Eerie Sense of Urgency in the Collecting World?

[Rev]

I think Wii U games will be collector items fairly quickly, not many copies were made.

 

And there seems to be quite a few of the special edition type releases to make some extra rare.

[SSG]

I think Wii U games will be collector items fairly quickly, not many copies were made.

 

And there seems to be quite a few of the special edition type releases to make some extra rare.

 

It is very sad that the video game market is starting to work like that. Eventually the most crappy games with limited release will be the ones worth alot.

[Rev]

 

It is very sad that the video game market is starting to work like that. Eventually the most crappy games with limited release will be the ones worth alot.

 

Yeah, true. You reminded me too of another Wii U game that i think will be rare.

 

Brunswick Pro Bowling. It was recently released and ive never seen it at ANY store. Just online in limited quantities.

 

Also the retail releases of Giana Sisters and Shovel Knight.

 

I should make a thread of rare Wii U games! LOL

[bretthorror]

The thing about the Wii U is the games people want will be rare, too. In a few years, people are gonna want that Captain Toad game, and really, how many people actually bought it? And the Nintendo collectors will never be lost, unlike any fads or whatever goes through gaming. Collecting for the Wii U from scratch is gonna suck if someone wants to get into it in 10 years.

[Raticon]

I believe it is the same reason that made the NES spike in prices some 10 years ago that drives up prices of newer systems:

 

Kid gets brand new N64 for christmas. He plays it for some years and have fun until a new system comes along and instantly make the N64 obsolete. Kids parents sell the N64 in yard sale or dump it off in a thrift store.

 

Fast forward 10 or 15 years. The kid is now adult and has got himself a nice job with decent pay. One day he is reading a games magazine, watching game shows on youtube or talking with his friends about all the fun games they had as kids, and he sets off to ebay with his quite big wallet to get the games from his youth back, along with thousands of others in his generation. Price goes up with this but this is of little concern to many as they can afford it.

 

Much of the same things that drives many other things like old music records, classic cars or action figures or other toys. Recently i saw many auctions for a classic board game for atrocious prices on our local version of Ebay. Game was released in 1985 and existed to 1995 or something. Pretty much the same logic here, relive the great game of your childhood. There is no shortage of people taking advantage of this fact either.

Edited December 20, 2015 by Raticon

[SSG]

I'm happy I got into the hobby when I did. Before the rest of my generation does. Games are only going to get more expensive.

[Flojomojo]

The thing about the Wii U is the games people want will be rare, too. In a few years, people are gonna want that Captain Toad game, and really, how many people actually bought it? And the Nintendo collectors will never be lost, unlike any fads or whatever goes through gaming. Collecting for the Wii U from scratch is gonna suck if someone wants to get into it in 10 years.

That's the beauty of the eshop. No artificial scarcity, no price gouging. I know it's not for everyone, but it works for me.

[bretthorror]

I'm happy I got into the hobby when I did. Before the rest of my generation does. Games are only going to get more expensive.

 

I think you're right, I used to be quick to say the fad of game collecting would eventually die, and obviously it will, but games will never be cheap again like they used to be. It hit so popular that it's not just gonna die off, and there's always gonna be new people entering the fray. No matter what, it seems like you're looking at $10 per game these days unless it was absurdly popular. I figured about now I'd be able to get a bunch of dumb PS2 games for old franchises for a song, but nope. If you're looking to get a game, you may as well factor it $10+. That's still really affordable, but ithe bottom line is all my old strategies are out the window. I passed on Sunset Overdrive on Xbox One because I knew it'd be ultra common, and still I can't really get a deal on it. So they drop the retail price and the used price still hovers around $15 for a game everyone already should have. I did this on the 360 and got tons of games like this, but in today's market, used prices just aren't dropping relative to how old the game is and how much it retails for. I used to get this shit for $5 or $7 in the 360 era. To add to this, say 10 years down the line there was a drop in collectors, you're still gonna have to deal with the sellers who all know how to drive the prices up. As far as I'm concerned, you can get as good of a deal on games when they come on sale on Amazon than waiting on the second hand market.

 

The only place you really see low prices are directly from the last generation. Everything current or older than last gen is nuts. The sad thing is the lamest era to collect for is the generation you just had.

[phoenixdownita]

Not sure about games price but hw price has been so so for me.

I've been trying to unload locally (craigslist) a couple of consoles and had not had much luck, my life priorities have changed and now I need to recoup some of the expenses, there's a baby on the way and consoles are the last of my worries, I may keep a couple but I have too many.

 

I was thinking to be able to get about what I put onto them (one comes with a lots of mods-extra hw the other with some repairs) but so far no takers.

For now I preferred craigslist to try to avoid having to deal with shipping and related costs that would make the offering even less palatable.

I thought my prices are within 10%-15% of wat I see around, and knowing the usual "bargaining" on craigslist I would have expected at least a few low-ball offers ... but so far none.

 

Maybe the comments here apply to Nintendo mostly, not sure when I will try to sell those, I know they have to go eventually but hadn't had the time/courage to start the sale .... plus I doubt what I have is worth much so I was trying to start from the "heavy hitters" and maybe keep the small fray for my entertainment (SNES and MD are still very cheap and offer lots of fun games).

Edited December 20, 2015 by phoenixdownita

[cybercylon]

That's the beauty of the eshop. No artificial scarcity, no price gouging. I know it's not for everyone, but it works for me.

 

I haven't used it for Wii U games, but I do use it for the older titles. I never had an SNES for any extended period of time, so some good catching up there. The original VC is still available, so it has been a good way to check out some TG-16 and NeoGeo games without having donate a kidney or have my children work jobs. All without having to deal with aging consoles. The HDMI connection is a plus.

 

But true, it is not for everyone. I can have no nostalgic feelings for the SNES, but I am sure people that had one back in its day do, and prefer real controllers, hardware, etc.

[cybercylon]

Not sure about games price but hw price has been so so for me.

I've been trying to unload locally (craigslist) a couple of consoles and had not had much luck, my life priorities have changed and now I need to recoup some of the expenses, there's a baby on the way and consoles are the last of my worries, I may keep a couple but I have too many.

 

I was thinking to be able to get about what I put onto them (one comes with a lots of mods-extra hw the other with some repairs) but so far no takers.

For now I preferred craigslist to try to avoid having to deal with shipping and related costs that would make the offering even less palatable.

I thought my prices are within 10%-15% of wat I see around, and knowing the usual "bargaining" on craigslist I would have expected at least a few low-ball offers ... but so far none.

 

Maybe the comments here apply to Nintendo mostly, not sure when I will try to sell those, I know they have to go eventually but hadn't had the time/courage to start the sale .... plus I doubt what I have is worth much so I was trying to start from the "heavy hitters" and maybe keep the small fray for my entertainment (SNES and MD are still very cheap and offer lots of fun games).

Anyway you could store some away rather than selling? I understand about the baby. When our first then second came along, I had no time for games. But babies get older. Sure, the challenges with a baby turn into other challenges, but once they are older, you can enjoy the hobby with them if that is something they want to do.

[phoenixdownita]

Anyway you could store some away rather than selling? I understand about the baby. When our first then second came along, I had no time for games. But babies get older. Sure, the challenges with a baby turn into other challenges, but once they are older, you can enjoy the hobby with them if that is something they want to do.

I am assuming in the next 15Y or so all the systems up until around Y2K would likely be FPGA-ed or whatever tech will have then.

 

Let's be honest about it, this is a hobby for me "Because I'm worth it" (just an ego stroke really), if he wants to pick it up one day he's going to be his choice/his money/his time not mine .. this is not like building a legacy really no more than collecting baseball players cards is.

 

And no I do not have space to safely stash away 35 consoles (well only 25 pre Y2K), they need some sort of temp controlled room or humidity would kill them, as I said I may keep a couple around but don't need that many.

Edited December 20, 2015 by phoenixdownita

[adamchevy]

So what. Games are just games.

[vitaflo]

 

I think you're right, I used to be quick to say the fad of game collecting would eventually die, and obviously it will, but games will never be cheap again like they used to be. It hit so popular that it's not just gonna die off, and there's always gonna be new people entering the fray.

 

And old people leaving when they realize they have too much crap around and no space to keep it.

 

Lets take SNES for example, a system with ridiculous prices right now. There are 50 titles on that system that sold over 1 million copies. There are not, and never will be, 1 million SNES collectors out there. There are plenty of games to go around, and most of these games are the best on the platform (which is why they sold so much).

 

Everything right now is based on the fact that more people are entering the collecting scene currently than exiting (because of youtube et al) and many many people with games in their attic have no clue what they are worth that are not yet back in circulation. Give it time, when those games get out of the attics and the general hype around collecting stuff dies down, the market will tank.

 

What's going to be hard moving forward is getting those old games that had print runs of 50,000 because there *are* 50k collectors out there and they're all trying to get one. But unless you're a "gotta have them all" collector, you usually don't want those titles anyway. They only sold 50k for a reason (they're horrible).

Edited December 21, 2015 by vitaflo

[phoenixdownita]

Not sure I follow, but if you like the games you can't beat a flash cart in value, even the SD2SNES at almost 200US$ with the SNES 1400+ games comes down to pennies per game.

Most cart based consoles have a viable flash cart solution these days, there's a few games that still don't work on those flash carts but so very few.

 

So why getting hung up on prices of originals? You're not helping the devs for sure as they are long gone and don't get a single penny anyway on a used resale .... so what gives?

 

 

....

But unless you're a "gotta have them all" collector, you usually don't want those titles anyway.

....

I don't know of collectors that eventually don't "need to gotta have'em all" (maybe on only one platform but still), that's why they are collectors ... that's what they do, collect as much as there is to collect.

 

 

Anyway I said where I stand, no need to be mad because prices went up, flash carts are the same price they were 4 years ago, so no change there

Edited December 21, 2015 by phoenixdownita

[bretthorror]

 

And old people leaving when they realize they have too much crap around and no space to keep it.

 

Lets take SNES for example, a system with ridiculous prices right now. There are 50 titles on that system that sold over 1 million copies. There are not, and never will be, 1 million SNES collectors out there. There are plenty of games to go around, and most of these games are the best on the platform (which is why they sold so much).

 

Everything right now is based on the fact that more people are entering the collecting scene currently than exiting (because of youtube et al) and many many people with games in their attic have no clue what they are worth that are not yet back in circulation. Give it time, when those games get out of the attics and the general hype around collecting stuff dies down, the market will tank.

 

What's going to be hard moving forward is getting those old games that had print runs of 50,000 because there *are* 50k collectors out there and they're all trying to get one. But unless you're a "gotta have them all" collector, you usually don't want those titles anyway. They only sold 50k for a reason (they're horrible).

 

Yeah, but you also gotta get this stuff and enjoy it before you die off yourself. I can't wait until I'm 50 to start buying Nintendo games haha.

 

There aren't a million of these games out there anymore, lots will have been lost over the last 25 years. If the market right now is saying a game that should be common is $20 like Contra, that tells you all you need to know. For all we know, this shit hasn't even peaked yet, then there's gotta be a cooldown time where shit drops in value. For all intensive purposes, video game collecting is a really, really new thing. We have no idea if people are just gonna stop collecting these, ever. Especially with Nintendo, their products are a whole other larger than life can of worms. Video games just keep getting bigger and bigger. Most video gamers don't just sell off their collections willy nilly. If they did, the supply would kill the eBay upward pricing trend to begin with. People don't take a lifetime to amass a collection and wake up one day and say "oh, I actually don't want this." I am not saying prices will always be red hot like now, but tank? Probably wouldn't happen until we're all heading off to the nursing home. If YouTube is bringing people in, who is to say more people just won't keep coming in and filling others shoes? The NES/SNES kids are only 30-35, Atari fans are significantly older, the system has significantly less appeal and has nothing on the caliber of Nintendo IPs and the market for it hasn't tanked. And to make things more complicated, young kids are into it now. They have to hit the age where they have expendable income and get their hands dirty too.

 

Obviously, there's gonna be a peak, but we don't even know if we've hit the peak yet. I know most people my mom and dad's ago (early 50s) never even played video games. When I'm 50, the entire world is gonna be filled with people who have played video games and likely will continue to play them. Old people now play solitaire and do puzzles... when we're old and have all the time in the world, I'm sure we'll play games, right? Think of how many discs and carts can fit in a simple dresser. Loose... tons. So maybe the rare, shitty games hit the market, but most people aren't buying those anyways. The ones you still want, you'll keep, like the Marios and Contras, etc. And in the next 20 years, how many of these games and consoles are gonna break down, get lost, etc.

[MotoRacer]

I've gotten to the point right now where I'm "Wii-U'ed Out", and just don't want to play the thing. But I also am smart enough to know that getting rid of the system and all the games makes no fiscal sense. When I get the urge to play it again, it'll be there, and I won't lose a ton of cash in the endeavor.

 

In fact, keeping everything that has value is a trend for me. I just found cheap copies of Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2, and I won't ever be selling them. Along with my Xbox I got at Goodwill, that's it, I'm keeping everything. Battlefront 1 goes for 40 bucks now... 40! The game never went for anything more than 19. The second game is now in the 60-80 territory, which is insane. I found BOTH games for a combined price of 40 bucks, and that was worth it to me.

 

And this follows the point of this thread, which is basically I'm done selling. Regardless of whether or not I'm playing the system/game, unless I genuinely don't ever want to play it again because it's terrible, I'm keeping everything from now on.

 

It just makes no fiscal sense to sell, when in 6 months, it'll be twice as expensive. And I'm not buying at crazy prices, I'm hunting for deals. Because while an N64 is "worth" 60 bucks right now on ebay, it's not "worth" that for me. To me, it's still a 25 dollar system at best, and the games are FAR more expensive than their worth. There's a lot of systems out there like that for me. Xbox being another. It's why I waited until I found one for 9 bucks in mint shape. It took me FOREVER to find that deal, but I have no regrets, looking at a system on my shelf with 4 games, knowing I spent a small fortune on something for a library of games that interest me that for me is pathetically small, much like the N64, 3DO, etc.

Edited December 21, 2015 by MotoRacer

[vitaflo]

 

If the market right now is saying a game that should be common is $20 like Contra, that tells you all you need to know.

 

Actually Contra is going for $40 right now. Yes, this tells me all I need to know. Retro game collecting is trendy right now, but the general public isn't aware of it. There are tons of games sitting around in storage and the supply is low because of it. This creates a perfect storm. Game prices are artificially high because of it.

 

Like all collecting trends, it will pass. The fact that it's even being discussed right now as a "problem" is why prices are increasing. It's not because there's not enough supply to go around. For most games, there's plenty. It's just artificially inflated.

[Keatah]

I don't fully and completely understand the ebay thing. I've been watching a few select pieces of Apple II hardware (material I already own) sit there for 4 years straight and not move one iota. Something that typically actually moves for $20-$30 is languishing there at $200+. For years now!

 

And some of the software is priced in the thousands. And yet it sits there not moving. Manual inserts and other paper stuff is now going for 3 figures! And yet it sits there. Some basic consoles are going for 5 figures. Some for 4. Some is moving. Most is getting laughed at.

 

In the charter years. You could deal with people, talk them down $10 or $20. Today that is less so. Just glad to have collected (and kept) all my Apple II material.

 

ADDED:

And even more happy that there are repositories such as ftp asimov. And adtpro to transfer it over. That, or emulation. So other than sentimental value there should (in theory) be little or no reason to buy high-priced software on ebay.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Keatah

[MotoRacer]

I don't fully and completely understand the ebay thing. I've been watching a few select pieces of Apple II hardware (material I already own) sit there for 4 years straight and not move one iota. Something that typically actually moves for $20-$30 is languishing there at $200+. For years now!

 

And some of the software is priced in the thousands. And yet it sits there not moving. Manual inserts and other paper stuff is now going for 3 figures! And yet it sits there. Some basic consoles are going for 5 figures. Some for 4. Some is moving. Most is getting laughed at.

 

In the charter years. You could deal with people, talk them down $10 or $20. Today that is less so. Just glad to have collected (and kept) all my Apple II material.

 

ADDED:

And even more happy that there are repositories such as ftp asimov. And adtpro to transfer it over. That, or emulation. So other than sentimental value there should (in theory) be little or no reason to buy high-priced software on ebay.

 

But let's be honest, most, if not all of these high prices, are purely for nostalgic sentimental value. Hell, we're already seeing Wii U being emulated (well, starting to at least). Anything Wii and older can be emulated with relative ease. Even arcade machines. Yet people (like me, to be fair) will always go for the original hardware. Be it for the controller, or for the way the graphics look on real hardware, or whatever... for some reason it's something people tend to be willing to pay for, even if emulation is available for free.

[The Usotsuki]

And even more happy that there are repositories such as ftp asimov. And adtpro to transfer it over. That, or emulation. So other than sentimental value there should (in theory) be little or no reason to buy high-priced software on ebay.

Somewhat we can thank 4am for that.

[Keatah]

Indeed. I have a number of things I need to get cracking. Or at least find someone who has the time to do them for me.

[HandheldGuru]

I am a lot younger in the collecting biz than most of you guys, but I just wanted to chime in. I started collecting in late 2011-2012, around when I was...fourteen, wowza. Anyway back then I was easily able to secure a bounty of great handhelds (like the Atari Lynx, Neo Geo Pocket Color and many, many more) all of them with games and under $40! My Atari Lynx (Model II) came with five games, and just barley cost more then forty and same with the NGPC. Now...those handhelds, with about the same amount of games...$80+ and beyond for a NGPC, and well over $90 to get a Lynx in guaranteed working order. I just starting to collect for the SupaBoy (SNES) (Hyperkin's, surprisingly excellent SNES portable clone) and I'm already daunted and a little burnt out. How the hell did prices get so high??? Why the hell are they so expensive in the first place??? (and yes I know, excellent quality, but still point stands) It is absolute madness. I think a lot you guys posting above are right, the prices won't go down (a lot), but hopefully the bubble will pop and the mainstream will leave true collectors alone and maybe, just maybe...the prices will start to come down, even if just a little bit.

[bretthorror]

I am a lot younger in the collecting biz than most of you guys, but I just wanted to chime in. I started collecting in late 2011-2012, around when I was...fourteen, wowza. Anyway back then I was easily able to secure a bounty of great handhelds (like the Atari Lynx, Neo Geo Pocket Color and many, many more) all of them with games and under $40! My Atari Lynx (Model II) came with five games, and just barley cost more then forty and same with the NGPC. Now...those handhelds, with about the same amount of games...$80+ and beyond for a NGPC, and well over $90 to get a Lynx in guaranteed working order. I just starting to collect for the SupaBoy (SNES) (Hyperkin's, surprisingly excellent SNES portable clone) and I'm already daunted and a little burnt out. How the hell did prices get so high??? Why the hell are they so expensive in the first place??? (and yes I know, excellent quality, but still point stands) It is absolute madness. I think a lot you guys posting above are right, the prices won't go down (a lot), but hopefully the bubble will pop and the mainstream will leave true collectors alone and maybe, just maybe...the prices will start to come down, even if just a little bit.

 

It's unfortunate a young cat like you got caught up in such a high price era, but my advice to you is buy what you want, what you'll play and buy the best games. I know sometimes it's hard, Lord knows I'm guilty of buying Devil's Third for Wii U at retail, but still, I paid full retail for it, but it's because I like the mindless style of violence game. At least it's worth a shot. Do your homework and buy the best games at the cheapest prices. Be smarter than the stupid collector. Then when you have 75 fun games for 5 or 10 bucks a pop, smirk in their faces. If you wanna play Chrono Trigger, emulate it or buy it on the Virtual Console and trade off a high price game for a ton of low price games. This keeps the hobby fun, you'll always play the games you want to play, too. Unless you're a millionaire, you'll never be able to buy all the stuff you want and even if you're a millionaire, you'll never get to play all the stuff you want. Remember that and keep it fun. Sometimes you'll encounter a situation where you gotta spend $50 CDN money for a 7800 light gun, because those are impossible to emulate and you have a soft spot for them. Good, go for that. Don't go for a crappy game because it's rare. If you use your light gun once and have a blast, it's worth more than a rare, cruddy $100 game on the shelf exponentially.

[leods]

Get a PSP, hack it and buy the good games on that. YOu'll have enough portable games to Play for a while. No, you don't Need to Play Assasin's Creed and CoD. There are many great games on the System, and right now they're mostly cheap.

 

I recommend a PSP 3000, or at least a PSP go.

 

Monster hunter is a beast of a game, but look for Taito, Capcom, SNK collections. Gradius, Darkstalkers, there's a SFa3, the list goes on...

 

Once you hack the console you can copy the UMDs straight to the Memory Card, so they won't bother you in the slightest. It's really great stuff.