Rarity Alert (X360) - 5th Grader: Game Time

[Shadow Kisuragi]

I recently picked this up for $13 at a local flea market (I feel I overpaid, but apparently not). I was trying to find people to play with online and wrap up some of the online achievements, and noticed that the online is dead. The game came out 10/27 as a budget retail title and the only major reviewer for it was IGN, which gave it a 4.0.

Needless to say, I decided to check around to see if I could scrounge up a few people to play. Here's what I found:

Trueachievements.com - 73 tracked gamers
MyGamerCard.net - 221 worldwide users tracked

For a game that's been out for over a month, it has a very lackluster amount of players tracked. I would suggest that any X360 collector keep an eye on this and pick it up when it gets cheap, as I've never even seen it anywhere but that flea market from a fellow collector.

EDIT: For those wondering, it barely earns that 4.0. It's not the worst X360 game out there, but it barely does more than the XBLA title.

[norkusa]

I've actually seen 5th Grader in a few stores already. Maybe nobody is playing it because the show is awful to begin with. I've just picked up one even more obscure than that though. Indianapolis 500 Evolution for 360. Released 9/22/09:

Trueachievements.com - 35 tracked gamers
MyGamerCard.net - 155 worldwide users tracked

I never use these sites, so I don't know how accurate of an indication they are towards rarity. I picked up my copy of Indy 500 at TRU the other day for $20. Never seen/heard of it before then. Can't find much info about it online and Xbox.com doesn't even have an official forum for it.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

I've seen Indy 500 at Walmart, but that's the only place I've seen it. I'll pick that up as well then next time I see it. It appears to have the lowest users for a Western game that has been out for 3+ months.
Where have you seen 5th Grader retailing at?

MyGamerCard.net is typically a decent site to check for usage metrics. TrueAchievements has a user base of 60k users right now, so it's not the best.

I'll have to do some data mining and see if I can find any other games with low usage.
EDIT: Games with low users, according to TrueAchievements.com. I tried to filter it out based on age:

America's Army - 163
Bakugan: Battle Brawlers - 120 (New)
Bass Pro Shops: The Strike - 111 (New)
Black College Football Extreme: Doug Williams Edition - 167 (New)
Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks - 162 (New)
Cars: Race-O-Rama - 155
Chaotic: Shadow Warriors - 16 (New)
Indy 500 Evolution - 35, 155 Users on MGC
Jurassic: The Hunted - 174 (New)
NCAA Basketball 10 - 36 (New)
PES 2010 - 31 (New)
Planet 51 - 51 (New. Lol)
SBK - 145
Zoids Assault - 180

[norkusa]

I saw a few copies of 5th Grader at Best Buy the other day. I think I saw it at Target too but I'm not positive (I know I saw it for PS2 but not sure about 360).

So is 5th Grader really that bad of a game? I'm a big trivia nut, so I try to play them all. I've been playing the DS version a bit lately. I think it's okay, just a bit dull.


BTW, anyone see Qubed for 360? It's a compilation of 3 XBLA games: Rez, Lumines Live, and E4 that was released in September I think. I picked up a copy for $20 last week at K-Mart but haven't heard much talk about it or seen it in any stores.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

I haven't seen Qubed yet in stores or at the flea market, but I've been wanting to pick up a copy. I own Rez and Lumines, but E4 is something I want to play and I like being able to share my games with friends.

As for 5th Grader...it's just barely better than the XBLA game. They added a couple new modes, online play, more questions, and tightened up the graphics...they forgot Level 2 completely though in the process. It's pretty boring, to the point where everyone was screaming to put in Scene It! after 1 game and we had to mute the music. I'd give the game a MAXIMUM of 1.5/5.0...graphics are on par with a late-PS1 game with an HD touchup. Nothing matches Vampire Rain's graphics, but this isn't much more impressive.

[Leo_A]

Off topic, but since it's been mentioned, is Indianapolis 500 Evolution a original game? Or is it just a port of the Wii game from the same developers with a hd makeover?

Edit - Has a interesting selection of tracks judging from the achievements. I never thought tracks like Trenton and Riverside would appear in a console racer. This is just the second time Riverside has ever been in a videogame (NASCAR Legends), and it's the first time for every other track included, such as Trenton (The others are Langhorne, Hanford, and Honey Creek [Terre Haute I assume]). Maybe more if they all don't have a achievement for winning at it.

Only Indy and the Milwaukee Mile have appeared in other games besides one appearance of Riverside. Worth picking up just to see how good of a job they did in modeling these tracks that are largely gone today. If it's a port, at least they did a good job expanding it. Actually I'm wrong, Hanford and Terre Haute were modeled in some of the Dirt Track Racing games for PC.

[portnoyd]

Achievement metrics are probably a bad indicator of rarity. Just because few people have played it all doesn't mean there aren't lots of copies sitting on the shelf unbought.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

I would happen to agree, since most people would need to register to be tracked. However, do you have any other methods to track rarity for x360/PS3?

[Bojay1997]

At this point, I don't think there really is such thing as a rare 360 game. 5th Grader is available at Target and Best Buy among other retailers. Indy 500 is available at Toys R Us for $20 in their holiday bargain displays and for $30 at Best Buy. If a game is available at any major retail b&m chain, there is just no way it will be rare in this generation. Qubed is sort of a borderline case since it is widely available at on-line retailers, but Kmart is the only b&m retailer I know of that is selling it at retail. Having said that, I can easily see it showing up next Christmas in the front of store selections at Best Buy and double packs at Costco in much the same way that Battle Fantasia (which really had almost no retail distribution other than Fry's) has this Christmas.

[TonyTheTiger]

With minimum print run requirements the norm these days I'd venture a guess all of these fringe titles would be about as rare as what that minimum number is. And judging by the saturation rate? Those minimum numbers are probably pretty high. Tens of thousands at least which would put any modern game around R4-R5 at absolute best.

[portnoyd]

I would happen to agree, since most people would need to register to be tracked. However, do you have any other methods to track rarity for x360/PS3?

Just the usual educated guesses, sadly.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

With minimum print run requirements the norm these days I'd venture a guess all of these fringe titles would be about as rare as what that minimum number is. And judging by the saturation rate? Those minimum numbers are probably pretty high. Tens of thousands at least which would put any modern game around R4-R5 at absolute best.

Variants aside, I would happen to agree. Typical print runs, I would guess, would be minimal 5000 for 1st print. It's not exactly "rare", but it would make it hard to find unless there is a new print run. I'm pretty sure Battle Fantasia had another print, or all of the backstock was just released from the warehouses for the holidays.

[Half Japanese]

Achievement metrics are probably a bad indicator of rarity. Just because few people have played it all doesn't mean there aren't lots of copies sitting on the shelf unbought.

Not to mention the fact that the people who buy budget games aren't generally the ones signed up for services like Xbox Live and gamerscore-tracking sites.

[98PaceCar]

At this point, I don't think there really is such thing as a rare 360 game. 5th Grader is available at Target and Best Buy among other retailers. Indy 500 is available at Toys R Us for $20 in their holiday bargain displays and for $30 at Best Buy. If a game is available at any major retail b&m chain, there is just no way it will be rare in this generation. Qubed is sort of a borderline case since it is widely available at on-line retailers, but Kmart is the only b&m retailer I know of that is selling it at retail. Having said that, I can easily see it showing up next Christmas in the front of store selections at Best Buy and double packs at Costco in much the same way that Battle Fantasia (which really had almost no retail distribution other than Fry's) has this Christmas.

I found my copy of Qubed new at Gamestop the day it was released. I've seen a few there since then.

[s1lence]

Considering every gamestop and bestbuy has this game I'm going to say no.

Of the list post the only one that I would remotely consider rare

Indy 500 Evolution

I've only ever seen it for sale on Amazon.

[Oobgarm]

We actually got Indy 500 for 360 in at Best Buy almost a MONTH before the street date. Same two copies sitting on the shelf, too.

[s1lence]

We actually got Indy 500 for 360 in at Best Buy almost a MONTH before the street date. Same two copies sitting on the shelf, too.

That would be the first time I have heard about it being it Bestbuy.

Still, 5th Grader....meh on the rarity meter

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Agreed - once I asked around about it, I had tons of people send me messages stating they had it.

[Bojay1997]

Considering every gamestop and bestbuy has this game I'm going to say no.

Of the list post the only one that I would remotely consider rare

Indy 500 Evolution

I've only ever seen it for sale on Amazon.

It's at Toys R Us as well and it's only $20 there on those cardboard holiday standees in R Zone. Not rare by any means. I guess all this goes to show that there really is no such thing as a rare 360 game as of yet.

[s1lence]

It's at Toys R Us as well and it's only $20 there on those cardboard holiday standees in R Zone. Not rare by any means. I guess all this goes to show that there really is no such thing as a rare 360 game as of yet.

Yes, there is.


The NTSC version of Asterix at the Olympic games. It was ONLY in a few canadian walmarts, the rest are PAL only.

There is also the special edition of Dead Space that was limited to 500 copies and could only be purchased on the website.

[Bojay1997]

Yes, there is.


The NTSC version of Asterix at the Olympic games. It was ONLY in a few canadian walmarts, the rest are PAL only.

There is also the special edition of Dead Space that was limited to 500 copies and could only be purchased on the website.

Asterix is not as rare as has been claimed. It was distributed at every Canadian Walmart and through a couple of other Canadian distributors which is where I got my copy. It was also readily available for a very long time after release on Ebay and still sells for around MSRP.

The limited edition of Dead Space was actually 1,000 copies and the game itself is the standard US release. The other stuff in the box is stuff which could or can be purchased separately. The outer box itself is rare I suppose.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

There was also the Mirror's Edge Collector's Edition which came with the handbag, if I remember correctly. Both were only available in limited quantities from the EA Store.

[Oobgarm]

While we're on the subject, the Limited Edition Tales of Vesperia is a pretty HTF one as well.

Those "cellector's editions" which are basically the retail copy of the game with some extra trinkets/etc. are a huge waste. None of the games themselves are rare, it's the extra crap that is.

[s1lence]

Asterix is not as rare as has been claimed. It was distributed at every Canadian Walmart and through a couple of other Canadian distributors which is where I got my copy. It was also readily available for a very long time after release on Ebay and still sells for around MSRP.

The limited edition of Dead Space was actually 1,000 copies and the game itself is the standard US release. The other stuff in the box is stuff which could or can be purchased separately. The outer box itself is rare I suppose.

For being widespreed I would dispute that. I had a friend go to 16 different walmarts and he found 3. It was never listed on the canadian walmart website either. Fair enough though I have never been in Canada myself to look, but it is still rare here in the US, I just don't see a demand for it pushing the price up. If it was available like 5th Grader I would say that it isn't, but since its not, I'm still going to consider it a rare title.
Of the three copies that have sold recently on ebay, two were PAL and one was NTSC and it went for 58.00 which is more then what retail was/is (not by much I know).

I couldnt remember the number on Dead Space Production I knew it was 500/1000.

Tales of Vesperia LE is fairly hard to come by and demand for it is pushing the prices up quite a bit.

[Bojay1997]

For being widespreed I would dispute that. I had a friend go to 16 different walmarts and he found 3. It was never listed on the canadian walmart website either. Fair enough though I have never been in Canada myself to look, but it is still rare here in the US, I just don't see a demand for it pushing the price up. If it was available like 5th Grader I would say that it isn't, but since its not, I'm still going to consider it a rare title.
Of the three copies that have sold recently on ebay, two were PAL and one was NTSC and it went for 58.00 which is more then what retail was/is (not by much I know).

I couldnt remember the number on Dead Space Production I knew it was 500/1000.

Tales of Vesperia LE is fairly hard to come by and demand for it is pushing the prices up quite a bit.

I can't speak to the timing of your friend's search, but I'm guessing it was well after release. My understanding is that all 265 Canadian Walmarts received at least a few copies of the game each and the distributors I spoke of ended up selling to a number of smaller independent game shops. In any event, Walmart ended up not selling out because as of a few months ago, the game was being clearenced at a number of locations for CDN$20. It was most likely a 10K unit run which numerically sounds limited, but I believe there has to be demand for something to be rare and there is just not much demand for this game.

[s1lence]

Yeah, there is no demand for it unless you are hunting achievements as it is an easy 1000 points. It's not a bad game either.

[slapdash]

Regarding Qubed; right now atari.com has a 50% off promotion going on, so you can pick it up for $10. Note: shipping is a little pricey (i.e. it starts with 2-day FedEx ground as the cheapest).

[esquire]

Regarding Qubed; right now atari.com has a 50% off promotion going on, so you can pick it up for $10. Note: shipping is a little pricey (i.e. it starts with 2-day FedEx ground as the cheapest).

S&H for me was $6.81, making it $16.80, so I passed for now.