An opinion on collecting and value

Sad to say that you have a point there, but I would think there are always going to be people who are genuinely interested in the old hardware/software. I grew up on a master system and a PS1 but I became fascinated with everything gaming related past and present, I tend to unseal sealed things too. I'm probably just weird though. If you ask me even perfect emulation isn't perfect, especially if you're being forced to use some godawful touchscreen as a controller and there are always going to be at least some people who agree with me. Nothing beats the healthy aircraft noises of a working dreamcast after all

 

There are already people throwing out, old genesis/megadrives atari 2600s in the trash.. this year alone I asked everyone I'm studying with if they have any old systems or ones that are not working, 2 of them were going to be thrown out! An Atari 2600 being stored in very wet areas!!

My interest is to save systems from garbage, even if it's just a motherboard or a case.. it's still to be preserved and could be fixed in the future by someone else or myself.

I collect because, I love doing it.. I've been growing up around video games and haven't stopped playing them since.

Emulation to me is crap, nothing beats the real thing.. Soon our games will not even be physical and just all downloaded or streamed files. But it is good in a sense of preserving the games in good condition.

But here comes my question:
Wouldn't a very large collection of no matter which brand system or games have value anyway?

Nintendo do seem to have a very big value among collectors, but if someone isn't a collector they just download a ROM or ISO and use an emulator :shrug:

 

Collecting because of value is stupid anyway. If you wanna invest in something, there's a zillion things that are better investments than video games.

 

I think that collectors will always want a physical copy of a game, because it's a physical representation of a childhood memory

Another factor in value is the place of the company in the current market. For instance, there are still new collectors for NES games because they come in contact with Nintendo DS/Wii and then go dig back in the companies history.
There are hardly any new Atari 2600 collectors, because "potential" collectors don't get in touch with Atari hardware anymore.

Also, the main bulk of a consoles collectors community will always be the "kids" that grew up with it. Nowadays the NES is the biggest system for collectors, because the people that grew up with the NES are now 25+ aprox, and now they start to earn money they can spend on their hobby.
I expect that in 5 - 10 years Playstation 1 collecting will be big, for the same reason NES is big now

 

Only reason I threw my old stuff out was 1 they were pysically disgusting to look it or there were MANY missing parts.

None of the games I had were all that rare so tossing them was no big loss to anyone

But see there will ALWAYS be a market for vintage anything video games are no exception. I don't think Pysical media is going anywhere either. You do know there are STILL parts of this country with no high speed internet access right?

 

Theres also the hype factor though, barely anyone bought Castlevania SOTN, Radiant Silvergun etc on release (so no memories) but they still fetch bundles despite being easy to emulate or available to download on XBLA etc. Highly speculative though.

You are right in that Nintendo have a solid cultish collecting fanbase, but they haven't always had the largest market share with their consoles, thus with the GC more people will have memories of PS2. The important factor for future value is probably the amount of innovation in a title (providing the game isn't terrible or sells badly - usually isn't true with Nintendo), of which 1st party Nintendo games usually have a lot.

 

once man's trash is another man's treasure, regardless of whether you think no-one would have wanted them or not their is always someone who is willing to have them, not every collector for example requires the whole complete item with all accessories before they feel its worthwhile, some are happy to just have the game on its own etc. or a piece of merchandise that goes with it

not having a go at your for chucking your stuff, thats your business, however i learned a long time ago that stuff i wouldn't use to wipe my arse is being actively collected and paid for by other people, amazing how much you can make our of stuff you wouldn't give house room

personally i dont see why just Nintendo stuff would be worth collecting more than others? i mean they have had a long history etc. which does put them above the rest with the amount of games, systems, handhelds they have released over the years but i am not sure that will qualify enough when their is so many more aspects to games collectors, e.g. some i have met are only interested in collecting cartridges (no optical media whatsoever), others only collect beta's and proto's, some are only interested in sealed stuff, but i have not come across anyone who was exclusively collecting for 1 company, i mean getting a complete set of XBOX titles doesn't mean you only collect MS stuff?

hope that makes sense, was typed in a bit of a rush!

 

There's a garbage bag of SNES/NES and Master System Carts in a RI landfill waiting for you.

 

Agree.

I don't collect any more, I just have modded consoles and play backups.

EDIT: Cept Game Boy, as I only play Pokémon on that. I guess just CD based consoles really.

 

I'm pondering if it will be worth it to get EVERY US released Dreamcast game that's what 250?

 

Some people collect games like it's fine art, for its value. That's a perfectly reasonable and defensible manifestation of the hobby. But for me, I collect games like they're cars. Car guys want to drive their collectibles, and I want to play my games. That's why I was willing to blow six bucks on a copy of Tactics Ogre for the GBA, even without the box and manual.

On the other hand, I also recognize that Tactics Ogre for the GBA was still commanding $40 or more just two years ago. Is it really worth less now, even though the content of the game hasn't changed? Certainly new releases on other platforms have something to do with it. Not to spend an hour on the subject, but I think that there's a certain amount of saturation going on too. There's so much available gaming content that it's not really worthwhile to spend weeks and weeks hunting down that rare game. Not when there's an equivalent or superior experience on the market now for a current gen system. Or worse, one on the sale endcap (or in the download queue) for $10 or less.

 

It may be possible to emulate an old system perfectly, but I doubt that, any time in the near future, they'll be able to perfectly replicate the experience of playing a game on a CRT. There's also something to be said for using the controllers that a console originally used, and that can't be replicated either unless you were to just make an exact copy of a controller.

I really don't care what's valuable or what matters to other people. It matters to me.

 

Emulation has no soul even with usb controllers something does seem right. Though I love flash carts they feel right as I love to play game hack on the real thing.

 

I have noticed nintendo stuff is in most demand. Though as far as sega goes it's mainly saturn or dreamcast, genesis doesn't seem to have that big of a collecting market. Ps1 probably has the worst collecting market on average compared to other systems.

But the thing is gaming is more mainstream that people still go after 3do or pc engines to try something different or own something they never heard of. Plus it is really interesting what people have come up with these days to fix some old systems. I forget the members name but he posted how he fully brought a dreamcast back to life with off the shelf parts fully restoring the gd drive.

Then you have people who are making front loading ps1s. So the market is still there, it's just buying habits have changed cause of economic times as well as getting your value for your money. Plus a lot of nintendo fans like holding on to their games. I mean I noticed there are months where hyperstone heist value goes up, then goes down when 10 copies show up on ebay. Same with a lot of other konami games of the 16 bit era.

 

Wait, so... GoH, you threw away your games? Why? Even if they're worthless to you, you could still make some money selling them. You could have even sold them in bulk and still gotten something for them. Or do I misunderstand you?

I have this vision of a future world where, after everything's been converted to digital downloads, society collapses and there's no internet, no form of data transfer at all. And everyone will be crying because they're unable to use electronic media of any kind, and I'll still have my little stash of videogames, DVDs, records, etc. And I'll say, "Where are your digital downloads NOW?!" And I'll laugh my fuckin ass off.

Granted, that's not an extremely probable scenario, but where would humanity be without imagination?

 

For every case like that there's 10 games you bought for $50 that are worth $5 now...