Screw the stress I am out of here

icycalm · Post by **icycalm** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:20 pm

Specineff wrote:I do believer Bloodflowers had the right to do what he did

Isn't Bloodflowers one of the owners of this site?

If so then he has the "right" to ban every single damn user if he feels like it. I know I do, in my forums.

People assume that website forums are democracies whereas in fact they are oligarchies.

Don't forget: we are all guest here and the people who own this house have the right to throw our asses on the street without any explanation. (If they choose to play nice and explain their every move, or set rules that everyone, including themselves, must adhere to, then that's their choice. No one can impose this upon them, however.)

Just setting the record straight here.

kthx

Post by **system11** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:44 pm

icycalm wrote: Isn't Bloodflowers one of the owners of this site?

I own the hosting account, I wrote the current version of the rules (incorporating and condensing the original drafts), and I do site type things like keeping the software upgraded, and making regular backups (we now have automatic off-sites, the Lamespy fiasco will not happen again). I also currently do some admin type stuff, where required.

If anyone was deemed to actually _own_ the forum though, it would be Akira and Malc, they started it up way back.

icycalm wrote: Don't forget: we are all guest here and the people who own this house have the right to throw our asses on the street without any explanation. (If they choose to play nice and explain their every move, or set rules that everyone, including themselves, must adhere to, then that's their choice. No one can impose this upon them, however.)

Damn right, well said. It's up to any user to read the rules of a place, and decide whether or not they want to come in. It's not ok to walk through the door and do whatever they like.

dpful · Post by **dpful** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:55 pm

bloodflowers wrote:
undamned wrote:
Specineff wrote:@BloodFlowers, pardon my ignorance, but I still don't see how you were able to find out it was Japhei.
I'm still not convinced he is Japhai,
You both seemed pretty convinced in this thread:

http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2917

Also worth reading:

http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2966

As Bar81 said, good riddance to bad rubbish.

David (arcadegod, blastaway), isn't Japhei. Japhei's his boss. A good move on Japhei's part since he couldn't talk to anyone without saying "your a fucking douche". I've bought from David, but I won't deal with him anymore on principle (I think his feedback speaks for itself- I just don't want to pay too much).
Please, nobody buy his stuff until he drops his prices. Dave and Japhei have a real racket going on, which I don't have anything against as long as it's legit, but only we can keep these prices down. There are other ways to get these games-- even from him. It's called patience.
Also, I'm glad he's only selling on ebay and not here. It was like having a radio shack salesman trying to convince you that their TV was worth 400$. I think ebay is more appropriate for that stuff.

(my personal spending limit is around 200$- for anything)

pixeljunkie · Post by **pixeljunkie** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 4:03 pm

dpful wrote:David (arcadegod, blastaway), isn't Japhei. Japhei's his boss.

precisely...he even mentioned his "partner" a couple of times as clrh20 on ebay...which was one of Japhei's alias'

Post by **system11** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 4:14 pm

dpful wrote: David (arcadegod, blastaway), isn't Japhei. Japhei's his boss. A good move on Japhei's part since he couldn't talk to anyone without saying "your a fucking douche". I've bought from David, but I won't deal with him anymore on principle (I think his feedback speaks for itself- I just don't want to pay too much).

Thanks! That's surprising and expected in equal amounts. Maybe it's a bit like the Hydra - cut off one head and another rears its ugly face.

People into PCBs should check the thread I posted as sticky in the trading forum - which gives a short intro to those who didn't know, on how to get into buying PCBs directly from Japan. Good for the buyers, bad for the profiteers and scammers.

Naiera · Post by **Naiera** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 4:37 pm

greg wrote:Hey, let's try to remember all the various aliases Japhei has used over the years. I remember he once went by Neo Tokyo Biker Kid. And he was using his mom's account "Caroles Collectibles" on eBay.

He's also very fond of using Treasure shooters for nicknames. Something along the lines of RadiantgunIkaruga is likely to be him.

Bar81 · Post by **Bar81** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 4:40 pm

dpful wrote:
bloodflowers wrote:
undamned wrote: I'm still not convinced he is Japhai,
You both seemed pretty convinced in this thread:

http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2917

Also worth reading:

http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2966

As Bar81 said, good riddance to bad rubbish.
David (arcadegod, blastaway), isn't Japhei. Japhei's his boss. A good move on Japhei's part since he couldn't talk to anyone without saying "your a fucking douche". I've bought from David, but I won't deal with him anymore on principle (I think his feedback speaks for itself- I just don't want to pay too much).

So roaches do have offspring

Dewclaw · Post by **Dewclaw** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 4:57 pm

pixeljunkie - I don't think clearwater(clrh20) is japhei...he spoke in a completely different way and was actually helpful and put together good auction pages. I won a G Darius pcb from him and he emailed me to say that the motherboard wasn't included and offered me the chance to back out. Seems like a way different guy and if it was him, he should just keep that persona and get rid of the others.

judesalmon · Post by **judesalmon** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:37 pm

TWITCHDOCTOR wrote:
greg wrote:Hey, let's try to remember all the various aliases Japhei has used over the years. I remember he once went by Neo Tokyo Biker Kid. And he was using his mom's account "Caroles Collectibles" on eBay.
I was just about to add "Caroles Collectables" to the list...but it seems you beat me to it.

My friend bought a Warzard CPS-3 from Caroles Collectibles.

He paid by PayPal, but never received anything. He contacted Carole and she said it was her son who dealt with it, but he was in hospital after a car accident.

Eventually had to get his money back from PayPal.

pixeljunkie · Post by **pixeljunkie** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:49 pm

judesalmon wrote:
TWITCHDOCTOR wrote:
greg wrote:Hey, let's try to remember all the various aliases Japhei has used over the years. I remember he once went by Neo Tokyo Biker Kid. And he was using his mom's account "Caroles Collectibles" on eBay.
I was just about to add "Caroles Collectables" to the list...but it seems you beat me to it.
My friend bought a Warzard CPS-3 from Caroles Collectibles.

He paid by PayPal, but never received anything. He contacted Carole and she said it was her son who dealt with it, but he was in hospital after a car accident.

Eventually had to get his money back from PayPal.

ahahahah! that story was beaten to death by them....they are filthy scammers

sorry about that

freddiebamboo · Post by **freddiebamboo** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 7:25 pm

I can't believe the nerve of some people who con honest friendly people.

By the way, did Ord get his money back off that little prick?

Ord · Post by **Ord** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 7:33 pm

From : <ShikigamiGod@aol.com>
Sent : 13 July 2005 23:30:02
To : mark_ord@hotmail.com
Subject : Dodonpachi 2

obviously they banned me for no good reason

I will be sending tracking soon

Please do not file a paypal chargeback

I will complete the transaction as promised.

I only ask you post good feedback when transaction is done.

I will then do the same

Thanks again Dave

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He still hasn't sent me a tracking number. it's coming on for 8.30pm here (UK) and If i haven't recieved a tracking number or a full refund by the morning i'm doing the paypal charge back.

greg · Post by **greg** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 7:38 pm

Ah, I forgot about Jessica's Man. That's another alias. I found this link from a link Bloodflowers added: http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3836
It's a FAQ on how to know you've been rooked by Japhei. The existence of such a FAQ is as amusing as it is sad.

8 1/2 · Post by **8 1/2** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 7:45 pm

Ord wrote:From : <ShikigamiGod@aol.com>
Sent : 13 July 2005 23:30:02
To : mark_ord@hotmail.com
Subject : Dodonpachi 2

obviously they banned me for no good reason

I will be sending tracking soon

Please do not file a paypal chargeback

I will complete the transaction as promised.

I only ask you post good feedback when transaction is done.

I will then do the same

Thanks again Dave

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He still hasn't sent me a tracking number. it's coming on for 8.30pm here (UK) and If i haven't recieved a tracking number or a full refund by the morning i'm doing the paypal charge back.

I'm in the same boat. I paid him for Progear and haven't heard from him since. I really just want the game and I don't want to go through the hassle of filing a paypal claim but I may have to. I'm going to give him a day or so to get back to me.

Dewclaw · Post by **Dewclaw** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 7:51 pm

Add me to that list. I bought Dimahoo from him last month and he didn't answer my emails. I asked about it on his selling thread and he said he'd give me a tracking number, but that was sometime last week.

Post by **Dave_K.** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 8:20 pm

Just a warning that David/Casey/Japhei/whomever has a history of screwing up the tracking numbers (I herd this from others that delt with him as well). Had to send me mine twice for Dangun. I don't know if its a delay tactic or that he deals with so many at the same time... My Dangun came on time as previously posted.

The more I think about it, maybe David/Blastaway is just working for Japhei as he did offer to host a shmupmeet in FL... And I doubt Japhei himself would do this...
http://forum.shmups.com/forum/viewtopic ... highlight=
Would have been interesting if he had, and people were there to get a first hand impression of his "biz".

Either way you cut it, he was acting like a dick on many occasions (as evidenced in the threads), and deserved what he got. Anyone who openly admits to cornering the market and gouging prices should not be allowed on this board.

zakk · Post by **zakk** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 8:46 pm

His 'suicide free progear' auction that ended yesterday with no takers was relisted for $300 Buy it Now, $279.99 starting bid. I sure hope he has more than one of those...

pixeljunkie · Post by **pixeljunkie** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 8:51 pm

zakk wrote:His 'suicide free progear' auction that ended yesterday with no takers was relisted for $300 Buy it Now, $279.99 starting bid. I sure hope he has more than one of those...

aren't the "suicide free" versions he sells, bootlegs? Can someone clear this up for me? I'm curious.

zakk · Post by **zakk** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 9:20 pm

Dunno if they're bootlegs. And it depends on your definition of 'bootleg'.

If you have a legitimate progear, and you send it to Raz, he will 'desuicide' it by burning new patched roms and installing them on your board. I don't consider this a 'bootleg' really, but purists may not want such a board. These were always called 'phoenix edition', complete with bootup logo/text (? not sure if it's a logo or just text) that says that.

Then there's the boards people have been getting recently, which are most likely cheaper CPS2 boards with unencrypted progear roms on them and "extra" hardware to handle the whole non-original rom/encrypting issue. These ALSO say 'phoenix edition' but they don't have the CPS2Shock text. These are 100% bootlegs. Granted, they may play exactly the same as an original, but still, they're some cheaper CPS2 board 'upgraded'. I think the bootleggers called them "Phoenix Edition" just to confuse people; although it seems odd they totally left out the CPS2Shock text.

Which one is this guy selling? No idea, he never seemed to respond either way publically when it came up.

pixeljunkie · Post by **pixeljunkie** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 9:26 pm

zakk wrote:Then there's the boards people have been getting recently, which are most likely cheaper CPS2 boards with unencrypted progear roms on them and "extra" hardware to handle the whole non-original rom/encrypting issue. These ALSO say 'phoenix edition' but they don't have the CPS2Shock text. These are 100% bootlegs. Granted, they may play exactly the same as an original, but still, they're some cheaper CPS2 board 'upgraded'. I think the bootleggers called them "Phoenix Edition" just to confuse people; although it seems odd they totally left out the CPS2Shock text.

Which one is this guy selling? No idea, he never seemed to respond either way publically when it came up.

Yeah, well aware of actual Pheonix Edition CPS2 boards...they usually are worth MORE than regular ones. So, for this version to be cheaper I think makes it pretty obvious what it is...in my opinion.

zakk · Post by **zakk** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 10:00 pm

If they are bootlegs, it is entirely possible that he's actually unaware of it. As some previous threads in the hardware section show, even cosmic was shipping these (apparently) unaware. Although I think towards the end someone said cosmic told them the were just 'desuicided' progears and it was 'ok', but I'm not sure.

I'm more suspicious because when he posted about how people were apparently PMing each other saying his progear was a boot; I responded with a quick 'here's how to tell' post, and never saw any sort of response to that. So either he kept that info in PMs, didn't bother looking, or figured he'd only divulge it if potential buyers asked.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 10:23 pm

The problem is that Japhei has knowingly sold bootlegs, time and again, and what's worse, passes them off as legits.

Thanks for the info, BloodFlowers. I didn't suspect BlastAway because the typing style is not the same. Of course, it wasn't Japhei, but one of his minions.

Valgar · Post by **Valgar** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:22 pm

I asked him if the Progear was sent to Raz, he said "a friend" did it...

8 1/2 · Post by **8 1/2** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 1:51 am

I'm personally not too concerned with whether or not the board's a bootleg. I just want to play Progear, but the price keeps going up on it. $300 was right in my "Ok, I'm crazy, but I can do this," range. Had I known that this would be the outcome I wouldn't have bothered.

To be fair, when I pm'd him about it he told me it was from Cosmico and he couldn't verify if it was original or not, which I think pretty much confirms its bootleg status.

So long as I get the board I'll be happy, though I'll certainly be a lot more careful in the future.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:03 am

8 1/2 wrote:I'm personally not too concerned with whether or not the board's a bootleg. I just want to play Progear, but the price keeps going up on it. $300 was right in my "Ok, I'm crazy, but I can do this," range. Had I known that this would be the outcome I wouldn't have bothered.

Huh, you're willing to shell out three hundred bucks for a single game, and you don't care if it's a bootleg? I don't think I get this.

8 1/2 · Post by **8 1/2** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:10 am

I'm kind of weird about my games. When I get the notion that I want to play a particular game I just HAVE to go get it. Unfortunately I don't make a ton of money so I have to make choices.

About two years ago I got obsessed with Metal Slug 3 and wound up spending about $550 to get a Neo Geo and the AES cart. So silly. A year later I spent almost $600 for a supergun from Matt and an Esprade board and I haven't bought a single game for the supergun since. I just wanted to play Esprade really bad. These purchases though are almost always right. I played Metal Slug 3 for almost six months straight, and the same goes for Esprade.

When it comes to Progear, I can't afford much more than $300 right now for anything, and that's really pushing it. I'll have to make $300 last for a month for food and gas because of this. So, right now, this bootleg (supposedly) was all I could get.

Nemo · Post by **Nemo** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:11 am

dpful wrote:David (arcadegod, blastaway), isn't Japhei. Japhei's his boss. A good move on Japhei's part since he couldn't talk to anyone without saying "your a fucking douche". I've bought from David, but I won't deal with him anymore on principle (I think his feedback speaks for itself- I just don't want to pay too much).
Please, nobody buy his stuff until he drops his prices. Dave and Japhei have a real racket going on, which I don't have anything against as long as it's legit, but only we can keep these prices down. There are other ways to get these games-- even from him. It's called patience.
Also, I'm glad he's only selling on ebay and not here. It was like having a radio shack salesman trying to convince you that their TV was worth 400$. I think ebay is more appropriate for that stuff.

(my personal spending limit is around 200$- for anything)

I agree with all these thoughts. I don't want to defend him after his e-mail to bloodflowers, but whether you like the guy or not, he wasn't doing anything illegal (the people on this site that download romZ are more criminal) so until he sells someone a bootleg or doesn't send an item, he didn't deserve the backlash he got. It seemed like people just assumed he was Japhei and ran with it. Now as others have said, what he was doing was immoral and had no place on this forum, however, if people simply didn't pay the prices, he would be SOL. If you noticed his ebay auctions, as people aren't bidding, the starting prices keep going lower and lower. The guy doesn't want a house full of duplicate PCBs, if you have patience like dpful said, he will eventually be forced to sell them at a fair price. One person or group can't corner an entire market, especially if it's not feasible for them to sit on their laurels.

aren't the "suicide free" versions he sells, bootlegs? Can someone clear this up for me? I'm curious.

He admitted to me that it is the Cosmic version.

Edit: I also want to add that if he was doing nothing else positive, he was/is saturating the western market with more PCBs, which is a good thing.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:27 am

8 1/2 wrote:I'm kind of weird about my games. When I get the notion that I want to play a particular game I just HAVE to go get it. Unfortunately I don't make a ton of money so I have to make choices.

About two years ago I got obsessed with Metal Slug 3 and wound up spending about $550 to get a Neo Geo and the AES cart. So silly. A year later I spent almost $600 for a supergun from Matt and an Esprade board and I haven't bought a single game for the supergun since. I just wanted to play Esprade really bad. These purchases though are almost always right. I played Metal Slug 3 for almost six months straight, and the same goes for Esprade.

When it comes to Progear, I can't afford much more than $300 right now for anything, and that's really pushing it. I'll have to make $300 last for a month for food and gas because of this. So, right now, this bootleg (supposedly) was all I could get.

I see... I admire your dedication to games, really! Not going into arcades, I rarely feel like I have to get this or that. It happens to me with console games though, but luckily they're more affordable.

However it's all good if you squeeze fun out of these purchases as you do.

greg · Post by **greg** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 5:14 am

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a "suicide-free" Progear CPS2? Is there some sort of lock-out protection that kills the board?

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:07 am

greg wrote:Pardon my ignorance, but what is a "suicide-free" Progear CPS2? Is there some sort of lock-out protection that kills the board?

from CPS2shock (http://cps2shock.retrogames.com/suicide.html):

The CPS-2 game boards are protected by a system that uses encrypted program ROM's. We believe the key data for the decryption of these ROM's is stored in low power S-RAM located inside one of the onboard custom chips. When the game board is switched off or disconnected from the main board, these custom chips are supplied by a 3,6v lithium battery. The average life span of this battery is around five to six years. Once the voltage of this battery is below 2v, the stored encryption key will be lost. The condition of this battery is not measurable due to the fact that lithium batteries will hold their voltage almost constant until the end of their life.

I expect your now thinking what happens to all the early CPS-2 games that are not currently in use. Well its quite simple... They commit suicide, this is how the name 'Capcom Suicide' comes about.