Diplomacy has been tried. And with a lot more patience than I would have applied.
Andrew
No matter what the outcome of the applied diplomacy, it does not give us the right to disregard the Forum Guidelines nor that we should have to lower our standards of conduct.
it does make me question why someone tries to re-invent the wheel though.
I think more than one set of people attempting to do similar things is healthy - good insurance against tired ideas, and promotes progress. But only when people do their own work, rather than ripping each other off wholesale without permission.
It's a shame, because there are so many other old 8-bit computers out there that would benefit from a decent archive site... why is he bothering wasting his time duplicating something when he could be creating something new?
Is he just trying to make some money from the whole enterprise?
I'm working on a CPC version of WOS but it's very slow work, especially when I'm doing it all by myself.
If you go back to Martijn's original post you'll see he has already challenged him about it.
I don't realistically think that there can be any sort of rational debate here about Gamestage - we've already seen three posters, including a forum moderator, spreading misinformation about the Activision denial. If I were in Paulo's shoes, I wouldn't post here even if I were innocent as the whole atmosphere has been poisoned already. This thread was just throwing more fuel on the fire. Probably deserved fuel, but it was never an attempt to start a rational debate, and ZnorXman is right to call that out.
The question I ask is: what value is this thread serving? Getting the information out is important, but that could have been done outside the forum.
Good luck! It would be great to see similar sites for some of the other, more neglected 8-bit machines, like the Amstrad and BBC.
Thanks for that Strident..
Stairway to Hell is a good site for the BBC.. I particually like their Lost and Found section to see what was planned/coded for the BBC like Bubble Bobble, 3D Pool.. Did you know Licence to Kill was even released on it..
As for my CPC version of WOS, it is going very slow. I hope to have something up just before Christmas.
I will admit that the WOS database is a big help here for many titles, mainly because since CPC Zone went AWOL, I've lost contact with many CPC people... I've even told Martijn that the WOS database is proving helpful for listing what games were released by which company and who coded the Speccy version, although it the CPC coders might be different and I didn't get any negative responses, in fact, he wished me luck.
I don't intend to plagarise WOS by copying the site and replacing the Speccy references with CPC stuff, it'll be my own template and information gathered myself. But as I said, the database will prove useful to clarify things. Even Games that Weren't 64 is useful because a few games almost came out under different names and under different companies - for instance West Bank by Gremlin almost went out as Bank Panic by Elite. And Live and Let Die was originally called Aquablast.
I will add a postscript saying the game was reviewed in such and such a magazine, issue number, what the rating was.
As for protection methods, the only ones I know about were Speedlock on tape and ones on disc which had you load the game by typing in |CPM or when you called for a catalogue of the disc contents, it gave an elaborate message.
The graphics (where possible) will be captured by myself from emulators and disc images used by myself. Inlay scans will come from other sources (if I can find the scanners to get permission from).
Thankfully, I do have issues of Amstrad Action and Amstrad Computer User (both physical and JPEGs) so I can find a reference to a particualr game...
If there is anyone who can help with information and stuff, please let me know..
PS: Full credit would be given to WOS and Martijn on the front page of the site, which is still untitled.. I don't want to use CPC Zone as I got on well with the webmaster of that site and I don't want to betray him by using that title.
For the record, gamestage doesn't have permission to distribute any product released under LOKOsoft or MojonTwins labels. If they do so, I'll have to write an angry letter.
And I am stating that anything done by Zeropolis Element - Frontier of Warriors: Mayday Call Demo, Harry Potter Adventure Demo and Missing: World of Spectrum are permissiable to WOS soley too (along with future titles), Gamestage do NOT have permission to distribute any of these or any future Zeropolis Element titles..
Any software created by me, both existing (Pamela the Zombie Hunter, Holidays in Amsterdam, Chicks&Bricks, Mockatetris, Skyscraper of Doom,Heritage) and future ones (I hope there will be more this year ;) ) aren't allowed to be distributed by Gamestage or any other project by Paolo Teixeira (Gamestage owner).
And I am stating that anything done by Zeropolis Element - Frontier of Warriors: Mayday Call Demo, Harry Potter Adventure Demo and Missing: World of Spectrum are permissiable to WOS soley too (along with future titles), Gamestage do NOT have permission to distribute any of these or any future Zeropolis Element titles..
im not sure if your allowed to copyright that. :-P
No, that's not my copyright, just saying Gamestage can't offer that for download.. I put a lot of work into that demo and I'm saying only WOS can offer it for download..
I don't know. I just don't want this guy to distribute my games, that's all :) I only want my games available at my site, the WOS, and some russian TRD site, kindly cracked and stuff :P
hang on guys, we've gpt a potentially contradictory situation here...
Martijn says the permits are not exclusive to WoS...
edit: can individuals give permits/denials to others that are different from those given to WOS, while WOS hosts their software?
Yes.
The permits agreed with WoS are non-transferable unless stated otherwise. WoS is not after exclusive rights, so there's nothing stopping other sites from getting their own permits.
It's like parking permits - your permit might be restricted to a car with a certain numberplate, but that doesn't prevent other people from getting permits to park in the same street.
Yes, it's a car analogy.
If your car happens to be a polluting wreck, you might be refused a permit.
okay, thanks. Got confused over 'non-transferable' and 'exclusive'. I might be writing software in the near future - and mine is a non-transferable permit, too :)
I guess many of you were probably waiting for a reply from me, founder of Gamestage. And from what I've seen here, there are still some questions with predefined answers. Their source? I don't know.
I'm not here to blame anyone's answers but it has become a common thing to have my words "transformed". Some of the answers I gave in the past were not considered valid (even after being proven), so you may imagine how hard it was for me to keep a straight and interesting participation in the forum.
Anyway, several years after the first BIG discussion, it seems that more "battles" arose recenly. And I guess it is about time to state some tihing here, once for all.
I don't know if you all guys KNOW exactly the reason of this "FIGHT" against Gamestage. Do you? As far as I know, it all goes the same old way - CONSPIRACY, PLAGIUM, THIEVERY AND SCENE SPOILING. I cannot tie your arms and avoid you from participating, but I guess that before you do any judgement of Gamestage and me, MArtijn should at least explain you all THE TRUE reason of this fight, so you can understad why the FIGHT stills going on in the present time. Maybe after that, some of you will comprehend what is really going on.
Martijn says that I started to "copy/paste" information - I agree that in the initial state of the project Gamestage, I, with his support and permission, have used SOME of his site's infos. This is TRUE!! Every project that comes from the zero needs help and support. And he helped me a lot and, and, in the other hand, I also tried to help him the best way I could. I could not give him the same help because I was new to the scene, but my intention was always the best.
I always wanted to have a spectrum site of my own with every details about games (that I actually still have, in tapes and disks). But then, suddenly without warning.... Martijn, turned the table and looked at me as an enemy. He removed all his emails contacts (mostly companies and individuals) when he saw gamestage GROWING, even knowing that I always wanted to help. And he did it for 2 specific reasons, in my opinion:
a) By removing the companies/individuals contacts I could not reach them directly to ask for games permissions too. Even so, unlike what Martijn states, I have not stopped contacting companies and individuals. He probably states that he removed companies/individuals' contacts because I was leading them to say NO to free distribution. But this is not true. He also have received several denials, such as me, from companies like Konami, Code Masters, Sega, just to mention the big ones.
b) and he did that to avoid Gamestage to become bigger or better, probably than WOS, i don't know. He then accused me of being unpolite and rude to companies. He also accused me of promoting disorder and have companies to deny ALL GAMES to ALL SITES. He acused me of spoiling the spectrum scene with bad emails. This is simply not true also, but the fact is that this created a huge chit-chat over his forums; typically what's needed to feed a site sometimes.
BUT Martijn knows that I have also reached several companies, most of them he had already reached, so my help would not be very useful to him. BuT I always offered my help. If he started WOS first than Gamestage, it is normal that many of the permissions I got he already had. I guess the proof that I was well intentioned is still with him, even if many of you never came to know about it in the middle of the "fights". He owns an email from GAELCO, old ZIGURAT SOFTWARE, granting him permission on their old software. And since he never reached them to have permission on their games, I was the first one to give him their address. I wanted WOS to have permissions on their games too, so I gave him their contact as soon as I got a positive answer from ZIGURAT, the Spanish company. Along with this company, there were many other permissions Gamestage also got, unfortunately, he had them already.
I also helped him in many other ways, even if that help was a small portion of what he needed. BUT I helped. I helped him to correct several bugs on his games database; companies and games mispellings (corrections such as GENESIS SOFT instead CONOSIS SOFT, for example). I also alerted him for the fact that there were some specific Mastertronic games with the label FLIPPY FLIPPY (I had several original games with that label - in that time none of us knew what that label meant), etc. So my will to help was ALWAYS THERE! BIG or SMALL, I was helping him as a THANK YOU for what he did for me and Gamestage at the site's initial state. We changed emails several times a week. We had a very nice relationship, as you probably never knew.
But his GREED to become the ONLY OFFICIAL SITE about ZX Spectrum became very SAD to tell. I tried all the time to reach companies the best way I could. And every time I got a bad answer, I informed Martijn of that. I contacted Activision to have their permission to distribute their games, since WOS also had it. But Activision said that they didn't allow a free distribution of their software and I informed Martijn of that, so he should not be accused of copyrights violation. But in that time, MArtijn was already starting to look at Gamestage as a RIVAL. Even yet very small, it would sooner or later become a strong and complete database to feature all Spectrum games and their detailed informations. So, this issue was attracted to the forums, later. Everyone accused me of being a liar, without proofs. They said I never received an email from Activision denying their software. He planted seeds of disorder, leading some visitors to believe I was the WRONG person to deal with companies copyrights (how handy to say that, isn't it?).
But the ones who didn't believe me were all wrong. I have shown Activision's email to everyone. The sceptics still didn't believe me; but I'm not here to convince anyone of anything.
Anyway, The problem here seems to be the informations Gamestage uses. Informations, as we all know, run from mouth to mouth, generations to generations. And sometimes official informations become unofficial. Some decisions become denied, some facts become story. But all this are informations. Informations change with time and belong to everyone. If Gamestage features Spectrum games, it is VERY NORMAL that my informations are going to be equal or similar to the ones presented in WOS. There are in fact some old infos from WOS on my site, but they were used with his knowledge in that time.
Gamestage, as WOS, have had lots of permissions and denials. So, why should Gamestage's denials be considered the result of an unpolite conversation with copyright holders? I still have the mails, and if I ever decide to show you some, unpoliteness you will not find.
And why shouldn't WOS denials be considered the same way - wrong and unpolite? Is MArtijn he SUPRA MEGA LORD of the Spectrum Scene? Is he ALONE the one to hold the RIGHTS of software distribution?
Is he the one to know what to write and how to deal with companies and individuals? Nonsense! By going that way, we are just discarding all other Spectrum sites' competence and quality. That should never be the way. That is the narrowest vision he or anyone of us can have! And that will not help the spectrum scene in any way.
But the problem with Gamestage, at the eyes of Martijn, seems to be Plagium. Plagium is not apllicable to common sense informations. I mean: if Jack the nipper was a game released by Gremlin Graphics, and one of its authors was GREG HOLMES, and it was previewed in a certain magazine, then it is very NORMAL that both sites present the same informations, as well as lots of other zx spectrum sites over the net. Besides, plagium cannot be applied to the way or order you present those informations. And some of the infos Martijn has, I do also have. Some others I don't and some others more he also doens't have. I have a very large archive of tapes from magazines, such as Sinclair User, Microhobby, Crash and so on. I do also have lots of old magazines, newspapers articles about zx games and more. I have original compilations, games, re-releases, etc. And, sadly, I have also lost many original games, now stored in files.
Martijn asked me, during these last emails, why should I have the re-releasers since his site is the only one presenting that information. He also asked me why feature wikipedia links? My answer is simple: Links as well as re-releasers infos are as important as authors, developers or publishers! Why shouldn't I have them? Just because he have those infos already at WOS or because he simply wants to the THE ONE to have them, again? What's the point? Is he trying to be THE ONE and THE BIGGEST to be OFFICIALLY AUTHORIZED TO FREELY DISTRIBUTE SPECTRUM GAMES and TALK ABOUT THEM? I'm sorry, but I don't agree with that. We can all live together without the need of fighting each other. If we insist that ONLY WOS can be the one to have everything, what will become of all other spectrum sites, especially the smallest ones? People will not visit them because WOS is THE ONE. This is simply the worst way to go.
Gamestage, as well as any other Spectrum site, has all the right to grow as HEALTHY "partners" and not EVIL RIVALS.
WOS has made several statements about me and Gamestage, along with other "trolls", as he calls them. BUt I do not know the reasons of those other "trolls". And I will not say a word about them until I know what happened to them; not that I wanna know. Gamestage never raised evil and destructive FORUMS or TOPICS against WOS and would never do it. Gamestage is an interactive database of Siclair's Spectrum world, not an arena of fights or difamations. Besides, Gamestage visitors keep liking it and they are hundreds of them every day. And my visitors can always count on Gamestage. It will keep sharing informations about SPECTRUM games and it will grow even more with their help.
Gamestage's visitors "follow" it for more than 10 years now, but they also visit WOS and, almost certainly, many other sites. That's just the way it is!
FINALLY, I just want to tell you all that Gamestage's intention is not to violate anyone's integrity. If it was, why should I bother with copyrights permissions? Why? If I have violated anyone's integrity, I state clearly on the
copyrights section that I still want to correct that. Those eventual violations are not intentional. i WANT TO credit everyone! Even those works that are/were sent to me that do not specify authors but have copyright. I want to credit them all, if that is the wish of their author(s). So if anyone there claims their work, I'll credit them.
Gamestage is not a site free of bugs or mistakes. It was done by humans with the help of other humans. So I ask: What are the mistakes of WOS? Is it free of them? Was it made by GODS? I can easily point out a first mistake. "AMSTRAD OFFICIAL ENDORSEMENT" can be just the tail of it. I would also love to be endorsed by Asmtrad, as any other spectrum sites worldwide, but I guess Amstrad PLC is not pointed to that direction or, as they state, they never were anywhere, anytime, to anyone.
These are my final words about this issue. And I guess you've had enough of it, anyway. Thanks for reading this post. Any further questions, please use my email. I'll gladly answer them.
I think paulo deserves some respect for posting his side of the story on a site than can seem very hostile towards him.
whether or not he's right or wrong, well it isn't my job to judge. i do hope that this doesn't turn into a thread of insults and random accusations as it will only harm WOS. This is supposed to be a friendly site after all.
in fact what possible good can come from continuing this discussion?
"10 April 2010
Dear visitor, we are glad to announce that Gamestage will finally break its own boundaries in the next few days! A new database system has been developed for more than 2 years and very soon it will allow you to search what you're looking for with an extreme precision. We would like to appologize for our old DB and for the fact we couldn't serve you better all these years. Thank you for your patience.
Stay tunned and forget everything you've seen so far! Our upcomming surprises will take you on a ride of endless memories and memorable games! Prepare yourself to witness Gamestage becoming the world's NUMBER 1 ZX Spectrum's dedicated site!"
In all my years here or on other retro sites i've never heard Martijn being described as some great big 'dictator' or someone threatened by other Speccy sites. More the merrier i'm sure he thinks as do the rest of us.
There was that major issue of you stealing peoples maps and then denying you had (Until you had stupidly left someones initials on one of the maps which proved you stole them.)
I think you were hurting the scene by contacting these companies and then Activision 'famously' then denied their games.
No one thinks WOS is a might god etc, just its obviously been here a long time and is the main site. Why dont you try and add something new to the Speccy scene ? I love any Speccy websites which has new stuff (Eg Michaels Rubber Beermat site which has lots of his reviews, top 100 games etc).
Why bother listing maps/games etc when its all here and youre basically nicking it anyway ? Why not do something new and add to the scene ?
Sorry Gamestage isnt a threat one bit to WOS one bit and to think its a threat/competitor is a joke, i would like Gamestage if it tried to do something new as theres a market for that.
I too love computer websites which offer something new.. Games that Weren't did and they even have three of my titles listed and psj3809 gave something new - an oppotunity which I took advantage off and now I have Vols 1 - 5 of the Speccy Bible, the FIRST fan made books I have. I also have Andrew Rolling's excellent book too.
I stick with WOS because of the friends everyone makes here. I also goto Gallifrey Base, a Doctor Who board and they seem to do nothing on there but bitch at each other!
I think you were hurting the scene by contacting these companies and then Activision 'famously' then denied their games.
I've asked you to justify this statement once already, but you didn't do so. Now you've posted it again, so...
Why do you believe Paulo contacting Activision caused any damage to the scene? All the evidence points towards Activision's policy being set before Paulo's contact.
I've asked you to justify this statement once already, but you didn't do so. Now you've posted it again, so...
Why do you believe Paulo contacting Activision caused any damage to the scene? All the evidence points towards Activision's policy being set before Paulo's contact.
I'm sure that Philip is correct here, though I'd still be interested in seeing how Paulo's request to Activision was worded.
Comments
Diplomacy has been tried. And with a lot more patience than I would have applied.
Andrew
That'd make a good lyric, that...
*gets coat*
No matter what the outcome of the applied diplomacy, it does not give us the right to disregard the Forum Guidelines nor that we should have to lower our standards of conduct.
joking aside , if I knowingly post info / pics or whatever thats used here.. thats FINE.. as I am giving my consent... but 3rd parties, is different.
it does make me question why someone tries to re-invent the wheel though.
Rubbish. The DMCA is a US act. How could that have been signed by European states?
Yes, a database right exists in European law, but it's nothing to do with the DMCA whatsoever.
I think more than one set of people attempting to do similar things is healthy - good insurance against tired ideas, and promotes progress. But only when people do their own work, rather than ripping each other off wholesale without permission.
I'm working on a CPC version of WOS but it's very slow work, especially when I'm doing it all by myself.
I don't realistically think that there can be any sort of rational debate here about Gamestage - we've already seen three posters, including a forum moderator, spreading misinformation about the Activision denial. If I were in Paulo's shoes, I wouldn't post here even if I were innocent as the whole atmosphere has been poisoned already. This thread was just throwing more fuel on the fire. Probably deserved fuel, but it was never an attempt to start a rational debate, and ZnorXman is right to call that out.
The question I ask is: what value is this thread serving? Getting the information out is important, but that could have been done outside the forum.
Thanks for that Strident..
Stairway to Hell is a good site for the BBC.. I particually like their Lost and Found section to see what was planned/coded for the BBC like Bubble Bobble, 3D Pool.. Did you know Licence to Kill was even released on it..
As for my CPC version of WOS, it is going very slow. I hope to have something up just before Christmas.
I will admit that the WOS database is a big help here for many titles, mainly because since CPC Zone went AWOL, I've lost contact with many CPC people... I've even told Martijn that the WOS database is proving helpful for listing what games were released by which company and who coded the Speccy version, although it the CPC coders might be different and I didn't get any negative responses, in fact, he wished me luck.
I don't intend to plagarise WOS by copying the site and replacing the Speccy references with CPC stuff, it'll be my own template and information gathered myself. But as I said, the database will prove useful to clarify things. Even Games that Weren't 64 is useful because a few games almost came out under different names and under different companies - for instance West Bank by Gremlin almost went out as Bank Panic by Elite. And Live and Let Die was originally called Aquablast.
I will add a postscript saying the game was reviewed in such and such a magazine, issue number, what the rating was.
As for protection methods, the only ones I know about were Speedlock on tape and ones on disc which had you load the game by typing in |CPM or when you called for a catalogue of the disc contents, it gave an elaborate message.
The graphics (where possible) will be captured by myself from emulators and disc images used by myself. Inlay scans will come from other sources (if I can find the scanners to get permission from).
Thankfully, I do have issues of Amstrad Action and Amstrad Computer User (both physical and JPEGs) so I can find a reference to a particualr game...
If there is anyone who can help with information and stuff, please let me know..
PS: Full credit would be given to WOS and Martijn on the front page of the site, which is still untitled.. I don't want to use CPC Zone as I got on well with the webmaster of that site and I don't want to betray him by using that title.
Our permission was granted to WOS solely.
Any software created by me, both existing (Pamela the Zombie Hunter, Holidays in Amsterdam, Chicks&Bricks, Mockatetris, Skyscraper of Doom,Heritage) and future ones (I hope there will be more this year ;) ) aren't allowed to be distributed by Gamestage or any other project by Paolo Teixeira (Gamestage owner).
im not sure if your allowed to copyright that. :-P
Martijn says the permits are not exclusive to WoS...
edit: can individuals give permits/denials to others that are different from those given to WOS, while WOS hosts their software?
Yes.
The permits agreed with WoS are non-transferable unless stated otherwise. WoS is not after exclusive rights, so there's nothing stopping other sites from getting their own permits.
It's like parking permits - your permit might be restricted to a car with a certain numberplate, but that doesn't prevent other people from getting permits to park in the same street.
Yes, it's a car analogy.
If your car happens to be a polluting wreck, you might be refused a permit.
Then make sure you email Gamestage about this. I may be wrong but I doubt he visits the WoS forums much.
I guess many of you were probably waiting for a reply from me, founder of Gamestage. And from what I've seen here, there are still some questions with predefined answers. Their source? I don't know.
I'm not here to blame anyone's answers but it has become a common thing to have my words "transformed". Some of the answers I gave in the past were not considered valid (even after being proven), so you may imagine how hard it was for me to keep a straight and interesting participation in the forum.
Anyway, several years after the first BIG discussion, it seems that more "battles" arose recenly. And I guess it is about time to state some tihing here, once for all.
I don't know if you all guys KNOW exactly the reason of this "FIGHT" against Gamestage. Do you? As far as I know, it all goes the same old way - CONSPIRACY, PLAGIUM, THIEVERY AND SCENE SPOILING. I cannot tie your arms and avoid you from participating, but I guess that before you do any judgement of Gamestage and me, MArtijn should at least explain you all THE TRUE reason of this fight, so you can understad why the FIGHT stills going on in the present time. Maybe after that, some of you will comprehend what is really going on.
Martijn says that I started to "copy/paste" information - I agree that in the initial state of the project Gamestage, I, with his support and permission, have used SOME of his site's infos. This is TRUE!! Every project that comes from the zero needs help and support. And he helped me a lot and, and, in the other hand, I also tried to help him the best way I could. I could not give him the same help because I was new to the scene, but my intention was always the best.
I always wanted to have a spectrum site of my own with every details about games (that I actually still have, in tapes and disks). But then, suddenly without warning.... Martijn, turned the table and looked at me as an enemy. He removed all his emails contacts (mostly companies and individuals) when he saw gamestage GROWING, even knowing that I always wanted to help. And he did it for 2 specific reasons, in my opinion:
a) By removing the companies/individuals contacts I could not reach them directly to ask for games permissions too. Even so, unlike what Martijn states, I have not stopped contacting companies and individuals. He probably states that he removed companies/individuals' contacts because I was leading them to say NO to free distribution. But this is not true. He also have received several denials, such as me, from companies like Konami, Code Masters, Sega, just to mention the big ones.
b) and he did that to avoid Gamestage to become bigger or better, probably than WOS, i don't know. He then accused me of being unpolite and rude to companies. He also accused me of promoting disorder and have companies to deny ALL GAMES to ALL SITES. He acused me of spoiling the spectrum scene with bad emails. This is simply not true also, but the fact is that this created a huge chit-chat over his forums; typically what's needed to feed a site sometimes.
BUT Martijn knows that I have also reached several companies, most of them he had already reached, so my help would not be very useful to him. BuT I always offered my help. If he started WOS first than Gamestage, it is normal that many of the permissions I got he already had. I guess the proof that I was well intentioned is still with him, even if many of you never came to know about it in the middle of the "fights". He owns an email from GAELCO, old ZIGURAT SOFTWARE, granting him permission on their old software. And since he never reached them to have permission on their games, I was the first one to give him their address. I wanted WOS to have permissions on their games too, so I gave him their contact as soon as I got a positive answer from ZIGURAT, the Spanish company. Along with this company, there were many other permissions Gamestage also got, unfortunately, he had them already.
I also helped him in many other ways, even if that help was a small portion of what he needed. BUT I helped. I helped him to correct several bugs on his games database; companies and games mispellings (corrections such as GENESIS SOFT instead CONOSIS SOFT, for example). I also alerted him for the fact that there were some specific Mastertronic games with the label FLIPPY FLIPPY (I had several original games with that label - in that time none of us knew what that label meant), etc. So my will to help was ALWAYS THERE! BIG or SMALL, I was helping him as a THANK YOU for what he did for me and Gamestage at the site's initial state. We changed emails several times a week. We had a very nice relationship, as you probably never knew.
But his GREED to become the ONLY OFFICIAL SITE about ZX Spectrum became very SAD to tell. I tried all the time to reach companies the best way I could. And every time I got a bad answer, I informed Martijn of that. I contacted Activision to have their permission to distribute their games, since WOS also had it. But Activision said that they didn't allow a free distribution of their software and I informed Martijn of that, so he should not be accused of copyrights violation. But in that time, MArtijn was already starting to look at Gamestage as a RIVAL. Even yet very small, it would sooner or later become a strong and complete database to feature all Spectrum games and their detailed informations. So, this issue was attracted to the forums, later. Everyone accused me of being a liar, without proofs. They said I never received an email from Activision denying their software. He planted seeds of disorder, leading some visitors to believe I was the WRONG person to deal with companies copyrights (how handy to say that, isn't it?).
But the ones who didn't believe me were all wrong. I have shown Activision's email to everyone. The sceptics still didn't believe me; but I'm not here to convince anyone of anything.
Anyway, The problem here seems to be the informations Gamestage uses. Informations, as we all know, run from mouth to mouth, generations to generations. And sometimes official informations become unofficial. Some decisions become denied, some facts become story. But all this are informations. Informations change with time and belong to everyone. If Gamestage features Spectrum games, it is VERY NORMAL that my informations are going to be equal or similar to the ones presented in WOS. There are in fact some old infos from WOS on my site, but they were used with his knowledge in that time.
Gamestage, as WOS, have had lots of permissions and denials. So, why should Gamestage's denials be considered the result of an unpolite conversation with copyright holders? I still have the mails, and if I ever decide to show you some, unpoliteness you will not find.
And why shouldn't WOS denials be considered the same way - wrong and unpolite? Is MArtijn he SUPRA MEGA LORD of the Spectrum Scene? Is he ALONE the one to hold the RIGHTS of software distribution?
Is he the one to know what to write and how to deal with companies and individuals? Nonsense! By going that way, we are just discarding all other Spectrum sites' competence and quality. That should never be the way. That is the narrowest vision he or anyone of us can have! And that will not help the spectrum scene in any way.
But the problem with Gamestage, at the eyes of Martijn, seems to be Plagium. Plagium is not apllicable to common sense informations. I mean: if Jack the nipper was a game released by Gremlin Graphics, and one of its authors was GREG HOLMES, and it was previewed in a certain magazine, then it is very NORMAL that both sites present the same informations, as well as lots of other zx spectrum sites over the net. Besides, plagium cannot be applied to the way or order you present those informations. And some of the infos Martijn has, I do also have. Some others I don't and some others more he also doens't have. I have a very large archive of tapes from magazines, such as Sinclair User, Microhobby, Crash and so on. I do also have lots of old magazines, newspapers articles about zx games and more. I have original compilations, games, re-releases, etc. And, sadly, I have also lost many original games, now stored in files.
Martijn asked me, during these last emails, why should I have the re-releasers since his site is the only one presenting that information. He also asked me why feature wikipedia links? My answer is simple: Links as well as re-releasers infos are as important as authors, developers or publishers! Why shouldn't I have them? Just because he have those infos already at WOS or because he simply wants to the THE ONE to have them, again? What's the point? Is he trying to be THE ONE and THE BIGGEST to be OFFICIALLY AUTHORIZED TO FREELY DISTRIBUTE SPECTRUM GAMES and TALK ABOUT THEM? I'm sorry, but I don't agree with that. We can all live together without the need of fighting each other. If we insist that ONLY WOS can be the one to have everything, what will become of all other spectrum sites, especially the smallest ones? People will not visit them because WOS is THE ONE. This is simply the worst way to go.
Gamestage, as well as any other Spectrum site, has all the right to grow as HEALTHY "partners" and not EVIL RIVALS.
WOS has made several statements about me and Gamestage, along with other "trolls", as he calls them. BUt I do not know the reasons of those other "trolls". And I will not say a word about them until I know what happened to them; not that I wanna know. Gamestage never raised evil and destructive FORUMS or TOPICS against WOS and would never do it. Gamestage is an interactive database of Siclair's Spectrum world, not an arena of fights or difamations. Besides, Gamestage visitors keep liking it and they are hundreds of them every day. And my visitors can always count on Gamestage. It will keep sharing informations about SPECTRUM games and it will grow even more with their help.
Gamestage's visitors "follow" it for more than 10 years now, but they also visit WOS and, almost certainly, many other sites. That's just the way it is!
FINALLY, I just want to tell you all that Gamestage's intention is not to violate anyone's integrity. If it was, why should I bother with copyrights permissions? Why? If I have violated anyone's integrity, I state clearly on the
copyrights section that I still want to correct that. Those eventual violations are not intentional. i WANT TO credit everyone! Even those works that are/were sent to me that do not specify authors but have copyright. I want to credit them all, if that is the wish of their author(s). So if anyone there claims their work, I'll credit them.
Gamestage is not a site free of bugs or mistakes. It was done by humans with the help of other humans. So I ask: What are the mistakes of WOS? Is it free of them? Was it made by GODS? I can easily point out a first mistake. "AMSTRAD OFFICIAL ENDORSEMENT" can be just the tail of it. I would also love to be endorsed by Asmtrad, as any other spectrum sites worldwide, but I guess Amstrad PLC is not pointed to that direction or, as they state, they never were anywhere, anytime, to anyone.
These are my final words about this issue. And I guess you've had enough of it, anyway. Thanks for reading this post. Any further questions, please use my email. I'll gladly answer them.
PAULO TEIXEIRA
Gamestage founder.
*gets popcorn*
:-)
whether or not he's right or wrong, well it isn't my job to judge. i do hope that this doesn't turn into a thread of insults and random accusations as it will only harm WOS. This is supposed to be a friendly site after all.
in fact what possible good can come from continuing this discussion?
"10 April 2010
Dear visitor, we are glad to announce that Gamestage will finally break its own boundaries in the next few days! A new database system has been developed for more than 2 years and very soon it will allow you to search what you're looking for with an extreme precision. We would like to appologize for our old DB and for the fact we couldn't serve you better all these years. Thank you for your patience.
Stay tunned and forget everything you've seen so far! Our upcomming surprises will take you on a ride of endless memories and memorable games! Prepare yourself to witness Gamestage becoming the world's NUMBER 1 ZX Spectrum's dedicated site!"
http://www.gamestage.net/index2.html
In all my years here or on other retro sites i've never heard Martijn being described as some great big 'dictator' or someone threatened by other Speccy sites. More the merrier i'm sure he thinks as do the rest of us.
There was that major issue of you stealing peoples maps and then denying you had (Until you had stupidly left someones initials on one of the maps which proved you stole them.)
I think you were hurting the scene by contacting these companies and then Activision 'famously' then denied their games.
No one thinks WOS is a might god etc, just its obviously been here a long time and is the main site. Why dont you try and add something new to the Speccy scene ? I love any Speccy websites which has new stuff (Eg Michaels Rubber Beermat site which has lots of his reviews, top 100 games etc).
Why bother listing maps/games etc when its all here and youre basically nicking it anyway ? Why not do something new and add to the scene ?
Sorry Gamestage isnt a threat one bit to WOS one bit and to think its a threat/competitor is a joke, i would like Gamestage if it tried to do something new as theres a market for that.
But you seem to have an excuse for everything
I stick with WOS because of the friends everyone makes here. I also goto Gallifrey Base, a Doctor Who board and they seem to do nothing on there but bitch at each other!
I've asked you to justify this statement once already, but you didn't do so. Now you've posted it again, so...
Why do you believe Paulo contacting Activision caused any damage to the scene? All the evidence points towards Activision's policy being set before Paulo's contact.
I'm sure that Philip is correct here, though I'd still be interested in seeing how Paulo's request to Activision was worded.