I agree. Just like those "SneakerHeads" who have to buy every single Air Jordan limited edition shoe to be released by Nike. The limited releases cause riots outside the store, and Nike uses the free publicity as a form of viral marketing. To me, a shoe is an expendable commodity meant to be worn until it falls apart, but for the people who collect the limited edition sneakers, they would dare not wear it; in fact the shoes may not even be the right size for the collector's foot. I also believe that video games are meant to be played. You plug it into the console and play it. They are extremely durable anyway, and 98% of loose non-working carts can be fixed by a little cleaning and TLC. I could care less if it still has the shrink wrap on it or not, so screw paying $500 for a sealed SMB3 when I can get the cart way cheaper: I simply want to play them! I own a duplicate of the original grail, only it's in a blue RetroZone cart with a Sealie Computing PCB instead of the real gold one. It's actually surprisingly addictive, but with the ludicrous prices the gold copies have been fetching, all I would want to do if I actually owned the real one would be to flip it: think of all the tons of games I could get for that price!!! Or pay off student loans, buy a new car, get married and have a nice honeymoon afterwords, make a down payment on a new house for the fiance/ future wife, etc...Originally Posted by Griking
As for the Action Comic analogy, if it's a used, unsealed copy of the comic with minor cosmetic wear, carefully place it on a flatbed scanner and scan each page individually, then distribute the pdf file on the Internet for others who can't afford paying top $$$ to enjoy it. Dumping an unreleased prototype is the same principal from an ethical standpoint. Both may be legal grey area, but if it were mine, I would want others to enjoy it too. The original will always be worth more than a copy.
