QuoteA third copy of Chase HQ 2 appears to have just been just found!. The cartridge is unfortunately still missing but this was found in an ongoing attic clearance. So fingers crossed (https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/ta0/1/16/1f91e_1f3fb.png)
source FB / amstradiens ( Lee Cook )
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Let's hope the cartridge turns up and can be preserved, even if it's probably a terrible conversion.
Very sad the cartridge was not into its box. May be somewhere with the GX4000.
Great pics of the box and manual :)
I hope the cart is found :)
Quote from: andycadley on 20:09, 17 January 25Let's hope the cartridge turns up and can be preserved, even if it's probably a terrible conversion.
Is probably just the speccy version with colour and that version is terrible and according to ChinnyVision one of the coders for the Speccy version worked on Speccy Outrun and the coding team went on to code Cisco Heat lol - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz1EJgl7gpU
He mentions that around 16:20 onwards in the video.
Chase HQ on the GX always amuses me.
I appreciate that it's pretty rare and I'm sure diehard collectors will have bragging rights forever more (and more power to them for it).
But everyone else is in for a severe disappointment should this ever surface. All things indicate that the conversion is utter muck. So I'll never understand why people are so intrigued by it.
Even in the arcade, the game wasn't that great and paled in comparison to it's predecessor in my honest opinion.
Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 22:44, 18 January 25Chase HQ on the GX always amuses me.
I appreciate that it's pretty rare and I'm sure diehard collectors will have bragging rights forever more (and more power to them for it).
But everyone else is in for a severe disappointment should this ever surface. All things indicate that the conversion is utter muck. So I'll never understand why people are so intrigued by it.
Even in the arcade, the game wasn't that great and paled in comparison to it's predecessor in my honest opinion.
it's curiosity and culture, no one is expecting a proper game
Quote from: roudoudou on 22:47, 18 January 25Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 22:44, 18 January 25Chase HQ on the GX always amuses me.
I appreciate that it's pretty rare and I'm sure diehard collectors will have bragging rights forever more (and more power to them for it).
But everyone else is in for a severe disappointment should this ever surface. All things indicate that the conversion is utter muck. So I'll never understand why people are so intrigued by it.
Even in the arcade, the game wasn't that great and paled in comparison to it's predecessor in my honest opinion.
it's curiosity and culture, no one is expecting a proper game
And I appreciate that... but that's a hell of a long wait for what's going to be a pile of... erm dou dou? ;)
Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 22:56, 18 January 25Quote from: roudoudou on 22:47, 18 January 25Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 22:44, 18 January 25Chase HQ on the GX always amuses me.
I appreciate that it's pretty rare and I'm sure diehard collectors will have bragging rights forever more (and more power to them for it).
But everyone else is in for a severe disappointment should this ever surface. All things indicate that the conversion is utter muck. So I'll never understand why people are so intrigued by it.
Even in the arcade, the game wasn't that great and paled in comparison to it's predecessor in my honest opinion.
it's curiosity and culture, no one is expecting a proper game
And I appreciate that... but that's a hell of a long wait for what's going to be a pile of... erm dou dou? ;)
Most of the official carts were, frankly, rubbish. It'd be nice to have them all preserved as historical documentation, more than really as something you'd play. I mean I'm not like going to fire up No Exit either.
Looking at the box corner, it was to be shown into a shop, no?
If it is that, the cartridge was probably removed in first place.
Quote from: Egg Master on 11:54, 19 January 25Looking at the box corner, it was to be shown into a shop, no?
If it is that, the cartridge was probably removed in first place.
I was thinking the corner pieces look a bit like a hook but I think it would be silly to hang the box from those corners because it could hide the game name.
I think it is for two things:
1. to protect the sides when in a box
2. tabs to be easy to grab to remove it from a box when it is side on with other games.
You are certainly right. Thank you.
Has everyone on that CREDITS page of the manual been contacted? :)
Credits are identical...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/906/ZX-Spectrum/Chase_HQ_II_Special_Criminal_Investigation
If ICE were responsible, I'd imagine it would have identical graphics and attempted scrolling to Turbo Outrun, which wasn't as bad as Outrun... but wasn't great either.
Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 10:11, 20 January 25Credits are identical...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/906/ZX-Spectrum/Chase_HQ_II_Special_Criminal_Investigation
If ICE were responsible, I'd imagine it would have identical graphics and attempted scrolling to Turbo Outrun, which wasn't as bad as Outrun... but wasn't great either.
From what we've seen of it before via footage, and knowing the Spectrum version, it's going to be awful.
Having the box and manual is interesting. I'd always assumed the cart that turned up before was a pre-production sample. But here we have a case and manual. Wonder if it was done as a proof?
The cartridge manufacturing was carnage. Amstrad insisting on manufacturing in the Far East meaning huge lead times. I remember being in Dixons Guildford in early December 1990, there being a huge display of games available and the salesman keeping coming back from the stockroom to say they didn't have the game I wanted, me choosing another one and the same thing happening.
Amstrad learned nothing from the 464 and Sugar insisting software had to be plentiful. All the games should have been ready for launch and widely available with no shovelware.
Quote from: lmimmfn on 16:19, 18 January 25Quote from: andycadley on 20:09, 17 January 25Let's hope the cartridge turns up and can be preserved, even if it's probably a terrible conversion.
Is probably just the speccy version with colour and that version is terrible and according to ChinnyVision one of the coders for the Speccy version worked on Speccy Outrun and the coding team went on to code Cisco Heat lol - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz1EJgl7gpU
He mentions that around 16:20 onwards in the video.
Not sure if that play through I saw is online anymore but it was just a slower 16 colour version of the Speccy game and didn't look to have any Plus enhancements.
I assume Ocean didn't bother converting it to the standard CPC as it stank.
Quote from: chinnyhill10 on 19:59, 20 January 25Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 10:11, 20 January 25Credits are identical...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/906/ZX-Spectrum/Chase_HQ_II_Special_Criminal_Investigation
If ICE were responsible, I'd imagine it would have identical graphics and attempted scrolling to Turbo Outrun, which wasn't as bad as Outrun... but wasn't great either.
The cartridge manufacturing was carnage. Amstrad insisting on manufacturing in the Far East meaning huge lead times. I remember being in Dixons Guildford in early December 1990, there being a huge display of games available and the salesman keeping coming back from the stockroom to say they didn't have the game I wanted, me choosing another one and the same thing happening.
Amstrad learned nothing from the 464 and Sugar insisting software had to be plentiful. All the games should have been ready for launch and widely available with no shovelware.
It's well established now that the cart manufacture was actually done by Trojan in Wales and the catalogue of Amstrad cock-ups is even more facepalm than was thought possible :(
Quote from: chinnyhill10 on 20:04, 20 January 25Quote from: lmimmfn on 16:19, 18 January 25Quote from: andycadley on 20:09, 17 January 25Let's hope the cartridge turns up and can be preserved, even if it's probably a terrible conversion.
Is probably just the speccy version with colour and that version is terrible and according to ChinnyVision one of the coders for the Speccy version worked on Speccy Outrun and the coding team went on to code Cisco Heat lol - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz1EJgl7gpU
He mentions that around 16:20 onwards in the video.
Not sure if that play through I saw is online anymore but it was just a slower 16 colour version of the Speccy game and didn't look to have any Plus enhancements.
I assume Ocean didn't bother converting it to the standard CPC as it stank.
I'm only speculating but I'm guessing they couldn't get it working on a CPC 464 via tape as CPC gfx consume more memory than the Speccy that the opted to go with cart, then realised the market wasn't there for carts.
The fact thst there are a few( very few ) cards in the wild leads me to think those carts are from a preproduction run.
It's all speculating on my side of course.
Quote from: dthrone on 01:02, 21 January 25It's well established now that the cart manufacture was actually done by Trojan in Wales and the catalogue of Amstrad cock-ups is even more facepalm than was thought possible :(
It's strange because one of the problems cited (and I can't remember by who) was the long lead times on cartridges.
Perhaps Trojan were burning the ROM's and assembling them but Amstrad were having the boards and cart plastics made in Korea and then shipping them over? It would make more sense to have Orion handle the PCB work and injection moulding and then Trojan to do the 'finishing'. Burn the ROM, put it on a board, snap it into the case and slap a label on.
Unless Trojan had PCB and injection moulding facilities (or had access to them). But 'finishing' in the UK would fit with the way Amstrad worked with some of their other products at their Shoeburyness facility. Products like VCR's shipped over part finished.
Quote from: lmimmfn on 04:06, 21 January 25I'm only speculating but I'm guessing they couldn't get it working on a CPC 464 via tape as CPC gfx consume more memory than the Speccy that the opted to go with cart, then realised the market wasn't there for carts.
The fact thst there are a few( very few ) cards in the wild leads me to think those carts are from a preproduction run.
It's all speculating on my side of course.
Yes, I think all the stuff from Wave was basically carts that were samples or tests that Amstrad sold in bulk. Wave and that other place in Telford used to take alot of stuff Amstrad sold off cheap to clear space.
In fact IIRC Alan Sugar's sons first job at Amstrad was selling off unwanted stock and returns.
Quote from: chinnyhill10 on 23:49, 21 January 25Quote from: dthrone on 01:02, 21 January 25It's well established now that the cart manufacture was actually done by Trojan in Wales and the catalogue of Amstrad cock-ups is even more facepalm than was thought possible :(
It's strange because one of the problems cited (and I can't remember by who) was the long lead times on cartridges.
Perhaps Trojan were burning the ROM's and assembling them but Amstrad were having the boards and cart plastics made in Korea and then shipping them over? It would make more sense to have Orion handle the PCB work and injection moulding and then Trojan to do the 'finishing'. Burn the ROM, put it on a board, snap it into the case and slap a label on.
Unless Trojan had PCB and injection moulding facilities (or had access to them). But 'finishing' in the UK would fit with the way Amstrad worked with some of their other products at their Shoeburyness facility. Products like VCR's shipped over part finished.
The injection moulding would almost certainly be outsourced I'd guess but I think Trojan were quite capable of making up the boards themselves as they were fundamentally an electronics company. I'm not sure Amstrad would need someone like them just to essentially do assembly. Dunno though :D
Quote from: dthrone on 09:45, 22 January 25The injection moulding would almost certainly be outsourced I'd guess but I think Trojan were quite capable of making up the boards themselves as they were fundamentally an electronics company. I'm not sure Amstrad would need someone like them just to essentially do assembly. Dunno though :D
I assume the ACID chip had to be produced and supplied by Amstrad at the very least.
There's something in the entire chain that isn't right. A bottleneck. Either Amstrad didn't want to pay out for cartridges to be made that they then couldn't sell, or some kind of delay or supply issue.
Was it money, a supply chain issue or a lack of understanding.
In brief - Amstrad demanded that publishers place a minimum order up front of 20,000 copies of each game, which went through them. :doh:
Trojan a relatively small firm really, struggled to produce that number quickly on demand too. Remember you've also got those special cases to produce too, and manuals, and have them all shipped and delivered.
The extra double whammy being the poor sales of the GX4000 after Xmas led to publishers starting to pull out not willing to place such high orders - case in point it's believed Empire cancelled Gazza II because of that. Also it's written in New Computer Express Ocean had completed games like "Pang" & "Plotting" and threatened to cancel them, until Amstrad relented on the minimum order number - which is why they're relatively rare to find (because released in smaller numbers).
Additionally - it's always been a complete mystery about SCI Chase HQ II. There's always been naysayers about it's existence but I've been banging my head against my desk for years saying "it is real" because at the least Martyn Carrol of Retro Gamer went and visited one of the owners of said cart (+ box & instructions) many years ago and verified it. Before that I was in touch with the other owner long before and he'd been sending me pics (although he's been silent on me for years now).
Anyway, one can only speculate and purely guess... that Ocean sent it over to Trojan who started manufacturing and then suddenly had a change of heart perhaps? And halted it mid production? And only a few copies got completed? That seems to be the only reasonable explanation. What was left got sold to WAVE, CPC Now, junked in a skip sadly by Trojan and apparently some got sold to a computer game shop up in Newcastle as we've just discovered. Bizarre.
I think it's pretty clear it exists:
https://youtu.be/r7fmHpbl85k?si=PTYG0-OApjsdsUae
The trouble is getting someone who actually owns a copy of the cartridge and is prepared to dump it in touch with someone who has the capability to safely do so.
My guess is that they were pre-production copies produced ready for sign off or for magazines or something, but the release was scrapped before it went ahead. The few copies now floating around presumably came from places like Trading Post that were just flogging off whatever had been dumped on them.
Sadly, people owning **RARE** games are afraid to lose something, while there is no risk at all to dump a ROM.
Quote from: andycadley on 12:30, 24 January 25I think it's pretty clear it exists:
https://youtu.be/r7fmHpbl85k?si=PTYG0-OApjsdsUae
The trouble is getting someone who actually owns a copy of the cartridge and is prepared to dump it in touch with someone who has the capability to safely do so.
My guess is that they were pre-production copies produced ready for sign off or for magazines or something, but the release was scrapped before it went ahead. The few copies now floating around presumably came from places like Trading Post that were just flogging off whatever had been dumped on them.
it's safe to read a ROM...
the risk IS to not dump it and lose forever the game
Quote from: roudoudou on 13:21, 24 January 25Quote from: andycadley on 12:30, 24 January 25I think it's pretty clear it exists:
https://youtu.be/r7fmHpbl85k?si=PTYG0-OApjsdsUae
The trouble is getting someone who actually owns a copy of the cartridge and is prepared to dump it in touch with someone who has the capability to safely do so.
My guess is that they were pre-production copies produced ready for sign off or for magazines or something, but the release was scrapped before it went ahead. The few copies now floating around presumably came from places like Trading Post that were just flogging off whatever had been dumped on them.
it's safe to read a ROM...
the risk IS to not dump it and lose forever the game
Sure. But if you owned one of the only copies in existence, I can understand why you might be dubious about plugging it in to someone's homebrew cart reader project without at least seeing it used on other carts without negative effects.
Quote from: andycadley on 14:32, 24 January 25Quote from: roudoudou on 13:21, 24 January 25Quote from: andycadley on 12:30, 24 January 25I think it's pretty clear it exists:
https://youtu.be/r7fmHpbl85k?si=PTYG0-OApjsdsUae
The trouble is getting someone who actually owns a copy of the cartridge and is prepared to dump it in touch with someone who has the capability to safely do so.
My guess is that they were pre-production copies produced ready for sign off or for magazines or something, but the release was scrapped before it went ahead. The few copies now floating around presumably came from places like Trading Post that were just flogging off whatever had been dumped on them.
it's safe to read a ROM...
the risk IS to not dump it and lose forever the game
Sure. But if you owned one of the only copies in existence, I can understand why you might be dubious about plugging it in to someone's homebrew cart reader project without at least seeing it used on other carts without negative effects.
so lets put that basic cartridge and make a dump of it before that sci dump :D
or maybe people don't really have this cartridge?
Quote from: Egg Master on 12:57, 24 January 25Sadly, people owning **RARE** games are afraid to lose something, while there is no risk at all to dump a ROM.
25+ years ago I sent some of my carts away to be dumped by someone on csa8. Pang, Navy Seals, Klax, World Of Sports and Switchblade*. For a long time my carts were the only ones avaliable online! I think there's newer transfers now.
I was warned that there was a risk of damage to the ROM and that the carts would need to be broken open and then superglued shut again.
That was fine with me. But if I had a very rare valuable cartridge I'd think twice! The breaking open alone is going to reduce the value.
* It may not have been every one of these. But the majority depending on what was needed.
Quote from: roudoudou on 14:43, 24 January 25so lets put that basic cartridge and make a dump of it before that sci dump :D
or maybe people don't really have this cartridge?
If I had one, that'd convince me. As far as I'm aware, of the two known copies one was held by someone who didn't want it copied because it would devalue their purchase, the other by someone who had seemed open to it but had concerns about potential damage (as well as not wanting to send it to some randomer for obvious reasons) and eventually such discussions just tailed off (though that video did surface as well as a Retro Gamer article).
We can only hope a third copy show up at some point and ends up in the hands of someone generous. I still keep my eyes open any time I'm in an antique shop/boot fair. You never know...
Quote from: Xyphoe on 10:44, 24 January 25In brief - Amstrad demanded that publishers place a minimum order up front of 20,000 copies of each game, which went through them. :doh:
Trojan a relatively small firm really, struggled to produce that number quickly on demand too. Remember you've also got those special cases to produce too, and manuals, and have them all shipped and delivered.
The extra double whammy being the poor sales of the GX4000 after Xmas led to publishers starting to pull out not willing to place such high orders - case in point it's believed Empire cancelled Gazza II because of that. Also it's written in New Computer Express Ocean had completed games like "Pang" & "Plotting" and threatened to cancel them, until Amstrad relented on the minimum order number - which is why they're relatively rare to find (because released in smaller numbers).
The weird thing about Pang was it WAS available before Christmas.
Mine came from Dixons in Guildford either the 7th or 14th of December 1990 with my GX4000. With the lead time involved in getting it into the shops for that date, would Ocean really have had enough data to want to pull back? We would be talking carts made in November.
But as I said earlier, it was hit and miss what Dixons had. And even when I went to buy a game on New Years Day in Southampton, the only games they had in stock there I didn't already have was Klax or Barbarian 2. And I had Barbarian 2 already on tape!
@chinnyhill10 Thank you for your involvement to the GX4000 games preservation.
I feel sorry for you, but I think these people were just plain stupid... :picard:
Because it was much easier to make a cartridge to socket adapter by using a ribbon cable or a small homemade PCB to read the cartridges directly "pin to pin" from their PC or whatever hardware they used, through the edge connector than to break the cartridges to access the circuit, desolder them, dump the ROM ICs, resolder them and glue the shells.
Really things to complicate the Life.
Just a 6128 with m4 or so attached at the bus expansión.
Boot a custom rom that read each 16k cartridge Page to a disk 0.bin 1.bin 2.bin etc etc.
Then just read the dsk in the pc paste the Pages in to one rom and you have the cart dumped without touch It.
Quote from: Egg Master on 15:13, 24 January 25@chinnyhill10 Thank you for your involvement to the GX4000 games preservation.
I feel sorry for you, but I think these people were just plain stupid... :picard:
Because it was much easier to make a cartridge to socket adapter by using a ribbon cable or a small homemade PCB to read the cartridges directly "pin to pin" from their PC or whatever hardware they used, through the edge connector than to break the cartridges to access the circuit, desolder them, dump the ROM ICs, resolder them and glue the shells.
You have to look at things in the context of the time. It was a handful of people doing something even most CPC fans said wasn't worth bothering with, using whatever tools and skills they had available. And there wasn't a lot of knowledge on how exactly the carts worked (was the ROM encrypted etc).
Quote from: Egg Master on 15:13, 24 January 25@chinnyhill10 Thank you for your involvement to the GX4000 games preservation.
I feel sorry for you, but I think these people were just plain stupid... :picard:
Because it was much easier to make a cartridge to socket adapter by using a ribbon cable or a small homemade PCB to read the cartridges directly "pin to pin" from their PC or whatever hardware they used, through the edge connector than to break the cartridges to access the circuit, desolder them, dump the ROM ICs, resolder them and glue the shells.
This is what I did in the beginning 25+ years ago in the early years of Amstrad plus emulation development :) I had a socket, a couple of counter chips and it all connected to the amiga's parallel port. I stepped through the entire 512KB cartridge address range and read the bytes. I also didn't want to open the case because at the time there were no replacements, opening it often broke the plastic pin and made the cartridge wobble and I didn't have the kit to desolder the roms and read them.
Plus there was no hardware for the cpc which I could plug the cart into and dump it via software. The closest was RAM7's Cartridge device but I never had access to that.
The only disadvantage with dumping using this method, and it's really not that bad, is because we don't know the actual ROM sized used without opening the cartridge case the entire 512KB should be read then guess the size based on if the rom data repeats every 4, 8, 16 etc. Better to have an oversized dump than no dump.
we have the play2cpc peripheral which can easily dump this cart (without modifications/opening/alter...)
Quote from: Egg Master on 15:13, 24 January 25@chinnyhill10 Thank you for your involvement to the GX4000 games preservation.
I feel sorry for you, but I think these people were just plain stupid... :picard:
Because it was much easier to make a cartridge to socket adapter by using a ribbon cable or a small homemade PCB to read the cartridges directly "pin to pin" from their PC or whatever hardware they used, through the edge connector than to break the cartridges to access the circuit, desolder them, dump the ROM ICs, resolder them and glue the shells.
This was 25 years ago. We were all huddled together on Usenet. It wasn't the scene it is today with resources and knowledge. People did what they could with the tools they had to preserve games. My only involvement was offering up the carts.
It was different times. In fact, the only way to play the games on a PC was on a bit of software called Multi Machine which was one of the first Windows based emulators. It worked but my recollection was at first it wasn't quite full speed and had incorrect audio. But wow, it did work!
Well... In 2000, it was not complicated to open the Burnin' Rubber cartridge to check the pinout and build an adapter to connect any cartridges to the ROM dumper hardware, when you know there are 20+ games to process. This was the right way to do 25 years ago.
Quote from: Egg Master on 18:50, 24 January 25Well... In 2000, it was not complicated to open the Burnin' Rubber cartridge to check the pinout and build an adapter to connect any cartridges to the ROM dumper hardware, when you know there are 20+ games to process. This was the right way to do 25 years ago.
People did what they did. Also GX4000 carts were going for £5 on eBay if you waited long enough. For the most part they weren't that rare, it's just people couldn't be bothered selling them as they were perceived as having no value.
Quote from: dragon on 15:53, 24 January 25Just a 6128 with m4 or so attached at the bus expansión.
25 years ago...
Quote from: andycadley on 20:24, 24 January 25People did what they did. Also GX4000 carts were going for £5 on eBay if you waited long enough. For the most part they weren't that rare, it's just people couldn't be bothered selling them as they were perceived as having no value.
This is out of context, I'm responding to that:
"I was warned that there was a risk of damage to the ROM and that the carts would need to be broken open and then superglued shut again.
That was fine with me. But if I had a very rare valuable cartridge I'd think twice! The breaking open alone is going to reduce the value."
It looks less bad than I was expecting actually. I'd probably rather play that than a lot of the games that were released on the GX, including every other driving game that's not Burnin' Rubber.
In France Pang and Plotting were reviewed as Christmas hits but weren't available until spring 1991.
And what about the box and booklet owner ? Is there anyway to scan them ?
Hello there , considering money and value is the reason these two owners so not allow to dump their cartridges I would suggest to make a list of owners who are willing to donate a aum of money , so as to buy the dumping process.It ia not about loosing the 20euros everyone of us can donate for the cause but the I want to see the myth before i die kind of thing here.So , can we gather 100peoplw to make 2000euros tomgive for the cause? Another reason can be the fame of the owners ,owning the myth , the rarest of them all , so can a coder add the name of the owner to the game so every one loading the game can see him game on the screen? I guess now , it is time for the owners to reconsider.Howndonyounfind the idea?
Who knows, I can't fathom the mindset of people who hoard these things.
Quote from: amijim on 00:46, 19 February 25Hello there , considering money and value is the reason these two owners so not allow to dump their cartridges I would suggest to make a list of owners who are willing to donate a aum of money , so as to buy the dumping process.It ia not about loosing the 20euros everyone of us can donate for the cause but the I want to see the myth before i die kind of thing here.So , can we gather 100peoplw to make 2000euros tomgive for the cause? Another reason can be the fame of the owners ,owning the myth , the rarest of them all , so can a coder add the name of the owner to the game so every one loading the game can see him game on the screen? I guess now , it is time for the owners to reconsider.Howndonyounfind the idea?
Thank you for sharing your idea—it's creative and well-meaning! However, there are a few practical issues that may make it difficult to implement:
- Ownership and Control: The decision to dump cartridges often rests solely with the owners. Even if 100 people donated money, the owners might still refuse, as some prefer to preserve the exclusivity and rarity of their cartridges rather than share the content.
- Legal and Ethical Concerns: Some rare games or prototypes are subject to licensing or intellectual property laws. Even if we raised funds, the legal risks of distributing copyrighted content could deter the owners from releasing it publicly.
- Privacy and Recognition: Adding names to the game is an interesting idea, but not all owners would want that kind of attention. They may value their privacy and prefer to remain anonymous, especially if they're known collectors.
- Sentimental and Personal Value: Many collectors see their rare games as prized possessions with personal value, beyond monetary worth or fame. It's hard to change such deeply held sentiments.
While it's an admirable goal to preserve gaming history, the decision ultimately lies with the owners, and persuasion may not always be enough. Still, I appreciate your passion for this cause—it's always worth discussing new ideas!
Quote from: amijim on 00:46, 19 February 25Hello there , considering money and value is the reason these two owners so not allow to dump their cartridges I would suggest to make a list of owners who are willing to donate a aum of money , so as to buy the dumping process.It ia not about loosing the 20euros everyone of us can donate for the cause but the I want to see the myth before i die kind of thing here.So , can we gather 100peoplw to make 2000euros tomgive for the cause? Another reason can be the fame of the owners ,owning the myth , the rarest of them all , so can a coder add the name of the owner to the game so every one loading the game can see him game on the screen? I guess now , it is time for the owners to reconsider.Howndonyounfind the idea?
I first thought "I am in" but honestly I think it's better if it remains a mystery.
It would be a surprise if this game is better then the average GX4000 game. I guess we would see a port of the Speccy version with limited adaptions to the CPC/Plus. And the Speccy version is already ... well ... not very good.
The whole topic is only fascinating BECAUSE it is not available. Once the ROM had been dumped, there will be a 2 week hype around it, several Youtube videos will be made - and all of them will say the same "finally discovered - blabla - thanks to XYZ for dumping it - blabla - Let's play it - blabla - OMG what a shit game".
After that 2 weeks of hype we will just have another shit GX4000 game that nobody wants to play - and we also lost the "saga" around it. Every now and then it will be mentioned as a side note - but all the fascination will be gone.
Quote from: eto on 08:33, 19 February 25and all of them will say the same "finally discovered - blabla - thanks to XYZ for dumping it - blabla - Let's play it - blabla - OMG what a shit game"
I can definitely see that happening as well.
If the rumours are true that Retrogames (the makers of The C64, The A500, and The Spectrum) are working on a GX4000 recreation — possibly called 'The GX' — as they would be collaborating closely with the Sky Group for the Amstrad licensing, it's plausible they could acquire the original source code from what remains of Ocean, Then they would include
Chase HQ 2 as part of the consoles carousel, potentially alongside other rare, unreleased GX4000/PLUS title...
Gazza 2. Then make that part of the sales pitch to sell more Retro Games consoles.
Quote from: overange on 08:52, 19 February 25as they would be collaborating closely with the Sky Group for the Amstrad licensing
The Amstrad brand is owned by Sugar again, so I guess that's off the table anyway. Not sure how much further licensing is required for a GX4000 as afaik the firmware is usually the part that requires licensing- and exactly that is not needed for a GX4000 emulation. Maybe the GX4000 design itself?
Quote from: overange on 08:52, 19 February 25are working on a GX4000 recreation — possibly called 'The GX'
I'd love to see that - at least if it can run CPR from a stick and if it provides wireless controllers. From the original GX4000 games I would be interested in maybe 2 or 3.
One thing its the marketing name "amstrad", and a other thing was the intelectual property of the amstrad computers design. Included the design if the asic and the gate array. Alan sugar have recovered de first thing, but i don't have read he have recovery the second thing.
And the guys of retrogames only works With the licenses of summit software that was the old "alternativa games" back in the 80. So their catalog are the only can be published with the console.
I'd.take such rumours with a pinch of salt myself. The GX with only official games would seem very niche and the interesting stuff, like modern homebrew or conversions would seem to wander too quickly into odd legal issues.
Not saying I wouldn't like one, just not convinced it'll happen any time soon.
Quote from: eto on 08:33, 19 February 25The whole topic is only fascinating BECAUSE it is not available. Once the ROM had been dumped, there will be a 2 week hype around it, several Youtube videos will be made - and all of them will say the same "finally discovered - blabla - thanks to XYZ for dumping it - blabla - Let's play it - blabla - OMG what a shit game".
After that 2 weeks of hype we will just have another shit GX4000 game that nobody wants to play - and we also lost the "saga" around it. Every now and then it will be mentioned as a side note - but all the fascination will be gone.
Not trying to be a smart-ass, genuinely not. But we know that's going to be the case as we know that ICE are the guys behind the dreadful Out Run as well as the barely passable Turbo Outrun, in fact the screen shots literally look like a re-skinned Turbo Outrun.
But you're not wrong, the whole mystique will be gone. But it's a state of mind thing really. You want to know... but you don't want to know... what do you choose?
Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 15:47, 19 February 25what do you choose?
If I would get a cartridge I would sell it for €2000 to a collector and get on a nice vacation - and would then anonymously publish a mysterious video, every now and then a screenshot, boost expectations - so everyone gets the most fun out of it - before I finally release the dump and the "meh, shit game" moment happens.
Quote from: eto on 16:06, 19 February 25Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 15:47, 19 February 25what do you choose?
If I would get a cartridge I would sell it for €2000 to a collector and get on a nice vacation - and would then anonymously publish a mysterious video, every now and then a screenshot, boost expectations - so everyone gets the most fun out of it - before I finally release the dump and the "meh, shit game" moment happens.
Recorded with very shaky hand 360p semi blurred video to keep that retro feel, I would hope. :laugh:
Quote from: eto on 16:06, 19 February 25Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 15:47, 19 February 25what do you choose?
If I would get a cartridge I would sell it for €2000 to a collector and get on a nice vacation - and would then anonymously publish a mysterious video, every now and then a screenshot, boost expectations - so everyone gets the most fun out of it - before I finally release the dump and the "meh, shit game" moment happens.
Actually, imho it's a good game. :)
Quote from: eto on 10:06, 19 February 25The Amstrad brand is owned by Sugar again, so I guess that's off the table anyway. Not sure how much further licensing is required for a GX4000 as afaik the firmware is usually the part that requires licensing- and exactly that is not needed for a GX4000 emulation. Maybe the GX4000 design itself?
Yes, Lord Alan Sugar reacquired the Amstrad brand in 2024 from Sky.
However, this primarily involved the Amstrad name, not the historical IP for its old products.
The rights to the firmware, product designs (like the GX4000), and other technical IP likely remain with Sky Group (owned by Comcast), which inherited them after acquiring Amstrad in 2007.
Regarding the GX4000, firmware licensing is typically the most relevant issue when it comes to emulation. If the original firmware (BIOS/ROM) is not used, then licensing may not be required.
However, using the Amstrad name or branding for the emulation would likely require permission from Lord Sugar, since he now owns the brand.
In terms of emulating the hardware design, that generally doesn't require licensing unless you're reproducing the exact physical design or trademarked elements. So, as long as the firmware is excluded, emulating the GX4000 itself might not need any direct licensing for the design.
Copying the GX4000 case design would not be an issue for Retrogames, as they have secured many likeness rights for their upcoming products and stopped others from making their own clones.
So if you look at the retrogames products, they never show or use the original manufacturers names, hence why we have:-
The 400mini
The A500mini
The C64
The Spectrum
The Vic20
This is why they can release these products with out having trademark infringements made against them.
Quote from: dragon on 13:21, 19 February 25And the guys of retrogames only works With the licenses of summit software that was the old "alternativa games" back in the 80. So their catalog are the only can be published with the console.
Regarding software titles included on the Retrogames systems, they do use titles from a lot of retro software houses, this incudes
Ocean
Epyx
Gremlin
Hewson
firebird
imagine
and there are many more.
So I am sure they got their contacts at Ocean, and I am sure they could pull Chase HQ 2 out the vaults.
Quote from: overange on 19:12, 19 February 25Regarding the GX4000, firmware licensing is typically the most relevant issue when it comes to emulation. If the original firmware (BIOS/ROM) is not used, then licensing may not be required.
The GX4000 doesn't have any firmware.
A lot of modern third party cart conversions do include the firmware+BASIC ROM for compatibility though, so if they wanted to include any of those they'd likely have to have to license them.
I hope this one remains as holy grail forever. My pain increases every time I see crappy games on a machine as beautiful as the GX4000. And I'm almost sure Chase HQ 2 is no different :laugh:
Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 16:10, 19 February 25Quote from: eto on 16:06, 19 February 25Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 15:47, 19 February 25what do you choose?
If I would get a cartridge I would sell it for €2000 to a collector and get on a nice vacation - and would then anonymously publish a mysterious video, every now and then a screenshot, boost expectations - so everyone gets the most fun out of it - before I finally release the dump and the "meh, shit game" moment happens.
Recorded with very shaky hand 360p semi blurred video to keep that retro feel, I would hope. :laugh:
A gameplay video of
Chase HQ II already exists on YouTube, so you can judge for yourself. Spoiler alert: it isn't very good. (Sorry, the uploader of the video doesn't allow embedding, but the title of the video is "Amstrad GX4000 Chase HQ 2: Special Criminal Investigation").
If you cannot untie a bond , cut it
Alexander the great.
All ideas sounds logical except from the idea I founded penicillin , I will keep it for my self instead of saving milions of people.If.there is no dump, then with such a donation a programmer can phace 2 kind of a game.Altough mystery is nice , we have to live it before we go to the Valhalla zone.Kind of a living miracle .
Quote from: Nich on 20:57, 19 February 25Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 16:10, 19 February 25Quote from: eto on 16:06, 19 February 25Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 15:47, 19 February 25what do you choose?
If I would get a cartridge I would sell it for €2000 to a collector and get on a nice vacation - and would then anonymously publish a mysterious video, every now and then a screenshot, boost expectations - so everyone gets the most fun out of it - before I finally release the dump and the "meh, shit game" moment happens.
Recorded with very shaky hand 360p semi blurred video to keep that retro feel, I would hope. :laugh:
A gameplay video of Chase HQ II already exists on YouTube, so you can judge for yourself. Spoiler alert: it isn't very good. (Sorry, the uploader of the video doesn't allow embedding, but the title of the video is "Amstrad GX4000 Chase HQ 2: Special Criminal Investigation").
Well sure, no embedding, but we can link to it😁
https://youtu.be/r7fmHpbl85k