RVWinkle's news article

[LanGaidin]

I couldn't comment on the article (Come ot think about it, I haven't seen the comment option on any articles for awhlie, now... Did you guys get rid of it?), so figured I'd say some stuff here...

Now I've never heard of this site before and I don't know how reliable their info is, but apparently you'll need a separate VMU dedicated to one game. All of a sudden the low price of $5.95 goes up an additional $20 just to save games! Don't forget that saving games is extremely important in GT2 for the sake of unlocking the many secret cars.

That is true. At least it was that way when I was working for them, and I don't imagine they would have changed it, as it was a technical difference between the PSX saves and the DC saves that requires it. Also, I'm pretty sure that site you listed is legit. All of the information that I knew of before is accurate. And, the fact that he knows who Lee Biddle is (Although I wasn't aware Lee had gotten the title of "manager of Bleem UK", but still...), makes me think he really is getting his information from him. And, Lee gets his info from bleem employees.

. In addition, they note that this emulator will play backup copies of Gran Turismo 2. Unfortunately this gives Sony another excuse so sue bleem! Inc.

Actually, it doesn't. One of the issues in the first lawsuit that Sony brought against bleem, LLC (as it was at the time), was that bleem violated their patents. If they now sue bleem for refusing to try copying the patented technology, it would pretty much guarantee that the first lawsuit would be thrown out. Not to mention that we told people when bleemcast! was first announced that it would be able to play copied games, and Sony hasn't done anything about it in the past year. Plus, Sony probably realizes what most of us do. That bleemcast! is likely to be mostly a flop. Why bother bringing on bad press for Sony, when they can sit back and just watch "nature takes it's course" to the same effect?

I'd take all of this with a grain of salt though because in their news section they confuse the right to modify a product you own with illegal software distribution.

Actually, he didn't. He never mentioned modifying a product you own. He was talking about modifying the bleem! for Dreamcast software. The only people that own that are bleem, inc. Everyone else licenses it. HUGE difference there.

[RVWinkle]

Thanks for the comments LanGaidin, I very much appreciate any reactions I receive from my work.

Originally posted by LanGaidin
I couldn't comment on the article (Come ot think about it, I haven't seen the comment option on any articles for awhlie, now... Did you guys get rid of it?), so figured I'd say some stuff here...

Yeah, it's been broken for a while. Some of the members didn't really like it because of all of the anonymous flames. Nobody has been very inspired to fix it, I expect that to change eventually.

That is true. At least it was that way when I was working for them, and I don't imagine they would have changed it, as it was a technical difference between the PSX saves and the DC saves that requires it. Also, I'm pretty sure that site you listed is legit. All of the information that I knew of before is accurate. And, the fact that he knows who Lee Biddle is (Although I wasn't aware Lee had gotten the title of "manager of Bleem UK", but still...), makes me think he really is getting his information from him. And, Lee gets his info from bleem employees.

I'm glad to hear your confirmation on this stuff. I saw several references to this site and I thought it was strange how it came seemingly out of nowhere with exclusive information.

Actually, it doesn't. One of the issues in the first lawsuit that Sony brought against bleem, LLC (as it was at the time), was that bleem violated their patents. If they now sue bleem for refusing to try copying the patented technology, it would pretty much guarantee that the first lawsuit would be thrown out. Not to mention that we told people when bleemcast! was first announced that it would be able to play copied games, and Sony hasn't done anything about it in the past year. Plus, Sony probably realizes what most of us do. That bleemcast! is likely to be mostly a flop. Why bother bringing on bad press for Sony, when they can sit back and just watch "nature takes it's course" to the same effect?

You make some very valid points here. I do feel that Sony could care less if the product is a flop, they certainly don't want a negative (towards them) precedent set. Furthermore, Sony will have to wait till the product is released before they can start making threats. Press releases don't really mean anything, they need physical evidence.

Actually, he didn't. He never mentioned modifying a product you own. He was talking about modifying the bleem! for Dreamcast software. The only people that own that are bleem, inc. Everyone else licenses it. HUGE difference there.

Now that I think about it further, I believe you're correct. At the time I was writing the post, I was thinking more in terms of hardware (i.e. you can take apart and modify your car).

[LanGaidin]

Yeah, it's been broken for a while. Some of the members didn't really like it because of all of the anonymous flames. Nobody has been very inspired to fix it, I expect that to change eventually.

Ahh, understandable. I never really used it much, but when I wanted to, it was a noticable absence. Oh well, as long as I have the boards, that's good enough for me.

I'm glad to hear your confirmation on this stuff. I saw several references to this site and I thought it was strange how it came seemingly out of nowhere with exclusive information.

Yeah, it was sorta odd that he was getting so many references, even from big-name news sites. Maybe everyone is just looking everywhere for news, since bleem's site doesn't have anything. :/

You make some very valid points here. I do feel that Sony could care less if the product is a flop, they certainly don't want a negative (towards them) precedent set. Furthermore, Sony will have to wait till the product is released before they can start making threats. Press releases don't really mean anything, they need physical evidence.

I do'nt think they would. They filed the original lawsuit against bleem before bleem! was released. If they have something from bleem saying that it can do something, I think they can file suit, and then get a subpoena for the software, to see if it's true or not... If you think about it, it would really suck if you had to wait until you were actually taking a loss (No, I'm not saying Sony is taking a loss, but they believe they are), before you could stop it...

[RVWinkle]

Thanks for the info LanGaidin. I've updated the news post to reflect the info you've provided.

[LanGaidin]

I just re-read the article with the changes you made (Thanks for the credit!), and realized something...

Now I've never heard of this site before and I don't know how reliable their info is, but apparently you'll need a separate VMU dedicated to one game.

When I first read that, I was thinking of bleemcast at it currently (Well, next week) is... Considering only GT2, that statement is completely true. However, once (if?) more bleemcast paks are released you should be able to use a VMU that is formatted for bleemcast games with ALL bleemcast games. So, if the next bleemcast pak is Tony Hawks, you could use the same VMU to save GT2 and THPS games. It's just that you'll need seperate VMU's for actual DC games, and for bleemcast games... The VMU functionality wasn't added to bleemcast until the format was changed from the 100 games to the single game, so I can't verify if this will be true or not, but that was the plan.

Sorry for any confusion this may have caused
Not valid where prohibited
Not intended for children under 3

[RVWinkle]

I'll see it when I believe it. Bleem! has not announced any other games yet and I wouldn't buy Bleem! for Dreamcast with the expectation that other games will be released. Especially with Bleem!'s track record!

BTW, I love a good debate

[LanGaidin]

Yeah, I completely agree with you. I think future bleemcast! games being released will depend highly on how well the GT2 one sells. Considering I don't think it's going to be a hot-selling item, I'm not expecting much in the future.

BTW, did you guys change the cool-shades smiley? I don't remember it being red, before...

[Bobbi]

I think it'll be interresting how good the product will sell ... when we'll actually see it in german stores, I know many friends who'll just buy it because 15 DM (about 7$) aren't really much and hey - cool graphics are always fun

And yeah, I replaced the icons at the top with different ones as the yellow ones weren't that beatiful.

[LanGaidin]

Ahh, cool. Glad to know I wasn't going crazy. Hey, cool. The Submit button is the next tab stop after the text box, now! Since I always tabbed to it, much easier, now.

[Ryos]

Considering how many Dreamcast systems there are in the world, there probably aren't all that many people who would buy it, imho. Even if you think all Dreamcast owners would buy it, there are other people who honestly don't care about Gran Turismo 2 (ahem, like me). And of course people who already have a PSX are much less likely to go for the single game pack. I could be wrong, but we'll see...