Forums > Game Forums > Elite > Label vs Owner
Trypticon (11013) on 3/26/2013 11:53 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
So I was considering to add some additional US release info for this and another game where the same situation applies, naturally with Firebird (US) as publisher, because that's what the gaming press as far as I found said, that's what the front of the box implies to me, that's what's on the media, the game itself...but then, oh, there had to be the sticker on the back of the the US scans saying it's published by Telecomsoft. Which happened to be the owner of Firebird. There is a correction filed saying the DOS Publisher info should be replaced because of this.
So, ignore the label totally? Enter both? Only Firebird?
Indra was here (20633) on 3/27/2013 1:00 PM · edited · Permalink · Report
Put it this way. If someone paid for a sticker on every box of the game, that's usually a big deal. So it's either Telecomsoft+Firebird or Telecomsoft to be named. Cheap sticker wins.
Trypticon (11013) on 3/27/2013 1:10 PM · Permalink · Report
I think it's really a case of semantics. The label has either meaning or it doesn't, and the consensus was clear, at least regarding the "birds" what it is. The case for doing completely away with the label seems weak based on this. It would be different if the "published by" message was by a completely different company, like say, by Softgold.
djindio (1608) on 4/2/2013 11:08 AM · edited · Permalink · Report
It appears to me that they simply reused stickered UK boxes for the US releases. Note in the following example that the box is actually of a cassette release for the Amstrad CPC, but has been stickered with DOS info on the front and stickered twice to replace the barcode and distribution info:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/elite/cover-art/gameCoverId,1694/
(see the cassette logo under the barcode sticker)
http://www.mobygames.com/game/elite/cover-art/gameCoverId,1693/
(note what appears to be Amstrad CPC text under the PC/Tandy sticker)
So I would say that sticker trumps the any of the existing contradictory info printed on the box in the case of that U.S. DOS release...
...BUT, this Commodore release appears to hint that they had established some sort of "Firebird Software" entity in the U.S. at the time of it's release:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/elite/cover-art/gameCoverId,73751/
(see the fine print on the barcode sticker)
...so...?
Rwolf (21743) on 4/2/2013 2:20 PM · Permalink · Report
http://www.birdsanctuary.co.uk/fb/fb_us2.php
The birdsanctuary has some pages on the US history of the Firebirds labels.
btw. I saw another version of the Elite box at the uk computinghistory website, tagged for a version of the BBC micro, the Acorn Electron, not listed in elites existing platforms; I'm not sure if the A.E. is a separate platform at moby in itself, there seems to be an 'Atom' and a 'Acorn 32bit', but I'm not familiar with any of the Beeb:s.
