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Don't make me assume my ultimate form!
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Reged: 05/03/04
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Posts: 1483
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Loc: Outback, Australia
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Re: Eugene Jarvis
06/12/12 11:37 AM
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> DASArcade written by Dave Spicer was the first PC (DOS) based multiply game emulator > which was release in 95 or early 96.
A multi-game Cinematronics emulator, called Cinelator or similar (IIRC), was developed about about a year before the first version of Sparcade (DASarcade) was released. However it was in "private testing" during this time, and only approved beta testers could access it. No, I wasn't one, but I did ask IIRC, they were trying to take this commercial (and that explains the private release). One of the authors is still active on these forums !
I've just seen this from Dave Spicer: Ref: http://www.fizyka.umk.pl/~jacek/zx/faq_old/whereis2.html#SPICER
Quote:
From David himself: After getting completely p*ssed off with the games industry, I went to Kent Uni to study VLSI circuit engineering. Once I'd completed my course, I spent 3 months writing Sparcade [for those who don't know, this is a very good arcade machine emulator, one of the first that appeared] with the intention of developing it commercially as a last "fling" before going into the electronics industry. However, no software companies were prepared to take it on, all lacking the foresight to see the imminent flood of interest in retro-gaming.
Which is very interesting, because Dave and I exchanged many, many dozens of emails during 1995/1996, and I offered to financially back him (and I specifically mentioned quite large sums of money. e.g. well over $50,000) so that he could take his emulator commercial.
He just wasn't interested. The licensing of games was too difficult, he said. Going commercial was going to be too painful and too much hassle and something he just didn't want to do. He never mentioned he was talking to "software companies" .... Maybe this was later ? He also never told me he was "p*ssed off with the games industry". But, even in his emails, I could feel a definite resistance there .... I just never knew what or why ! LOL !
It's funny that he is slinging off that "no software companies were prepared to take it on, all lacking the foresight to see the imminent flood of interest in retro-gaming", when he had a solid financial backer (me) and he could have used my money to take his emulator commercial himself and (mostly) avoid having to deal with the "games industry" he was so "p*ssed off with".
Anyway 17 years later and looking back, I'm kinda glad he didn't take me up on my offers. Way too many pirates, the rise of the free emulators, the almost complete lack of interest from the game companies in such projects (until much later), etc, and let's face it, Dave's heart just wasn't in going commercial.
Moose
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