Anyone heard of Whamo! Game Studios?

[Zenoth]

I was looking around eBay to buy myself some retro games for my SNES, Genesis, PSX and PC when I stumbled upon a very strange seller, or a "game studio" of some sort, advertised as Whamo! Game Studios when looking at the items (games) he's selling. The guy, or the studio (or the guys in a studio, I don't know how to call him/them) is selling what looks like to be "remakes" (for compatibility I guess) of old games for the PC, supposedly compatible for XP and Vista.

What's even more strange, and at the same time very surprising, is that some of those games were never actually released on the PC at all, coming from the Nintendo 64 for example and others as well (for instance one such game they name "Mario XP", which in fact is Mario 64 but supposedly working for XP and Vista). It doesn't even mention anything about emulation anywhere. I've gathered some examples for you guys to look at and have your own conclusions. I don't know how any of that is possible. I mean yes it's possible to get old PC games that were released long ago, and officially so for the PC, and then "remake" them, modify them to some extent, and ensure XP and Vista compatibility, and then seal them as brand new and sell them so, I mean GoodOldGames.com is in fact similar to that, but is doing it for PC games only, and it's digitally done.

With that "studio" concerned here it looks like the games are sent sealed in a box, some of them with the Microsoft's "Games for Windows" sticker on it (isn't that just asking for serious infringement issues with Microsoft anyway?). And, what's even more weird is that according to the item's page there is no installation required, that's right, you put the CD-Rom or DVD-Rom (it doesn't say what media it's on) and the game starts and voila, ready to play. The last time I heard something of that nature for the PC was for Halo 2, and the execution was poor, there were some serious sound skipping issues and you were simply better installing it anyway rather than playing it from the media itself. And, additionally, some of the items are in fact packages, or "collection" of a game series containing the original, the sequel, ect, forming anthologies, all in one media (or at least in one box).

Here are the ones I've checked so far:

Super Mario XP
Pilotwings XP
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
Star Fox
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Turok Anthology

And here's the studio's "warehouse" items:

Warehouse

Finally, it seems like the place is located in United Kingdom, and then that's pretty much the only information I could gather. I searched on Google for "Whamo Game Studios" and I only found unrelated results. It's not a "studio", or so it seems, and if it is indeed a studio producing, re-doing, modifying, re-making games or whatever from old games to simple abandon ware then it must be known only locally where it's located and not well advertised here in America at all. Do any of you actually know about that Whamo! Game Studios? Wouldn't we have heard of that more often?

I mean what he's/they're doing is what I would consider absolutely awesome, if it works as advertised. I sent a message to the seller yesterday about the Turok Anthology package, since I am actually interested in it, because for what I know Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion and Turok: Rage Wars were never ever made for the PC at all, ever, but it's in the package and it claims it's for PC, on XP and Vista. I haven't received a reply as of now however. It's strange, but quite interesting, to say the least.

 

[pontifex]

doesn't sound very legal.

 

[skulkingghost]

His cd is probably nothing more than an autorun shortcut pointing to Project 64 to load the games N64 rom.

 

[Bryf50]

Originally posted by: skulkingghost
His cd is probably nothing more than an autorun shortcut pointing to Project 64 to load the games N64 rom.

That's what I'm thinking as well.

 

[Zenoth]

Originally posted by: Bryf50

Originally posted by: skulkingghost
His cd is probably nothing more than an autorun shortcut pointing to Project 64 to load the games N64 rom.

That's what I'm thinking as well.

That's probably the case, but there's no mention of emulation software being used, although if what he's/they're doing is indeed illegal then I too wouldn't mention that emulators would be in use if I was in his shoes. Let's presume for a moment that it is indeed a Nintendo 64 emulator doing the whole thing from the CD-Rom, then where would saved games go? Maybe he has made a custom installer with options such as selecting where to put saved games and configuration files on the HDD.

And, additionally, is eBay checking sometimes on the seller's activities? I mean if what he's doing is illegal (and I'd presume it is so) then why is he still able to resume on selling as if nothing happened? Do the eBay buyers and other sellers alike have to play police for the eBay's administration and point at the suspicious ones? I'm just surprised by all of that being possible at all, and I'm not quite sure that Microsoft would really appreciate it to see their Games for Windows logo being used for that as well.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Or just maybe he's not mentioning emulators knowing that it'd be like saying "Hey, I'm selling something that can be obtained absolutely free and with ease".

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Zenoth

Originally posted by: Bryf50

Originally posted by: skulkingghost
His cd is probably nothing more than an autorun shortcut pointing to Project 64 to load the games N64 rom.

That's what I'm thinking as well.

That's probably the case, but there's no mention of emulation software being used, although if what he's/they're doing is indeed illegal then I too wouldn't mention that emulators would be in use if I was in his shoes. Let's presume for a moment that it is indeed a Nintendo 64 emulator doing the whole thing from the CD-Rom, then where would saved games go? Maybe he has made a custom installer with options such as selecting where to put saved games and configuration files on the HDD.

And, additionally, is eBay checking sometimes on the seller's activities? I mean if what he's doing is illegal (and I'd presume it is so) then why is he still able to resume on selling as if nothing happened? Do the eBay buyers and other sellers alike have to play police for the eBay's administration and point at the suspicious ones? I'm just surprised by all of that being possible at all, and I'm not quite sure that Microsoft would really appreciate it to see their Games for Windows logo being used for that as well.

a site as huge as ebay is, do you think they have enough time/employees to look at every auction?

 

[TidusZ]

Links are all dead now, so maybe whamo just got a knock out punch? WHAAAMMMO!!

 

[Zenoth]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Zenoth

Originally posted by: Bryf50

Originally posted by: skulkingghost
His cd is probably nothing more than an autorun shortcut pointing to Project 64 to load the games N64 rom.

That's what I'm thinking as well.

That's probably the case, but there's no mention of emulation software being used, although if what he's/they're doing is indeed illegal then I too wouldn't mention that emulators would be in use if I was in his shoes. Let's presume for a moment that it is indeed a Nintendo 64 emulator doing the whole thing from the CD-Rom, then where would saved games go? Maybe he has made a custom installer with options such as selecting where to put saved games and configuration files on the HDD.

And, additionally, is eBay checking sometimes on the seller's activities? I mean if what he's doing is illegal (and I'd presume it is so) then why is he still able to resume on selling as if nothing happened? Do the eBay buyers and other sellers alike have to play police for the eBay's administration and point at the suspicious ones? I'm just surprised by all of that being possible at all, and I'm not quite sure that Microsoft would really appreciate it to see their Games for Windows logo being used for that as well.

a site as huge as ebay is, do you think they have enough time/employees to look at every auction?

Well now it's all gone, I think someone somewhere just had a look at the whole thing and said: «no way man, not here, not now, you're history Whamo!, cya». I don't know however if this very thread I made is in any way responsible for the "action" which has just been taken about that. And if that's the case then... well, I don't know what to say other than that was fast.

 

[CaptainPlanet]

I googled my ass off on this one and this thread was all I could find.

Today I came across a new item, claiming to run Banjo-Tooie in the same way you described above; I guess they haven't been completely "whamo!"'d after all...
Banjo-Tooie


[EDIT] Have a look at the sellers list of items! A near-literal ton of shifty merchandise!
Even Diddy-Kong Racing!

 

[Zenoth]

Originally posted by: CaptainPlanet
I googled my ass off on this one and this thread was all I could find.

Today I came across a new item, claiming to run Banjo-Tooie in the same way you described above; I guess they haven't been completely "whamo!"'d after all...
Banjo-Tooie


[EDIT] Have a look at the sellers list of items! A near-literal ton of shifty merchandise!
Even Diddy-Kong Racing!

I had noticed that it came back but I have driven my interests off of those offerings, since logically the only way that person or that "group"/studio can do what they claim has been done is by using emulators, there'd be no way that some unknown, or barely known development studio would go about re-creating hundreds of old generation games with proper keyboard and/or mouse controls and directly made for the PC without any assets from the original games on their respective platforms, they would be in very serious problems and all development companies around the world still active and responsible for those games or those that still posses the licenses for the titles/franchises and so on would send armies of lawyers and police to find them and arrest them, including Microsoft. I would assume so anyway.

So that random unknown guy or group doing that Whamo! thing is certainly using a Nintendo 64 and a Super Nintendo emulator (so far it looks like there's only N64 and some SNES games offered, unless I missed others from other platforms) on the media it has been burned, with some sort of (perhaps) automated launchers giving the impression that the whole thing is a legit game. But then it doesn't require actual installation, that's another big sign of emulation software. Another thing which hasn't been mentioned are the controls and controller plugins (not to mention audio and graphics plugins) and even saved game files locations. If I was to launch some of those Whamo!-made games I'm sure I'd have to manually set-up the controls myself, and then save a profile somewhere on my hard-drive, and the same thing would be true for saved game files.

The whole thing just yells emulation at us, it's obvious to me and many others. And that "studio" is obscure, we only know that it is based in the United Kingdom, which could end up be disinformation, or maybe only a true location for sending the games to the buyers, but that the actual "development" studio is somewhere else, and that could be almost anywhere on the planet. I've noticed that on the new links and the new game cover pictures the "Games for Windows" logo has been removed from the original links I posted. That's another sign that the guy or persons responsible for that are simply adapting to the suspicion that might have built up after I or someone else on the web coincidently pointed at it. Maybe that eBay themselves didn't do the "cleaning" that seemingly occurred a few days ago, but the actual guy at the "studio" did it to avoid real danger from lawyers and so on. Maybe he/they even read this very thread and decided to stop all activity for a moment until the dust fell down.

I mean only four days ago or so all links were dead, and further Google research brought absolutely nothing. I noticed it went back on only two days ago when again I went on eBay to buy a used retail copy of Final DOOM, while in the search results for the title I noticed DOOM Troopers, and that it was offered by none other than out lovely Whamo! guy(s) again, I couldn't believe it at first but then I understood (or rather assumed) that it wasn't eBay who warned or closed the links and activity, but perhaps themselves (Whamo! guy(s)). It's just pure assumption. But I also noticed something else. The eBay account providing those products is completely different this time around, it's not the same account at all. This time it comes from computing_technology, while it was a completely different name when I first posted about it, although I don't remember that name by heart. And, finally, I never received a reply from my question I asked the original seller about the Turok games, since as I mentioned in my first post (last paragraph) I had sent him a message asking him some details about how he/they managed to do it and how it worked (why no installations required, and questions about the controls used, if it required a game pad, etc).

That thing is certainly more than just suspicious, it's obviously illegal and he's/they're using emulation software that's already available for free to anyone out there to make money for themselves/himself/herself or whatever. I don't know how long it will last, but it has been lasting quite some time I'm sure, or else he wouldn't sell, there is surely a demand for that and it works. And, by the way, welcome to the boards! (I see it was your first post, hehe).

 

[CaptainPlanet]

Thanks! I really just joined in an attempt to get to the bottom of these weird offers...

Something that confused me quite a bit is that they even had the nerve to offer Pokemon Snap, a game which barely works in emulators as it is...

And have a look at the features description....

# Roll through 3D environments (on rails) and try to snap the very best possible pictures of various Pokemon characters.
# Seven big levels and more than 60 Pokemon.
# Players need to accomplish a number of different tasks before certain Pokemon will respond and pose for the camera. Interact with Pokemon by throwing objects at them, playing songs, etc.
# Save 60 of your favorite photos to the save cartridge.
# Loads of hidden characters and secret signs.

... huh?

 

[ksheets]

lol...their motto is "yesterdays games at today's prices"...I wonder what marketing genius came up with that?

 

[ilovecookies]

just purchased a copy of mario just to see if they use silver bottom (factory pressed) cd, since nobody is willing to disclose their experience they have with this buyer.

for me, as long as the disc isn't burnt, i'm satisfied enough.


i'll be receiving my item in two weeks, will let you mates know if it's a burnt cd or pressed one.

 

[Metagunner]

I just received Games Collection Volume 3 by Whamo Studios from Ebay. What I actually ordered was Banjo-Tooie for PC; The listing showed a PC case with the Banjo-Tooie cover, complete with the Rare logo. There was no mention of what I actually got; "10 Full Games", which included B-T. In the package lurked a small booklet, full of Get-Rich-Quick-Online schemes, Satellite TV on your PC ads, Dating websites, even a box set that purportedly would conjour up a career as a beta-tester. Bemused, I broke the seal on the case and opened it. No manual, just a CD with some images of smiley faces and a mouse on it. Dubiously I put it into my computer and pre-emptively cringed at what might happen. A cheery panel popped up, proclaiming "Yesterday's Games At Today's Prices!" below a colourful Whamo Game Studios banner. I have the option to click any of ten pictures of game cases, each of which will launch the desired full game. The catch, you say? Damned if I can find one! All game settings can be changed from the File - System - Options bar atop the game window. Cheats are built in, they can be switched on and off here, Full screen mode is available, Language changes and Control changes. I feel fairly pleased with myself for taking a chance on the cheapest version of the game I could find. Highly recommended stuff!

Full list of games I snatched with this purchase:

Banjo-Tooie
Super Swiv
Super Bonk
Earthbound
Gargoyles
Paper Mario (Fantastic! I'll enjoy this one)
Resident Evil 2
Harvest Moon XP
Lester The Unlikely
Transformers: BeastWars


Note: This does all seem quite shady. When I came online to investigate, This thread was indeed the only thing I could find. WHAMO-GAMES.com was printed on the case, but it's non-existant. Uhmm...I guess swipe this stuff while you can, the seedy Whamo empire may come crashing down in a tangle of copyright issues at any moment!

Much Love, Meta [Never to be seen in this forum again ^^]


Edit: It is all Emulator-run, and seemingly proud of it - www.Emulation64.com - Also I came across a fully active support forum - www.EmuTalk.net

Edit2: The forum is actually for the emulator that the Whamo disc uses - Which in fact does not work properly on a disc at all because of the read-only design (Meaning that games cannot be saved). Whamo are losers. DO NOT buy. I'm sure you already had that figured out before I said this, but what the hell, if anyone else is behind the game, here's your warning.