How ridiculous will collecting get in the future???

[wberdan]

i was just thinking about this...
twenty years from now what will some of these early console "rare" games be fetching for prices? im not trying to put any kind of investment value on video games, but other hobbies have blown up enormously decades after they began (collectible cards as one example)... its just a matter of time before video games get outrageous..... of course, like with baseball cards there are commons that will never be worth much, but some items go for tens of thousands of dollars... does anyone ever see this happening to video games?



willie

[GENESISNES]

lets just hope that mario bros/duck hunt doesnt go for 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 on the future ebay. and one more question to remain: will these systems still work in the future?

[wberdan]

yeah that game will never have anything above play value...
just like early basball cards.... at some point in the future they become extremely hard to find in the wild, but if they arnt of a star (or very scarce), they arnt necessarily valuable.

willie

[klimatron8]

My fear is this. What happens when technology changes to the point where A/V hookups (or coax connections) aren't neccessary on future Television sets? What will become of the value of these systems/games?

[wberdan]

i woudnt worry about that- there will ALWAYS be someone making either tv's or converter boxes so you can use those connections.
although, 200 years in the future there might not be......

willie

[klimatron8]

thanks. Now I can sleep peacefully.

[CrazyImpmon]

Then we'd get to find out if the Rat Shack is still doing 'You got Question, We got Blank Look'

LOLLOLLOLLOL

I'm sure there will be an adapter somewhere that lets older systems hook up to newer TV. After all, we still have 300 ohm to 75 ohm twin lead to coax converter. And we still have the 4 prongs to RJ-11 phone plug adapter as some people are too lazy to replace the old phone outlet.

200 years... we'd probably have no problem with emulation as I doubt any console or carts would still be working after 200 years. Those metal contact would have corroded away to nothing.

[wberdan]

i dunno.... i have a hunch theyll easily out live our kids if they are taken care of

willie

[portnoyd]

i was just thinking about this...
twenty years from now what will some of these early console "rare" games be fetching for prices? im not trying to put any kind of investment value on video games, but other hobbies have blown up enormously decades after they began (collectible cards as one example)... its just a matter of time before video games get outrageous..... of course, like with baseball cards there are commons that will never be worth much, but some items go for tens of thousands of dollars... does anyone ever see this happening to video games?

willie

When I cash out: When my kids go to college.

Cash out meaning I liquidate my collection and sell it all except for a select few. I've already seen it happen *many* times before.

I'm not saying I'm doing this for the money; I'm not. I'm just hoping the wave that hits when my kids are college age.

And it *will* happen. You can't say that it won't.

And then I take their college money, and buy ourselves a beach house.

And did I mention I don't have kids? *tik*

dave

[zemmix]

i woudnt worry about that- there will ALWAYS be someone making either tv's or converter boxes so you can use those connections.
although, 200 years in the future there might not be......


Well by that time the plastic our systems are made of will have became so brittle that just the slightest touching will make them crumble. Also In 200 years I highly doubt they will still work, especially any of the CD based systems. So they will only be in museums behind glass walls....

[wberdan]

man, you people have no confidence in the build quality of your electronics!

willie

[zemmix]

man, you people have no confidence in the build quality of your electronics!


You're darn tootin right!! Especially when it has "Made in China" stamped on the bottom LOL

[Raedon]

man, you people have no confidence in the build quality of your electronics!

willie

if a part moves in the console it will have a %50 Fail rate in 20 years.

[christianscott27]

i come out on the other side of this, i think interest in the atari era systems is peaking right now. my generation (1965-1980 roughly) is going thru its childhood nostalgia period right now and in time most of us will move on. there will always be SOME people into the atari but never again will it be like it is now. we might see NES collecting grow in the next 5 years but i'm not sure about post NES systems, a different attitude towards technology took hold in the 90s. the 2600 and NES enjoyed long periods in the sun where as systems after that have just been speed bumps on the road to better, faster consoles. the premium on reality, 3-d graphics and so on is such a driving force in the game biz that theres little yearning for less than cutting edge games amongst current gamers. look at the saturn collecting scene, its most passionate particpents are into for the rarity/ import/ exclusive factors not the gameplay.

a few years ago i read an entry about video games in one of those pop culture collectible guides which said someting like this "the future of game collecting is wholly dependent on keeping the consoles in working order" for the most part thats true...
________
Jeep Liberty (http://www.dodge-wiki.com/wiki/Jeep_Liberty)

[omnedon]

I agree with christianscott above me. When I talk to other "collector's", like younger fellows than I (I'm 32) who work at game stores, I find it's very generational. Any systems that are "pre" when they discovered gaming, they seem to have no interest for. All of these younger fellas are NES and newer, while when I think of the NES, I think of it is a "newer" machine in my mind.

My point is, the "classic" era, seems to be very subjective. I do not think it's impossible that the early 8 bit era (pre crash) could be peaking. Those who remeber it fondly are gearing up. The newer and younger gaming collectors may have no interest in these "really" old games. I hope I'm wrong.

What stands out in my mind is a younger (early twenties) collector I was speaking to, who did not really consider Atari VCS games as "games" as they were so simplistic and numerous to be pointless to have. :/

When I think of the Atari VCS I think of a wondrous and powerful gaming system with a vast selection of varied titles.

If it's an age thing, it may have peaks and valleys as a hobby. Maybe even crashes :( .

I'd like to hear what the long time collectors have to say about this (10 years at it and more). Ebay is still a rather "new" influence on the market. Time will tell if some aspects of this hobby will boom and bust.

As far as keeping the systems going goes, I'm doing my bit. I've fully restored 10 (partially and non functioning) Intellivisions, 4 Atari VCS's, and 6 ColecoVisions, plus countless controllers. If you care about there being working consoles for the future DO NOT toss out your busteds. Make an effort to get them into the hands of myself, or the other techie forum members here who can squeeze more life out of these bits in some form or another (restoration, or a parts source).

It is up to us, really.

[Jorpho]

I imagine that we cannot be far from the day when anyone will be able to quickly and easily make a very good counterfeit copy of almost any cartridge. It will change everything.
________
Honda Cbr600F Specifications (http://www.honda-wiki.org/wiki/Honda_CBR600F)

[Atari7800]

I'm 32 years old as well, soon to be 33. I grew up with the 2600 and 5200, but I don't spend much time or money on the 5200 (just the occasional homebrew) and nothing on the 2600. I guess I feel the same way as some of the younger folk... the older systems just don't hold my attention.

I'm a Saturn and PSX fan... I was broke when the Saturn was out so I'm making up for lost time, and PSX games are just too cheap now to resist.

I've also got a lot of NES, SMS, SNES, and Genny stuff, but I'm winding down on those.

That being said, the 5200 will olways have a special place in my heart (cheese)

[YoshiM]

It's really hard to pin point how retrogaming collecting is going to be down the road. Unlike baseball cards or comic books, its unlikely that video games will just "turn to dust" just from existing. Unless some person goes around smashing up Peek a Boo Pokers or a huge disaster takes out storage areas for rare games, I don't think game prices will skyrocket to Amazing Fantasy #1 levels for a looonng time.

I *COULD* see classic arcade cabinet games going up in price, however. Due to convertion kits, heavy play, poor environmental conditions (ie getting beer sloshed onto an arcade machine in a bar) and such it will be harder and harder to find classic pristine condition machines in playable order.

[nesuser2]

this doesn't technically go for everybody, i think the people on here would be more exempt from this. but i see it like this............

all the retro systems, NES and earlier will see a pretty big fall here soon. all the big time collectors(this is where the exempt comes in) are just trying to dig through their childhood for another chance at their youth. and it may work for them, evidently it helps them to some degree cuz they dont mind paying an arm and a leg for it on ebay. (everybody that bet that the high dollar sealed NES games would leave NPB's on ebay...well i have more problems with the $10 games than the $200 games.....which is the way it should be(also incase you care)) i personally think that all of it will start to go downhill in due time, there will still be big collectors that aren't trying to go back to their past, as i feel everybody on this forum genuinely loves old consoles etc......its not just reliving, its living for the people on here. But it is a proven fact that stuff drops in value, once the generation of users associated with it actually grow up. to the point where they really dont need it and they know that. if things do go up on these consoles, it will be the ultimate classics.......zelda...metroid......i'm not real up on earlier consoles but you can imagine where i'm going. these will still be big because people will be able to play, the latest version of metroid......and it will pose a connection for owning something and paying top dollar for it. other than that reason, why would somebody pay real good money for something that "sucks."

IE: your parents, or grandparents......or somebody around the 40-50's era might see an old B&W TV that works and think, my god i need that, why dont i pay everything i have for it, simply because its their youth. but unless you have enough people making connections with it, they dont want it.

so if you grew up with a color tv.......how about you go buy a B&W retro TV :hmm:

[wberdan]

What stands out in my mind is a younger (early twenties) collector I was speaking to, who did not really consider Atari VCS games as "games" as they were so simplistic and numerous to be pointless to have. :/

If it's an age thing, it may have peaks and valleys as a hobby. Maybe even crashes :( .



yeah but for every few dozen younger collectors that dont care about them, there is one that does care, and sometimes theyre completely obsessed. I'm 24, and completely obsessed with systems that i never played when i was younger...

i dont think the collecting hobby will have as many peaks and valleys from this point forward- unless there are a lot of people dropping out in the future. large collections going to market could definetely drop prices on certain rare items, but theyre always bound to fluctuate somewhat. certain extremely rare items are only bound to increase in value as some will surely be lost to theft, or accidental destruction.