I was in the local goodwill yesterday, and noticed they had a copy of space quest III and gold rush(both for dos), as well as another old sierra adventure that I didn't get a good enough look at to identify. They wanted $10 bucks for each of them, and seeing as I've played these games to death already I wasn't in the mood to shell out $30. I would love to have them in my collection, but I don't want to find out after the fact that I paid way too much for them. But, now I'm starting to wonder if they may be worth more then that. I've only been able to find one copy of both space quest III and Gold Rush on ebay, with both of them listed at a price of 39.99. Though the space quest auction mentions it's a copy of the first run of the game, so I wonder if the gold rush is in fact first issue as well. So does anyone know how I could tell if the ones here in town are from the first run or what the actual value of those games would be(first run value, and the value of other copies)? From what I could tell everything was included(warrenty card and everything), and the condition of the box/inserts was very nice. If this should have gone into "general gaming" could a mod please move it? Thanks.
To be honest I do not know what the market value of those titles would be, but I am just going to remind you that they are worth what you are willing to pay for them. It seems that you balked at the price of $10 so maybe they're really not worth that much to you(you could always make them an offer). However, it seems that your interest in them is almost purely nostalgia so I doubt you would be selling them anyway. I know we all want to make smart purchases, but if you were to buy them all for $30 and then see them at a flee market the next week for half that. How would it really make you feel? Would you just be glad that you had them or would you feel ripped off?
I'd probably feel pretty bad, but that's only because money is pretty tight right now. I just don't want to pay $30 just to see the same games on ebay a week later for $1.99. If I hadn't gotten laid off from my last job a $10 game would be a small purchase and I would have bought all 3 on the spot, but as things are now it's actually a sizable chunk of my income. I would love to have a copy of space quest III, but as short on cash as I am I could only justify buying the game if I was getting a pretty nice deal. As for selling them, I doubt I would sell space quest, but I would sell gold rush in an instant if I was able to make $20+ profit.
Yeah that's a tough position then. Sorry to hear about the lay off. If they were in a thrift shop you could always make them an offer it just depends on how long they have been there. I've done it before, you might be surprised.
Seems to me that computer games don't really retain thier value as much as console games do. I suppose there are many reasons for this; Many of these games have passed into freeware and are availible for download leaglly, people with Win XP can't play Dos games, etc. I have noticed that compilations of old Dos games released for windows tend to get higher selling prices on Ebay, for example King's Quest compilation, Infocom (which I sold for $110, sweet,) Hereo's Quest/Quest for Glory, Leisure suit Larry, etc.
The Sierra Collections usually sell for a good sum of money ($75+). The "newer" games in any series don't seem to sell for much - Space Quest IV and V can be found on eBay for less than $10, along with the King's Quest and Quest for Glory series. I don't really know about the earlier games, but I don't imagine they would sell for too much unless they are either shrinkwrapped or "first editions" ("Hero Quest" [original Quest for Glory] goes for silly amounts of money when I see it). If it makes you feel any better, I probably wouldn't have paid $10 unless it was boxed and in great condition. I'm used to finding pretty good deals at thrift shops for PC games (Mechwarrior 2 + expansion, hintbook, and Mechwarrior 4 for $3? Sign me up...), so that's not something I would've shelled out $10 for.
I wish I could make an offer on the games, but they will not lower the price on anything due to a customer request. The only time something's price is lowered is when its been there for a long time, and if the manager actually notices it hasn't been sold, and unless things have changed the managers pay little attention to video games. I worked at this goodwill for about a year or so, and they rarely got any games in, especially decent ones, so I was quite suprised to see those games there. Though every once in awhile something nice would come in(like the 3do I "found" while sorting donations;-)). And when they did get something in they would almost always sell it for 1.99(like the copies of quest for glory 2 and 3 I got there), except for the odd ps1/2 game which they would sell for $10. Wonder if they've got someone working there now who seems to think they'll get that kind of price out of an old pc game that very few people care about(especially in this town). The more I think about it the less I think I'll be able to resist buying atleast space quest, if not all 3 games. Damn this addiction:banghead: oh, and don't feel too bad about the layoff. It was over 4 months ago and I've been enjoying the perks of getting an unemployment check. On a side note does anyone know anything about the version of Gabriel Knight 1 that came in a weird shaped box(kinda like two triangles)? All this talk of unopened sierra games has got me wondering if I should have opened the one I got a few years back. The only copies I can find of the game on ebay are either jewel case only, or in a regular shaped large box. So does anyone know if it was the first release, with later runs using a cheaper standard box? Even if it's worth some money can't say I regret opening it(unless we're talking $100+), because its got to one of the most memorable games I've ever played.(with an excellent graphic novel included). One more sidenote, sense this doesn't really deserve a new thread I'll ask it here. I've got a copy of deja vu 1 & 2(vga versions I believe, though it might be ega) but I can't for the life of me find a way to play them. I can play for a few minutes using dosbox but the game always freezes at the same point. So any tips on getting them to run on a modern system(sadly I don't have my old laptop or desktop anymore).
Really? Becasue I happen to have that, the original version... About your dejavu question, if the game always freezes at the same point it could be your copy of the game is corrupted. Try installing it again.
hmm i bought indiana jones fate of atlantis voice edition and monkey island with cd soundtrack vor about 60-70 euros each and that was cheap at that time =)
My experience with Goodwill or Salvation Army is that they tend to overprice most video game/computer things.
Seems to me that the goodwill/salvation army has set prices, i.e. a game console will always cost $20, no matter if it's a common nes or 2600 or a something that costs a little more on the secondary market like 3Do. Then I find that if something is really obscure, like if they have no idea what it is, then usually they'll price it as a kids toy and you can nab it for a steal. I found a Casio Loopy theremal printer at the good will for $5.99 (sold it for $40 Bwahahhaha!)
They do have set prices for video games and other electronic equipment, though when I worked there standard price for a game was $1.99. Which was actually too much since 99% of the games they got in were old genesis sports titles(can't even count the number of Madden 94/95 copies I saw come through there). Even when something good would come through it would sit for months until I or a buddy(who I informed of the titles availability) picked it up. I don't know if corporate decided they needed to be charging more or if the local management just got greedy. Either way they will likely never sell any old dos games for anywhere near $10. There is almost no market in this town for retro games, even harder to find titles such as final fantasy III, or earthbound are near impossible to sell locally. And if you do manage to find a shop to buy them you'll likely get under $5. Hell, I recently got a loan(pawn) on about 40 Genesis games(all decent, not a single crap sports title in the mix) and 30 snes games and I could barely get $35. The only reason I managed to get that much is because I know someone who works there and I've brought the plenty of business in the past. One would think Goodwill would set their prices based on demand, though apparently one would be wrong for thinking that. As far as my deja vu problems go, now that I think about it the game doesn't actually freeze at the same point every time. When using dosbox the game will always freeze within 10 min or so of playing, but it happens somewhat randomly(if I waste time and stay in the first couple of rooms it will freeze, but if I rush through the first few rooms it will still freeze within 10 min of playing.) Sometimes it freezes within 2 min, sometimes I can play for upwards of 10 but it always freezes before too long. If I use a cpu slowing app the game seems to be running fine(text speed/mouse movement is the right speed, as if the game is actually running like it would on a system with specs it was designed for) but whatever method the game uses to track the amount of time you've been playing doesn't seem to be affected. It will always give me a message about how "you've gone mad because you havn't jogged your memory quick enough" within a few minutes of playing with or without the cpu slowing app.
Wait, is the game actually freezing or is it just playing too fast and giving you the "went insane" message? Or is it doing both? Good game btw, I used to have it on my old Macintosh, the one with the monitor built in.
Hmm? You can play DOS games on windows XP, it's just that the compatibility is not very good. Usually people use Dosbox to play DOS games on XP.
People with XP can always use Virtual PC and a real copy of DOS or Win 3.1x. That's pretty much perfect compatibility. -hl718
When playing the game in dosbox it simply freezes, and if I play it using a cpu slowing app I still get the "you didn't remember enough quickly enough" message. But I'm not too worried about it now, I've been playing Gothic II and it's been taking up pretty much all of my gaming time.
