The Epic Saga of The Game Paradise + Radirgy Swag Preorders: YEAR 5!

[Johnpv]

If this ever actually shipped I'd be screwed anyway. The email I ordered it from is dead now, and I have since moved in the years since I pre-ordered this. What a shit show.

[SeafoamGaming]

Brian deleted the facebook page’s contents. Fully blank now.

I think this situation couldn’t be more over.

[Sima Tuna]

It was always a hilarious scam, like of those bean-under-the-cup carnival games. Round and round she goes, where she stops nobody knows! Which cup holds the game you paid for? Turns out none of them do, because Brian never had copies of the game he could ship. He couldn't fulfill the orders if he wanted to! The best way he could have resolved this situation would be either refund everyone, full-stop (digging into his own personal finances to do so, most likely.) Or come clean and beg for mercy, opening himself up to a lawsuit. Or finally, take out loans to pay off the warehouse, collect the inventory, ship it out to the people who paid already and then write off the whole endeavor.

What he chose to do, instead of all of these, was disappear with the money and provide no games. Keep in mind that Dispatch Games holds or held the distribution license for some eshop games. So he could have used sales of those to collect money towards a fund for paying off the warehouse and getting them shipping out the games.

I don't know how anyone could ever trust Brian in this industry again. If he lists Dispatch Games on his resume in the future, people are going look into his "company" and see customers complaining about never receiving any product. The second search result on google is someone calling Dispatch Games a scam.

[Jonpachi]

He can always sell those boxes of loose carts for some cash in the future. If they ever show upon eBay we'll know where they came from.

[Sima Tuna]

He can always sell those boxes of loose carts for some cash in the future. If they ever show upon eBay we'll know where they came from.

He can't until he pays the warehouse for them. That's assuming the warehouse didn't throw them away.

The crux of his problem is he doesn't actually have any of the carts. That has always been the issue. The warehouse has them. He was supposed to spend some of the money that people paid to him for the games on obtaining the warehouse stock and getting it shipped out to customers. For whatever reason, he seems not to have done so.

I"m assuming the sequence of events was like this:

-list game for sale
-people buy game
-brian receives money
-brian engages warehouse/chinese factory to make carts
-warehouse is stocked with an initial run of carts
-warehouse asks for him to pay for the stock
-??????
-Brian has no money
-Brian has no carts, aside from maybe one or two samples
-????
-Massive lying ensues
-Warehouse tosses the boxes of cartridges into the back of their storage unit, in hopes of someday receiving the promised payment from Brian

[Jonpachi]

HAHA shit that's right. Someday that box is gonna show up for sale, and it'll be the new Stadium Events for shmup collectors.

[SeafoamGaming]

He can always sell those boxes of loose carts for some cash in the future. If they ever show upon eBay we'll know where they came from.

He can't until he pays the warehouse for them. That's assuming the warehouse didn't throw them away.

The crux of his problem is he doesn't actually have any of the carts. That has always been the issue. The warehouse has them. He was supposed to spend some of the money that people paid to him for the games on obtaining the warehouse stock and getting it shipped out to customers. For whatever reason, he seems not to have done so.

I"m assuming the sequence of events was like this:

-list game for sale
-people buy game
-brian receives money
-brian engages warehouse/chinese factory to make carts
-warehouse is stocked with an initial run of carts
-warehouse asks for him to pay for the stock
-??????
-Brian has no money
-Brian has no carts, aside from maybe one or two samples
-????
-Massive lying ensues
-Warehouse tosses the boxes of cartridges into the back of their storage unit, in hopes of someday receiving the promised payment from Brian

This is pretty much what I suspect; and I find it funny that the photo of him photographing carts 2 years ago was clearly taken inside the factory, making me wonder what that phone call was like. "No no! I have to get in here to see the samples, you don't understand!"

But yeah the carts can't be sold solo, nintendo forbids it; you have to kit the carts to make them into a complete package and with the CEs being blatantly unfeasible even when this CE first got announced, I'm just genuinely surprised with why Brian never came clean. Or even responded to my attempts to contact him directly. He'd only respond when websites lit a fire on him, and that's why i got tired of the whole ordeal and gave up once Nintendolife stopped answering my news tips and cropped me out of an article. Sites just stopped caring, probably because they saw it as silly drama vs customers being scammed

Instead the only communications I've heard lately, were him canceling orders and not refunding people. That's literally all he did. I hope he never bothers working in this industry again since good lord, talk about a decline in the industry (working on Namco/SEGA titles for years, to just... scamming everyone)

[prophetic]

Who wants to edit this bio:

https://www.mobygames.com/person/41372/brian-schorr/

[Sima Tuna]

Instead the only communications I've heard lately, were him canceling orders and not refunding people. That's literally all he did. I hope he never bothers working in this industry again since good lord, talk about a decline in the industry (working on Namco/SEGA titles for years, to just... scamming everyone)

I don't see how he could work in the industry again. If he works in any capacity or for any company that allows customers to give feedback, he's going to be deluged by a wave of comments from customers who haven't received either their game or their money back. As I said, the second result on google search for Dispatch Games is a nintendo collectors group talking about how he's a scammer. "Brian Schorr Dispatch games" provides the same results in the first search result. So what's he gonna say if he applies to work in the industry again? Is he going to just pretend he never stopped working at Bamco? "Dispatch Games Brian Schorr is a different guy, honestly!"

A little bit of honesty would have worked wonders at the beginning of this whole fiasco. It's why I'll never feel anything but contempt for him. He's still stealing people's money and refusing to give it back. The perception of limited run games releases as a scam has been bolstered by people like him.

[Steven]

This reminds me that those assholes at Worst Press Games STILL have not refunded my Ginga Force + Natsuki Chronicles even though they said they'd refund me. I emailed them a few weeks ago after emailing them a few weeks before that. I wonder if I should threaten them with legal action or something. That might be mildly interesting.

Ah, why not. I just emailed them again to tell them that I'll take legal action. Hopefully that makes them stop being completely incompetent.

[BulletMagnet]

I don't see how he could work in the industry again. If he works in any capacity or for any company that allows customers to give feedback, he's going to be deluged by a wave of comments from customers who haven't received either their game or their money back.

He'd be a shoo-in for the Triple-A C-suite; they're constantly being hated on from all fronts for all the brazen anti-consumer (and occasionally outright criminal) stunts they pull, and with few exceptions they're sitting pretty.

Heck, the fact that he got away scot-free with such an obvious years-long grift might be a bullet point on his resume.

[Samuray]

This reminds me that those assholes at Worst Press Games STILL have not refunded my Ginga Force + Natsuki Chronicles even though they said they'd refund me. I emailed them a few weeks ago after emailing them a few weeks before that. I wonder if I should threaten them with legal action or something. That might be mildly interesting.

Ah, why not. I just emailed them again to tell them that I'll take legal action. Hopefully that makes them stop being completely incompetent.

You are aware those are slowly shipping out, yes? I mean, if you don't want it anymore that's fine, of course, but Natsuki is finally done and Ginga has been for a while. Haven't heard anything from my CE order for Natsuki but I've seen shipping notifications (well, "label created") and some folks apparently got their standard editions.

I'll keep on waiting, for what it's worth.

[DoomsDave]

Who wants to edit this bio:

https://www.mobygames.com/person/41372/brian-schorr/

wait a min... this mfer is still in the industry and getting paid? says he worked on 2 recent games, gimmick special edition and tomb raider.. wtf

unless his work was done years ago, city connection does not get a pass for letting him work on their shit after all of this. They are the ones who licensed him the games and they're still working with him.

[m.sniffles.esq]

wait a min... this mfer is still in the industry and getting paid? says he worked on 2 recent games, gimmick special edition and tomb raider.. wtf

If he's broke (which he probably is at this point), he's probably hitting up 'friends' for solids. It's not exactly a rare thing

In the final analysis, dude didn't invent this terrible, terrible, terrible business model, he just tried to take advantage of it. And to be completely honest, this terrible, terrible, terrible business model needed a cautionary example.

And in the same spirit of complete honesty, now that this tale is told, I find the fact that people still defend this terrible, terrible, terrible business model absolutely baffling, and to continue to throw down chips towards 'pre-orders' that they now know is a complete wheel spin, to be just fantasic

[Sengoku Strider]

wait a min... this mfer is still in the industry and getting paid? says he worked on 2 recent games, gimmick special edition and tomb raider.. wtf

If he's broke (which he probably is at this point), he's probably hitting up 'friends' for solids. It's not exactly a rare thing

In the final analysis, dude didn't invent this terrible, terrible, terrible business model, he just tried to take advantage of it. And to be completely honest, this terrible, terrible, terrible business model needed a cautionary example.

And in the same spirit of complete honesty, now that this tale is told, I find the fact that people still defend this terrible, terrible, terrible business model absolutely baffling, and to continue to throw down chips towards 'pre-orders' that they now know is a complete wheel spin, to be just fantasic

"Sometimes games don't deliver, what this needed was a game that didn't deliver" is a kinda self-contradictory take. There's nothing wrong with boutique publishers printing to order. The alternative for most games is never seeing a physical release, and vanishing into the aether when first parties take down store servers. Don't count on piracy, Nintendo AI Skynet will have you all in work camps by the 2040s.

[m.sniffles.esq]

"Sometimes games don't deliver, what this needed was a game that didn't deliver" is a kinda self-contradictory take.

Hows about: "It's a terrible, terrible, terrible business model that no one should of supported to begin with, and this thread stands as an example why"? Still too contradictory?

Look, I worked a (vinyl) record mastering facility (turning a tape/file into a plate that's used to press the record). Due to the nature of the business, we did pretty much all dance/club, hip-hop, or punk rock releases, and due to the nature of these genres I would say 95% would be considered 'DIY' releases. Of those, 100% were produced in this manner:

• Raise capital via bank loan, investors, mom, washing dishes, dealing drugz, etc

• Use raised capital to produce product

• Sell product to distributor or directly to consumer

NEVER had I even heard of someone taking money directly from the consumer in exchange for a product they didn't have under the guise of a 'pre-order'. Fucking drug dealers trying to start their Rave/Hip-hop labels didn't even consider such a thing. If something happened, and they failed to deliver the product, it's theft. They were at least smart enough not to advertise their illicit activities...

You want to support it? Your money, your funeral. May your money fund 100 more Dispatches. Light your money on fire if the notion strikes. But tell us there's no other alternative to such an act.

[Sengoku Strider]

The analogy here would be if your printing plant took the money from those ravers and never delivered the albums, they're the customer forking over money for something that doesn't exist yet in this scenario. There are tons of industries where customers order product ahead of time, or pay to have something made, that's perfectly normal.

The issue here isn't the model of printing the correct amount of copies to address the actual market, plenty of publishers in all sorts of media have gone under through the years by guessing wrong on print runs. It's thieves pocketing the money rather than delivering on the contract.

If this guy is still working in the industry then a class action is 100% in order.

[m.sniffles.esq]

The analogy here would be if your printing plant took the money from those ravers and never delivered the albums

So the people who burned the games to the little plastic carts took pre-orders and split with everyone's money?

In the analogy, the mastering facility/pressing plant would be one of those faceless "vendors" the distributors (THOSE are the people who are taking your money, fyi) blame when your game never arrives.

It's thieves pocketing the money rather than delivering on the contract.

And yet, seemingly perfectly legitimate distributors seem to suddenly turn into thieves just all of a sudden (is it Strictly Limited the one everyone has their pitchforks out for currently? I can't keep track). Wonder how that happens?

[Sengoku Strider]

So the people who burned the games to the little plastic carts took pre-orders and split with everyone's money?

In the analogy, the mastering facility/pressing plant would be one of those faceless "vendors" the distributors (THOSE are the people who are taking your money, fyi) blame when your game never arrives.

You're saying someone worked to save up money and exchange it for a product. Whatever the marketplace, whether a retail consumer doing that or these drug dealers you're talking about, it doesn't make the model of exchanging money for something to be produced somehow foolish or wrong. The only difference is one arbitrary spot in the production chain - the pressing plant obviously has any number of other suppliers behind it too. At just about any point in the chain an entity doing the supplying has the opportunity to run off with the money without fulfilling the product.

And yet, seemingly perfectly legitimate distributors seem to suddenly turn into thieves just all of a sudden (is it Strictly Limited the one everyone has their pitchforks out for currently? I can't keep track). Wonder how that happens?

So do banks. It's the people breaking the rules to blame, there's nothing inherently problematic in the model that's not endemic to capitalism itself. These goobers are making bad business calls then pocketing the money from the next product to make ends meet. If you're telling me independent record labels are honest brokers who have a better track record than boutique games publishers, I have all the bridges in the world to sell you.

[m.sniffles.esq]

I think you need to look up the difference between 'investment' and 'purchase'. Just saying.
(Maybe even 'bank' while you're at it)

[cj iwakura]

The analogy here would be if your printing plant took the money from those ravers and never delivered the albums

So the people who burned the games to the little plastic carts took pre-orders and split with everyone's money?

In the analogy, the mastering facility/pressing plant would be one of those faceless "vendors" the distributors (THOSE are the people who are taking your money, fyi) blame when your game never arrives.

It's thieves pocketing the money rather than delivering on the contract.

And yet, seemingly perfectly legitimate distributors seem to suddenly turn into thieves just all of a sudden (is it Strictly Limited the one everyone has their pitchforks out for currently? I can't keep track). Wonder how that happens?

Limited Run aren't exactly saints lately either. They continue to produce """"limited"""" editions with junk bonuses that no one really asked for at exorbitant just to jack up the resell market, probably why one of the founders left.

(Not to mention it often takes a year+, if you're lucky...)

But at least the product does eventually arrive, albeit at extremely dicey quality. (Like the Ground Zero Texas script that was literally the size of my palm.)

[m.sniffles.esq]

Limited Run aren't exactly saints lately either. They continue to produce """"limited"""" editions with junk bonuses

Yeah, I went through them to get a Black Bird poster that was so creased and folded no amount of steam/ironing could make it not look like shit. So I was done.

Oh, and it took 16 months to arrive. (probably because my money had been used to produce something that was promised three years ago. And something new had to be promised to cultivate money from some other people for a shitty Black Bird poster. Thus is the nature of that racket. Kind of like a ponzi scheme...)