Tracking down another Beta

Of course they will remember! We have proof, We have footage for gods sake.

Everything that might get us more info on how the old games was played are important to us. We need footage, proof, ROMs, interviews.

 

I have some info that might be of help...

Nickelodeon switched all of their studio production operations out of Florida and turned the Universal Orlando location into nothing but a theme park about three, maybe four or five years ago. So the chances of us finding something there are *very* slim. I'm not sure about what they still have there storage-wise, but I have a friend who worked freelance for Nickelodeon before they moved everything into their other studios, which I believe are located in New York and California.

Yes, I am aware that some of the newer Nickelodeon shows claim to be filmed at the Orlando studio, but everything before 2000 / 2001 was moved.

If you really want to know about what you might be able to find, ask your contact if he or she could help you get a shipping log of Nick Arcade's operations, or a log on the location of the set and arcade cabnets. The individual studios are responsible for keeping track of everything they still own, so if Viacom even owns the original set anymore, we should be able to get better information.

 

I meant to prove a point that the Orlando studio isn't just pacifying us - they honestly don't have it anymore, so there's no point in researching into the Nick Arcade staff any further. The Viacom rep. you talked to probably just saw that they didn't have control over it and therefore wasn't responsible for finding it if they believed you worked for Sega (that's my understanding of the situation), but it IS possible that you could get more information by talking to either the California or New York studios. Sorry for the confusion. =P

I'm afraid that this might get me bricked, but on a semi-related note, didn't Disney used to show pre-launch copies of Sega products at the Epcot Center? I saw a beta-model of Dreamcast there a while back...

Edit: Yep: http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Sega

Edit 2: I found an image. It's definately Genesis-era.

Anyways, end of off-topic, but we might have a slew of BETAs from Disney this whole time without realizing it.

 

I don't see how a pic of people playing Sonic 1 is really important to this topic, could we kind of stick to the main topic?

 

It's relevant because people played the games months before they were released. Therefore, they played pre-builds, like our BETA. If we're tracking down another BETA, then this is exactly the sort of stuff we're looking for.

 

So what's the latest word? Is it a lost cause, or do you still have a few names to contact?

The Nick Arcade files on your desktop in that screenshot you posted in the other topic got me to thinking about this again.

 

I see this as the same behaviour I had when I burnt down some old gaming magazines, which had articles for sonic 1,2 and 3, just for the having fun burning things sake.

I mean the "well this is crap now, it doesn't matter if I get rid of it..." thinking. And I don't blame me or them. Who could suppose those things would become so valuable back then?

For me it was just old magazines... for them, just a cart with a unfinished game...

 

*pokes Rika*
Vangar's comic reminded me, any progress on the beta finding front?

 

:o Crackers on a cart, not an EEPROM?! Fantastic, did this come from the Nick Arcade, or your other contacts?

...I am in awe. Great work, Rika.

 

Well I mean S1 and Crackers are so similar they're easily confused.

@_@

 

The footage he requested was from Sonic 2, nothing to do with the Crackers cart he found.

 

Doesn't matter. It's something from another game that could be used as beta stuff. Post it anyways.

ICEKnight: You did not just refer to Rika as he, did you? o_o

 

XP

I haven't had much luck contacting Epcot at Innoventions. They DO keep the stuff they show on the floor, however, it's extremely unlikely that they'll let us do anything with it because it's a sort of time capsule. So far I've confirmed that the following games made an appearence (from pictures and different sources online), and I've contacted Disney to see if they can find someone who could help me better than their general support "cast member" by email:
Sonic the Hedgehog (Final - the display opened in 1992)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Might be Final Only)
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic R
Sonic X-TREME
Sega Dreamcast (Early Model)
Sonic Adventure (1997-1998)

Yes....this means that there was in fact a playable version of Sonic X-TREME open to the public that we somehow all missed...
I'm not sure if that was sent back to Sega since it was a cancelled game. They claim to keep everything though...

 

I believe Sonic X-Treme was playable at an E3 event once, but my memory is blurry about that.

 

It probably was, but E3 isn't open to the public.

 

Ooooh I see what Rika means now, whoops :unsure: