VectorGamer

I see a lot of those arcades had it right - low lighting and let the games themselves provide the lighting. Had to anyway to keep glare off of the screens but I see some of the arcades were too bright.

Fun City at the Park City Mall in Lancaster, PA.

Interesting how what seemed to be a benign thread at the very beginning took on a life of its own!

Here are the values (cartridge only) according to the price guide I have: Tapper $15 Burgertime $10 Venture $3 Cabbage Patch Kids $6 $34 for $14

Colecovision BurgerTime 10 mins Root Beer Tapper 10 mins Pepper II 10 mins Defender 15 mins Galaxian 10 mins

My DK cart for the Colecovision does not have the animated introduction...

Tapper, Cabbage Patch Kids, Venture, & Burgertime for $14.00. I have to believe I snagged a heluva deal on these as I've seen Burgertime alone selling for $12-18 in spots. Sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum but it's hard to tell it this sort of thing is posted here or at the root of the Marketplace forum.

Nintendo’s March U.S. Wii Sales Drop, Xbox 360 Gains (Update1) Share | Email | Print | A A A By Adam Satariano April 16 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. sales of Nintendo Co.’s Wii video-game console fell 17 percent in March, the first monthly drop since January 2008, according to researcher NPD Group Inc. Sales of the world’s most popular console fell to 601,000 players from 721,000 a year earlier, Port Washington, New York- based NPD Group said today in an e-mailed statement. Stores sold 330,000 of Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 players, a 26 percent gain, and 218,000 of Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3, a 15 percent drop. U.S. industry sales slid 17 percent to $1.43 billion. Nintendo has sold 19.6 million Wii consoles in the U.S. since the player was introduced in November 2006. The popularity has led game developers including Electronic Arts Inc. to create exclusive titles for the system. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said March sales suffered in the absence of a top release like last year’s “Super Smash Brothers: Brawl.” “Our launch schedules are more spread out so we’re going to have these tough comparisons month to month,” Fils-Aime said in an interview. “But if you look at the overall trend of our business it continues to be very healthy.” Wii sales in Japan trailed Sony’s PlayStation 3 in the five weeks ended March 29, Tokyo-based research firm Enterbrain said on April 7. The March decline in the U.S. was the first since a supply shortage crimped sales in January 2008. Nintendo gained 1.6 percent to 28,040 yen in Tokyo trading today. The shares have fallen 46 percent in the past year. Industrywide, game software sales in March totaled $792.8 million, a 17 percent drop, according to NPD. Hardware sales declined 18 percent to $455.6 million. Later Easter The decline reflected this year’s later Easter, which delayed some sales that would have occurred in March, and Nintendo’s gains from “Super Smash Bros.” last year, NPD analyst Anita Frazier said in a statement. “You might not think that Easter is that big of a gift- giving holiday, but our consumer data shows that 8 percent of industry unit sales were purchased for the Easter occasion in March 2008,” Frazier said. Nintendo sold 563,000 of its DS handheld players in the U.S. in March, down 19 percent from a year earlier. Fils-Aime said purchases will increase following the April 4 introduction of a new version of the system, the DSi. That player has already sold 435,000 units in the U.S., he said. Consumers bought 168,000 of Sony’s PSP handheld device. Nintendo had four of the top 10 selling titles during the month, including No. 2 ranked “Pokemon Platinum,” with sales of 805,000, and “Wii Fit,” third with sales of 540,000. The top-selling game in March was “Resident Evil 5.” To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Satariano in San Francisco at [email protected] Last Updated: April 16, 2009 19:18 EDT

Here's some recent articles that gives us an idea on the state of the Big 3 (key points bolded for "skimability"): Game Group Rises After Sales Beat Forecasts on Wii (Update2) Share | Email | Print | A A A By David Altaner April 22 (Bloomberg) -- Game Group Plc, the U.K.’s largest electronic-games retailer, rose the most in five months in London trading after games such as “Mario Kart Wii” helped cushion a sales decline and beat company forecasts. Game Group gained 13 percent. Sales at stores open at least a year dropped 6.3 percent in the 11 weeks ended April 18, “ahead of expectations,” the Basingstoke, U.K.-based company said in a Regulatory News Service statement today. Total revenue increased 1 percent in the same period. Demand for Nintendo Co.’s Wii, Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox has helped Game Group’s sales even in the U.K. recession. About 9 million systems sold in the U.K. over the past year, for a total of more than 22 million, the company said. Gross margin this fiscal year gained 1.5 percentage points as the larger number of consoles allowed it to sell more higher-profit software titles. “The unprecedented range of products has broadened the demographic appeal of gaming, attracting new customers from all generations,” Chief Executive Officer Lisa Morgan told reporters in a conference call. The company is “confident” of the outlook for the year ended Jan. 31, 2010, she said. The decline in same-store sales in the 11 weeks compares with an 18 percent gain for the same period a year earlier. Prior to today, Mike Hickey, a Janco Partners analyst, had been predicting a 10 percent decrease for the first half. Profit Increase Game gained 21 pence to 185 pence in London. The stock has advanced 46 percent this year, giving the company a market value of 640.7 million pounds ($929 million). Full-year profit rose 81 percent, Game Group said. Net income was 85.4 million pounds in the 53 weeks ended Jan. 31, from 47.2 million pounds a year earlier. Sales gained 32 percent to 1.97 billion pounds. Morgan said the company will add 70 or 80 new stores in this fiscal year, mostly in Australia and Spain and Portugal. The company added a net 159 outlets last year, for a total of 1,342, including franchises. For the full year, U.K. and Irish same-store sales gained 10.7 percent. Overseas, where the company generates about 30 percent of its revenue, such sales gained 4.6 percent. Game Group is trying to sell more used product to attract cash-strapped customers, Morgan said. Sales of used games rose 37 percent to 353 million pounds, helping the company increase profit margin, Finance Director David Thomas said in the call. Gross margin on pre-owned games is 39 percent, compared with 22 percent for new games and machines, the company said. The full-year dividend was raised 25 percent to 5.5 pence. David Stoddart, an analyst with Altium Securities, raised his recommendation to “buy” from “hold,” citing the margin gains. “Zavvi and Woolies aren’t there; that’s helped them,” he said in a telephone call, citing the collapse of Woolworths Group Plc and Zavvi Retail Ltd.

I'll join the Tower Toppler competition if someone can post the instructions. I feel like I'm pissing all over the side of the toilet when it comes to this game.

Yeah well, what happens on eBay will just happen on the Chuck.

When I bought my arcade cabinet from TNT Amusements, the owner there said that arcades are dead. "A quarter is still what it was 30 years ago - a lousy quarter." He went on to say that the only arcades that will be around are ones that are already around and own the building. I'll be hitting two arcades this summer - the one at Hersheypark and the one on the boardwalk in Ocean City, MD. I'll jot down a list of classic games that may still be in service at the respective arcade. At one time there were at least two arcades on the boardwalk at Ocean City and I don't recall if there is one at the Jolly Roger out there but I will check on our obligatory annual visit for the kids. Also, I will be at the TMG expo soon and I'll grab some photos. There's a classic arcade about ten minutes away that I'm going to visit in between our early morning extravaganza and the Warlords Tournament.

I'm with you on owning a 5200 and Colecovision. Fact is, I am a rabid classic arcade nut that has to have access to as many quality arcade ports I can get my hands on. Doesn't matter what system, there are always duds. I wasn't able to get Crack'd to work. I was using a 2600 joystick - maybe I was doing something wrong.

My question was vague - more in the sense of another "Pac-Man Fever" sweeping the nation and gamers preferring these more simplistic games over the graphically superior counterparts (for whatever reason - economics or "been there, done that"). Wouldn't it be cool - maybe for just a year and some people taking the risk and opening arcades as we used to know them? Maybe in higher place, eh?

That would be sweet if the goal of the hardware was to create a large number of arcade ports up to 1984, that are true to the real thing and is backward compatible with the 2600 and 7800 carts. Add to that updating earlier titles from the 2600, 5200 and 7800 library that could use a boost in graphics and enhanced gameplay. I think this would be more suitable for hobbyists like the ones found here on AtariAge. If I had the know-how, this would be something I personally would undertake.

This is my personal preference, but owning a console no later than the Playstation allows me to purchase games for no more than $5 on average. I have no desire to purchase any of the latest systems. Most of them seem to be RPGs which I never had an interest in. I cannot see myself doing repeat plays on these systems.

Although the vision I have of the spinning vehicle is humorous, you are exactly right. On top of that it kills the idea of charging a quarter regardless of the fact that nobody charges a quarter anymore.

Additionally, I'm also working on my Colecovision collection at the same time. While this thread is about the 7800, I have to say that the Colecovision is my favorite console. There is an active thread "5200 vs. Colecovision" and there seems to be more in favor of the 5200. I question if popular opinion may be biased given that "Atari" is in the name of this site. With all due respect to Mirage, as it seems that he and I have common interests or at least I have interests common to him in a lot of topics on these boards (and he has been very helpful I might add), one of his favorite topics (and I say that tongue-in-cheek) was the "The One Console to Have For Arcade Ports" where I proclaimed the Colecovision the "king of the arcade ports" based on higher quality as well as quantity native to that system. Anyway, the 7800 carts I intend to keep that I listed in the previous post are very good ports. Given the circumstances regarding the timing of the release of the 7800, it is disappointing in the low number of ports available. Thankfully, there are home brews available and I hope that more are on the way. Hardware wise, the form factor of the 7800 is nice compared to the behemoth 5200. The return to the DB-9 controller ports is welcome along with the ability to play the 2600 carts (although not all of them - e.g. Stargate) without an add-on product.

Well, I think I pretty much spit my wad as far as collecting for the 7800 goes. I guess that isn't hard to do. Here are the titles I currently have: Asteroids Ballblazer Centipede Choplifter Crack'ed Dark Chambers Dig Dug Donkey Kong Donkey Kong Junior Food Fight Galaga Hat Trick Jinks Joust Ms. Pac-Man One-On-One Basketball Pole Position II Robotron 2084 Summer Games Tower Toppler Winter Games Xevious Of those, I'm going to ditch the following: Crack'ed Dark Chambers Hat Trick Jinks One-On-One Basketball Summer Games Tower Toppler Winter Games Donkey Kong Donkey Kong Junior I have no reason to play the last two games. I have them on the Colecovision and the 7800 versions are just plain bad. I don't do sports games on the classic consoles since they just don't compare to what I can play on the Playstation. Believe it or not, the only exception I would make is Basketball for the Atari 2600. This is a case where game play makes up for the graphics. The only carts I have left to collect are the following: Midnight Mutants Pac-Man Collection Scrapyard Dog b*nQ Space Duel Asteroids Deluxe Beef Drop VE The TMG expo is only a week-and-a-half away, and I will see what I can pick up there.

I'm with ya on that! It's similar to having the score run up on you in a lopsided football game... I did however, find a Nintendo 64 and some PS games at a Goodwill, but I do not consider either of those "Classic Consoles." A Classic Console is one that focuses on arcade ports from the late 70s to 1984. Having said that, that would include the 7800 but not the NES. I did find some carts for an Atari computer at Salvation Army two weeks ago, but the fact remains that I have not been able to find any for my consoles.

I agree. Although I received responses from him regarding a couple of games, I never received responses when it got to the stage of actually shipping the games out. As you said, if he is busy, remove his items from the list and he will notify us when they can be added back. Also, ClassicGmr has not updated the list for almost a month. Maybe he's too busy as well or perhaps that every offer has been matched with a claim therefore not requiring any modifications to the list.

I'm with ya on that! It's similar to having the score run up on you in a lopsided football game...

I agree like others not to spend more than $25...I got mine "as-is" for $20 and wound up with a working system and a half-dozen game carts.

I'm afraid to ask.... WHAT is "Kentucky" jelly? KY Jelly...called Kentucky of being equal to the two letter state designation

I found a vector graphic on the Internet for my MAME cabinet and had it printed at Kinkos on Mylar and put that in between two pieces of clear plexiglass. Nice game being displayed there!