Has collecting become your life?

He he
You're kidding, but I know that today's games are incredible and my PS3 blows me away each time I turn it on. But I fell I discover more gameplay treats and original ideas when I play 'old' games than current gen... or, as I said, I'm just getting old and can't handle current gen games anymore ;-)

 

I was doing this earlier this year. But after buying 100 odd PAL PS2 titles I pretty much had collected everything I'd want for the PAL PS2. Now I'm only buying select PS2 and 360 japanese titles. Much better for my wallet too.

 

Well, First comes my Missus and four kids, then work, but after that I am a complete addict to collecting videogames!
I try to get to the Car Boot Sale every weekend I can, and will always have a look in the charity shop for any gaming stuff.
Also check eBay daily...!

 

I'm an old Fart too!!! No worries!

I must admit there are quite a few new games out that are very well made but the vast majority of them aren't worth the plastic they are burned on.

When in doubt....go retro.

 

I've sold off my huge collection once that some here may remember but in my boredom over the last few years, I've recreated a better one (3000 or so games) with a dedicated gameroom in central Tokyo condo. I do see this one going someday (may just keep the arcade stuff) but I'll enjoy for what it is. I don't actively look for games anymore as I do mostly have what I want. I occassionally will go after a new release or 2 (I do enjoy recent titles like Army of Two: 40th Day, Alan Wake, Bioshock 2) but generally don't buy too many new releases.

I have a demanding job so I do go through weeks if not months of not playing anything so while my wife thinks that gaming is extremely important to me, it really isn't priority #1 for me.

 

It must be tough to be a collector and not have enough space. Anyone here ever watch the Youtube Channel LukeMorse1? The guy has a wonderful collection but his place is just way too small.

 

Well there is this local videogame/book store (edward McKays) were i live. I stop by it everyone once in a while, thinking today will be the day i find "X", what ever x may be. I must say, i have been on the hunt of a VMU for about 2 years now. I have yet to see it show up. I don't want to buy a VMU online cause i bought the dreamcast i hold dearly from this place about 2 years back. So its like a must to buy it from the origins.

Last time i was at this place Shenmue was on sale for 12$, which i was going to by cause the case looked in good condition, but turns out the game was too scratched for 12$.

I couldn't call my self a video game collector, due to the fact that the last console (not handheld) i bought was a dreamcast. The last current video game i bought was that Shadow game for the PS2. Which i pre-ordered for i think 45-50$. I got home plugged that bad boy in, and cried. It had been the worst game i had ever played. That was in 2005.. So sad.
So now i spend my time pirating PSP (or roms that can be emulated on the psp) and burning Dreamcast games. I really felt that, that Shadow game ruined my trust in video game sales. If i feel a game is worth the buy i will buy it, but i would rather test it on an emulator.
I don't try xbox/ps3/wii because i don't have the time to play those kinds of games. I seen what happens to the players of online games, so i want to stay away from that. The only time i do have to play video games is on the go when i am not driving my self. So i alway have a PSP in my pocket. I do own a few PSP games, but the dexter game that came with it, and a few my friends gave me.
Back to the pirating of dreamcast game statement, i have gone out and bought crazy taxi, Maken X *favorite Dreamcast FPF (first person fighter?)*, Resident Evil Code: Veronica, and Max Steel: Covert Missions. Which i bought all of these at that local store i said above.
So when i see a dreamcast game i alway buy it, i am trying to make a collection, but luckily, i have a large cd case with working selfboots. hah
I would call my self a dreamcast collector, but nothing more. I don't have interest in an other system. I probably would collect ngage game/systems, if i could find one but thats probably a stretch. Thanks for reading haha. Hope you learned something about me.

 

Ive always been about 7 years behind. and thats a good thing. because games that cost $70 7 years ago cost about $5 now. and they are just as fun. I mean, If i start collecting xbox360 stuff today on my $100 a month that i can spend on videogames then i will get one, maybe two games a month. but if i keep pluggin away at that gamecube collection i might end up with 20 or 30 games.
so yes. everywhere i go always i have videogames on the mind. even at places that are not videogame related like when i went with my wife to the craft store, i begun to fill the cart with things to clean my games with and things to frame my collectables in. i cant help it, im an addict.

 

70$ a game? If you bought used games for the current gen, you could easily acquire lots of games for 10-15$ each. As long as you don't buy new games at launch day, it's possible. And I wouldn't exactly call 100$ a month a small budget for collecting. I had 50 Euros a month for years when I was at school
But guess what, back then I didn't buy current gen games too hahah. Although, today that I earn some money (before I will be poor again because of my time at the University) I spend even less on new games. Not a single cent, to be exact. It makes me sick that money I've worked for for hours is just GONE within a couple of weeks because the game gets older.

 

For a couple of months last year collecting became something of an addiction. Every time I switched on the laptop the first two pages I looked at (other than my email) was Ebay (for bargain hunting) and Youtube (for the retro gaming community) and those pages remained open, and were regularly checked, all day long.
I couldn't walk past a charity shop without popping inside to have a look; because you never know. I also visited a car-boot sale in the area every week and looked into travelling further afield to see what other car-boot sales had to offer.

If I could change things would I do things differently? Well, I found some incredible bargains ranging from a misspelled Atari Jaguar for £11 (with free postage) to a near-mint boxed copy of Star Wars Return of the Jedi on Atari 2600 for a few quid as there was no interest because the seller listed it as "computer game". On the other hand; I do wish I had spent more time playing games than collecting them. There's a fine line between collecting because you enjoy making use of the items and collecting purely because you enjoy collecting.

 

I really need to sell a lot of my stuff. The volume I can see on my shelf just depresses me. A lot is in boxes which is easy to ignore most of the time but knowing they are filled (tetris-style) with carts and cases still pains me. Games are for enjoying (in whatever fashion fits your lifestyle/wishes), and I don't really play that much.

Maybe it's because I've been pretty broke for so long, I feel like a lot of it was a big mistake.

I feel selfish with this much stuff. I'm glad I no longer have aspirations of owning stuff just for the sake of possession. It was a very expensive lesson for me to learn about myself.

 

I've sold the vast majority of my collection. I went from 300-400 titles to, I'd say about 70-80.

I'm now only buying games I like and actually enjoy. My goal is to only have games that I think are fun. I used to just buy games just have them. They'd never get played and it was super lame.

 

I stick by this policy mostly, though I on occasion find a good deal on the types of games I'm not that much into(fighters, shooters usually) and decide to take it since I can usually turn around a good profit later if there's something else I actually really want to keep but don't have the money immediately. I've got plenty of fighters I don't really care about that are just waiting for that day when a rare item comes up and I don't have the money :nod:

 

This is a good approach, games are meant to be played and not to collect dust.

Right now I have a collection of more than 200 games, already a bit much for my taste.

 

I don't think games have to be played to be enjoyed. I enjoy simply looking at a rare collectible, unboxing it and reading it's manual, the manufacturing date, the adverts (maybe for titles that were cancelled?). Looking at the cover, enjoying the artwork and the design, i.e. of Japanese PC-Engine Super CD-ROM titles. They look so badass, it's almost as great to look at a copy of Gate of Thunder as to play it or to listen to its soundtrack.
Doing research on the web, finding out interesting facts about old games, secret connections between developers and games, getting together with other collectors, browsing auction sites, following one-of-a-kind sales & events... all that belongs to my definition of collecting. Collecting knowledge, collecting items, collecting reputation & friends.

There's much more to collecting than just to "use" what you own. What I think is very important is to collect what you like - not just what you think must be great. That's why I only collect perfect copies with spinecards and only Japanese games - I could save a lot of money if I bought trash without spines, suntan covers, loose carts or PAL versions.
I could have exactly as much fun with the game itself, but the joy in collecting would be gone - entirely. And I don't feel oppressed by my collection, in the contrary: I feel like it's still far from being "enough". How can something pain you that means such a lot?
Maybe it is because I connect to much memories (meaning "oh, this I bought there.." or "I got it from person X who was collecthing Y at the same...") to pretty much every purchase, I couldn't just let go at this point. A huge part of my collection consists of "trophies" - stuff I got because I was attentive on auction sites, was lucky, knew the right people. Stuff I'd never let go because I feel it could be "too much".