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I agree that acquiring a license would be very expensive, but at least knowing the specific amount provides a starting point. Someone who really wants to see the ROM properly released can then start fundraising.

Who currently owns the copyright (etc.) to the Pink Panther character? Has anyone made inquiries about the cost to obtain a license so that the game could be officially released? I very recently saw a new television commercial for Owens-Corning insulation featuring the character, so someone is still actively licensing it. Oddly, in the commercial, the character was wearing pants. IIRC, he never did so in the original cartoons.

Do the SE "extras" often come up for sale separately? A few years ago, I purchased a small hardcover art book at a thrift shop for about $3. It was somehow related to the Fallout game series, but that was all I knew when I bought it. Apparently, it was part of a (larger) SE package (and the online selling price is much higher than I paid).

Thank-you for sharing this! It is most interesting (to me) when there are multiple versions of a game available, so we can see how the development cycle proceeded and the game evolved.

Slightly O/T, but I once worked for an organization that (after many years of existence) decided to issue sequentially numbered membership cards. The first 10 (or 15) numbers were "honorary", and issued to people who had previously made significant contributions. Members-at-large were numbered in the order that they completed the paperwork.

Remember that these are "best guess" estimates made by industry analysts; no reasonable company is going to publicly release their actual sales figures. Consequently, the published figures are not going to be 100% accurate. At the same time, this is essentially the only information available.

Do we want to consider those older PNP systems with GameKeys? While the base hardware included multiple games, only a small handful of GameKeys were ever released; most systems only received one "cartridge". http://plugplaytvgames.wikia.com/wiki/GameKey

There is utterly no way that I would pay more than a month's rent for a vintage (or even a modern) video game system. I would expect that most hardcore collectors willing to spend that much money already have one since its not that rare.

I have not used original hardware in a very long time, but when I did, I preferred the Gemini because of its very small size. I seem to recall that mine too needed some solder touch-ups when I first acquired it. Oddly, it did not come with the original controllers; I eventually bought those separately. I never had any compatibility issues with the games that I tried. Were Donkey Kong and Mouse Trap the only games that ever came as pack-ins? I do not recall seeing any other cartridges with the special sticker on the back.

Someone should complain to the Office québécois de la langue française that the advertisement is not bilingual! Seriously, though, while it is getting harder to find any vintage hardware, this price is wildly unrealistic. Has anyone spotted a staggeringly rare game in that lot? Yet another copy of Extra Terrestrial, perhaps. I am a bit surprised that there is only one "Zellers" cartridge in a Canadian collection.

Ok, thank-you. Replacing the laser is apparently easier than I was expecting -- I was afraid that I would have to solder SMD components or something very difficult like that.

I bought my slim PS 2 new at retail about 10 years ago. I use it sporadically, and then it sits unplayed for long stretches of time. I last used it perhaps 9 months ago. I hooked it up again last night, and received the error message that it cannot read a disc. I tried several PS 2 games, including some that I purchased new and that have utterly no scratches. I have not yet tried a DVD or audio CD. My best guess is that the lens needs a good cleaning. The whole console was very dusty. Any other suggestions? Replacing the laser assembly is beyond my limited technical skills (and it would be cheaper/easier to just purchase a replacement console).

The overall size of the library is definitely important, but so too is the breadth. There are some systems that I would never consider purchasing simply because the genres of games that I like are entirely absent. I would be very happy to buy a (hypothetical) console that had only 20 or 30 titles if all of them were RPGs and strategy games; if that same console had only fighting games or sports games, I would not look at it twice.

Could those razor cuts to the boxes have come when a larger carton or box of games was opened (presumably at the retail level)? The carton would, presumably, be secured with packing tape for transport. If someone was careless in cutting it open, it would be possible to damage the merchandise inside, particularly the item(s) directly beneath the packing tape.

This is very cool! Are you familiar with (or inspired by) Softstrip technology? I dimly recall seeing a few of those in magazines BITD. It is essentially a less dense/efficient implementation of the same concept.

Same here! As far as I am aware, the Shining Force series has only appeared in one Genesis collection, and Popful Mail has never been included. For those of us who never had a Genesis (and/or Sega CD), there are limited opportunities to enjoy these games. Licensing may be a significant issue, however. Have any PnP game systems included RPGs? (other than the NES Classic Mini which includes Star Tropics, Final Fantasy, and the Zelda games).

I own one of those, but I have never seen the original box for that model -- do you happen to have a larger image?

Honestly, I do not remember. I'm sure that there was some good reason why I did not subscribe, but after about 34 years I have long forgotten what it was.

In the 1980s, I lived in a small Canadian city (Halifax, Nova Scotia). There was exactly one place in town that stocked Rainbow magazine -- it was a specialty shop that sold nothing but imported magazines. It was very inconveniently located, especially for someone without a car. My Parents and I would visit Maine and Massachusetts about once or twice per year, and I always bought the current issues of Rainbow and (during its brief existence) Color Computer Magazine when I was there. I had no difficulty finding it at whatever local mall we were shopping at. Multi-part articles were the bane of my existence, as I would only ever see one of the parts.

I have literally never seen one of these before. What, exactly, does "reconditioned" mean in this context? Was it just given a thorough cleaning, were chips (or even the entire motherboard) replaced? Were these reconditioned units then sold through normal retail channels, or discount, clearance places like Big Lots, Odd Lots or Ocean City Surplus? Back in the mid-1980s, my family purchased some non-video gaming electronics hardware from a local retailer, and we were rather upset to discover that it was "factory reconditioned" rather than new. It was never made clear by the vendor exactly what had been done to "recondition" it.

The Helicopter Trainer game brings back very fond memories -- I used to play it (in a slightly smaller cabinet) while waiting with my Grandfather to pick-up people at the airport. This would have been in about the late-1970s. Very specific question, but what specific teams (if any) are depicted on the Stanley Cup Hockey game?

That would have been me. I had a Coco, and I read Hot Coco and (occasionally) Rainbow -- the latter had very limited newsstand distribution. I had the occasional issue of Compute and Creative Computing, but neither magazine had enough Coco coverage to justify the cover price. I wanted type-in listings for games,and neither magazine really delivered. I have since come to appreciate the more technical coverage (and product reviews) in Creative Computing.

Excellent find! I've seen a handful of pirate Famiclones, but never a pirate 2600 console. Judging from the channel 2/3 switch (and the fact that you were able to test it) means that it is NTSC-format, right?

Thanks for the response. I will explore those options. Nope -- I do have cable TV, however. The cable box is connected to the TV, which constantly remains tuned to channel 3. The picture quality could definitely be better, but it is adequate, and I am cheap.

There are multiple hardware solutions to upscale legacy video sources to be compatible with HD TVs, but is there any way to do the opposite? I am still using a large CRT as my primary TV (and a smaller CRT TV dedicated to gaming). Both have composite and RF inputs, only. Now that they are readily available at retail, I want to purchase a NES Classic, but that apparently only outputs HDMI. Is there any way to "downscale" the signal and connect it to a legacy TV? Please no suggestions about upgrading to a newer TV. That is the obvious solution, but I am otherwise happy with my current set-up and I simply do not like to spend money to replace working hardware.