Marco(2)

So, it's DP's fault that they haven't been released yet? Unless there's more to the story here, that's a pretty damn weak excuse. Why stop with DP? Why not keep them until Fulop decides what to do with Actionox, or AA releases their UA protos, or some of the rumored Coleco protos surface, or when Ed English and Ed Temple agree to release Looping... Btw, I have some Activsion proto versions that I don't think are available on the net, so I guess it's my fault too. Mmmmm. so many protos still out there for us Who said we need homebrews and hacks to keep this hobby going?! Cheers, Marco PS: I just couldn't resist

Why would you want to limit your searches to the US and miss out on all that wonderful stuff from the rest of the world? Cheers, Marco

There was an auction of all four Bomb carts in PAL format. Seller had a BIN of 50 euros, didn't sell. He relisted it with a BIN of 40 Euros... dunno if it's still around Cheers, Marco

Indeed! Fish, just get your ass in here and explain what's going on. I'm sure most people here will understand, remaining silent isn't helping you Cheers, Marco

On a sidenote, Jason, $50 for a boxed Threshold really is more than enough - don't go losing yourself in silly bidding wars. The beautiful thing about eBay is that 95% of all items will appear again within days or weeks. There are a couple of people agressively bidding on boxed 2600 games at the moment, causing really inflated prices. Just sit this out, when they have what they want, things will be there for you to grab at much better prices. Trust me on this, I've been there and am still kicking myself for some of the silly purchases I made in the past... Cheers, Marco

Very much agreed! eBay prices really are a temporary indication of an item's current market value. But a badly worded description, a bidding war, or an inconvenient ending time can make easily up for a temporary high or low. Cheers, Marco

I haven't heard from him lately either. He used to mail me back, but now... no replies. I was wondering if he was okay and all. Today I noticed he is still around, as he posted a couple of new auctions: http://cgi6.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewS...lcitycollectorz I guess we will see/hear from him soon! Cheers, Marco

Objectivily, it doesn't mean much indeed. But subjectivily, a lot of people care. Most collectors will at least see some kind of competition in this hobby, so ratings mean something to them. Ergo the debates Cheers, Marco

In no particular order, except for the first in the row, which is my all-time favorite [*]Mr.Do! [*]Galaga '88 [*]Lady Bug [*]Pengo [*]Burgertime [*]Centipede [*]Crazy Climber [*]Mappy [*]Klax Cheers, Marco

Cheers, Marco

At EuroCon'99 we held an Entombed competition, 2-player mode. And, simply put: it ruled! Cheers, Marco

Hi all, I suddenly realized we overlooked one set of rare PAL games: The Playaround single-enders! Not Custer's Revenge c.s. but single-end Philly Flasher, Cathouse Blues, Bachelorette Party and the likes. A limited quantity of those has shown up in Australia a year or so ago (new in box, but most carts were dead), but I think they should be in a top-10 PAL rarity list too. Cheers, Marco

That's a very good point. It looks like rarity and value are mixed up lots of times. There really is no set relation between the two. CtCW and WW will always be worth more than their rarity would suggest. I'd put Video Life in the "quite impossible to get" category. Cubicolor could go in there as well. Perhaps the third category shouldn't be prototypes, but something like "odd ball stuff". The above comments immediately shows that the system certainly is not flawless. It's, at the least, impractical, because it has so few categories. I do think though we could indeed agree upon the games that would go into the "God" category, and into the "other odd stuff" category. The polls here give quite a good idea on what's really rare, and what's not-so-rare after all. And the rest, well, is the rest Cheers, Marco

I feel it's time for Marco's thesis on rarity again As I explained on this board before, the number of carts produced compared to the number of collectors is so high that, in the end, 90% (or more) of all games turn out to be 'common'. In other words: almost any cart can be had, it's only matter of time (and some money). If you, like me, think this is correct, it's rather silly to use a 10-point rarity scale. A two or three-point rarity scale should then do the trick: 1. every collector will eventually get this 2. only a handful of collectors will own this game 3. prototypes and other weird stuff Arguing about 9s and 10s, no matter how much fun it is, would be kinda senseless. I realize that most collectors will not like a system like this, but if this hobby continues to be as small as it is, this is what it all comes down to. I think Cheers, Marco

Hmm, I feel some rarity downgrading coming up! Cheers, Marco

Cheers, Marco

Adam, That God game is from Thailand, I don't know which tv system they use there. If it's impossible to find, I don't know either. Who knows, you might just find Atari carts on every street corner there Cheers, Marco

Mmmm, you know mistaking a Dutchman for a German is a mortal sin right? I will have to think about an appropriate punishment for you now... Cheers, Marco

Hi guys, I know this is probably not the right forum, but I wanted to post this here anyway. I have an Atari Crystle Castles cabinet up for auction on eBay at the moment. If you've been looking for a nice Atari cabinet, this is your chance to own one of the coolest. The gameplay is weird but lotsa fun, and the artwork on the cabinet is very cool! If you're from the European mainland you know how hard it is to find classic dedicated cabinets. So, here's your chance to get one - and meet me when you come pick it up http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...&item=748532588 Cheers, Marco

1300 km? How long did it takes?? BTW, I'm in northern Italy, near Bologna. It took us about a whole day, the van we hired didn't go that fast (shame, since you can drive really fast on the German highways Northern Italy huh? Ah, that's do-able Cheers, Marco

Nope, I've never seen that... Yep, Franck posts here, his ID is Atarimania. Cheers, Marco

Depends on where you're located in Italy I've driven 1300 km a couple of weeks ago to pick up a Klax cabinet Cheers, Marco

Hi Matty, I would say the 32in1 cart is a rarity 1, a boxed set (including the weird manual) is an 8. I know they were sold in Holland and Belgium, but I've seen German sellers offer it as well, so it was most likely also sold in Germany. Cheers, Marco

Hi Albert, I hope you didn't take my remarks as criticism, they weren't meant as such. You are, of course, entirely free to try 'n earn back some of the money you invested into this website. I posted because I wanted to see if there were any others who also felt like me. Ever since Cubicolor and Okie Dokie, new games, re-releases, reproductions, homebrews and hacks have somehow always created a bit of stir in the community - besides all of the fun they brought. While others are cheering the professionalization of this scene (with ever better looking labels, ready-to-use pcbs and cases), I somehow feel a bit uncomfortable. To me, the Atari era stopped two decades ago. I want to relive it, by collecting and playing the old games - not revive it. After 15 years of collecting I'm still surprised almost weekly by the discovery of new and exciting things. "Real" things, from the "real" days. So, from time to time, I wonder what we are doing, bringing all these new games to life. Trying to deny the death of an era? Proving we can do things better than our predecessors? Aren't we taking this way too seriously? Or are we, on the contrary, just simply trying to have fun? But if you're not like me, I guess you probably have no idea what I'm pondering about Cheers, Marco