Original Xbox Popularity Surge?

[DaytonaUSA]

Has anyone else noticed in their area a huge surge in popularity with the original xbox? My local stores have been selling out of systems at a crazy rate, and i had to go to several stores before finding the one I bought today. It reminds me of the n64's popularity surge that started last year, although software prices and availability seem mostly normal outside of sw battlefront 2 which is getting even harder to track down and even more expensive than even just a few months ago.

 

Ive also noticed a huge Kinect slowdown. Most stores I went to today had about 2-3 times the normal amount of Kinects on the shelf (saw on average 6-10 per store).

 

Is it just my area or are others seeing this too? Either way just glad i found my system today thats in fantastic shape, a cherry Duke controller, sw bf 2, and a copy of Rallisport Challenge 2 which I cant believe I finally found. You can only ever find the first one.

[TheGameCollector]

Hmm, maybe it has more to do with everybody agreeing that the Xbox is the cheapest system to buy games and systems of these days. Once everybody knows that fact, they decide that is a good starter system to collect and they go for it. People on forums like to collect Genesis a lot. 10 years ago systems were $15 tops and some games were less than $1. Of course Game Crazy was still in business then so the Genesis carts were much more widespread.

 

I heard Gamecube has been getting more expensive fast because all of a sudden it is 2 generations old with the Wii U being out and all. That's usually the time people start seriously collecting a brand instead of thinking oh it's just last gen. Maybe the upcoming Xbox One is having the same effect on Xbox fans. It is only 4 months to December after all.

[cimerians]

It's cheap and easy to mod and sell for a lot more. I've bought around 6 of them over the last decade and gave a few to family.

 

You can literally play thousands of games on the original Xbox along with cheap ass games that are easy to dump to a hardrive with no disc required.

 

I own 100% of all my Xbox games (none pirated) because they are so cheap. I have the originals stored away. I usually replace the green cases if they are too beat up.

 

It makes sense that the Xbox disappears from shelves.

 

I haven't noticed prices at all but if they are going up, I'm glad I'm just about done with the Xbox.

[AtariTexas]

It's cheap to collect for.........I've bought over 100 games the past year at garage sales and flea markets........ about 95% of the games I only paid a dollar each

Edited August 13, 2013 by BadHornet

[Atariboy]

The cases are green? They always looked black to me. Only green was the Xbox emblem on the top of the case.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

A modded Xbox is a beautiful thing.

Edited August 14, 2013 by OldSchoolRetroGamer

[CGQuarterly]

The cases are green? They always looked black to me. Only green was the Xbox emblem on the top of the case.

 

The game cases, not the console.

[Clock]

I can only speak from a PAL perspective.... but the original Xbox has certainly gained popularity in the last year or so, and a few titles are gaining value... Star Wars Battle Front II being one of them (although it was never cheap)... More interestingly is the recently gaining value of the Simpsons Hit & Run, Jet Set Radio and even Halo 2... all 3 of which were worth nothing not so long ago but seem to be going up every month.

 

I'm definitely seeing a lot more competition with online auctions.

 

I'm guessing the Xbox is just coming to that age where the collectors start to get on board.

[DaytonaUSA]

I can only speak from a PAL perspective.... but the original Xbox has certainly gained popularity in the last year or so, and a few titles are gaining value... Star Wars Battle Front II being one of them (although it was never cheap)... More interestingly is the recently gaining value of the Simpsons Hit & Run, Jet Set Radio and even Halo 2... all 3 of which were worth nothing not so long ago but seem to be going up every month.

 

I'm definitely seeing a lot more competition with online auctions.

 

I'm guessing the Xbox is just coming to that age where the collectors start to get on board.

 

Yeah, happens about 2 gens old with most systems. Still nothing close to the popularity of GC in terms of collectibility, but it's certainly going up. It's funny, while around here SW BF II is going way up (glad I found a copy), the other games you mentioned aren't going up at all. In fact I can find Halo 1 and 2, Hit & Run and Jet Set Radio for about 2-4 bucks each.

 

I was really surprised to see just how cheap Rallisport Challenge 2 was. That game is nearly impossible to find, and I got it for next to nothing (I think he had it as $3.99).

Edited August 21, 2013 by DaytonaUSA

[Algus]

Battlefront II is a rare eh? I bought that game new and to this day it is one of my favorite Xbox 1 games. I miss online though.

[DaytonaUSA]

Yeah. Everyone and their mother wants it now. One of the few original Xbox games to be spiking in value.

[Algus]

Well, it is a pretty good game. It improved the gameplay while keeping the core of the original Battlefront. We got most of the maps too as some of the Battlefront 1 maps were DLC. The story mode and offline campaign mode were both fun and added a good degree of replayability. Multiplayer was the best of course but it is still decent split screen. Only problem is all my weapons are unlocked on my original Xbox and I haven't had the heart to unlock them all again on my 360. Oh well.

 

The demo shipped with Revenge of the Sith when it first hit DVD. That's how I got into those games. Man, I wish they'd make another one. It would have been ace on the 360 with updated graphics. I love those big skirmish games. Easier to get lost in the crowd and not being called out for being a perpetual n00b which is a problem I have in 5 v 5 team shooters lol

[Clock]

Battlefront II is a rare eh? I bought that game new and to this day it is one of my favorite Xbox 1 games. I miss online though.

 

No it's not really rare at all.... As far as the Xbox is concerned rarity has very little effect on price at this stage in the cycle... It's just very sought after.

[Atariboy]

Another nice thing with the original Xbox that probably is help keeping people interested is the homebrew scene which is still kicking in 2013. For an example of a recent development that shows just how interesting the Xbox homebrew scene can be, Sega arcade games that utilized Xbox derived hardware can now be played on modified Xbox consoles.

 

If Outrun 2 hadn't made it to home consoles along with several other games like Ghost Squad that ran on the hardware, I bet that would be getting a lot of attention.

Edited August 22, 2013 by Atariboy

[Video]

I never lost interest in the Xbox. And the 360's crappy BC support just made me keep the original system. I got several consoles and lots of games, and even quiet a few dupes, and I play it regularly. There are only a tiny handfull of games that work good on the 360, most the rest that "work" have issues that make them more playable on the original console.

 

I still pick up games for it regularly, it's cheap, easy to find, and honestly, why not? many great games are only playable on it.

 

Anyhow, yeah, lots of people are seeing these games and are like "WOAH, it's on XBOX?! That's RETRO!!!"

 

Dumbasses, but that aside, it's still cool.

[Osgeld]

The game cases, not the console.

if you look hard enough in bright light the black cases on the console do have a green tint to them, its stupid dark

 

on the general thread, I love my XBOX, it makes a decent emulator machine, and when you do find the games they are cheap as dirt, and theres a ton of good ones to play

 

Then on top of it, unlike a PS2 where you can still buy new games from walmart.com, all stores abandoned the XBOX stock the second support was dropped shortly after the 360 was settled in, making it seem "scarce" to normal people who wont go to a real game store.

Edited September 8, 2013 by Osgeld

[ianoid]

I don't think we've seen the end of this Xbox thing yet.

 

I also don't think we're even close to starting a peak in interest. There are some great games for the system to be had pretty cheaply.

 

It is nice to hear there is mounting interest. Better work on completing that Xbox collection of mine sooner.

 

 

Agree with this:

No it's not really rare at all.... As far as the Xbox is concerned rarity has very little effect on price at this stage in the cycle... It's just very sought after.

[The Caffeine Kid]

The original Xbox machine is probably selling out because clueless parents/grandparents are going in to shops and saying "My son wants an Xbox 1 for Christmas, do you have any?"

 

"Of course we do - here you go!" {bwa hahaha}

 

It is a great machine still however - I have several of them and even was brave enough to update the hard drive in one of them which made it even nicer.

[Crazy Climber]

The Xbox will be highly collectable in a decade or so. Nows your chance to be one of those guys that has everything before all the collector mania and forums/etc start. You can be DA MAN in the xbox scene of 2030 and everyone will say "Oh man, I remember seeing these games for sale at target" or "Oh I wish I would have kept that" or "Man, I got that game for Christmas of 2005 now it's worth $350" Do you want a giant collection penis with HUGE bragging rights down the road? Buy all the xbox games, for a few thousand it could be you sitting on top of the world Seriously though, lots of factors will make the original xbox stuff pretty collectable down the road. I think the surge now is people getting a jump on it, just wait, they will climb...

[moycon]

I recall a few years back (2009) Amazon started selling the Dreamcast new again for like $90.

Not sure if they found a bunch in a warehouse or what. Was just thinking how cool that would be if the Xbox popped up on Amazon in the same way.

I guess the situation is a bit different though. MS still sells consoles, Sega doesn't. Oh well, a guy can wish can't he?

[atarian63]

I see people buying large numbers used for use as an emulation box,not as an xbox for its library. You could do those of course. There is a local guy that uses them to build full arcades,using emulation. it;s a cheap unit to drive it.

Edited September 12, 2013 by atarian63

[Atariboy]

I think those were actually factory reconditioned units.

[moycon]

I think those were actually factory reconditioned units.

If they were they didn't disclose that fact on the website at the time.

If you'll search old news articles, you'll see none of them mention that they were refurbs. In fact most just suggest that they found old stock in ware houses. Something that it sounded like had happened before...

 

"Following in the steps of ThinkGeek, Amazon has apparently managed to track down another forgotten warehouse full of brand new Dreamcasts."

 

http://www.destructoid.com/amazon-selling-new-dreamcasts-134918.phtml

 

Here's hoping someone finds a warehouse full of Xbox!! I have a Halo Green Xbox that was hard modded, but would love another.

[Atariboy]

Looks like I'm mistaking it for something else.

 

"On February 16, 2006, Sega once again began selling Dreamcast consoles through its online store, Sega Direct of Japan. The package deal included a refurbished Dreamcast, a cell phone card, and Radilgy — a new 2D shooter."

 

http://sega.wikia.com/wiki/Dreamcast

 

So you're probably right.

[Austin]

Yeah, a local store got a bunch of NIB Dreamcasts back in '09. I wish I snapped one up.