One of the biggest game system collections?

[darkslime]

I'm 14 and have been collecting since the start of the year, mostly when I go to the swap meet with my dad, and garage saling with a friend who's 16 and can drive, and also collects.

I have a lot smaller collections than everyone here because I have less monies than everyone. No job and 14 means I have $10-20 dollars a week for doing chores, but you can get lots of games for $10-20. ^_^ I always end up passing on duplicates even if they're a really good deal, because I would rather have the money for other games. Its kind of frustrating.

[DreamTR]

Nothing against the age posters using the "lack of experience " card, but I don't buy that...it depends on what you decide to do with your money.

When I was 16 in high school, I had around 500 games, all used, mainly from flea markets and buying in bulk from Funcoland what I needed, and buying/selling with my $4.25 an hour Publix job to get games from video stores and flea markets when I bought/sold there. It juse depends on what your resources were. I had to go with my mom to the flea market when she had a booth, and did not have my own car until I was 18, which allowed me to get my own space at a flea market on Saturdays and do some swapping.

Mind you, this was pre-internet craze, so the only "price lists" anyone had were Funcoland magazine "WE BUY FOR UP TO $80 PER GAME" style stuff.

My mom bought me my NES and 3 games back in early 1987 when I was 11. That's it. Everything else I picked up on my own for the next 5 years from trades and work saving...

The other card I don't like people pulling is the "my collection is without owning a game store and without working in the industry" version.

Let me ask, who in the "game industry" here publicly has thousands of games besides old school editors from magazines back in the day? Freelancers that get games sell those things so fast it's not even funny, but it's not like there is an abundance of people with thousands of games that were just "given" to them. Not everyone in the "industry" had games handed to them on silver platters. If anything, 2-5 games a month is the norm unless you are the actual editor of a place, or head freelancer, and usually those go to the "library" of the place anyway.

I just think it kinds of passive aggressively masks people who actually worked hard to get these collections and gives other people the "excuse" as to why they don't have that many games or something.

I collect for myself, and no one else, that's what I wanted to do. Have a library of games for reference and play. It's precisely why I do not collect sealed games, but I do find it a little bizarre that everyone has this assumption that game store guys (who usually keep store and personal separate anyway) industry folk that supposedly just have instant free games and unlimited funds to buy everything, and of course assuming that everyone with large collections is making 100K a year or something. The people I know with the larest collections make hardly anything, and all of their money goes towards buying/selling stuff to get their games anyway.

[otoko]

I hope this beef of yours is not because of me DreamTR...

[Rickstilwell1]

Yeah like with me, I could be spending a lot more money on video games than I am. But I wanted to move out on my own that bad. If I stayed with my grandpa just a few months longer, I could have gotten another 500-1000 games by now plus the systems. I'm missing over $3000 I could have had that I spent on rent.

But to me it's worth it, and I have much more room for games now. Also I did choose to purchase laptop bags for as many of my systems as I could for easy portability and access. It keeps the systems dust free and protected, keeps them with all their cords, and if I want to take even larger things such as my Atari 5200 or Neo Geo AES to my friend's house and show them what it's all about, it's just a quick grab off my shelf. It also helps preserve the life of the console's original boxes as I don't have to open them up every time I want to use a system.

[Sniderman]

Also I did choose to purchase laptop bags for as many of my systems as I could for easy portability and access. It keeps the systems dust free and protected, keeps them with all their cords, and if I want to take even larger things such as my Atari 5200 or Neo Geo AES to my friend's house and show them what it's all about, it's just a quick grab off my shelf. It also helps preserve the life of the console's original boxes as I don't have to open them up every time I want to use a system.

Clever. This idea has the Sniderman Seal of Approval - approval that does not come often, let me tell you.

[Bojay1997]

Nothing against the age posters using the "lack of experience " card, but I don't buy that...it depends on what you decide to do with your money.

When I was 16 in high school, I had around 500 games, all used, mainly from flea markets and buying in bulk from Funcoland what I needed, and buying/selling with my $4.25 an hour Publix job to get games from video stores and flea markets when I bought/sold there. It juse depends on what your resources were. I had to go with my mom to the flea market when she had a booth, and did not have my own car until I was 18, which allowed me to get my own space at a flea market on Saturdays and do some swapping.

Mind you, this was pre-internet craze, so the only "price lists" anyone had were Funcoland magazine "WE BUY FOR UP TO $80 PER GAME" style stuff.

My mom bought me my NES and 3 games back in early 1987 when I was 11. That's it. Everything else I picked up on my own for the next 5 years from trades and work saving...

The other card I don't like people pulling is the "my collection is without owning a game store and without working in the industry" version.

Let me ask, who in the "game industry" here publicly has thousands of games besides old school editors from magazines back in the day? Freelancers that get games sell those things so fast it's not even funny, but it's not like there is an abundance of people with thousands of games that were just "given" to them. Not everyone in the "industry" had games handed to them on silver platters. If anything, 2-5 games a month is the norm unless you are the actual editor of a place, or head freelancer, and usually those go to the "library" of the place anyway.

I just think it kinds of passive aggressively masks people who actually worked hard to get these collections and gives other people the "excuse" as to why they don't have that many games or something.

I collect for myself, and no one else, that's what I wanted to do. Have a library of games for reference and play. It's precisely why I do not collect sealed games, but I do find it a little bizarre that everyone has this assumption that game store guys (who usually keep store and personal separate anyway) industry folk that supposedly just have instant free games and unlimited funds to buy everything, and of course assuming that everyone with large collections is making 100K a year or something. The people I know with the larest collections make hardly anything, and all of their money goes towards buying/selling stuff to get their games anyway.

I actually agree with all of these points. I started collecting when I was 14 years old in the late 80s and frankly, I was a very good saver and even making minimum wage from a summer job, I was able to put together a pretty remarkable collection that forms the core of what I have today. 20 years later, I'm lucky enough to make a good living, but I'm just as smart about my collecting and I understand that most rare items really aren't and that Ebay is only one tool among many in collecting.

I also agree that the "oh, you own a video game store, so you must find it easy to have a huge collection" discussion is absurd. I know a couple store owners here on the West Coast who also collect and frankly, they constantly face the struggle of whether to keep rare items or sell them. They also take home a lot less income than most collectors I know, especially in this retail environment. Finally, it's not like people show up to their door every day trying to sell classic stuff. Most of what they are offerred is crap and they wouldn't put it in their store, let alone their collection. Of course, there are times when they have access to items normal collectors wouldn't or deals through distributors, but again, it's not like they could build a massive collection out of these unusual offers.

[Iron Draggon]

SIGH... all the games that I could get with a $10hr job! I was only making $2hr + tips when I bought most of my collection, and if I wasn't working 60hrs a week at that rate, I prolly wouldn't have half of what I have... my tips only amounted to about the same as my hourly rate, so I was only making about $1200 a month during that time... roughly $15,000 per year... my rent was $500 a month, but fortunately that was all bills paid... so almost all of my money was spent on games... and it took all I had to keep current with all the new releases for all the systems that I collected for... I bought games literally every day then, thanks to the fact that I made at least $50 in tips every night, working all the busiest shifts at one of the busiest bars in TX... so it helped alot that I was old enough to work in a bar... otherwise I dunno what I could've done to make that much money... I didn't have a college degree, so working in a bar was the best way I knew of to make that much money legally... and obviously I never had very much free time for playing! I was doing good just to have enough time to go shopping for games... and we didn't have an internet back then, so I had to go searching from store to store... which is why since the internet arrived, I've been buying all the games that I either never found in a store, or never got around to buying... and I make way less money than I made then... I hardly make any at all... so I agree, most of us collectors aren't rich by any means... we're just very resourceful people... we sell what we can, so we can buy what we want... and that usually means we end up in the business of trading game stuff...

[DreamTR]

otoko: It's definitely not intended at you directly, it's just a generalization that most collectors somehow have this stigma that most of the huge collectors have money that grows on trees or something. It's my choice to drive a 16 year old car instead of making monthly payments on a new one, and as a new business owner, I'll be lucky if this arcade/game store I just opened pulls in money to even pay my paycheck...

[Lios]

I'm only 21 myself and have been collecting since I was 13. Needless to say I am pretty happy with my meager 1100 or so games and 40 or so systems given I have only ever held two jobs other than personal side jobs (pc repair and whatnot)

I am actually looking into starting up system modifications and repairs to help fund my buying habits.

Also only recently, late last year to be precise, have I had the means to buy stuff online, before that I had bought everything locally, and living in a small backwater town in Texas does not help my chances of finding games/systems in the wild. In the year that has passed my collection has exploded from what it used to be.

[otoko]

otoko: It's definitely not intended at you directly, it's just a generalization that most collectors somehow have this stigma that most of the huge collectors have money that grows on trees or something. It's my choice to drive a 16 year old car instead of making monthly payments on a new one, and as a new business owner, I'll be lucky if this arcade/game store I just opened pulls in money to even pay my paycheck...

Okay, I understand. I was just saying (if not in a stupid way) that I compared to most I have a small collection, I wish it was bigger (that 1000 mark is now one of my goals~)...

You know what....

I have no idea where I'm going with half of what I am saying... Or I do...

Heh.. I'm just going to shut up now...

[Gentlegamer]

Also only recently, late last year to be precise, have I had the means to buy stuff online, before that I had bought everything locally, and living in a small backwater town in Texas does not help my chances of finding games/systems in the wild. Yeah, I hear it's rough in Dallas.

[Slate]

I didn't even feel like posting here but I did. I don't care about my post count. THis contributes almost nothing to the thread, does it? I felt so burned out reading everyone else's posts I couldn't think of anything that wasn't said before (Positive things, that is)

[Adol]

I just think it kinds of passive aggressively masks people who actually worked hard to get these collections and gives other people the "excuse" as to why they don't have that many games or something.

I completely agree with you on that point, i feel the same, beginning to collect at 10, with trades and resales to afford to pay for my games.



but I do find it a little bizarre that everyone has this assumption that everyone with large collections is making 100K a year or something. The people I know with the larest collections make hardly anything, and all of their money goes towards buying/selling stuff to get their games anyway.


I completely agree with you on that point too.I hardly make $2500/month, with much bills to pay. But my extra money all go into video games.

But i must admit it was a LOT easier 10 years ago for me,when i was earning the same money with NO BILLS to pay (still was living at my parents)

Good luck on your new business!

[megasdkirby]

I by no means have an impressive collection. I possibly have between 2K-3K, which is nothing to be honest.

I've recently reduced my game purchases because I need to focus on the future. I am trying to save up money in case I loose my job, can't work anymore, etc. Emergency money, as I call it. People piss me off saying I should just waste it and enjoy it...yet they are the same ones with mountains of debt that they can't get out from.

I like playing all my games, to be perfectly honest. I just can't fathom getting a game and "shelving it" for years without ever touching it. I know many collectors do this, and while it's cool, I don't want to spend $200 on a rare game and never play it. It's not that I want to play it 24/7, but at least "pop it in" every now and then and have fun with it.

There is something that just boggles my mind, though. There are a few collectors that want to get a complete set for a specific system. That is awesome, as I also want that. But after they get the complete set, they want to either:

a)Get another set for the same system
b)Get the same games all over again, but sealed

In the first example, why would someone want to get multiple complete sets for a console? Isn't one complete set enough? For example, a console has 200 games. The person collects all 200 games, all CIB and in great condition. That would be it, right? No...they want to achieve ANOTHER complete CIB set! WHY!? To be honest, I don't understand.

In the second example, the person has all the games cart only. So they decided to get them again CIB. I can understand this, as I too would prefer CIB games over loose counterparts. But once they finish getting their CIB set, they want to sell their CIB set and substitute it...with FACTORY SEALED sets? I think that is going a little overboard, but if they want to do so, then cool. I'm just happy having a CIB set.

It's awesome to set shotterm and longterm goals, but the above examples just boggles my mind. If anyone does it here, that's awesome. But I personally do not understand.

Also, although I know it may never happen, I would collect for others. In other words, if I were to win the lotto or become a millionare, I would create a video game museum for everyone to see and cherish. While the museum would be my personal collection, I want others to see and learn from them, not keep it all to myself. I like having my own private collection, but if I am going to collect thousands and thousands of games (say 50,000 games), I want others to partake from it, since it's history in my eyes.

All IMO.

[blue lander]

Microcosm on the CD-32 is pretty terrible. If you really want to play that game, the 3DO one is much more playable.

I'd avoid getting a Canadian CD-32. You'll have a problem playing 70%-80% of the worthwhile games for the thing. I'd get a British one with a power converter and wire it up for RGB.

[murdoc rose]

Nothing against the age posters using the "lack of experience " card, but I don't buy that...it depends on what you decide to do with your money.

When I was 16 in high school, I had around 500 games, all used, mainly from flea markets and buying in bulk from Funcoland what I needed, and buying/selling with my $4.25 an hour Publix job to get games from video stores and flea markets when I bought/sold there. It juse depends on what your resources were. I had to go with my mom to the flea market when she had a booth, and did not have my own car until I was 18, which allowed me to get my own space at a flea market on Saturdays and do some swapping.

Mind you, this was pre-internet craze, so the only "price lists" anyone had were Funcoland magazine "WE BUY FOR UP TO $80 PER GAME" style stuff.

My mom bought me my NES and 3 games back in early 1987 when I was 11. That's it. Everything else I picked up on my own for the next 5 years from trades and work saving...

The other card I don't like people pulling is the "my collection is without owning a game store and without working in the industry" version.

Let me ask, who in the "game industry" here publicly has thousands of games besides old school editors from magazines back in the day? Freelancers that get games sell those things so fast it's not even funny, but it's not like there is an abundance of people with thousands of games that were just "given" to them. Not everyone in the "industry" had games handed to them on silver platters. If anything, 2-5 games a month is the norm unless you are the actual editor of a place, or head freelancer, and usually those go to the "library" of the place anyway.

I just think it kinds of passive aggressively masks people who actually worked hard to get these collections and gives other people the "excuse" as to why they don't have that many games or something.

I collect for myself, and no one else, that's what I wanted to do. Have a library of games for reference and play. It's precisely why I do not collect sealed games, but I do find it a little bizarre that everyone has this assumption that game store guys (who usually keep store and personal separate anyway) industry folk that supposedly just have instant free games and unlimited funds to buy everything, and of course assuming that everyone with large collections is making 100K a year or something. The people I know with the larest collections make hardly anything, and all of their money goes towards buying/selling stuff to get their games anyway.

i agree with all of that

[SegaAges]

Nothing against the age posters using the "lack of experience " card, but I don't buy that...it depends on what you decide to do with your money.

When I was 16 in high school, I had around 500 games, all used, mainly from flea markets and buying in bulk from Funcoland what I needed, and buying/selling with my $4.25 an hour Publix job to get games from video stores and flea markets when I bought/sold there. It juse depends on what your resources were. I had to go with my mom to the flea market when she had a booth, and did not have my own car until I was 18, which allowed me to get my own space at a flea market on Saturdays and do some swapping.

Mind you, this was pre-internet craze, so the only "price lists" anyone had were Funcoland magazine "WE BUY FOR UP TO $80 PER GAME" style stuff.

My mom bought me my NES and 3 games back in early 1987 when I was 11. That's it. Everything else I picked up on my own for the next 5 years from trades and work saving...

The other card I don't like people pulling is the "my collection is without owning a game store and without working in the industry" version.

Let me ask, who in the "game industry" here publicly has thousands of games besides old school editors from magazines back in the day? Freelancers that get games sell those things so fast it's not even funny, but it's not like there is an abundance of people with thousands of games that were just "given" to them. Not everyone in the "industry" had games handed to them on silver platters. If anything, 2-5 games a month is the norm unless you are the actual editor of a place, or head freelancer, and usually those go to the "library" of the place anyway.

I just think it kinds of passive aggressively masks people who actually worked hard to get these collections and gives other people the "excuse" as to why they don't have that many games or something.

I collect for myself, and no one else, that's what I wanted to do. Have a library of games for reference and play. It's precisely why I do not collect sealed games, but I do find it a little bizarre that everyone has this assumption that game store guys (who usually keep store and personal separate anyway) industry folk that supposedly just have instant free games and unlimited funds to buy everything, and of course assuming that everyone with large collections is making 100K a year or something. The people I know with the larest collections make hardly anything, and all of their money goes towards buying/selling stuff to get their games anyway.
QFE

Wow, Quote of the Year. Very nicely put bro.

EDIT:
I will not, for one second, say I can't afford a buttload of games. Yeah, you guys have seen my post about my job where I also told you how much I make a year. i am not rich, but when all of my bills are covered in 1 paycheck, yeah.

I choose to buy only the games that I want now. I think every collector eventually matures as a collector. I highly doubt that people like Joe are waiting to get nhl 95 for every single system that it came out for (plus nhl 94 is better anyway, hahaha). Some people have massive numbers, but that does not mean they just horde everything.

I stopped caring about how many other people had unless they had pictures. Me, personally, I like to know how many I have because it took me about a week to reinventory everything, plus I busted my ass to write some software to inventory it, so the least I could do is have a number there as well.

When I see some of the younger collectors, it does remind me of myself. Seriously, do a search for everything I wrote here and see how I was trying to bulk up my collection with sports games and crap. Now I buy in bulk, but it is rare that there is more than 1 sports game in anything I buy.

You could be 40 years old, but not be matured as a collector. There are still people on here that have not completely matured as a collector, and you know, that is alright. There are people that will never mature as collectors, and that is fine. I am still working on it myself. Now instead of buying literally everything I can get my hands on, I look over lots I buy and make sure that I want everything I am paying for, and get picky with it.

Do you want to know my own personal definition of a matured collector? Ask one of them how many games they have. If they don't know, but you see there pictures and it just looks like an amazing mass o' games, yeah, there you go. Well, there are exceptions to everything in my book. I am slowly getting there, but when I don't feel like typing in the url to my collection page, I seriously come onto DP and click on my own sig, hahaha (only work related favs at work cuz they sometimes check them) and when I go to my collection page, the first page that shows up says how many games I have, so I am always staring at that f'ing number.

A matured collector gets games for themself. Honestly, I know I have alot less games than many people here, and I don't care. sure, I may have more than many as well, but again, I don't care. One thing I learned that I should have listened to the dp'ers about, it is not a competition here. The number of games you have should only matter to you. Sure, if you hit one of your own milestones, post it up here on DP and people will congradulate you (I am pretty sure that people have made posts for hitting 100 games and stuff).

Enjoy what you have, and be proud of what you have. Do not compare your stuff to what others have, because there will always be somebody with more. Does Joe have the biggest collection in the world? No. I don't know who does, but somebody out there has a bigger. There is always somebody with more stuff. I mean, seriously, it took me going through alot of crap, and then finally coming back here to realize that the number meant nothing to anybody but me.

If all you want is a high number of games, it is really easy. start collecting for nes, 2600, and maybe Genesis sports games or something, i don't know. Screw that number.

Be proud of what you have and do not worry about what everybody else has. Sure, you can compare to what they have, but once you start getting competitive in your brain (which is neasy to do), then you will always try to top everybody else.

I see these huge collections, and I don't wonder too much how they got them, because I know how they got them. I can joke all I want about how much people spend on games, but it is their choice.

Now for people with video game stores: who am I to judge? I know nothing about doing that. I am sure, somebody has said it before, but store owners do have to decide what they can take home and what they need to sell. What would happen to a store owner's business if they took everything home that was halfway decent? Nah, they gotta make some money. It's a business.

I will be honest, I found out about DP, what, about 5 years ago (almost). I was 21 when I found out about DP, so before then, I was just collecting. I didn't know others were out here too. I truly didn't. Well, no, I assumed other people had a bunch of games too, I just never thought of even calling myself a collector. During one of Joe's 5 minutes of fame, I saw him on G4 and after that, I signed up here. I think I was mainly into saturn when I signed up here (I have old pictures hidden somewhere on this site from way back then). I honestly can't tell you how many games I had, but not many, but I know that this collection grew alot since 2004.

Numbers mean nothing in this game, but enjoying what you do means everything. Have you seen how many threads people post about leaving this game. We also have threads about people coming back.

There is no excuse for how many games somebody else has. They have that many because they have that many. Look in ah like the rest of us, instead of making excuses as to why you don't have that. Sure, it would be nice to have that, we would all like that, but we don't. I don't have that, but I am happy with the rate I am going at right now.

If you are not happy with collecting games, which is something that many people in the world do not even realize is out there, then you seriously need to re-examine why you are collecting.

Come up to me with 5 games and call it a collection and be proud of it, and I will comment on how nice your 5 game collection is. Hey Secret Santa is coming up, you could get lucky and get another game from me and up your collection that much more.

Enjoy what you have. enjoy what others have. be proud of what you have. be proud for what others have. when you envy them, they you need to do a little more maturing as a collector.

[Cornelius]

*snore* ... hic.. wha? er... over already?

just kidding. but i didn't make it to the end, either.

[Trebuken]

Come up to me with 5 games and call it a collection and be proud of it, and I will comment on how nice your 5 game collection is. Hey Secret Santa is coming up, you could get lucky and get another game from me and up your collection that much more.

This would only work for me if it was a SuperGrafx collection; the rest was good stuff...

[megasdkirby]

I choose to buy only the games that I want now. I think every collector eventually matures as a collector. I highly doubt that people like Joe are waiting to get nhl 95 for every single system that it came out for (plus nhl 94 is better anyway, hahaha). Some people have massive numbers, but that does not mean they just horde everything.

Very well put. Unless it's a really good game or it's affordable, I am perfectly happy getting a particular version of a game. If it's the same game, I only get one version. But if it's different on multiple platforms, then I get them all. If a game was released on a multitude of platforms, and unless one version has something the other does not have, I get the first one I see. I know some would like to get the same game over and over again for different platforms, and that's cool. If it makes them happy, then that is what's important, right? But to brag about it is something very different, which I will later discuss.


You could be 40 years old, but not be matured as a collector. There are still people on here that have not completely matured as a collector, and you know, that is alright. There are people that will never mature as collectors, and that is fine. I am still working on it myself. Now instead of buying literally everything I can get my hands on, I look over lots I buy and make sure that I want everything I am paying for, and get picky with it.

Me too. I only get the games I want. I have personally let go of awesome of deals, but it's ok, because in the end I get those I truly want. Many years ago I would buy just to buy, and in one point I got so severely burnt that I wanted nothing to do with gaming anymore. A very long time passed before that "flame" revived itself. Unfortunately, it happened to me again, not to long ago. If I go nuts buying everything I see, I get burnt and gaming becomes a burden. It's no fun playing and collecting if I can't have fun doing so in the process.


Do you want to know my own personal definition of a matured collector? Ask one of them how many games they have. If they don't know, but you see there pictures and it just looks like an amazing mass o' games, yeah, there you go. Well, there are exceptions to everything in my book. I am slowly getting there, but when I don't feel like typing in the url to my collection page, I seriously come onto DP and click on my own sig, hahaha (only work related favs at work cuz they sometimes check them) and when I go to my collection page, the first page that shows up says how many games I have, so I am always staring at that f'ing number.

For me, a matured collector is not a person who has lots of games...or a little amount of games. It is a person who collects because of passion. The love for video gaming. One that neither thinks they are inferior or superior to any other person. I person who simply loves what he does: play and collect games. I know people who have only a few games and truly appreciate what they have. For me, this is a true, matured collector.


A matured collector gets games for themself.

For me, a matured collector gets games to play and enjoy himself as well as for others. For instance, if I were to ever find a prototype of an unreleased game that everyone has been after, I will immediately dump it instead of hoarding it for myself. In my eyes, everyone has equal right to play and enjoy the game, and I should not prevent them from doing so. I know some collectors find prototypes and never dump the ROM for fear that their game will reduce in value. In my eyes, that is being selfish. If I find a sought after prototype, I know I have the original one, because that will never change. However, I want others to play it as well. So no matter if there are millions of copies distributed of the game, I hold the original, but at the same time I made sure everyone got to enjoy it as well.


Honestly, I know I have alot less games than many people here, and I don't care. sure, I may have more than many as well, but again, I don't care. One thing I learned that I should have listened to the dp'ers about, it is not a competition here. The number of games you have should only matter to you. Sure, if you hit one of your own milestones, post it up here on DP and people will congradulate you (I am pretty sure that people have made posts for hitting 100 games and stuff).

EXCELLENT POST!!! I agree with you a million percent! It is NEVER a competition! It's all about contributing and becoming part of a family, never to be envious or compete for who has the better collection. Unfortunately, not everyone is like this. I have known people that because they have a massive collection, or an ultra rare game, they expect better treatment than the rest and act all snobbish. Is that really part of the spirit of video game collecting? I knew a guy back in the early 90's that thought he was some sort of all mighty being because he had games no one else had. Why would he act this way? No one liked him because of this. He would act cocky and think that he deserved higher respect...he thought himself better than anyone else. That was just plain wrong. No one is better than anyone. Instead, he should have focused that energy in enjoying what he had and contributing passionately with others.


No. I don't know who does, but somebody out there has a bigger.

Nothing really wrong with this sentence...I just have one heck of a perverted mind. :p Sorry... :)


Be proud of what you have and do not worry about what everybody else has. Sure, you can compare to what they have, but once you start getting competitive in your brain (which is neasy to do), then you will always try to top everybody else.

Once again, I agree with you a million percent. :)


I see these huge collections, and I don't wonder too much how they got them, because I know how they got them. I can joke all I want about how much people spend on games, but it is their choice.

Agreed. I can joke about how much one person would pay for a game, or simply be in awe/shock about it, but if they are willing to spend alot, then it must really mean alot to them. I remember a friend wanted to buy Shenmue 2 for the Xbox and he was willing to give $200 on it just because he really wanted it. In the end, I found one really cheap and gave it to him as a gift. If he was willing to shell alot for it and then gets it for free as a gift, his appreciation and gratitude would be so that that would have been more than enough payment.


Now for people with video game stores: who am I to judge? I know nothing about doing that. I am sure, somebody has said it before, but store owners do have to decide what they can take home and what they need to sell. What would happen to a store owner's business if they took everything home that was halfway decent? Nah, they gotta make some money. It's a business.

Reason why I can never own a business... :) Every time I get called upon to repair a computer, I charge way too low. I can never survive doing this. :)


Numbers mean nothing in this game, but enjoying what you do means everything.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Excellent post. :)

[HYB]

SegaAges put it really well. I have one of the smallest collections around here, around 120 games. I'm proud of my collection, mainly because all my games are cib and something I like to play. I stared collecting last year and I've spent an increasing amount of money on games (just spent 215 eur on 6 nes/snes games I really wanted). I know I could have more games, but going at my own pace feels good since I'm doing it for myself (and for others kinda, my friends love to come by and play my games). One of the reasons why I personally feel so comfortable at DP is that even with a small collection I feel welcome and not looked down upon. Plus, most people here are genuinely super nice and fun.

[DreamTR]

megasdkirby: Since you decided to bring up prototypes, if you paid $1000 for a game, you'd release it for free? Am I selfish for wanting to collect the money I paid for a game because people supposedly "deserve" to play it for free? That's idiotic if you think of it that way. I've always been more than willing to get games dumped, but I'm not paying $$$$ for something then releasing it for free because people "deserve" to play it. That's why I don't understand why you bring up "hoarders" because in all honesty, there are so few prototype collectors that what you say usually comes right back at me since I have so many. You could say the same mentality about released games. If someone pays $500 for a game, but it sits on the shelf, he should give it away to someone who will play it because that person who wants to play it "deserves" it! Whee! You see the logic here?

[blissfulnoise]

Threads like this fail.

Money + Time + Access = Collection.

In the day and age of eBay, rating who has what is officially null and void. Everyone can get everything. So it becomes a pissing contest over who has more disposable income.

And in that contest, we all lose. Especially given the paradigm shift in the enconomy and the rediscovered interest in taking reponsibility over our personal finances.

Now there are a few true "grails" (undiscovered prototypes, R10ish games) out there that some folks can hoist over their heads in e-peen threads like a proverbal Master Sword, but if we're talking nuts to bolts, just shut up about your pile of shit already. No one is interested anymore.

But all that said, you WILL get pictures when I finally find a local Food Fight in excellent or better shape. ;)

[zektor]

Wow, this thread is all over the place! I felt I had to chime in on last prototype talk however:

I do not think that these should be dumped because everyone "deserves" to play it. If you spend the cash on a prototype it is of course your sole option as to what you want to do with it, sure. So never let anyone make you feel an obligation to make copies. This is not hoarding at all. By that rationale, I should be handing my car keys around to other people since I am "hoarding" my vehicle. Or maybe I should share my wife because it is not right that she is solely mine :)

That is just one man's opinion on the subject. I do however believe that any prototype found SHOULD be dumped just for the sake of preserving the history. Even if that dump never enters the public eye.

[Bojay1997]

Threads like this fail.

Money + Time + Access = Collection.

In the day and age of eBay, rating who has what is officially null and void. Everyone can get everything. So it becomes a pissing contest over who has more disposable income.

And in that contest, we all lose. Especially given the paradigm shift in the enconomy and the rediscovered interest in taking reponsibility over our personal finances.

Now there are a few true "grails" (undiscovered prototypes, R10ish games) out there that some folks can hoist over their heads in e-peen threads like a proverbal Master Sword, but if we're talking nuts to bolts, just shut up about your pile of shit already. No one is interested anymore.

But all that said, you WILL get pictures when I finally find a local Food Fight in excellent or better shape. ;)

That is complete garbage. If this was 5-7 years ago when rare stuff was pretty regularly available on Ebay, I would agree with you for a lot of items. Nowadays, however, I think it requires real skill to put together or expand a nice collection. In fact, most of the time, I can't even find anything I would buy on Ebay since most of it is available elsewhere for less or in much better condition. Ebay has become home to the mass market vendors and BIN sales, not the individual collector anymore. There are also many, many grails which just never show up because the few collectors who have them hold on to them. I really don't understand your tone. If you have nothing to contribute to this thread, please stop posting in it.

[DreamTR]

I have to agree, there are certain games you can look for years that still do not show up on eBay. I can think of Atari 2600 boxed games that I haven't seen in 5+ years on eBay. EVen if you have standing offers of crazy cash, that does not always do it...

[SegaAges]

megasdkirby: Since you decided to bring up prototypes, if you paid $1000 for a game, you'd release it for free? Am I selfish for wanting to collect the money I paid for a game because people supposedly "deserve" to play it for free? That's idiotic if you think of it that way. I've always been more than willing to get games dumped, but I'm not paying $$$$ for something then releasing it for free because people "deserve" to play it. That's why I don't understand why you bring up "hoarders" because in all honesty, there are so few prototype collectors that what you say usually comes right back at me since I have so many. You could say the same mentality about released games. If someone pays $500 for a game, but it sits on the shelf, he should give it away to someone who will play it because that person who wants to play it "deserves" it! Whee! You see the logic here?

Well DreamTR, I do have an opinion on proto's as well. The way I see it, is that you should do with it what you want. If I dropped 1000 on a game, the last thing I would do is give it away for free. That is dumb.

Now if the community wants it, there is a post out there that had a great idea. It was for fighting force for saturn. What that site did was had the community pool together for the game. I say do that and then release it to just that community (not you personally, the idea behind it).

If you want to hold onto it, cool beans. If you are a proto collector, which I am pretty confident you are DreamTR, then right on. To each their own. Proto or no, it would be like asking a non proto collector to dump their games the minute they bought them. Released, unreleased, or code never finished, it is still a game.

DreamTR: Hold onto those badboys and do whatever you want with them. Keep them in an air tight locked case for all I care. They belong to you, and as long as you enjoy collecting proto's, then it is the right idea.

Don't worry about those people that want you to dump every single proto that you get. It is your choice, not theirs. You being a proto collector, I am sure people bug you all the time, but, me personally, I would ignore them.

[The Shawn]

Well before this thread completely implodes unto itself I guess I'll chime in and say personally I only count games that I am going to keep and play. That being said I guess I prob. only have around 500 games, that is not counting the 400 or so in trade boxes and such. I really have decided in these last couple of years to not go after every game in the universe just because it's there, rather go after certain system's libraries that I still game on.

At one point I looked around and counted a few years ago and was up to around 2000, and just thought man, I'm never going to play some of this garbage! And decided to sell or trade for what I did intend to play.

There is no right or wrong way to collect, do what makes you happy! As someone else stated in another thread, there just freakin' toys! Well, after I cleaned out about 300 or so games last year I was able to put in a beer fridge and a 2 seat leather couch in my game room. That made me a happy panda! To each their own I guess.

[blissfulnoise]

My post was in slight jest. Thus the seemingly contradictory statement about the Food Fight cab at the end (which I have been looking for quite some time). No need for panties to be bunched.

Yes, no one who calls themselves a collector would freely admit that anything they want is two clicks away on eBay. Clearly that's not the case. My multi-year hunt for Daytona Netlink, Panic! on PS2, Colors of Modern Rock on Sega CD, and several other titles in my collection

But that said, this really is a pissing contest about disposable income spent via eBay, Yahoo Japan, or otherwise. And this is coming from someone with a fairly large collection in his own right.

And I think that commenting on the ultimate futility, and frankly, arrogance, of holding your possessions up to be critiqued by your peers(?) does have a place in this discussion. After all, isn't that a direct comment on the original post?

[thom_m]

As for me, I'm just glad you stopped using the "comparing e-dicks" metaphor. I was feeling bad about it: as far as game collecting goes, my e-dick is really, REALLY tiny...

[SegaAges]

As for me, I'm just glad you stopped using the "comparing e-dicks" metaphor. I was feeling bad about it: as far as game collecting goes, my e-dick is really, REALLY tiny...

Your signature doesn't help you either, hahahahaha

[DreamTR]

SegaAges: I know very well with what you are saying, and drx is very ahead of his game. I know he has not announced it publicly but Judgement Force came from my end through someone else, and so have other Saturn games and some Mega Drive stuff he has obtained recently, but it's not like I'm out there advertising this as such. He just knows the right way to approach the situation with me. I think a lot of unknowing ignorant people think that I am massively hording prototypes that I purchased with my own money for some reason though (the nerve of me not giving away my own games I purchased for $$$$ for FREE!) and it's pretty funny seeing the naive people that think this these days...

[blue lander]

In the day and age of eBay, rating who has what is officially null and void. Everyone can get everything. So it becomes a pissing contest over who has more disposable income.


I think I mostly agree with this. If somebody posted a collection like the OP's 10-15 years ago (sans the systems that hadn't come out yet), I would have been more impressed. It would have required years of thrift hunting to acquire all those systems. But nowadays, the size of your collection just reflects how much money you're willing to spend. Granted the super rares are still difficult/impossible to find (and you probably wouldn't find those in a thrift store anyways), But a large collection of common/somewhat rare games is easy to assemble if you're willing to spend the money.

Until about 5 years ago I absolutely refused to buy anything off of EBay except imports, I insisted on hunting everything down in thrift stores, flea markets, yard sales, and Funcoland. In my mind, buying off EBay was just cheating for rich people. It was the difference between displaying a stuffed bear you shot yourself versus one you just bought at the store. But then I got a full time job and no longer had the time/inclination to spend every weekend digging through junk at thrift stores. The day I realized I was never going to find a Vectrex at a thrift store was the day I decided it was okay to buy off EBay.

At the end of the day, your collection should just be a bunch of stuff you want to play or find interesting from a technical/historical perspective. If that means 5 or 500 systems, it doesn't matter.

[Sniderman]

I've been a member of the DP community for 10+ years and I consider myself a savvy collector. However, my collection - my FULL collection - would probably easily fit into the truck of my car. You see, my collection is always in flux. I'll become interested in a system - say, the Vectrex - so I'll start collecting for that system. Trading, buying, selling, etc., trying to expand that part of my collection. However, when I do so, I'll take another part of my collection - say, the SNES - and I will start parting it out or selling it outright to pay for the new merchandise. And when the Vectrex no longer interests me and I find a new passion - say, the TG16 - I'll start parting out the Veccy stuff.

You see, I'm attached - I mean "keep it forever and never part with it attached" - to only a very small percentage of games and systems. The rest of my collection I can take or leave it. I collect to PLAY, not to get one of everything. It's just the way *I* collect. The stuff I currently have is stuff I'm actively playing and enjoying. But once my interest wanes, it'll go away and will actually help pay for the NEW stuff in my collection.

So, my collection is comparatively small compared with some of you. However, if you count everything that I have POSSESSED over the years, if you count everything I have OWNED at some point, I daresay I can stomp some of you into oblivion.

It's all perspective. I have a small current collection, but I am very much a collector and will argue that my passion meets and/or exceeds anyone who may have one of everything still boxed and shrinkwrapped. And I bet I *enjoy* my collection more than you.

So there. Nyahh.

[SegaAges]

SegaAges: I know very well with what you are saying, and drx is very ahead of his game. I know he has not announced it publicly but Judgement Force came from my end through someone else, and so have other Saturn games and some Mega Drive stuff he has obtained recently, but it's not like I'm out there advertising this as such. He just knows the right way to approach the situation with me. I think a lot of unknowing ignorant people think that I am massively hording prototypes that I purchased with my own money for some reason though (the nerve of me not giving away my own games I purchased for $$$$ for FREE!) and it's pretty funny seeing the naive people that think this these days...

Oh, I agree with you.

There are countless threads, even on here, that talk about you guys needing to dump your stuff.

And yes, I was guessing that you knew who I was talking about, which is why I was vague about the dude's name since I could not remember. I was only using that as an example.

I mean, sure, an unreleased game would be fun to play, but with how many millions of games are out, personally, I don't have time to fret about whatever games you have, whether released or not. Hahaha, I still have a buttload of games I need to play of my own that have been released.

DreamTR: This is just a regular question for ya: Are there any proto's you have that you have not played, or at least tested as working?

[thom_m]

Your signature doesn't help you either, hahahahaha

Hahahaha! You're right! In fact, that statement and my signature make a very bad impression together: "Hi, my name it Thom. I have a tiny e-dick, and I like to blow....ON CARTRIDGES!!" Or you were talking about the date?!?ROFL

Jokes aside, my collection is really just beggining. All I have is a Mega Drive, a Megavision (Genesis clone), a NES, a SNES and a newly-bought Dactar (2600 clone) with a defective A/V conversion. And some games for each system. I've been playing forever (since, huh, 1987), but never held on to my systems. My mother made me give the old one away once I got a new one. Only recently I got the money/time/patience to buy them all again...and I'm having a blast!

Still, it's one of the biggest collections I've ever seen...in my building.

[SegaAges]

Hahahaha! You're right! In fact, that statement and my signature make a very bad impression together: "Hi, my name it Thom. I have a tiny e-dick, and I like to blow....ON CARTRIDGES!!" Or you were talking about the date?!?ROFL

Jokes aside, my collection is really just beggining. All I have is a Mega Drive, a Megavision (Genesis clone), a NES, a SNES and a newly-bought Dactar (2600 clone) with a defective A/V conversion. And some games for each system. I've been playing forever (since, huh, 1987), but never held on to my systems. My mother made me give the old one away once I got a new one. Only recently I got the money/time/patience to buy them all again...and I'm having a blast!

Still, it's one of the biggest collections I've ever seen...in my building.

Numbers only matter to you, as they should. It does feel good when you have people over and they comment about how nice your collection is (I am pretty sure many of us have had that happen).

thom: you got a great start dude. Some excellent systems like a md, nes, snes, 2600. There were so many good timeless games that were released for those systems that you could be busy collecting for those for years (literally).

[thom_m]

Yeah, that's the idea. I always had the urge to have more than one system running, but all I managed to have back then was a famiclone (long dead) and my MD (which I own to this day). Still, I've always been a gamer, not a collector.

That might be changing now - and things got more and more serious since I started to visit this forum. it's been really fun to play those things again. Last night, I played Enduro, River Raid, Keystone Capers and Bobby is Going Home for the first time in years, and it was great!

Let's see what happens from now on. I'll probably never have obsucre (in Brazil) thing like the Vectrex...but I'm pretty damn sure I'll find out what happened to my aunt's old Intellivision!

Anyway, as I said somewhere, I'll be at my mom's for Christmas. Time to visit my cousins' basements and see if I can find my old consoles/carts. Operation rescue!!

[98PaceCar]

This isn't entirely on topic with where this thread has gone, but it's also not completely off topic either.

The folks here are, for the most part, fringe. What I mean by that is to most people in the world, we all have huge collections even if our collections are small in comparison to each others. Just having an Atari 2600 or NES is enough to impress the bulk of the more normal people and even other gamers.

It wasn't until I started visiting DP and more importantly, attended my first CGE that I saw what a real collector was. Learning that my collection at the time was comparably tiny was by no means a bad thing. To the contrary, it opened my eyes to a lot of new systems and games I had never heard of and helped to re-ignite my passion for the hobby and shaped the direction I have gone in the years since.

Like some of the other folks have posted, it's not hard to have a huge collection. It just takes the dedication and desire to do it. There is very little out there that is truly rare or hard to get, so pick a direction you want to go and have fun!

[SegaAges]

Yeah, that's the idea. I always had the urge to have more than one system running, but all I managed to have back then was a famiclone (long dead) and my MD (which I own to this day). Still, I've always been a gamer, not a collector.

That might be changing now - and things got more and more serious since I started to visit this forum. it's been really fun to play those things again. Last night, I played Enduro, River Raid, Keystone Capers and Bobby is Going Home for the first time in years, and it was great!

Let's see what happens from now on. I'll probably never have obsucre (in Brazil) thing like the Vectrex...but I'm pretty damn sure I'll find out what happened to my aunt's old Intellivision!

Anyway, as I said somewhere, I'll be at my mom's for Christmas. Time to visit my cousins' basements and see if I can find my old consoles/carts. Operation rescue!!


Yeah, I am in a similar situation trying to talk my friend out of her neo geo. she had a neo geo at her mom's house that just sits and collects dust. unfortunately, it is in good shape and she knows what they go for.

[Adol]

For instance, if I were to ever find a prototype of an unreleased game that everyone has been after, I will immediately dump it instead of hoarding it for myself. In my eyes, everyone has equal right to play and enjoy the game, and I should not prevent them from doing so. I know some collectors find prototypes and never dump the ROM for fear that their game will reduce in value. In my eyes, that is being selfish.



No offense, bu not considering ALL the hard work for a particular guy to earn the money to buy it (let's say $2000), asking/begging it for FREE and taking for granted such prototype, isn't it selfish as well?

[thom_m]

Yeah, I am in a similar situation trying to talk my friend out of her neo geo. she had a neo geo at her mom's house that just sits and collects dust. unfortunately, it is in good shape and she knows what they go for.

I'm having better luck. All the friends and cousins I talked to already agreed to donate (in some cases, return) me all the NES/2600 carts they can find.

Oh, and I'm really hoping to have my beloved copy of Famicom Gradius II back. I lent it to a cousin once (Yeah, I have tons of cousins. My mom has 10 siblings), and he never returned it. I hold his crappy gazillion-in-one multicart hostage for it to this day...oh, I think it's a lost cause.

[SegaAges]

I'm having better luck. All the friends and cousins I talked to already agreed to donate (in some cases, return) me all the NES/2600 carts they can find.

Oh, and I'm really hoping to have my beloved copy of Famicom Gradius II back. I lent it to a cousin once (Yeah, I have tons of cousins. My mom has 10 siblings), and he never returned it. I hold his crappy gazillion-in-one multicart hostage for it to this day...oh, I think it's a lost cause.

careful on those dude. i actually only lend games out to 2 or 3 people, because i am tired of lending games out, and then they "lose" the game, but seem to always have beer money, and then I have to replace the game.

[DreamTR]

Sega Ages: I've tested all the protos I own at least once, but the thing is, there are so many now that it is impossible to get to each one unless I take the time to locate them through the boxes....so I'm not even sure of some of the other ones I have received lately these days.

Again, people are still thinking it is about 'the most money' nowadays. Tell me, who suddenly has come across all this magic money and have 10K game collections? Most of everyone I know with that many picked them up years ago and just fill the rest out with current stuff.

If everyone is going to assume that it's all about who has the most money these days because of eBay/internet which I hate to tell everyone, it's the greatest and worst thing to ever happen to collecting.....but everyone is 100% wrong on thinking that it's people with the most money. Unless you have proof and examples of people with uber large collections that have uber money to spend, then I don't buy any of it.

[SegaAges]

Sega Ages: I've tested all the protos I own at least once, but the thing is, there are so many now that it is impossible to get to each one unless I take the time to locate them through the boxes....so I'm not even sure of some of the other ones I have received lately these days.

Again, people are still thinking it is about 'the most money' nowadays. Tell me, who suddenly has come across all this magic money and have 10K game collections? Most of everyone I know with that many picked them up years ago and just fill the rest out with current stuff.

If everyone is going to assume that it's all about who has the most money these days because of eBay/internet which I hate to tell everyone, it's the greatest and worst thing to ever happen to collecting.....but everyone is 100% wrong on thinking that it's people with the most money. Unless you have proof and examples of people with uber large collections that have uber money to spend, then I don't buy any of it.

Yeah, because from my experience of having a buttload of disposable income, anybody that make enough for something, like say, a new car, will get that over video games.

I am not trying to say I am rich, but I know I am at least doing okay, and I know alot about myself so it is easier to talk about it.

Me, personally, I would rather take care of bills, have food on the table, blah blah blah, then worry about games. Sure I buy a buttload, that within that time, I have paid out more money for college, a new car and other stuff.

It is not just about the bank accounts children. I know for a fact there are many more members on the boards that make well over what I make, and ask them what they buy within 1 month. I bet you would be surprised. I bet it is not $1500 worth of games like you think it is. What most people don't know is that the disposable income is about the same. What, $200 a month, sometimes $500 on really good months (and I mean good months)?

Look in the november finds section. seriously, look at all the stuff people are getting. how much of that is from eBay? For many people, collecting has not changed since when they started, and they are still racking in games from the fleas for dirt cheap and hit crackBay maybe once every couple months.

[megasdkirby]

megasdkirby: Since you decided to bring up prototypes, if you paid $1000 for a game, you'd release it for free?

Yes. Because the fact that I hold the only "true" copy will always hold true. There might be copies, but it will never take the place of the real thing. An example is the Nintendo World Championships reproductions: there are a bunch released, yet the value of the original one is still present.


Am I selfish for wanting to collect the money I paid for a game because people supposedly "deserve" to play it for free? That's idiotic if you think of it that way.

It depends. For me, if someone has a game (say the Pink Panther guy) and doesn't want to distribute it because he wants to be the sole owner...this is what I am implying. That's basically saying "Forget you. I paid for it, so nothing for you!". I don't think this way. If I found something others wanted, why not share? I don't care about the money, because in my eyes, just because I have something others don't doesn't mean anything. What matters is what I do with it, and I want others to enjoy the excitement of a never released game, than not sharing it.



I've always been more than willing to get games dumped, but I'm not paying $$$$ for something then releasing it for free because people "deserve" to play it. That's why I don't understand why you bring up "hoarders" because in all honesty, there are so few prototype collectors that what you say usually comes right back at me since I have so many.

Sorry man, it wasn't directed at you. My discussion spawns from collectors from the past, like the person who has Pink Panther, the other that has Charlie Brown, etc. If you are this person, then it is a coincidence. But if you took it personally, I deeply apologize.

In my eyes, like I mentioned before, everyone has a right to play any game. I understand that paying alot for a game and then distributing may be apprehensive, but like I mentioned before, it does not diminish the value of the original game.

On a side note, I think of dumping the ROM as a form of protection. What if the person does not dump the only game in existence, then years later finds out the game no longer works? It will be lost forever. And I don't think anyone wants that to happen. Like for example, what if the guy who has Pink Panther decides to play the game and finds out it is damaged? It will be forever lost.


You could say the same mentality about released games. If someone pays $500 for a game, but it sits on the shelf, he should give it away to someone who will play it because that person who wants to play it "deserves" it! Whee! You see the logic here?

Funny you should mention that. Isn't that what happens to many collectors? They buy a game and since they don't play it, or their priority changes in life, they sell the game? I understand that parting with a collection can be hard on a person, specially if it's something you love. But if I have to get rid of my games to help others, I will. If I need the money to help my family, I will do it. It depends on the situation presented.

Remember, everyone has a different view about their collection. I personally think gaming is for everyone, not those who are particular to spend a plethora of money and keep the game from being played by anyone else. I want everyone to experience the game. And it also does not mean that the game's value will diminish thanks to the "dumping" or the millions of reproductions that can possibly be made of it, because one holds the original, and that will never change.

I also understand your point of view. But remember that this is just an opinion on my views. Our views different and that's cool. We are human and are entitled to it.


No offense, bu not considering ALL the hard work for a particular guy to earn the money to buy it (let's say $2000), asking/begging it for FREE and taking for granted such prototype, isn't it selfish as well?

Ah, yes. What I was implying is distributing it out of my own will. For example, I get a copy of a game thought never released and I myself distributing it for others enjoyment.

[tom]

Exactly

[megasdkirby]

Something I've realized for many years is the fear about a game loosing it's value when it's dumped. That is not true.

A game's value is what one wants it to be. So I paid $100,000 on an ultra rare, never released SMS game...I will still release it. Why? Because my original copy remains the ONLY original copy. And even after a million reproductions, it will remain the ONLY original copy.

[SegaAges]

Well I thought (DreamTR please correct me if I am wrong), that is was common practice for all proto's to get dumped, but they just don't get released.

I can see both sides.

On one hand, there is an awesome game that was never released and only one copy in existance, and that person could dump it so everybody could give it a test drive.

And on the other hand, it took time, money, and effort to get that $2000 proto. Sure, I will dump it for myself, but you better pitch in on this if you want a piece of the pie.

Think about it: somebody puts that much money into a one of a kind, and then you want to play for free? I say when proto's come out of the woodwork, if you want to play it that bad, pitch in on the game.

If somebody has a one of a kind and they are nice enough to let me play it, right on, but I will never make them allow me to play it. It is their game, not everybody's. They paid for it, everybody else did not.

[megasdkirby]

And on the other hand, it took time, money, and effort to get that $2000 proto. Sure, I will dump it for myself, but you better pitch in on this if you want a piece of the pie.

Think about it: somebody puts that much money into a one of a kind, and then you want to play for free? I say when proto's come out of the woodwork, if you want to play it that bad, pitch in on the game.

Awesome comment!

What would be great is to somehow release the game at a price in order to at least get something back. For instance, if someone pays $1,000 on a game, why not sell reproductions at $20 a piece?

But at the same time, it's profiting out of someones work. It's really a dual edge sword. But even if it's sold in this manner, at least it's being distributed.

It really depends on what a person wants to do. It's their decision in the end.


If somebody has a one of a kind and they are nice enough to let me play it, right on, but I will never make them allow me to play it. It is their game, not everybody's. They paid for it, everybody else did not.

True. That is why it's up to the owner.

[DreamTR]

Megasdkirby: unfortunately you are 100% wrong on the argument of the game not losing value when it is dumped and freely available on the web.

All of Castlevania4ever's protos hit not even $200 for most UNRELEASED because they are all on the web, whereas the ones NOT dumped hit $800+ easy. If these games did not lose their value, I would sell all of mine and alost be a millionaire, but that is not the case. The value is not there once they are dumped.

The NWC is not a good comparison. There is much folklore behind that, it has a label, and protos are well, just plain ugly. No room for comparison. It's not even a proto, it's the most well known contest cart in existence.

I'm not the Pink Panther person. I have a lot of unreleased Mega Drive protos, but there is no way I am doing all the legwork to get the things, then give them away for free. That is a very bad business decision, and there really are not two sides to it. If you spent all this money on games, then gave them away for nothing, that's ludicrous. People should be happy someone actually took the time to find the things, but what do they do? Demand to play them without compensation or offer of such for purchase.

[megasdkirby]

Megasdkirby: unfortunately you are 100% wrong on the argument of the game not losing value when it is dumped and freely available on the web.

All of Castlevania4ever's protos hit not even $200 for most UNRELEASED because they are all on the web, whereas the ones NOT dumped hit $800+ easy. If these games did not lose their value, I would sell all of mine and alost be a millionaire, but that is not the case. The value is not there once they are dumped.

The NWC is not a good comparison. There is much folklore behind that, it has a label, and protos are well, just plain ugly. No room for comparison. It's not even a proto, it's the most well known contest cart in existence.

I'm not the Pink Panther person. I have a lot of unreleased Mega Drive protos, but there is no way I am doing all the legwork to get the things, then give them away for free. That is a very bad business decision, and there really are not two sides to it. If you spent all this money on games, then gave them away for nothing, that's ludicrous. People should be happy someone actually took the time to find the things, but what do they do? Demand to play them without compensation or offer of such for purchase.

Understood.

I was correct on the "loosing value" analogy (about those who won't dump because of the value loss that might incur). But I will admit I am not thinking of it as a business of sorts (like you mentioned), since I see it as "video games for fun" mentality.

And you are right: people should not demand about having a copy. If I were to find a game and people start complaining and forcing me to "dump" it, I won't do it at that time simply because of this. But if I want to do it from the bottom of my heart, then I will. No one should force anyone to do it.

One could profit out of the "dump" if they wanted to, like in a post I made earlier. Of course this implies legal ramifications (as well as ethical/moral ones).

The NWC example was meant to focus on rarity. It can be any game, like "Save the Whales". It's been distributed, but only a few of them exist. I bet Joe doesn't worry about his game loosing value because of this. Why? Because he is happy that he owns an original copy, and for him, that's more than enough (taking a wild guess, here, I admit).

I myself will do this: if I ever find one that was never released, I will dump it immediately as a backup for myself. Then after a while I will distribute it. But that's just me. I don't see my collection as a money source, but instead, as an entertainment source. If you think of it moneywise, that's awesome. But I personally would never do this, to be honest. That's just the way I am.

EDIT:

I need to ask you...what if a few of the prototypes you own die out? And since you never "dumped" them, they are lost forever? How would you feel?

[mrmark0673]

Awesome comment!

What would be great is to somehow release the game at a price in order to at least get something back. For instance, if someone pays $1,000 on a game, why not sell reproductions at $20 a piece?

Because after you sold one the repro sites would sell their own carts and people don't have to come to your doorstep for the game. You really want to buy an unreleased game and then release it for free, then buy my proto on chase the chuckwagon:

http://www.chasethechuckwagon.com/item.cgi?show_item=0000040502

Unreleased, and no ROM on the web, be the hero and snag it for $2.5k. No dice? Its not as easy as you think. I've been doing my best to contact the original designers to see if I can get some insight and their blessing on reproducing the game, but I haven't gotten very far, hop in and take over for me. I'm doing my best to get a full blown retail release like Airball and Mike Ditka did recently, but there is more work involved than you may think.

Dream has released a shit ton of protos and ROMs to the community and he gets more shit than praise. I personally would love to see protos get released, but that is up to the person who put the cash up in the first place. As Dream said earlier, Castlevania4ever's unreleased protos barely broke $200-$300 because of the fact that they've been dumped, dumping protos will ALWAYS decrease their value.

[megasdkirby]

Because after you sold one the repro sites would sell their own carts and people don't have to come to your doorstep for the game. You really want to buy an unreleased game and then release it for free, then buy my proto on chase the chuckwagon:

http://www.chasethechuckwagon.com/item.cgi?show_item=0000040502

Unreleased, and no ROM on the web, be the hero and snag it for $2.5k. No dice? Its not as easy as you think. I've been doing my best to contact the original designers to see if I can get some insight and their blessing on reproducing the game, but I haven't gotten very far, hop in and take over for me. I'm doing my best to get a full blown retail release like Airball and Mike Ditka did recently, but there is more work involved than you may think.

Dream has released a shit ton of protos and ROMs to the community and he gets more shit than praise. I personally would love to see protos get released, but that is up to the person who put the cash up in the first place. As Dream said earlier, Castlevania4ever's unreleased protos barely broke $200-$300 because of the fact that they've been dumped, dumping protos will ALWAYS decrease their value.

The entire discussion deals with one factor: money. If it's thought like a business, then just like DreamTR mentioned, it's not feasible. But not everyone thinks of it this way. It depends on the person and what they want to do with it. I might do one thing while another person will do another. Heck, if I had the cash, I would purchase your prototype. And would I distribute the game? Yes I would, but I would try to obtain the rights first, as you mentioned. Or at least permission to do so. If nothing pans out after a while, I would dump the ROM.

I agree that if I had the rights or permission to distribute and sell the game, I would. Why? To help obtain some of the money back. Of course, this is basing myself on the "business" model mentioned previously. But it would make sense in the end.

Everyone has a decision of what to do with their games. I personally don't think of it as a business, but as entertainment.

[portnoyd]

I need to ask you...what if a few of the prototypes you own die out? And since you never "dumped" them, they are lost forever? How would you feel?

They are dumped; he has them all backed up on his computer. You need to replace dumped with released in your dialogue.

FWIW, I'd pay $1k and gladly dump and release a game. To me, the physical cart is more important than the game itself - I'd prefer a physical copy of the game over anything. This is all moot as I am far too broke to afford any unreleased game.

Now how the hell did this go from some noob bragging to the proto discussion that goes around every 8-10 months?

[megasdkirby]

They are dumped; he has them all backed up on his computer. You need to replace dumped with released in your dialogue.

Good point. :)


Now how the hell did this go from some noob dragging to the proto discussion that goes around every 8-10 months?

I blame the mysteries or boredom... :)

[portnoyd]

No, I know why now. DTR gave his annual Don't Hate Me speech and then heard the word protos and gave his Don't Hate Me Because Of The Protos speech.

Some things, they never change.

Reading back, to add to the discussion, I incurred a small tundra of credit card debt getting my collection to where it was around 2004 (~3000 games). I was working a decent job, nothing that would turn heads monetarily. Then my collection jumped to ~5500 games... when I married a fellow game collector. Since then, it has been paying aforementioned debt and now the house we bought back in April. I make almost 100% more than I did when I got out of college but real life is expensive. Houses - really expensive. Property tax is NJ - FUCKING EXPENSIVE. The game collection stalled from 2004 to now, only breaking 6000 recently. Once we get our tax return, we'll be back in the mix finally, hopefully polishing off a few systems.

[megasdkirby]

No, I know why now. DTR gave his annual Don't Hate Me speech and then heard the word protos and gave his Don't Hate Me Because Of The Protos speech.

Some things, they never change.

...wha?

What speech?

[Marriott_Guy]

Now how the hell did this go from some noob dragging to the proto discussion that goes around every 8-10 months?I agree. Though the convo is interesting, this may have a better place in a separate thread (once started I would gladly participate). This thread was\is about console collections\collecting.

98PaceCar (click here) (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1468016&postcount=114) and SegaAges (click here) (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1467431&postcount=92) offered excellent viewpoints on this subject - it is all about where you are right now in hardware collecting. It is not about who has a bigger collection - someone will always trump yours, but who cares?

GentleGamer listed my collection as one of the biggest out there - and I appreciate and thank him for evening knowing about it :) . Yes, I do pride myself on the rare and obscure along with the mainstream, but my partner in crime at The Video Game Console Library has me beat. From what I hear Bojay is no slouch himself. In my opinion, collecting is about what you truly care for. For me and 98PaceCar, we are all about collecting every unique system every made (yes - we do collect rare variations and protos) - not about every color of a N64.

In the end, it is all about you and what your goals are. These may change during time - and this is a good thing. Enjoy the hunt - don't be consumed by it or other's opinions.

[portnoyd]

Unless you have proof and examples of people with uber large collections that have uber money to spend, then I don't buy any of it.

Braveheart69.


...wha?

What speech?

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1467897&postcount=97
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1466786&postcount=77

Nothing against DTR - he's a good guy, but the victim bit gets a little trite after a couple years. ;)

What I get out of it is a nice gameroom with all the games at easy reach and available. A true man cave. You have no idea how badly I'm yearning to sit down with a couple NES titles I haven't played in years. Good thing is the gameroom is about 2 weeks away from being mostly finished.

[PapaStu]

Now how the hell did this go from some noob bragging to the proto discussion that goes around every 8-10 months?

I agree wif teh Portobo. I'm seriously thinking about starting a Protos thread good/bad and just merging all the old topics into that one and letting it run.

Anyhoozle I appreciate Marriot_Guy and 98Pacecar bringing this back on track.

I can't agree more with what 98Pacecar and Sniderman said. It's all about what floats your boat as a collector. Some run in the 'more more, faster faster' mantra (something one of my VP's says, but its very true here) and others run a little more on the specific side. If you replace systems with games, you can have (and we've got threads here on DP that have gone down this path) this conversation all over again. It's all about what you want/feel the need to collect and no matter how kewl you think your collection is, we can find someone elses collection that will make yours weep like the baby jeebus when he looks at his 401k account.

[Gentlegamer]

Dur Butter Monster is here to defend your protos from dumping.

http://quick.dezro.com/ButterMonster.jpg

[Gentlegamer]

GentleGamer listed my collection as one of the biggest out there - and I appreciate and thank him for evening knowing about it :) You can see from my sig that I'm a VGC fan. I first saw your console reviews posted there. :) I'm also on RFGeneration.

I definitely knew your console collection was bigger than the OP's, and the biggest I personally knew of, but as has been noted, there are bigger out there, some known, some unknown.

I love all the obscure consoles you review, by the way.

[Chainclaw]

On the subject of "prototypes", a huge reason I can see for not making the dumps available to anyone else is legality reasons. Owning protos (and devkits) in the first place falls into a pretty gray area of legality, and there's no reason to get in any sort of trouble over a brief period of internet infamy.

I go out of my way to own as few unfinished games as possible.

[hydr0x]

They are dumped; he has them all backed up on his computer. You need to replace dumped with released in your dialogue.

Seriously, I hope that's not the only backup. Can you imagine his house burning down? All the protos lost, okay, bad, but one's got the backups? Well, not if the only backup was in that house too. Seriously, with such a huge investment I really hope there's at least one off-location backup...

[Adol]

But not everyone thinks of it this way. It depends on the person and what they want to do with it. I might do one thing while another person will do another. Heck, if I had the cash, I would purchase your prototype. And would I distribute the game? Yes I would,


Then DO IT.Work hard,earn the $2500, buy it, and release it for FREE, PLEASE.
Then you'll get a crapload of shitty comments like "OMG this game sucks,you would have kept such shit for yourself" "Lol,you paid $2500 for THOIS?How DUMB YOU ARE,MORON", and at THAT VERY MOMENT, you'd reconsider your "living in a wonderful world" opinion.
Being genrous that way is easier said then done. Funny how it comes that it's always the people not working hard to earn themoney and buy the prototypes that give their opinion about it and show how they COULD be generous IF they were in same position.
But in fact,they're NOT. They PRETEND to be. How easy it is.
Since they don't even care to buy the prototype, they're not generous at all.

[megasdkirby]

Then DO IT.Work hard,earn the $2500, buy it, and release it for FREE, PLEASE.

I would if I could. I don't waste my entire paycheck on video games. I try to save a good 80% of it as backup for the future, in case something happens. The rest goes into pay bills, food, transportation, and other necessities. What ever is left after that is for games, and as you probably know, I go for the cheapest games possible. But if I did have a little more income to dispose of, I would. You will probably find a way to ridicule me, but that's up to you.


Then you'll get a crapload of shitty comments like "OMG this game sucks,you would have kept such shit for yourself" "Lol,you paid $2500 for THOIS?How DUMB YOU ARE,MORON",

Whatever comments I am told does not affect me in any way. Heck, if they want to talk about me, awesome! They are giving me importance, otherwise they would not even recognize me. And those same ones that do criticize are the ones having a problem, not me. If I were to take at heard every little criticism, I would have gone nuts by now.


and at THAT VERY MOMENT, you'd reconsider your "living in a wonderful world" opinion.

Why are you mad? Don't tell me you are taking this personally? My opinions are solely mine, and I don't expect everyone to agree with it. But you could at least respect my opinion, like I do yours. No need getting mad at something like this.


Being genrous that way is easier said then done. Funny how it comes that it's always the people not working hard to earn themoney and buy the prototypes that give their opinion about it and show how they COULD be generous IF they were in same position.
But in fact,they're NOT. They PRETEND to be. How easy it is.
Since they don't even care to buy the prototype, they're not generous at all.

Adol, calm down. Take it easy. There is no need to take it the way you are doing.

I'm sorry to say that I like to be generous. I like to help people. That is my nature and it will always be that way.

There is no need for mockery, like what you are doing. I respect your opinion, and I hope you can respect mine.

EDIT TO THE MODS:

I'll stop my discussion here. For some reason, certain people are taking it personally when all I wanted was to give a decent discussion. If someone took it personally, I apologize as that was not my intention. I rather stop than continue in endless circles. So after this, I will not continue with this thread.

[portnoyd]

Being genrous that way is easier said then done. Funny how it comes that it's always the people not working hard to earn themoney and buy the prototypes that give their opinion about it and show how they COULD be generous IF they were in same position.
But in fact,they're NOT. They PRETEND to be. How easy it is.
Since they don't even care to buy the prototype, they're not generous at all.

That's pretty goddamn insulting to the guys who run Lost Levels (which included myself in the past) who have been generous, sucked it up and paid for protos at a loss to get them out there. Hell, I have two protos that would have been released by me if I was not extremely lazy. (They have been released since then however and can site many examples of my morbid laziness)

Making the assumption that the people in your example wouldn't be generous and giving is the same as saying people like you specifically are 'loaded' and didn't work for your collection. Honestly dude, are you drunk? This comment is pretty angry and out of left field. What gives?

[DreamTR]

portnoyd, Adol is not referring to Lost Levels, he is solely referring to what megasdkirby said when he stated he would "release games for free" if he had the money to spend. It's not like Lost Levels had the money either, so they pooled it together and always get much respect for what they have done, but it's easy when megasdkirby can say he will do something, but won't actually do it because obviously there are other things you can spend $2500 on.

Others have always said the same thing, but only drx and lostlevels really go bananas with it and support the community in such a way, but getting these things is no easy task.

We're beating a dead horse with this whole thing anyway.

Oh, and about the supercollector comment with braveheart having money, he does NES and maybe some other rares, and just collects doubles and doubles, but he's not one of the 10K+ game people I was referring to that everyone thinks has money growing on trees in their backyard.

[SegaAges]

Honestly dude, are you drunk?

No, but I can beif you would like... ..oh wait, wrong person.

To stay on topic:
I honestly don't care if you collect protos. Find offense if you want, but I don't care.

It is your choice to collect whatever the hell you want to.

Just enjoy whatever the hell you have.

Some of you guys keep springing on the defensive here. Stop caring what others think of your collection.

I have repros of unreleased games. So what. I like them and count them as part of my collection since they are physical copies.

When I get around to it and stop being lazy, I am going to make some n-gage repros since those r super easy and count those in my collection as well.

Collect whatever the hell you want. Seriously, but when you try to defend what you collect, just stop. You never need to defend what you collect. You do it because you do it, enough said.

You collect protos, I collect repros, different, but it is our choices. Go ahead and come after me about collecting repros when you guys collect protos, because I will laugh (a lil lulz or something).

Are you enjoying collecting those that much when you have to justify why you do it all the time? Hey, this is not proto talk, this is collecting talk.

Here is my example: you can search for it on the boards, but for awhile, I was collecting sports games and got defensive when people wondered why I wanted to just boost my numbers, but I wanted to collect sports games.

That's where the story ends, no plot twists, no ending, that is it.

If you truly enjoy collecting what you collect for, why would you even care what somebody else thinks? Enjoy doing it or find something else to collect.

[c0ldb33r]

What is this the proto wars or what?

I liked this thread more when we were picking on Rickstilwell1.

[PapaStu]

No, but I can beif you would like... ..oh wait, wrong person.

To stay on topic:
I honestly don't care if you collect protos. Find offense if you want, but I don't care.




Guess what? You're NOT on topic. Protos /= one of the biggest game system collections.

Final warning to all. This thread be about system collections, or its no longer a thread anyone will be posting in.

You want the Proto thread, MAKE IT. I have no beefs with people posting their thoughts on protos/releasing/hoarding/personal items one bit. I do however have a beef when it takes over another thread that had nothing to do with it and people won't let the shoe drop. I'll be glad to leave it open once its spiraled into flaming and name calling if we can keep the proto argument out of other threads it has no reason being in.

[SegaAges]

my bad on the other topic.

I was just trying to make a point of saying collect what you want and enjoy that.

[portnoyd]

We're beating a dead horse with this whole thing anyway.

I agree, so next time let the word 'prototype' flow in and out of your mind like a mild fart. :)


Oh, and about the supercollector comment with braveheart having money, he does NES and maybe some other rares, and just collects doubles and doubles, but he's not one of the 10K+ game people I was referring to that everyone thinks has money growing on trees in their backyard.

But if he wanted to branch out, which I would put money on that he will, he would. And you're not denying he has gallons of dough which is why I named him when you asked for someone who fits the big collection/bigger wallet stereotype.

I'm going to be honest: I have a lot of games because I'm a materialistic assfuck. I love stuff and I love games. What better combo than having a lot of stuff that is games? If you showed me a turd shaped like Mario's head that Nintendo authorized as an official licensed product, I'd buy two. One to display and one to keep in the original packaging.

I think having a game collection of any abnormal size requires some level of mental deficiency. Mine is OCD, what's yours?!

P.S. The Stuness is the BMOC, recognize.

[SegaAges]

I agree, so next time let the word 'prototype' flow in and out of your mind like a mild fart. :)



But if he wanted to branch out, which I would put money on that he will, he would. And you're not denying he has gallons of dough which is why I named him when you asked for someone who fits the big collection/bigger wallet stereotype.

I'm going to be honest: I have a lot of games because I'm a materialistic assfuck. I love stuff and I love games. What better combo than having a lot of stuff that is games? If you showed me a turd shaped like Mario's head that Nintendo authorized as an official licensed product, I'd buy two. One to display and one to keep in the original packaging.

I think having a game collection of any abnormal size requires some level of mental deficiency. Mine is OCD, what's yours?!

P.S. The Stuness is the BMOC, recognize.

Wow, nice honesty.

I am pretty sure many of us are the same way (sealed games come to mind).

Bold Part = Pure Quality.