Game Factory
From Sega Retro
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.[1] 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)
| 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. |
| 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 |
| 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 |
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