96620672   
   XPost: alt.sega.genesis   
   From: 8bitwizard#fanboy.net@127.0.0.1   
      
   In article ,   
    BelPowerslave  wrote:   
      
   > I'm with you in enjoying seeing the stuff still coming out, but I just   
   > feel really burned on the whole Beggar Prince 3rd run issue. I mean, now   
   > I have to sell my 1st run copy at a loss, just to try to turn around and   
   > buy the FINISHED version of the game, all because they couldn't be   
   > bothered to fix the save bug in the first place(I'm not disconnecting my   
   > 32X or SCD just to play the game). With the way they handle things,   
   > you'd almost assume they'd be all too willing to take 1st run copies in   
   > exchange for the 3rd run, then sell them on the site/ebay as "ULTRA RARE   
   > 1ST RUN PRINT OF BEGGAR PRINCE! L@@K!!!!!!!"....but no.   
      
   I think the problem was that it wasn't just a software bug. It was an   
   address conflict with the CD hardware. They didn't just have to fix the   
   game, they also had to fix the address decoding and the bank switching   
   hardware for the game save memory.   
      
   I just checked my photos of the internals, and I see a flash chip, a 32K   
   byte RAM chip, and a Xilinx chip. There's also a programming header on   
   the board, presumably for the Xilinx. So it's very possible that they   
   could have been able to re-program the boards and send them back, if the   
   Xilinx had access to enough of the right signals.   
      
   If, however, they had to change the board layout for the 3rd run, then   
   they would basically have to throw away all the old boards and replace   
   them with new ones. I would be surprised if the hardware cost of the   
   assembled board was less than ten dollars, and that would get real   
   expensive real fast.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)