I've talked to Kevin more than a few times.

He told me how much the licensing costs were.

I asked a few pointed questions and he always answered without any hesitation.

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But remember that licenses are only good for a short while, and then you have to renegotiate if you want to keep them active.

Remember that any artwork has to be approved (Google how many Demolition Man translights got rejected before Snipes signed off on his likeness).

Remember that even if a license grants you the use of "sounds" from a movie, music is licensed separately. You are not going to get Little Richard for free.

Remember that a movie license does not necessarily allow you to put logos and artwork all over your website or T-shirts.

Licensing is not some huge amount of money.

It can cost huge money to keep redoing artwork.....hiring legal help....going to court when you are not properly licensed, but the actual license cost is quite low.

Maybe out of date, maybe no license for music, maybe no approval for playfield art, maybe ......

Even major blockbuster movies license for $25 a game.

How much do you think a B-movie that is 30 years old is going to license for?

It is a B-movie.

It is from 1987, decades ago.

It is so hot, that the DVD lives in the $5 bin at Wallmart

I don't doubt he did license Predator in some way.

It just may not be in the way he thought he did.

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Kind of the same thing with Lebowski, eh?

Exactly.

Look at all those licensed, limited production toys that collectors buy.

They are not expensive, and they only produce 100 to 250 of them.

I know licensing, because I've done licensing.

But most people don't know anything about licensing.

Most bands have a heart attack when they have to buy a $90 license before the CD replicator will stamp their CDs because they have a cover song on it. They have no idea that they have to pay to use someone's IP.....

They have to keep making them for people who shop at Wallmart.

They license movie theme Kleenex, so that probably makes them more than anything @ 10% of .79 cents.

Those are the kind of boobs you can enjoy from any direction.

Who knows where the licensing stands at this point (only Kev knows), so maybe we should start thinking about wrapping this up ourselves if a nuclear solution is required.

What if Kevin just shipped the populated playfields, cabinets, circuit boards "as is"; calling it his Jungle Killer game?

What if a torrent appeared with the Predator game code, the cab graphics and translight art, anonymously on the net?

What if people just had the decals and translight printed as a group? Some small mom and pop print shop would love to run 250 sets of decals. For about $2 a square foot, you could have the decals laminated with the shiny clear plastic like JJP charges $400 for.

Ideal? nope.

Doable? yep.

In a way, I like the shadiness of the FIY (finish it yourself), more than the real deal.

A few years ago he said that was all he bought licenses for.

I said he should have bought for 500 and he said "too late".

Hindsight being 20/20, it was probably better he did not sell 500

Anyone who has a counter top microwave in their kitchen is not going to have the reserves to "eat all the losses".

I think the smart people should call Kevin RIGHT NOW and ask for their game in pieces.

Those could get leaked as a torrent, you never know when hackers steal all the info from your computer......

The translight art is the least of your worries.....

predator-stock art.jpg

predatorlogo.gif

I'm not saying Kevin start the torrent, I'm saying one of the 250 owners copy his files.

His home computer is wide open right now.

That RV was a great investment, it grew into 80 million dollars.

Kevin should be so lucky.

Although he knows some programming, firewalls are clearly not his strong point.

KickAss.to

Demonoid

I'm not implying anything of the sort, that sounds illegal.

I'm am just saying that if you apparently don't have your firewall set up, all your stuff is right out in the open with just the simplest of scripts.

Even megabucks Sony, could not stop 2 of it's ex-employees from stealing it's movies, emails, games and blaming it on North Korea.

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Nothing can stop buyers of Kevin's Jungle Assault game from writing their own Predator code and doing a conversion. They might make it very similar to Kevin's code, he had a lot of great ideas.

Those guys were great.

LOD.jpg

Of course I saw that episode, what are you talking about??

Combo steals the RV from his mother and gives it to Jesse.

So the $7,000 that Walt gave to Jesse to get a RV was a great investment, because Walt grew that money into $80,000,000.

99.999% of the time when you call the cops about a money transaction dispute, the cops say that it is a civil matter, and that you have to take the person to court.

I'm digging through the garbage cans on the side of their garage right now.

digger.jpg

Exactly.

That is why Barney Fife and the local cops won't touch this with my 20 foot pole.

Don't forget 90% of all new businesses fail in the first 3 years.

Not because of a big scam, fraud, or sham; just because businesses are complicated endeavors.

If giant businesses fail, with their professional managers, accountants, forcasters and millions of dollars of capital, then we can certainly understand when a sole proprietorship runs aground.

Kodak, Montgomery Wards, 20 different airlines, GM, Lear, Macy's, all have filed for Chapter 11 - and they were all at one time leaders in their fields.

Donald Trump, hate him or not, has filled for bankruptcy, what, 4 times?

Not every business failure is because of a scam.

A scam to rip the clients off, or to rip FOX off?

If he did have a license, would everybody have a game right now?

I got one person emailing me that he had no license.

I've got another emailing that he only has a North American license.

Send everyone a "Jungle Assault" game.

Blanked out faces on playfield, blank cab and translight.

Let everyone decide what theme they want the game to be.

The-Blank.jpg

If FOX takes him to court, there will be NO money left to distribute at all.

Not one bit.

Long before that happens, Kevin will have to retain an attorney versed in IP - those attorneys don't accept $5,000 for a retainer....

I speak from experience, that any time lawyers are involved on a federal level, the cost of the legal defense will be $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

That will eat up every bit of money Kevin has, long before FOX sees judgement, and way before any funds are distributed to the investors.

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Whoever tipped off Fox's legal team about the game, drove a stake into any chance of a refund for the investors.

He can just peel the decals off the cabs, and spray over the faces on the playfields.

Anyone who wants any of that stuff should contact Kevin RIGHT NOW before it's taken.

Kev may be naive, but I'm sure he is not dumb enough to hand off the money he is going to need for his defense in federal court.

That's the "Insiders" email that I got.

Federal court is supposedly next.

As any (good) layer will tell you, people ignore demand letters most of the time.

Won't matter, there will not be a penny left after federal court.

She says she's involved with Sharron.

No one would be dumb enough to leave the money in a Paypal account.

They are not a bank, they are not FDIC insured.

So....Kevin has a close relationship with someone at Paypal who will bend the rules for him, he has a license from Fox, his uncle is Roger Sharpe, he donated a kidney and skin to a child who was in a fire.....

A cabinet is just a cabinet until you put a decal on it.

If the cabinet maker is just delivering black, blank cabs.....no harm there.

His federal court battle with FOX will bankrupt him completely - that is for his willful copyright infringement.

Fox does not care about any investors, or any refunds on pinball machines.

If he refunds the money, he won't have the money for his defense in federal court against Fox.

Like I said, whoever brought it to Fox's attention, totally killed the chances of a refund for everyone else.

It's just like the MP3 cases where sharing 20 MP3s had a judgement of $675,000 - and that's separate from the $98,000 in attorney fees.

The RIAA did not care that it completely bankrupted the individuals.

The important part is making a grand statement.

Fox found out because "mr X" called their licensing department and pointed them at SkipB's website.

Prior to that, Fox said they had no idea at all about the project.

You will see.

It is two separate things.

The Fox case is supposedly already filed. That means Kevin will need to retain a mighty expensive legal team for that case first.

All the money will go into the toilet for that, Kevin will probably have to declare bankruptcy.

Fox will want to make an expensive example.

The actual money recovered is of no importance.

Do you think anyone had $675,000 laying around to pay those MP3 cases?

He is not going to risk a lynch mob by showing up anywhere.

He was not at OH this weekend, and you know he won't be at MI in 2 weeks either.

If you think about it, there were plenty of show pictures for years all over the web.

We think that pinball is some giant thing, but only a few weirdos are really into it.

Does an attorney representing a drug dealer ask if their retainer was paid with illegally generated drug profits?

You've see the house that Kevin lives in.

Even if he sells it, he won't have enough cash to pay for his federal trial.

Where do you think he is going to get the money for his defense?

One could call and ask if Predator was available for licensing in a pinball machine. If the answer was "YES", you could simply hang up the phone.

OR, one could call and when the answer was "YES", then direct Fox's attention to the SkipB website and laugh with delight.

That would be great, but you know things will not be great............

His counsel on the federal case will not likely work for free, so they will not likely advise him to go in that direction.

Kevin will not get attorneys to work for free in a federal case like this.

He will have to pay them a gigantic retainer, because they know he won't have a penny left after the case goes to trial.

It's not like getting some "family attorney" to represent you in court for $10,000.

Those secret emails do not say anything like that....

In 10 years, what do you think the 3 Predator prototypes will be worth?

They are fun games.

I hope they escape before the feds kick down doors

There is a reason houses are that cheap in Midland......

Midland Nuke Plant.jpg

Look up how many lottery winners BECOME bankrupt after winning...

Try sending $1 and see if Paypal refuses it.

I wonder how big Pinball is in India?

I'm not sure if any of you guys have ever taken someone to court who owes you money.

You win the case, the judge orders the defendant to pay you $3000, the defendant ignores the order and never pays you.

The person does not go to jail because they never paid you....there is no debtors prison.

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Now if a criminal case is brought against Kevin, then there could be jail time involved, but then Kevin will certainly spend any money he has left on the retainer for a federal criminal attorney.

She turned me into a newt.

This is all I could find for you guys

The Euro guys will actually make a big profit if their money is ever returned (assuming it is returned before the dollar weakens again).

Coming out ~$1,000 ahead would rock, yes?

That's funny.

I suspect that Kevin needed the deposits for Experts of Dangerous to refund the then failed Predator.

Kind of like another boutique manufacturer needed deposits for the second game in order to complete and ship the first.

I don't know. I don't remember hearing that the deposits had started.

It didn't interest me, so I did not follow it.

Kevin by now has probably hired a criminal attorney for the federal case.... and maybe a bankruptcy attorney too.

Both attorneys have probably told him to sit tight:

Stop sending out crazy emails, and don't send out any refunds until the judgments have been rendered.

AG emails claim that Fox has begun the process.

Allegedly criminal.

I don't have permission to publish any of the emails (the same reason I did not publish them when I first received them).

If Kevin has hired his attorney, I'm sure they said "No more talking to anyone!!!".

First thing an attorney usually does is tell you to shut your stupid mouth.

No.

It can't go like that.

Kevin will have the Fox federal criminal case first, as that is already in the works.

As much as he would love to refund the remaining money, he would love to keep his ass out of federal prison even more.

(Can anyone imagine what the prisons are like in Michigan???? Filled with friendly faces from Flint and Detroit?)

So no doubt, he will spend all the money he can possibly scrounge on his criminal defense, then declare bankruptcy.

I just would like to temper everyone's expectations.

Anytime you involve the criminal courts, any "common sense" solution goes completely out the window.

People here are talking like "Well he said swiftly, so I'll give him till Friday to refund my money".

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It's kind of like "Well, I'm a college student, so they can't expect me to pay too much for sharing 30 songs" and then they are fined $600,000 for violating the IP and $90,000 in legal defense costs.

You've got to prepare for the worst.

If we believe the AG emails, then the Fox is already filing in federal court with the Intellectual Property Theft Enforcement Program.

Then they will probably go for a monetary damages in a separate case.

Again, the emails are anonymous, so take it as you want it.

He is gathering all the free good legal advice here from all the internet attorneys.

WOW!

Kevin really does have a secret deal with Paypal !

At least you know he has not spent the money on an attorney.

$20-25 per game said Roger.

Stranger things have happened.

Even all the thumbs downers have to admit they though about it.

That's what happens when you take estrogen every day.

I guess you have never seen any game where it goes into ball search?

It happens even on brand new Sterns.

Same thing used to happen on a bunch of games like F-14.

Takes about 2 minutes to adjust.

The final ramps worked fine AFAICT.

If a game is ever going to break, it will be at an expo so you can be embarrassed. Low line voltages, super hot environment, constant 4 day play. An excellent test of your maintenance skills - just like the old 24 hour arcade days.

Every mechanical part on the playfield was a Williams design, easy to service.

Why would it have anything to do with voltage?

You adjust the spacing between the 2 targets.

I was not listing solutions to playfield adjustment problems. Obviously I was listing the conditions that make a show the best torture test for any game.

Tons of games put those deadly risk/reward targets in the same place. F-14, Pokerino, Comet, Silverball Mania..... Did you actually put some real time in on the table, or are you just quoting other people?

If the TV cams are in Kevin's face, all he is going to say is that under advice of legal counsel, he is unable to comment at this time.

Old, but Tosh found the best watermelon eating video ever:

This guy has collected 77 million for his 1/2 built game since 2012.

You can buy a $10,000 "Wing Commander" package now that gives you 44 virtual ships in the game (if it ever gets made).

The release date keeps getting pushed back.....

http://www.wired.com/2015/03/fans-dropped-77m-guys-buggy-half-built-game/

Any good reporter has to fact-check all his info before he can publish a story.

So the next installment of the Predator story won't get published until he has "a story".

and if Martin was in Texas all weekend, he has that story to publish while the events are still fresh.

What new info do you think AG has?

If nothing has happened in the last two weeks, there might actually be nothing to report.

All the media companies WANT public attention when they go after people for IP stealing.

It will cost them more to sue Kevin than they can possibly recover, but they need make an example for all the other geeks.

Same thing for MP3s, porno movies, pirated copies of AutoCAD.....

$150,000 for each porn movie.

I could probably film 10 of them for that....

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/hundreds-sued-for-downloading-porn

A man who lives in a $50,000 house is never going to be able to borrow $150,000 from friends or family because he could NEVER pay it back.