What determines actual value of a game?

[NightSprinter]

It's just as the topic states. Reason I ask is because I'm getting all sorts of different values. Here "Ikari Warriors" is listed at a value of $50 for a loose cartridge (nothing for a complete boxed or even sealed copy), yet "Video Game Collector" (which btw, has an advertisement for the DP collector guides) values a loose cartridge at $350, with "NCSR" (whatever that means) for a complete boxed game. I'd really like a bit of clarification on this.

[RevQuixo]

Rarity + Demand + Speculation = a best guess

As much as I like the DP rarity guide "value" is something that just doesn't exist in the video game world in a codified sense. Unlike other collector markets video games have not been scrutinized the way that other collectibles have been in determining worth. Just look at all of the variations that occur within a specific game...cross region, reprints, greatest hits, repackages, etc. You can't simply have one value for say Final Fantasy Tactics...you need a value for each instance of the game Greatest Hits & Original release. The comic book world does this for cover variations but at this point we don't. (at least not in any meaningful way)

Really the only way to determine value is to sample transactions that occur in a common marketplace that collectors frequent (ie: eBay) and then average out the price over time. Just because I pick up a radiant silvergun for 5 bucks at a store that doesn't realize it is worth more that that does not mena that this outlier value should go in determining the price...rather it indicates that the collector market for viideo games isn't mature enough to support a system that has any sort of accuracy.

[Kid Ice]

I believe a stash of Ikari Warriors (and Motorodeos) was recently uncovered in South America, which is why they are all over ebay now.

[NightSprinter]

That stash has to be pretty small, then. I've only seen eleven of them been put up on eBay that are NTSC versions (two of which I won). Though, finding a small amount of "new old stock" isn't enough to really devalue the item it seems. I remember reading on the BYOAC forums how there was "new old stock" of Wico-brand leaf switches, and leaf-switch buttons and joysticks having been discovered. The prices didn't seem to drop due to the fact that Leaf switches are more or less no longer made it would seem.

Same goes for Motordeo. I've only seen THREE copies over the past month having searched the completed auctions. I wouldn't call that a "big stash" as people are calling it, whether it's here or AA.

[PapaStu]

It really depends on the items. The big issue here is that places like ebay have become a HUGE forum of power and influence on games when the market is still VERY buyer driven and much more regional than other collectable markets and people often take that as the gospel and its much more like Revquixo said. There was stuff back home that I saw all the time that others couldnt find to save themselves. Its an average of things that are seen regionally (when possible) in stores, at fleamarkets and places like ebay and other sites, not to mention consumer demand that make up our DP guide prices.

Most of the truly rare PS games go for little, but when you talk about something like Suikoden 2 and the like, seeing their commanded prices makes one think that those are the rare ones, when they are just demanded heavily. videogame collecting is a fickle fickle beast.