Canada's Largest Video Game Collection?

[DreamTR]

http://www.sydbolton.com/

I was perusing the web and I came across this and I'm a little confused who brands people "top" collectors?

It says he is the top collector in Canada (according to the CBC) but there's an old school collector up there with way more games than that already....

It also states he was the first person in North America to acquire a complete XBOX collection in June 2011? I've had that finished myself for well over a year and I am sure others have finished it besides me...

I don't know, in this day and age I see a lot of claims about a lot of stuff these days but I just don't get how people "assume" they have more games than everyone else or how they would know they have complete collections over others...there's a ton of people who just don't talk about their stuff...

[Oldskool]

Its just like fighting. When you think you are the best fighter in the world.. there is always someone out there that will knock you on your ass.

[Steve W]

He completed the Xbox collection in 2001? Wasn't that the year the console came out? Doesn't seem like it would be too difficult in that case, not too many games had come out at that point.

[The 1 2 P]

Its just like fighting. When you think you are the best fighter in the world.. there is always someone out there that will knock you on your ass.

Unless you are Anderson Silva. Everytime someone new comes to take their shot at beating him he either knocks them out or submits them(I think he's only been to a decision twice since becoming champ). He's been the best middleweight fighter in the world for 5 years straight. If nobody comes around to beat him soon he'll probably retire from boredom.

He completed the Xbox collection in 2001? Wasn't that the year the console came out? Doesn't seem like it would be too difficult in that case, not too many games had come out at that point.

That was a typo on Dream's part. In the picture it says June 2011 is when he completed his Xbox collection.

It is a fairly large collection, one that I'm sure he has played less than half of all those games. But I definitely wouldn't mind having all of those myself....except the early Atari systems. I'd give those away to charity.

[SpaceFlea]

His collection doesn't seem too remarkable. Hell, half of it is last generation, I consider that crap filler at the moment because it's so cheap and easy to get in mass compared to more retro systems. He also seems to only collect US releases which are considerably cheaper than imports. He is certainly more of a quantity over quality fellow. And, while having a vast quantity is a nice achievement, it should not be what determines who is at the "top."

[Gameguy]

I know the guy on another forum, he runs a computer museum in Canada and occasionally has "game nights" where he invites the public to take a look through his collection and play games. He mostly collects PC stuff though, anything vintage.

Here's his PC stuff, that's the largest part of his collection. It's the computers and computer games that makes his collection the largest(supposedly), not the console stuff alone.
http://www.pcmuseum.ca/

More info about his collection;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMLASTYIq_8

I've never been to any of that stuff as it's too far away from me, I've never met him in person. The only other collector I know of with a huge collection is Jumpman Jr, but he's only into Nintendo stuff.

[Sydric]

OK so here I am - time to reply.

First of all, it was the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corporation) that declared me as the top collector - not me personally. A true journalist made the claim, after doing his own research. While it is true that not everyone "talks" about their collection, if they don't then there is no sure way to know.

As far as my collection goes, I am not sure why it matters how the collection is split up. Since I have never published the breakdown of my collection, I am not sure how anyone can say - one way or the other - how much of my collection is "old school" vs. current generation. What defines old school anyways? That varies in everyone's opinion.

Here's what I can tell you. Someone had to make the claim - and I am happy to do it, because it draws attention to the Personal Computer Museum. The museum is a not for profit (and charitable) organization I started over 5 years ago with no government funding with the purpose of preserving old computers, video games and everything that surrounds it. We give school tours, refurbish old computers for families that can't afford them and bring back ALL KINDS of great positive memories for so many people.

As for breakdown, I have over 8,000 CONSOLE games ... the exact number hasn't been nailed down because I am still cataloging. It might be closer to 8,500. And there are well over 3,000 original computer games in the collection. Again, probably more but we are feverishly cataloging them.

That brings the total to a minimum of 11,000 original video games in the collection. If someone in Canada has more than that, I would love to know!

It's not a challenge or a claim I make for personal attention. I do it to bring attention to video games and computers as a whole - as an acceptable hobby, as a worthwhile historical project, and because I love sharing the collection with other like minded people--like you guys here. I have been told countless times that I am an inspiration to other collectors that have come and seen the collection in person. If any of you knew me personally, you would know that those are my motivations and what it is I do what I do. The collection has become a research resource already (it has been used in several big projects which you will hear about shortly) and as the generations get older - the "current gen" stuff will become "old school" stuff soon enough.

I hope that explains it.

[Arcade Antics]

First of all, it was the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corporation) that declared me as the top collector - not me personally. A true journalist made the claim, after doing his own research.

That's Dream's point - the "journalist" (Peter Nowak) didn't do any actual research, and his editor(s) also dropped the ball by not following up. It's 2011. It's not difficult to go online to a popular game collecting forum and ask around for feedback before making an unfounded claim.

As for breakdown, I have over 8,000 CONSOLE games ... the exact number hasn't been nailed down because I am still cataloging. It might be closer to 8,500. And there are well over 3,000 original computer games in the collection. Again, probably more but we are feverishly cataloging them.

That brings the total to a minimum of 11,000 original video games in the collection. If someone in Canada has more than that, I would love to know!

Shoddy journalism. How can Nowak make a claim if he doesn't even know what your actual numbers are? And the claim is "top video game collector." If that's the definition, adding computer games to the mix is irrelevant.

[portnoyd]

Is this you?

http://www.funmansion.com/pics/huge_...ollection.html

If not, pretty sure he's from Vancouver and he's got you beat.

Edit: What AA said.

[jcalder8]

I really don't see what the big deal is. He's marketing himself and he is posting what someone else has said about him. Personally I would only be bothered if CBC came out and made a correction saying someone else had a bigger collection and he still left it up there.

The xbox collection though..... yeah that's just a little out there claiming to be the first.

[maxlords]

Mine is bigger than yours. *sigh* So sad.

</thread>

[Guyra]

I really don't see what the big deal is. He's marketing himself and he is posting what someone else has said about him.

My thoughts exactly. Personally, I think it's great that he got that title, even if the journalist could've done a better job.

And people who don't "speak up" in any way can't really be counted, can they? If you were to count those, there could never have been made any "top X" awards in anything. Take sports - "fastest runner in the world!", the news might say about a person, but somewhere in the world there are probably several people who can run even faster. Point taken?

As with all "better than you" competitions, unless someone steps up to the plate and proves they're "better", they are not counted. I'm sure Sydric would acknowledge not having the largest collection in Canada if someone else were proven to have a larger collection. In fact, if someone here has a larger collection, or knows of someone who does, and the live in Canada, why not just contact the CBC about it?


I also see his point about people selling and trading items from their collections on a larger scale - sure, you get a lot of games, but in the end it's all inventory. Someone seems to have misunderstood the part about this not being about a seperate collection apart from the inventory, though...

Mine is bigger than yours. *sigh* So sad.

This.

[portnoyd]

I think what we like to see is some humility when you have a large collection and this article wasn't exactly a shining example of it.

[DreamTR]

I really don't see what the big deal is. He's marketing himself and he is posting what someone else has said about him. Personally I would only be bothered if CBC came out and made a correction saying someone else had a bigger collection and he still left it up there.

The xbox collection though..... yeah that's just a little out there claiming to be the first.

Yeah but that's the whole thing, first he's claiming he is "not" doing this for personal gratitude when it is obvious it is about "him" more than the museum when you look at his website and Wikipedia thing.

I mean, it's great for marketing, the problem is, he's not "admitting" it is for that, rather pretending to be an innocent bystander with this whole thing...

[geezuzkhrist119]

he lives in my town and i met him once at one of his spring cleaning yard sales. he is pretty cool.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Yeah but that's the whole thing, first he's claiming he is "not" doing this for personal gratitude when it is obvious it is about "him" more than the museum when you look at his website and Wikipedia thing.

I mean, it's great for marketing, the problem is, he's not "admitting" it is for that, rather pretending to be an innocent bystander with this whole thing...

The first thing that stuck out about this whole ordeal is his name-domain and his face on the page. Not lining up at all...

[Atarileaf]

http://www.sydbolton.com/

I was perusing the web and I came across this and I'm a little confused who brands people "top" collectors?

It says he is the top collector in Canada (according to the CBC) but there's an old school collector up there with way more games than that already....

It also states he was the first person in North America to acquire a complete XBOX collection in June 2011? I've had that finished myself for well over a year and I am sure others have finished it besides me...

I don't know, in this day and age I see a lot of claims about a lot of stuff these days but I just don't get how people "assume" they have more games than everyone else or how they would know they have complete collections over others...there's a ton of people who just don't talk about their stuff...

I find it interesting that this bothers you enough to start a thread and argument about it. Must be some jealousy there. Who gives a shit anyway. Enjoy your collection because to YOU, that's all that should matter. This all sounds petty and stupid.

The comments bitching and whining about who's is biggest makes you sound like a bunch of jealous children.

[Doonzmore]

Why don't you stop collecting games like a faggot and tell me how you really feel!

Quote of the fucking year, folks.

I find it interesting that this bothers you enough to start a thread and argument about it. Must be some jealousy there. Who gives a shit anyway. Enjoy your collection because to YOU, that's all that should matter. This all sounds petty and stupid.

The comments bitching and whining about who's is biggest makes you sound like a bunch of jealous children.

It's just the shoddy journalism that has everyone up in arms, but since when is that new? The fact that it pertains to video game collecting seems to have hit a sensitive spot with a lot of members here.

[Atarileaf]

It's just the shoddy journalism that has everyone up in arms, but since when is that new? The fact that it pertains to video game collecting seems to have hit a sensitive spot with a lot of members here.

I never heard the initial claim but even I'd see it as spurious considering some of the collections I've seen online.

It still all seems like a trivial thing to get up in arms about. Since when do journalists ever get facts right anyway

[DreamTR]

I find it interesting that this bothers you enough to start a thread and argument about it. Must be some jealousy there. Who gives a shit anyway. Enjoy your collection because to YOU, that's all that should matter. This all sounds petty and stupid.

The comments bitching and whining about who's is biggest makes you sound like a bunch of jealous children.

I find it interesting you thought I started an "argument" about it. I just posted the info because of the claims I saw on his website and Wikipedia of all things....

Not sure what anyone has to be "jealous" about, it's a video game collection; the point is more about the shoddy journalism as Doonzmore mentioned before but if consider my questioning the integrity of the article for correctness as jealousy you really don't know a thing about me then.