Talk:Game Factory

Outline

• Video game inventory problems and Blockbuster wanting a solution
• Blockbusters seeing their previous in-house media burning systems and wanting to apply that to games
• in 1990, BB found Soundsational, a music-listening kiosk company, and acquired them.
• 1993, teamed up with IBM for Fairway Technology Associates: created the hardware, software, networking tech for this venture
• 1993, Soundsational was renamed NewLeaf Entertainment to market the system to retailers and work with media companies on licensing
• Both Fairway and NewLeaf were BB-IBM joint ventures.
• Marketed as inventory management tool, mirrored by Kalinske
• Record/film companies were still in their "copying is bad" phase and hated it. Also reimbursement and distribution was in BB's court and that made them uncomfortable.
• Fairway/NewLeaf not just got denied on the licensing front, but ran into obvious technical hurdles of dealing with video rentals (filesize, time to burn, etc), and they turned to something smaller and more managable: video games.
• Game rentals 1.5b industry at that time, but roughly 1/3 of customers couldn't rent the game they want due to inventory purposes.
• Also helped that cartridge rewriting tech already existed.
• The venture approached NoA and SoA. NoA said no as expected, SoA said totally yes (and had already worked with BB numerous times before)
• SoA wanted proof of concept before signing, resorting to Fairway reverse-engineering Mega Drive carts. Which worked and got the approval.
• In 1994, Viacom bought BB. BB felt safer having access to more resources/licenses and wasn't as worried about pushing new tech to stay relevant, contributing to Game Factory's lack of follow-through.
• After Game Factory's 1995 closure, the cartridges were generally flashed with a single game and sold directly to consumers as a form of liquidation.
• TODO: Add Game Historian's cited articles to External links.

CartridgeCulture (talk) 12:24, 21 January 2023 (EST)

List of known cartridges

A helpful user posted this to the article. While we wouldn't track individual copies like this, a lot of the information is useful for a few reasons:

• What games were on the service.
• How the service was performed (markings, stickers, notices).
• Dates.

CartridgeCulture (talk) 22:51, 20 January 2023 (EST)

NewLeaf Cartridges

Game on Cartridge	Notes
Blank	Has a sticker on the front with Mario riding Yoshi from Super Mario World.
Jungle Book	Scratch on front, diagonal from the SEGA logo, pointing toward 2 o'clock.
Blank	Cartridge had edge wear on top of label. Bending sticker crease in the center, across the top.
Unkown/Jungle Book	Label has rippling on the front, at the bottom. On the top-label, "Jungle Book" is written in ink. (ROM Not verified) Back has a sticker with the text: "Store Copy" "Not To Be Rented" "71149-001"
Unkown	Discernable damage on the left-hand side of the label. Lifting by the "G" of Genesis, also an indention on the side, between the "N" and the "E".
Jungle Book	Front label has minor damage. IT appears that another sticker has been removed the top-layer of the label underneath the "TM" of the word "Entertainment". Label wear on the edge is present for about a quarter inch under the "G" of "GENESIS" on the front of the cartridge.
Jungle Book	Jungle Book on the cartridge as of 2017. Has about a quarter-inch of label wear on the top edge, left hand side, right beside the RED Genesis stripe. There is minor edge wear to the left of the first "E" in GENESIS on the label.
Jungle Book	Jungle Book on the cartridge as of 2018. Label has a small, straight portion ripped off up the left-hand side of the label. Also has label wear and folding in that area. Significant label wear and bending at the top. Spotty wear/holes along the top, folded edge of the label.

Green 16Mb Cartridges

Cartridge ID	Store ID	Barcode ID #	Game on Cartridge	Notes
5247	92512	39251271415247	Blank	Cartridge used on Gaming Historian video.
5595	92581	39258171415595	Monopoly	Sitcker says "Monpoly" .
5253	92512	39251271415253	Unknown
--			Unknown	Green sticker has had ID label completely removed. Generally clean. Brown sticker residue in a line, on left-hand side of green sticker.
5520	92581	39258171415520	Unknown	Dot Matrix Text is hard to read. "Good" written on BlockBuster label. (Data read by barcode reader.)
(5?)4(61?))			Unknown	White label removed. Where the label had the details printed, white residue remained. Parts of the serial can be spotted and read.
--			Blank	Heavy glue mottling from green label. Within label placement outline, there are two label rips that are triangle shaped. The left one points to 1:00, and the right one points to 11:00.
5298	92580	39258071415298	Blank	Originally found and purchased from Blockbuster near Flint, MI.
5301	92512	39251271415301	Unknown
5328	92555	39255571415328	Unknown	White label has "Pitfall" written in pencil.
5388	92557	392557771415388	Blank	Good condition. Other sticker residue under the white label, right under the cartridge ID.
5210	92554	39255471415210	Blank	Clean cartridge. Appears to be small ripple on the top of the cart.
--			Unknown	White label has been removed. On the left-hand side where the white label was there is removal of the green label.
5387	12149	31214971415387	Unknown
5254	92577	39257771415254	Unknown
5461	92578	39257871415461	Blank
5209	92561	39256171415209	Blank
5430	92580	39258071415430	Power Rangers	Says "Power Rangers" on the cover. (Game ROM unverified.)
5274	92554	39255471415274	Unknown
5384	92581	39258171415384	Unknown
5324	92554	39255471415324	Unknown

Blue 32Mb Cartridges

Cartridge ID	Store ID	Blockbuster ID #	Game on Cartridge	Notes
6387	92580	39258071416387	Blank	Cartridge used on Gaming Historian video.
--			Blank	Blue sticker was poorly placed and rippled. ID label removed.
--			Blank	ID label ripped off and significantly damaged blue label. Long, wide scrape down the right-side of blue label.
--			Unknown	"Worm Jim" written on front and top. Otherwise, a clean blue label.
--			Blank	Scratched with sticker residue. Right side, glue mottling. Hole in sticker over the 'P" in "Place label here!" message.
6458	92578	39257871416458	Jungle Book
6403	92784	39278471416403	Unknown
6247	92512	39251271416247	Unknown	On the white label there is a smudge in the middle of the barcode. Mostly excellent shape.
6493	92581	39258171416493	Unknown
6508	92580	39258071416508	Blank
6322	12149	31214971416322	Blank	Drilled holes over the ID, but the ID can be found by the longer ID number below "GENESIS-BLUE CARTRIDGE" text.
--			Blank	Label removed but residue remains. Orangish mottling underneath. The blue label has apparent water damage and is quite worn and wrinkly.
6289	92578	39257871416289	Blank	Has a partial label, but has a copyright of Disney, 1994. Label is torn, with "Lion King" written on it. Also has a Rev-D board. Back silk screen has been updated, reversing the test and is dated "Sept 1994".
--			Lion King
6296	92554	39255471416296	Unknown
6350	92512	39251271416350	Unknown
6349	92784	39278471416349	Unknown
6374	92554	39255471416374	Unknown