first of all, if i''m in a wrong forum please redirect me i''m trying to kinda figure out what kinda of legal license i need for "my" software... lets say i create a sort of an engine which can run appz & gamez. the engine it self and its moduls would be written as portable code. my wish is to present this software as open source, but on the other hand i''d still like to, well make $$$ appz&gamez which would be created and used on this engine, would not need to be open source, but could be commercial and here i see my $$$. from every copy of any app&game that would be sold, i''d get small percentage (royallities???) as to opensource... if we look GNU, it says that u can do what ever u like with the code as long as u give others same access to new code, right? but this is in a kind of an conflict with (above written) commercial appz&gamez... is this kind of a "license" possible? and i''m really such a bastard?

You can make whatever license you want, with your code.

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and how do u do this?
just write it down?

Go to Sourceforge.net and download any software from there, and see how they write the license.

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better luck next time

how are things organized on the console market? to make games a console provider (lets say nintendo) has to also provide a SDK, right?

so now a firm like capcom makes a new game which is being sold as a ROM. does nintendo get any $$$ from ROM sales? or it just makes money from selling consoles?

I think they actually LOOSE money when they sale a console, they get money when you sell the game.

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If you want a license either,
i. Look at other similar software titles and copy theirs.
ii. Get an IP lawyer to draft a license agreement for you.

The first will be free but the license you make may not be 100%. The second will cost money. Your choice.

As for console makers they charge a license fee ($7-8 per unit) for every game a publisher sells. As Raduprv said they actually lose money on the consoles (at least at the start of their life) by selling them below cost in order to build the market.

Dan Marchant
Obscure Productions
Game Development & Design consultant

IP lawyer? ip?

7-8$? not too shabby

IP == Intellectual Property