ericwierson
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Posts posted by ericwierson
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Did you happen to inform her that what she has is a pretty basic and common Atari 2600 setup? Worth maybe $50 tops?
I did, and she insisted that she could sell it for that price because her cousin did.
She was telling me how old it was and how it came out before the Nintendo and PlayStation.
I was doing all I could to keep from laughing out loud, she's really convinced that she's gonna sell it for that price.
Funny thing is, she probably will.
I hope she does.
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what about signing on a box ... would you do that?
How about my Joystick Thumb?
Yeah, that would work out better. You could make a print of it.
Damn, wish you were going to CGE.
The whole gang is going to be there.CPU wiz also?
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I played Bagman at a 7-11. Tough ass game and no fun.
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Last year was alot of fun. I hope there is a little more Atari stuff for sale this year.
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If it's a popular item but also a plentiful one, the BIN's end up almost identical to the auction price, for the obvious reason that most buyers are smart enough to say "hey, forget this auction if it goes above the BIN for another one". So it kinda keeps a cap on prices in a way as well. I've noticed this with a particular Magic:the gathering card, "Force of Will", which is uncommon, and worth about 40-50. I thought "well, maybe the auctions go for lower than the BINs", since that's way out of my price range for something small like a card. I watched plenty of them for a while and the price was almost perfectly even across the board - no bargains. If the price was low, it always had a reason like more wear on the item, etc.
Some retrogame items are in that category: Plentiful, but desirable. There's also way more variation, since things are sold as lots often. I think you can still get a great deal on ebay if you are buying some of the more rare items - the seller does not typically have many other auctions to compare to and may post his or hers at a price significantly below (or above!) value. I think we're still experiencing fallout from the Air Raid sale, and I also think that the 2600 is somewhat of a pop culture fad right now. I mean, you can buy Atari shirts at Wal-Mart. That didn't happen five years ago, in fact, it would have been ludicrous. The exposure is simply jacking the prices on 2600 and related goods, and sellers are following suit with unrelated items, even though they're probably not going to have that same comeback. Gaming in general is more and more important to American culture, and that raises the prices. Some consoles have reached the point where they're beginning to fail in notable numbers, and those need replacing.
I don't get in on Craigslist (I'm not even entirely clear on what it is), but I assume it has a culture similar to Ebay. If the data and search functions are roughly equivalent, the posters may learn what similar items bring. Otherwise, they just come up with something. And there's always Junk Shop People. I have learned in my many years in junk shops and flea markets just what junk shop people are like and how to deal with them. They're very interesting folks. Many of them have bizarrely inflated ideas of what one item may be worth, while being totally unaware of the gem they are selling cheaply. I mean, an Atari 2600 E.T. (vintage 1970's, major movie license tie-in cross-collectible) has GOT to be worth more than Panzer Dragoon Saga (not even that old, and who's heard of it?!). So I'd imagine Craigslist to be a sort of mix between those people and ebay sellers, who I feel are actually fairly shrewd, though I'm not necessarily implying that they've earned that status through their own merit in all cases.
When I do ebay, I just do the BIN's anyway. I don't usually have time to be at my computer at the exact moment that something happens, and I dislike getting my hopes up and losing an item. The best policy with ebay excluding BIN's is of course to place tons of decently lowball bids, then go to sleep. 75%-95% of them will fail, and the others you will win at low prices. Sometimes you end up with two or three of something accidentally, but if you paid a third of what it usually goes for, you're still good. This also works with job applications, but does not work in dating.
Another thing to consider is the fun! Ebay can be kinda fun, but it's hardly as neat as working the wild. I'd rather tell people about my 10$ boxed Chrono Trigger or 2$ Akanoid VAUS controller than how I finally shelled out 60$ for something I'd wanted for a while. Of course, Ain't no way I'll find Fami games here, they're hard enough to find online (some of them) and I hear they're not that plentiful in the wild in Japan either anymore. So of course, imports, can't help it. Fami games seem to have low supply AND low demand. I'll see the same one float around for a while before bidding on it, and prices fluctuate more often. The low demand means sometimes you CAN get a desirable title for a much lower price than usual. Another great deal is when you find miscategorized items. Seller doesn't know the difference between Atari and CV (A fair enough mistake for someone not that up on older games, no?), and you can get some decent stuff that way. There's one more way to save on ebay - if you're the type of collector that I am, you'll happily pay as little as half-typical-value for an item with a torn label or some such drawback. I've done this more than a few times on ebay and often the item is in much nicer shape than they described. It's better for them to overstate how bad it is and not risk a customer complaint. Sometimes the item is not even damaged at all, and I have no idea why they said it was. I got the D&D genesis game this way, supposedly labeless, well, it a very nice label. I also got the harvest moon SNES game, which typically went for fifty at the time, for 20 - it had numbers melted into the back of the cart, some rental place's solution to how easy those silver VOID VOID VOID labels were to remove. I barely noticed them.
Our marketplace here is pretty great. Since this is the most Atari-savvy place on the web, nobody is ever going to risk the derision that would ensue when they tried to pawn off their Combies and E.T.'s as rare, and prices on random middle-era consoles like the GEN or NES seem consistently lower than Ebay (and consistent in general). I guess in general you might just say that the internet's ubiquitousness inevitably leads to a revaluing of antiques and collectibles, and that all items, even what we consider utter garbage now, will eventually become antiques. Time to start buying up those n64 wrestling titles! You first! CD based media, being more fragile, will be more collectible. All that PS1 garbage will someday have some small value, and the gems will be just awful in prices. I predict ridiculous prices for ps1/Sat/DC/ps2 games, and in fairly short order. Hell, I guess even Wii games will increase in value sooner or later. The question to ask is "Which game is hard to find now, maybe not popular, but soon to be regarded as a "hidden gem"?" I vote Baroque! Probably not, though. The coming advent of all-digital-download gaming (2-5 generations, I'm predicting exactly 3) does away with any collection aspect (unless the files are somehow transferable, but impossible to copy, and timestamped or edition-marked in some indelible way. That's pretty sick.) Ironically, any items designed to be collectible or widely perceived to be collectible will not be. I should dump my he-man toys pretty soon, now that I think of it. Wonder what's up in that attic?
One useful comparison I like to make is original price vs. current market value. It'll be a long time before some games are ever worth more than they cost when they came out. A rare(ish) SNES/GEN title might bright 20-30 bucks, and that could be half of it's original value! So even if you'd bought them new with plans to sell, you're losing money, not even counting inflation. Buying games new is very foolish, in my opinion. I am usually only foolish when it comes to Zelda titles. I subscribe to the two-year-delay plan. If you buy everything used, two years after it comes out, it's typically very cheap. You are experiencing the same rate of advancement as the other consumers are, just offset by a certain amount. You will still be wowed by new graphics (you must studiously avoid all commercial advertisements and social contact of any kind) and enthused about new, thrilling titles.
And since I typed so RIDICULOUSLY MUCH just now (this is a huge post), I'm just going to babble randomly for a bit. Let's do like a stream-of-consciousness thing starting with the random idea of a horse. That makes me think of the play Equus by E.E. Cummings, which makes me think of two things: horse-rippers, who are/were a strange breed of criminals who would injure the genitals of male horses in some kind of ritual sexual abuse (in the UK I believe) and also the balloon man whistles far and wee poem. Substituting Wii, we realize that a balloon and whistle peripheral for the Wii would be just as stupid as most Wii peripherals, but not necessarily more stupid. Peripheral is an interesting word, and the Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell actually created his stage name as a soundalike (I do not know his real name). Vincent Furnier, of course, is Alice Cooper. I enjoyed Alice's appearance on Space-Ghost-Coast-To-Coast, during a 'tribute to women' episode. Space Ghost was quite frustrated to discover that Alice was not, in fact, a woman. While Alice may be one of the better famous rock musicians to adopt a pseudonym, there are plenty of great ones out there, especially in punk, metal and hip-hop. Perhaps the greatest musical pseudonym of all time is "Englebert Humperdinck", who I believe was a real person in some far-fled dark age. That name jumps us to prince humperdink, the malicious would-be ruler of the land of Florin in the movie/book "the princess bride". Florin, and its rival Guilder, are of course currency. I did not believe for some time that Rupees were an actual currency (they're used in India), but instead that they were from Legend of Zelda games exclusively. My wife forcefully disabused me of this notion. Recently on the television series "Pawn Stars", a gentleman attempted to sell a fused chunk of sunken treasure consisting of many silver Rupee coins. He asked 700,000 and was offered 200,000. He declined. The Rupees were brought to the surface by none other than my favorite author of all time, Arthur C. Clarke. An avid diver and amateur oceanographer as well as a brilliant writer of both science fact and fiction, Mr. Clarke died several years ago. His greatest invention is so integral to the way of life on earth now that it's almost forgotten and taken for granted - he invented nothing less than the concept of the communications satellite. This technology is the basis for large parts of our civilian and government communication networks. I collect Clarke paperbacks, happily tossing a dollar down for an edition or cover I don't have yet. I think it's the collection my wife would most like to get rid of, though she's very lovely and tolerant. She is not bothered by my game collection, especially since it's so well-ordered and my spending is restrained. My wife lived in Arkansas as a child, and was kidnapped by her mother during a custody dispute. Her father, who was abusive in a number of ways, eventually found her and her mother, who'd been assisted into the underground by a network of volunteers who existed for that purpose, and re-kidnapped her. Though he had the legal right to her custody, it was this event that hurt her, rather than the original escape. One of the women involved in this network, Faye Yager, is known to be somewhat of a nut. My wife remembers being questioned intensely by this woman and coached to say certain things involving satanic ritual abuse, which did not take place. She was asked if she had ever been forced to drink blood or interact with animals in any way. This was baffling to her at the time, as she was very young. Very young girls were recently observed performing a very sexualized dance to Beyonce's "Single Ladies", causing a medium-sized media firestorm. After having viewed the video, I personally agree that the costumes, moves and lyrical content of the song are inapropriate for that age group. The song, I don't think is that bad. It has an eerie quality to it that seems to be popular in hip-pop right now, with it's scissor-like background noises and the odd delivery of such lines as "like a ghost I'll be gone". "Disturbia" by Rihanna is another example of this trend. Which I generally have little interest in celebrities, pop music, hip-hop or R+B, despite some notable exceptions, I find Rihanna fairly interesting. As I've previously stated publicly for all the world of the internet to hear, in some alternate timestream not too divergent from this one, I could totally have a huge crush on her.
Probably the oddest, rambling, and interesting post I have ever read.
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The thing to note is that the top gamer types like Billy Mitchell and his brood of losers is this...that's all they've got to show with their wasted childhoods. The film Chasing Ghosts hammered that home, and then some....
I think that will vary from individual to individual and that is something they will need to assess themselves. Steve Sanders talks about his epiphany and how he believed he was wasting his life.
The time period that Chasing Ghosts homes in on is a period where the whole business of video gaming was new, it was hot and the future was bright but unknown. Kids (not only the ones featured in the movie) were led to believe that if they were good at video games that they would be rock stars. And we know how the rest of the story goes.
Playing at the arcade was a social event much like anything else I did when I was a kid. Some of these guys in Chasing Ghosts got to travel, were in Life magazine, on TV and now on film and in that respect I don't see that as a waste.
Some may have the opinion that I am wasting my adulthood playing classic games, playing in tournaments, restoring arcade cabinets and writing magazine articles etc. But, it is something I enjoy and I do my best to balance that with family time and other interests in my life so that it does not become the only thing in my life.
I mean, you've got video of Walter Day mailing his friggen referee shirt to the division of video game history in the Smithsonean Institute...a division that doesn't even exist! I mean, I thank every day that I'm not like these people.
That may have been Walter's weak attempt at trying to create awareness that there needs to be a museum for classic games and it will become a reality for him in a few months.
But!...they're being talked about by many gamers out there and their scores will be known for decades to come. If that's the price to pay for meaningless notoriety, a footnote in a niche of history, then that's sad.
Basically, a video game high score is regarded by those outside of the gaming community as an insignificant achievement. Nevertheless, the tournaments and high score attempts still attract media coverage. See Doris Self on CBS News as an example.
What exactly is the price that these folks have paid?
Very good points made, for sure. I guess the way I look at it is this; the overall feeling I got from the movie Chasing Ghosts was one of sadness. I felt sorry for the majority of these people. I understand that editing can make mountains out of molehills, though, but I'm just going by my gut feeling. I am certainly no one to say what's a worthy way to spend a life, lol! And I suppose if one of these 'stars' like Billy Mitchell had other things going on in his life besides wearing tacky ties, acting aloof and selling hot sauce, then I suppose these were pinnacle years for them. The one fellow who lied about his scores and became a lawyer (now, if that isn't hilarious, I dunno what is!) saw things for what they were, but again...I feel sorry for these folks.
The main reason is that these guys, unlike the majority of sports stars, actors, other types of meaningless celebrity, seem to be completely full of themselves. Other than the sympathetic character of Steve Weibe (who also is drawn out as a 'loser'), not one of these guys comes across as a genuine fellow. At worst, they come off as lackeys...no, wait, at worse they come off as freaks, like the guy who sleeps on his floor with Christmas decorations up all year round along with his collection of venomous spiders and other insects. Or the eternal virgin scorekeeper who collects pornographic superhero art. Or old man Walter Day "singing" his songs which he believes coulda been chart-toppers.
If anything, Chasing Ghosts is a collection of what 'normal' really is, which is acheiving mediocrity. I'm not saying that playing video games, new or old, is a waste...not at all. But when you have these clownish characters in these movies going on and on about how great they are, were, or are going to be...it's sad. You'd think they'd at least be humble about their 'achievements'...I mean, look at Billy Mitchell. Not only him, but his PARENTS...I mean, these people are just hilarious, and the filmmakers knew this. Average people watching these movies are going to laugh at these 'gamer gods' of the past. I suppose that's a personal thought of mine, and to each his own, but that's how I see it.
See here is the problem. Being the king in a video game is the ultimate paradox on this planet. I mean that. Just think about it for a second. Name another thing that you can be the best at, and get absolutely no money for it, and be laughed at when you bring it up in casual conversation. Just take a look around.
If you are the greatest basketball player,football player, soccer player, hockey player, baseball player, mma fighter, boxer, kick boxer, swimmer, weight lifter people will idolize you, and wear your jersey number. If you are the greatest artist people will pay millions for your work. If you are the greatest arguer you will be a millionaire lawyer. In music if you are the greatest disco, rock, grunge, heavy metal, grind core, soul, R & B singer, rap artist you will be rich have groupies, and have people playing your songs over, and over again.
Yet if you are the greatest at a certain video game you will be laughed at by the general population, and thought of as a freak. In the past year I have entered the video game realm, and been fortunate enough to break 3 different records. Space Jockey, and Galaxian for the Atari 2600, and the Donkey Kong 3 Arcade record. Yet not only does this not improve my station in life, but if I were to casually mention what I have done to a complete stranger they will have the same exact feelings that you do.
How freaking sad is that? I was even told by Crazyclimber to keep silent about my Galaxian record when trying to get a woman. And you know what? He is absolutely correct. I live in a society where if I speak of my accomplishments to strangers I am thought of in the same context as a cross dresser who claims to have been abducted, and anally probed by aliens. I live in a society where not only am I not supposed to be proud of what I have done, but I am supposed to be ashamed of what I have done, like I have committed some atrocity against man.
By the way about your full of themselves line. Are you serious? You really think that the big name Singers, Stars, and athletes are not full of themselves? Really? Have you seen Kobe Bryant, or Lebron James? Heck have you even had a conversation with a college athlete? Most are far, and beyond full of themselves. Every time you hear about some student doing something horrific to another student in front of other students it is always the high school jock that is doing it.
And one last thing. Here is why the video gamers in King of Kong, and Chasing Ghosts seem so cocky. Although they all have different personalities they all have one thing in common. The interest in making video game records more popular in general. So what you are seeing is not necessarily cockiness. I see it more as puffery, and hyperbole. All these people including even Mr. Awesome know full well what their accomplishments mean in society at large, but they are exaggerating to the fullest extent in order for others to also become interested in what they are doing. Just think of them more as salesmen for their craft when watching these documentaries. I guarentee you that if you do, you will have a new understanding about what is really going on.
You broke the Atari 2600 Galaxian record?
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Finally got the chance to see "Chasing Ghosts" tonight, King of Kong made for much more interesting video to watch... the whole Billy Mitchell vs. Steve Wiebe saga makes for much more interesting story to watch.
Curt
Curt,
How'd you get a chance to see this? I'm dying to watch this but it seems that it does not exist for the home market nor will it ever from what I've seen. Loved King of Kong and have been waiting to see Chasing Ghosts ever since I heard about it!
I think this site is where I watched it http://www.sumotorrent.com/search/chasing+ghosts+beyond+the+arcade.html
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I remember seeing Sea Wolf at Tigard Pizza Caboose too.. my most fond memories were playing it at Oaks Park back in the 70s.
It might be kind of cool to start a thread where once a week (or 2 weeks) we pick a different game and ask where you had your fondest memories playing it. Just throwing the idea out there..
Thats a good idea. Sorry you can't make the show next month.
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Can I?
If you really think you can, you could ask one of the admins for moderator rights and start posting.
Nesbroslash is not part of the "in" crowd as far as I can tell, so just like high school (or whatever), no chance at being a poll moderator. Even if you are qualified. Pretty much like any board that I have participated in, either you are in or you are out.
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I'm pretty satisfied with how this turned out, but I'm a bit curious as to how you guys see it:
eBay Auction -- Item Number: 230476976065
Incidentally, it went for exactly my maximum bid. I have no idea what these are supposed to be worth, I only know I won it for half as much as what I got when I sold my old 5200 (that bundle was a 2 port with 4 games and a 2600 adapter).
Great deal in my opinion.
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Sure wish I would have seen that Avalon Hill lot earlier. Someone got a good deal on those.
Yeah, I know. What are you going to do? You win some you lose some. The 2600 system with 31 games made up for it. Did you see that one? I was shocked. Very nice system, but didn't expect that.
I did not see the auction as it was unfolding, but saw the end result. You did pretty good as things stand now. It seems prices are so much lower now for a lot of 2600 stuff. Good for me in my collecting, but bad for me trying to get rid of 100's of duplicate stuff.
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How smooth is it running on other computers? On mine, it runs like a puppy humping your leg. Everything moves in one second pulses.
Runs pretty smooth here, there is some hiccups (sp) occasionally. It has not affected my gameplay too bad, but I never was any good anyway.
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Just got to the second bell stage with a score of 53480. Once it gets going really fast it's too hard to control with a crappy little keyboard. The collision detection is a bit dodgy too as I passed through ghosts several times unharmed. It's neat that they did that though.
Tempest
I am having a tough time also with my keyboard. I have not run into any bad collision detection yet, I wish I could though. Is there anyway to download this? Nevermind my answer has been addressed by Trekmd.
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I used to to play Sea Wolf at the Pizza Caboose in Tigard. Great memories. I remember having a hell of a time hitting that little boat that raced across the screen. Great start on your collection.
My local bowling alley had Sea Wolf and I played it all the time. I haven't played that game on a Sea Wolf cabinet in over 30 years. But, if the one up at FunSpot is operational, I'll be playing it in two weeks.
Lucky bastard. I was stationed in 4 different army posts (US) in the army and never once was I close to Funspot. The closest was Ft. Knox, KY. And that was Basic and AIT, so not alot of traveling was allowed. Have fun there and tell us about it.
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Thanks for looking.
Crazy Climber + Rubik's Cube + Gravitar Silver Lot - All Rarity 8
eBay Auction -- Item Number: 280507157245
Death Trap + London Blitz + Wall Ball - All Avalon Hill
eBay Auction -- Item Number: 280507152107
Plus, a really nice 2600 system. System and controllers seem new.
Sure wish I would have seen that Avalon Hill lot earlier. Someone got a good deal on those.
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My mini arcade is slowly starting to come together. Got two of my machines shoehorned into the room already. One is of course my Centipede, which has the monitor removed for rebuild right now. And the other is the new addition: a 1976 Midway Sea Wolf in full (sometimes contankerous) working condition! I still need to move some radios around and a dresser to make room for my Pac-Man Caberet with the 9 in 1 multi-game conversion and for a future two more uprights. Unfortunately, I won't have room for a cockpit style game like I thought.
I used to to play Sea Wolf at the Pizza Caboose in Tigard. Great memories. I remember having a hell of a time hitting that little boat that raced across the screen. Great start on your collection.
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How does 'hardly' and 'does not' equal a double negative? Hardly means at the very least a little bit = (positive), and does not means none = (negative). So they are not a double negative. And even if they were it is still completely permissable to use in writing.
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Thanks for the link. You are very astute.
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how about this?
...and that is real, by the way. It's just a NOAC (NES on a chip, basically all the hardware of the NES done on one chip). They weren't around when the NES was first made, though. They're even smaller than you'd imagine by looking at this. The Yobo clone is the one I have. I'm thinking of making a nice hardwood NES out of it.
Never have I seen such a monstrosity. It looks like a vacuum cleaner.
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I'm just glad to hear the box and cart arrived safely!
..Al
They didn't. They got "mysteriously delayed" at CPUWIZ's house. The ones Wonder got are just repros.
OH CRAP I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that.....
Then why did you tell everyone?
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You might like Montezuma's Revenge. It's got multiple rooms and a quest theme, and it's fun.
I forgot that one. Great game and highly recommended it also.
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Greetings folks:
First post here, but I thought fellow Atari fans would enjoy reading my journey in attempting to resurrect my old Atari 2600, which had been boxed up and buried in clutter for about 15 years.
Your input would be also be appreciated.
Thanks for your interest,
Greg =)
What story? OOPS missed the link.
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Yeah i seen that video of the punks smashing the atari...and countless other systems.
i hope i am not in the same class as them now.
Yeah, I would say that you are. Destroy a R-6 next time or an R-7. And if you get a chance knife an R-8 for our enjoyment.
nah,my cart destroying days are behind me.
but i might smash my RROD xbox 360!!!
What is a RROD? I have a PS3 and am not familiar with the X-Box at all.
my 2nd 360 is dead.'red ring of death'. it happens to most 360's. rrod wiki
Thanks for the link. Makes me even happier I bought the PS3. Sorry to get off topic.
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Yeah i seen that video of the punks smashing the atari...and countless other systems.
i hope i am not in the same class as them now.
Yeah, I would say that you are. Destroy a R-6 next time or an R-7. And if you get a chance knife an R-8 for our enjoyment.
nah,my cart destroying days are behind me.
but i might smash my RROD xbox 360!!!
What is a RROD? I have a PS3 and am not familiar with the X-Box at all.
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eBay is almost pointless now.
in Classic Console Discussion
Posted · Edited by ericwierson
I can't wrap my mind around what you are saying. The buyer pays for an item and has to thank the seller for buying his item? Nope, screw that. I pay you and you thank me, thats how it works. And that is the way business is done. I hate E-Bay with all my heart, but the change that sellers can't give there Bullshit retalitory F.B. is a plus.