Obtaining the PIU home games

[Arkaaito]

Before Exceed came out, all the PIU home games (3 that I know of - Perfect Collection, Evolutionary Dance Floor & PREX 3) were for PC. I don't think any of them had a US release.

Now, I'd really like to find these, but so far I've had no luck - once in a blue moon they show up on eBay, but either I miss them or (like now) I'm in circumstances which makes it impossible to get them shipped to me.

Has anyone else here gotten them? Can anyone recommend (US) alternatives to eBay? Are they still in used game stores in South Korea - should I ask my friends there to keep their eyes peeled?

Edit: has anyone had experience with these guys? The website looks a little seedy (understatement!), but if they really do have the Pump games it might be worth it.

[valius]

All of those games are out of print, so there's no way you can get them legally anymore. The easiest place to find them is probably ph-online.net or other sites that offer home versions for download. And you probably shouldn't feel too bad, since AM can't even profit from games that are out of print!

[Arkaaito]

Originally Posted by valius

All of those games are out of print, so there's no way you can get them legally anymore.

Wait, so buying used games is illegal now?

The fact that something is out of print doesn't make it impossible to buy a legitimate copy, just very, very hard. Thanks for the advice on getting the ROMs, but I'm an eccentric - I like to have a real copy. :P

[TougaKiryuu]

Ignore what he said, it seemed to have confused you.

The best bet for you to find these is either the marketplace here or eBay, or even the average flea market. Other than that - you can't find it in a run of the mill store.

and no, it's not illegal to buy used games. If that was the case game stop would have been shut down AGES ago, in addition to the many pawn shops that sell used games and so on.

[Arkaaito]

Yeah, my "So used games == illegal?" question was rhetorical. (See the second line of my post.)

You have an interesting point about flea markets - that flat-out hadn't occurred to me. I'll have to try it now.

[TougaKiryuu]

right, used games are legal.

[generik88]

i would go with the x-gear games.
my friend got his pad from that site. i'm pretty sure that there legit.
also, perfect collection won't work with the american pads, (in the pack), and its only korean, so i would recommend either not getting it, or downloading it, and giving it he pc to p2+ patch. you can find both at ph-online.net.
you also talked about getting the "roms". those don't exist. this is a real pc game, so you would be downloading the files to play the game on your pc, not an emulator or console.

hope i was of help.

[Daniel]

How long ago did your friend get it from XGameGear. Websites like XGameGear give people problems if they forget to put an out of stock notice on sold out items. XGameGear has been accused of this.

[valius]

If I remember... a person ordering a pad and Prex 3 from XGameGear waited a long time to receive the items but never did. That person ended up asking a friend and looking into getting the Exceed SE version, since the PC versions could be played using a PS2 to USB version.

About what I said earlier... I meant that it's nearly impossible to find and buy a used copy of the games... particularly since anyone who has them is holding onto them... I haven't seen any for sale in ANY Bemani marketplace (or US PIU site for that matter) in over a year.

[Arkaaito]

Originally Posted by generik88

i would go with the x-gear games.
my friend got his pad from that site. i'm pretty sure that there legit.
also, perfect collection won't work with the american pads, (in the pack), and its only korean, so i would recommend either not getting it, or downloading it, and giving it he pc to p2+ patch. you can find both at ph-online.net.
you also talked about getting the "roms". those don't exist. this is a real pc game, so you would be downloading the files to play the game on your pc, not an emulator or console.

hope i was of help.

In this case, the "ROMs" I referred to would be CD-ROM disk images - images of the actual game CD-ROM, much like the kind you make when you're going to install something for several users over a network. Though I'm sure I could find zips of the installed files, I alluded to this method because it would be the next closest thing to finding legit copies of the games.

If you're going to be condescending at least be correct.

Oh well, keep it coming - any useful suggestions are appreciated. Thanks also to everyone who responded.

I've e-mailed XGameGear asking about availability, and haven't gotten a reply. It's only been since Friday, though, so I'm still holding out hope.

[valius]

Originally Posted by Arkaaito

In this case, the "ROMs" I referred to would be CD-ROM disk images - images of the actual game CD-ROM, much like the kind you make when you're going to install something for several users over a network. Though I'm sure I could find zips of the installed files, I alluded to this method because it would be the next closest thing to finding legit copies of the games.

If you're going to be condescending at least be correct.

Oh well, keep it coming - any useful suggestions are appreciated. Thanks also to everyone who responded.

I've e-mailed XGameGear asking about availability, and haven't gotten a reply. It's only been since Friday, though, so I'm still holding out hope.

Well actually, you don't install the game onto your hard drive via CD-ROM, but you run the game directly off the CD-ROM... so that if you copy the contents of the CD-ROM to your hard drive, it runs fine as well (many people chose to do this... for backup and other related reasons). Most Web sites offer a zip with the files and folders found in the original CD-ROM. Also, Perfect Collection PC has been out-of-print since 2001, and Prex 3 PC a little before 2005, so xgamegear.com is probably not going to have it.

Having played PIU since 2000 and from being present around various US PIU and Bemani sites... trust me... nobody is going to be willing to sell their original Prex 3 PC or Perfect Collection CDs, which are almost collector's items at this point.

[Arkaaito]

<sighs> Can someone please back me up that it's completely possible to take a disk image of a PC CD-ROM, the same way it is of any other disc for any other system? This guy clearly does not believe me.

Anyway, I might agree with you that they're "impossible" to get except that two of them were up on eBay this past week and I couldn't snag them because I'm still in the middle of my move.

I do recognize that it's rare, but rare != impossible. And I appreciate your interest, but repeatedly telling me "you can't find them! NO, YOU CAN'T! Get a rip of the CD-ROM! DO IT!" is not helping at this point. Like I said, please tell me if you come up with other ideas, but I don't think we're going to see eye-to-eye on this one.

[valius]

Originally Posted by Arkaaito

<sighs> Can someone please back me up that it's completely possible to take a disk image of a PC CD-ROM, the same way it is of any other disc for any other system? This guy clearly does not believe me.

Anyway, I might agree with you that they're "impossible" to get except that two of them were up on eBay this past week and I couldn't snag them because I'm still in the middle of my move.

I do recognize that it's rare, but rare != impossible. And I appreciate your interest, but repeatedly telling me "you can't find them! NO, YOU CAN'T! Get a rip of the CD-ROM! DO IT!" is not helping at this point. Like I said, please tell me if you come up with other ideas, but I don't think we're going to see eye-to-eye on this one.

Off-topic stuff on copies:

Uhhh... I never said that it was impossible to make an ISO of a PC CD-ROM! Of course it's not impossible to make a perfect ISO of any Perfect Collection or Prex 3 CD. However, there isn't as much of a reason to do so, since the game itself is very portable, and the game will run as long as Pumpy.exe is in the same folder as the rest of the components it needs. That's all I was saying... you originally said that you needed to "install" a PIU PC game, which is incorrect. When you insert the CD-ROM of Perfect Collection, the game will run automatically. When you insert the CD-ROM of Prex 3, the game will make an autoplay screen giving you the option of running the game or setting up the USB pad.

I'm clear this time, right? Is my English so bad today?

On-topic:

Fair enough... even though the item description is incorrect (there are no such thing as PIU PC DVDs), that looks like the USB PIU pads one would need to play PC versions (and other PIU emulators). To be honest, I haven't checked for PIU on ebay in a really long time, since a long time ago... anyway, that thing was REALLY a steal, since it has both a RARE Perfect Collection CD original... as well as 2 pads (normally $90-$100)... of course, I can't tell how good the pads are just from the outer appearances.

Anyway, which particular CDs did you want? Perfect Collection and Prex 3 are probably the two that are the best in the PIU PC series.

[Arkaaito]

Originally Posted by valius

Off-topic stuff on copies:

Uhhh... I never said that it was impossible to make an ISO of a PC CD-ROM!

Ack, my bad - I just didn't read your post carefully enough. For some reason I thought you were claiming that it wasn't possible. You're correct that it wouldn't really serve a purpose in this case - or in most cases when dealing with single-site PC applications.

Originally Posted by valius

Fair enough... even though the item description is incorrect (there are no such thing as PIU PC DVDs), that looks like the USB PIU pads one would need to play PC versions (and other PIU emulators). To be honest, I haven't checked for PIU on ebay in a really long time, since a long time ago... anyway, that thing was REALLY a steal

Yes, it was! Once I decided it was legit (the "DVD" thing gave me pause), I was crying into my tea that I wouldn't be able to buy it. (EBay sellers are never willing to hold off on shipping...) It went for $45... shipped... can you believe that? I can't believe there's no crying smiley here. Excuse me, I need to go make more tea.

Originally Posted by valius

Anyway, which particular CDs did you want? Perfect Collection and Prex 3 are probably the two that are the best in the PIU PC series.

Any that I can get my hands on?

I'm mostly interested in PREX3 (more songs, better interface), though I'm also curious about PerfColl because I came to the Pump scene more recently and haven't been exposed to those older songs. But like I said, if I see any anywhere I'll probably grab them, no matter what they are.

[TougaKiryuu]

I own perfect collection myself and I can say it is very nice, gives a kinda prex feel but without take me on :< that's my recommendation