are suing for loss of income or any such claims either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

interesting ! I always thought those 60-1 PCB-based machines were licenced as these are always what you see sited. So my local bar/café is breaking the law apparently with his 60-1 cocktail, i'm sure he's totally unaware of this (and wouldn't care anyway)

 

The counterfeiting claims are not based on them (coinopstore) reselling PCB's. They're based on the mame multi machines they are selling (xxx-1 machines) if you look at their website they're also selling mame uprights, mame cocktails, mame bartops, etc etc etc like hundreds of other arcade sellers have been doing around the world for 10 years or more!

 

Far as the Vpins go - Stern have actually pressured VPF (the largest and longest running Virtual Pinball site) to not host the recreated Stern games. So they are aware of it, and it seems they do care enough to apply that pressure. Other smaller VP sites you can still find all the Stern games though. They are very well done, too, for virtual pinball.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

interesting ! I always thought those 60-1 PCB-based machines were licenced as these are always what you see sited. So my local bar/café is breaking the law apparently with his 60-1 cocktail, i'm sure he's totally unaware of this (and wouldn't care anyway)

 

The counterfeiting claims are not based on them (coinopstore) reselling PCB's. They're based on the mame multi machines they are selling (xxx-1 machines) if you look at their website they're also selling mame uprights, mame cocktails, mame bartops, etc etc etc like hundreds of other arcade sellers have been doing around the world for 10 years or more!

 

That's what I mean by PCB's (ie. xxx-in-1 Boards). It's going to be hard for the prosecution to claim counterfeiting if your just reselling xxx-in-1 PCB's.

 

I am looking at their website, And I don't see any Mame anything. I'm not sure what you mean by Mame uprights, Mame cocktails, Mame bartops, etc etc

Perhaps they replaced the word with "JAMMA"?

 

However,

Mame does not = xxx-in-1

(xxx-in-1 may be using a hacked version of Mame, But that is out of Mame's control and certainly not endorsed)

 

 

That's interesting Stern's actions on VPF.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

I just had an interesting thought.

 

Are they really counterfeiting when they are selling the original ROM code - It's not counterfeit - It's original!

And they are not bootlegging the original PCB either - They run on their own PCB.

 

Defense might claim they are just in breach of licensing or copyright laws.

Edited by ozfalcon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators
I've always found it highly amusing over the years people excuses for pirating. The rom beggars were the worst, always felt they were entitled to get something for nothing and for what? just to add another game to the other 5000 they don't play.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've always found it highly amusing over the years people excuses for pirating.

 

Copyright infringement is common across most countries. Copying things is pretty much Human nature - Just depends on what context.

Copying another countries secrets is good (For you).

Copying the latest popular music is bad (For everyone).

Copying obscure games from the 80 & 90's.....?

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

The rom beggars were the worst, always felt they were entitled to get something for nothing and for what? just to add another game to the other 5000 they don't play.

 

No, The people selling DVD's (Thumb drives now?) with roms on them are the worst. Next are the makers of xxx-in-1 boards.

The rom beggers are a few pegs down ;)

Edited by ozfalcon
Clean up post
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's what I mean by PCB's (ie. xxx-in-1 Boards). It's going to be hard for the prosecution to claim counterfeiting if your just reselling xxx-in-1 PCB's.

 

I am looking at their website, And I don't see any Mame anything. I'm not sure what you mean by Mame uprights, Mame cocktails, Mame bartops, etc etc

Perhaps they replaced the word with "JAMMA"?

 

However,

Mame does not = xxx-in-1

(xxx-in-1 may be using a hacked version of Mame, But that is out of Mame's control and certainly not endorsed)

 

 

That's interesting Stern's actions on VPF.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

I just had an interesting thought.

 

Are they really counterfeiting when they are selling the original ROM code - It's not counterfeit - It's original!

And they are not bootlegging the original PCB either - They run on their own PCB.

 

Defense might claim they are just in breach of licensing or copyright laws.

 

to date for these machines being sold online, anything with 1000 or more games IE xxxx-1 pretty much always = MAME but you'll never see ops advertise it as such as that would be suicide.

 

these xxxx-1 machines that these people got busted for selling......- they don't use game PCB's - they run a 'games family' system. This system started out around 2005 as a windows install on a very basic pc (Celeron, 1gb ram on a mini-atx with a daughterboard as the top tier for controls and JAMMA interface, standard IDE hdd) put together by chinese operators in a small tin box using locked down chinese language win2k - pirated of course - and a heap of emulators and hacked together code. there are 3 different versions of MAME on it (not hacked, straight-up command-line MAME) for compatibility across different ages of romsets. there's also playstation, Capcom, Neogeo, what have you. Behind the scenes the menu system runs a set of batch files that selects the right emulator based on the rom the user chooses from the very basic menu which uses mamewah as a front end.

 

how do i know this :D With help from a guy in the UK who published a 'bible' on these machines in the early days of this hardware, I spent a lot of time hacking these systems so they could run more games, added more emulators, added laserdisc support for stuff like dragon's lair and space ace. No bones though they are an absolutely sh1t system to work on, convoluted and horrible, unreliable, overheat etc compared to using any decent front end available now and mame. But an xxxx-1 machine was my introduction to having my own arcade machine about 10 years ago when I was a noob and just wanted to play arcade games again in a cabinet but had no backyarding skills yet.

 

The coinops site now says they no longer sell these xxxx-1 machines 'due to licencing issues' and the only stuff you find on there now is JAMMA-ready machines, all legal. A quick look on ebay, you'll still see them, they up to '2475-1' now...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators
Copyright infringement is common across most countries. Copying things is pretty much Human nature - Just depends on what context.

Copying another countries secrets is good (For you).

Copying the latest popular music is bad (For everyone).

Copying obscure games from the 80 & 90's.....?

Yes but its never done without some sort of pathetic justification. Some of these people used to get quite nasty if they didn't get what they wanted.

 

 

No, The people selling DVD's (Thumb drives now?) with roms on them are the worst. Next are the makers of xxx-in-1 boards.

The rom beggers are a few pegs down ;)

 

lol nahh

Link to comment
Share on other sites

to date for these machines being sold online, anything with 1000 or more games IE xxxx-1 pretty much always = MAME but you'll never see ops advertise it as such as that would be suicide.

 

these xxxx-1 machines that these people got busted for selling......- they don't use game PCB's - they run a 'games family' system. This system started out around 2005 as a windows install on a very basic pc (Celeron, 1gb ram on a mini-atx with a daughterboard as the top tier for controls and JAMMA interface, standard IDE hdd) put together by chinese operators in a small tin box using locked down chinese language win2k - pirated of course - and a heap of emulators and hacked together code. there are 3 different versions of MAME on it (not hacked, straight-up command-line MAME) for compatibility across different ages of romsets. there's also playstation, Capcom, Neogeo, what have you. Behind the scenes the menu system runs a set of batch files that selects the right emulator based on the rom the user chooses from the very basic menu which uses mamewah as a front end.

 

how do i know this :D With help from a guy in the UK who published a 'bible' on these machines in the early days of this hardware, I spent a lot of time hacking these systems so they could run more games, added more emulators, added laserdisc support for stuff like dragon's lair and space ace. No bones though they are an absolutely sh1t system to work on, convoluted and horrible, unreliable, overheat etc compared to using any decent front end available now and mame. But an xxxx-1 machine was my introduction to having my own arcade machine about 10 years ago when I was a noob and just wanted to play arcade games again in a cabinet but had no backyarding skills yet.

 

The coinops site now says they no longer sell these xxxx-1 machines 'due to licencing issues' and the only stuff you find on there now is JAMMA-ready machines, all legal. A quick look on ebay, you'll still see them, they up to '2475-1' now...

 

I am quite aware of the history of Mame and XXX-in-1 boards (I was first introduced to Mame in 1997 by a fellow UNI student via Gopher!)

It actually started with 60-in-1 type boards which are a slightly different beast to the PC Motherboards with a Jamma interface bolted on top.

 

xx-in-1 or xxx-in-1 or xxxx-in-1 it doesn't really matter. They all use a hacked version of Mame. There is no stopping them.

 

There is nothing wrong with a x-in-1 board (Besides emulation shortcuts). The only thing in question is the legality of the Roms contained on it.

But because no one is actively loosing money in competition against these boards - Society in general - Couldn't care less.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

xx-in-1 or xxx-in-1 or xxxx-in-1 it doesn't really matter. They all use a hacked version of Mame. There is no stopping them.

 

There is nothing wrong with a x-in-1 board (Besides emulation shortcuts). The only thing in question is the legality of the Roms contained on it.

But because no one is actively loosing money in competition against these boards - Society in general - Couldn't care less.

 

Those (1033-1) are the machines that coinops got charges for - there is plenty wrong with these machines even if you discount they contain over 1000 unlicenced roms - Pirated Windows 2000 pre-installed, for a start.

 

Yes '97 - Downloading mame roms on 9600 bps dialup modems.... 9.6k download speed was fine just for mame roms, but shit for everything else :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My 2 cents because you all didn't ask:

 

It's illegal.

 

But many think it's not because the games are so old, the company's whom own the games originally are long gone (appears not), and there is a feeling of genuine love of the old games....how can it be wrong!

 

But if someone still owns the IP, it's illegal.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Aussie Arcade mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...