Nothing better than exposing the EPROMS on a cart worth the price of a new car to naked sunlight. That'll work out great in the long run.
What interests me is whether that affects the value. Is a dead, gutted, and slabbed NWC cart worth the same amount as a whole, working one? And if so, why would anyone bother to pay that much for something that no longer fulfils its original function? Just because its rare?
These NA guys are nuts.
According to the thread on NA, it won't affect the value. It's just something for display that won't ever be played anyway even if it wasn't sealed in a case.Originally Posted by G-Boobie
I've mentioned in another thread on this that people into retro games pretty much collect for one of two reasons. Either for preservation or for display purposes. The NA guys mostly focus on display purposes, who has the nicest looking collection to show off to strangers or to stare at to stoke a personal ego at how great they are for being able to own something not everybody else does.
It's like when you hear about celebrities that buy a pet tiger because it would match the decor in their living room. You just think these guys are nuts and completely out of touch with reality.
No bidders yet. Not surprising with a starting bid of 17 grand. That cart is worthless if the ROMs don't work. I'm happy enough just owning the Retrozone reproduction. Just curious, how many minutes of direct sunlight exposure does it take to erase an EPROM? I was under the assumption that a complete erasure required a 15-minute exposure underneath a germicidal UV-C lamp. UV-C is entirely blocked out by the Ozone layer, but small amounts of UV-B can penetrate it. I sincerely hope those display cases have UV protection, not only for the EPROMS but also for archiving box/label art. One could find out real quick by shining a black light through one and placing fluorescent material behind it.
In terms of ionization energy, not actual intensity...
heat > IR remote > candle < incandescent light bulb (visible) < fluorescent lighting (visible) < black light (harmless UV, but can fade some inks) < tanning lamp (suntan) < direct sunlight (sunburn) < germicidal UV lamp (kills stuff) < x-rays < gamma rays
I'm assuming that lesser energy radiation would need higher doses than higher-energy radiation to do equivalent damage. So could airport X-rays also damage EPROMs?
Don't judge all NA'ers. I've got tons more posts on NA than I do here, but I don't hoard games that I don't intend on playing. The practice of paying ridiculous quantities of money for factory sealed games that will never be opened particularly baffles me to no end. Same with insisting on having a complete set. Heck, I'll usually sell a game back to the store if I don't enjoy playing it; whether it's rare or not, it gives someone else a chance to enjoy it more than I do. Megaman series comes to mind as great games that for me have zero replay value. I had Megaman 1, 2, & 3 at one point, but I sold all three of them because they were all impossibly hard to play, even with a Game Genie.
Last edited by stardust4ever; 04-24-2012 at 02:40 AM.
For the sake of argument I'd say that nobody that pays a few thousand for a video game does so to actually play it.
I agree. Just like those "SneakerHeads" who have to buy every single Air Jordan limited edition shoe to be released by Nike. The limited releases cause riots outside the store, and Nike uses the free publicity as a form of viral marketing. To me, a shoe is an expendable commodity meant to be worn until it falls apart, but for the people who collect the limited edition sneakers, they would dare not wear it; in fact the shoes may not even be the right size for the collector's foot. I also believe that video games are meant to be played. You plug it into the console and play it. They are extremely durable anyway, and 98% of loose non-working carts can be fixed by a little cleaning and TLC. I could care less if it still has the shrink wrap on it or not, so screw paying $500 for a sealed SMB3 when I can get the cart way cheaper: I simply want to play them! I own a duplicate of the original grail, only it's in a blue RetroZone cart with a Sealie Computing PCB instead of the real gold one. It's actually surprisingly addictive, but with the ludicrous prices the gold copies have been fetching, all I would want to do if I actually owned the real one would be to flip it: think of all the tons of games I could get for that price!!! Or pay off student loans, buy a new car, get married and have a nice honeymoon afterwords, make a down payment on a new house for the fiance/ future wife, etc...
As for the Action Comic analogy, if it's a used, unsealed copy of the comic with minor cosmetic wear, carefully place it on a flatbed scanner and scan each page individually, then distribute the pdf file on the Internet for others who can't afford paying top $$$ to enjoy it. Dumping an unreleased prototype is the same principal from an ethical standpoint. Both may be legal grey area, but if it were mine, I would want others to enjoy it too. The original will always be worth more than a copy.
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