This isn't even the world's biggest! A guy named Syd Bolton in Canada has approx 15,000 games, the biggest I've ever seen, for sure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-tdnHlpCco
This isn't even the world's biggest! A guy named Syd Bolton in Canada has approx 15,000 games, the biggest I've ever seen, for sure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-tdnHlpCco
It IS the World's Biggest Collection, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Several years ago Michael Thomasson confided to me that he had planned to break the record that was in the Guinness Book, which back then was numbered at around 8000 games. Michael's entire collection wasn't cataloged at the time but he believed that he could break the record that was recorded. We were told that there were larger collections, but I said to Michael, if there are larger collections, why don't they have the Guinness Record? So i'll stand by that. Yes, there are bigger collections. But it was the one listed in the Guinness Book that Michael went after.
Regarding Syd Bolton's collection.... The Guinness Record was for a private collection. Since Syd's collection is part of his Personal Computer Museum, it wouldn't be eligible. Also, the Guinness Record was specifically for games that are playable on videogame consoles. Much of Syd's game collection is computer software.
And yes, Michael did plan to get the record and use the hype to sell the collection. This is no secret and I alluded to it at the end of my article "Go For The Record", which was published in the Fall 2013 issue of Video Game Trader magazine. Michael would never have wanted to sell his collection if financial and personal obligations had unfortunately not forced his hand.
There have been posts that there is a conspiracy and the Guinness Book purposely selected to use Michael's collection over others. That may or may not be true, but has nothing to do with Michael at all. Michael's process to get into the Book was a long and arduous procedure (which I documented in the Video Game Trader article). I know of one person who has a larger collection who stated that he had contacted Guinness but for whatever reason, they didn't get back to him. Again, this had nothing to do with Michael and we were completely unaware of that.
Instead of criticizing the record and the auction, please support Michael in this endeavor. At this point he still doesn't know if the bids were real and he is sick to death over this. The support of his extended family is really at stake here.
Leonard Herman
The Game Scholar
Publisher of Historical Videogame Books
http://www.rolentapress.com
Phoenix 4 coming in 2014
To be fair, this most likely is not the worlds biggest collection.
Not only that, its got alot of filler. Its got alot of crap like Imagine Babyz and tons of other dirt cheap games.
That being the case, the collection is not worth even close to what its at now. I dont know how anyone can even think that the current bid is genuine.
The reserve price of 750,000 is just insane.
[QUOTE=bb_hood;2002829]To be fair, this most likely is not the worlds biggest collection.[\quote]
He said it probably wasn't-it is the world's largest *recorded by Guinness*. That's it. Someone could have every game and proto EVER but this collection is what the record books say is the largest. That's the thing you and others don't seem to want to acknowledge.
So what? They are still part of the collection and still in of the recorded world record book as the largest in the world (recorded).Not only that, its got alot of filler. Its got alot of crap like Imagine Babyz and tons of other dirt cheap games.
That being the case, the collection is not worth even close to what its at now. I dont know how anyone can even think that the current bid is genuine.
The reserve price of 750,000 is just insane.
People are just going gaga over perceived value. Someone thinks its worth the money...why does it bother people?
A false record isn't worth celebrating at all, and neither is a sale that will help to further inflate the already overinflated market on games. All this idiotic auction is doing is further turning the hobby of collecting video games into some stupid dick-waving competition based on value, with a healthy dose of promoting SoCalMike.
[QUOTE=YoshiM;2002839]Nobody is going gaga. The guy wants at least 750,000 for a collection that probably worth around 100,000. Its laughable but nobody is getting upset.
The title of worlds biggest collection IS false, and even if this is the largest collection in the world that title would not add 650,000 to the value.
I dont think anybody thinks the collection is worth 750,000. Im guessing the auction was shill bid up from 90,000 to 750,000. Its not about what people think its worth, but someone trying to get an extremely large amount of money for something worth way way less based on total hype.
And yeah nobody cares about Guinness records.
Supposedly sold for just a tick over $750K.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/17/v...=rss_truncated
Which comes out to $68 per game. I agree with the others, no way was it worth that much and I wouldn't expect to get that much even selling them individually.
If it's legit, the buyer got screwed IMO.
Edit: Yes, I realize systems, etc. were included, but still not worth anywhere near $750K, especially as a lot.
Last edited by jperryss; 06-17-2014 at 11:55 AM.
Actually, consoles were not included in the auction. Only the actual games that were counted for the Guinness Record.
I agree with you concerning the value of the collection. However, I can assure you that if there are shill bids to get the price up, it wasn't done by Michael or any of his friends (that he is aware of).Originally Posted by bb_hood
Leonard Herman
The Game Scholar
Publisher of Historical Videogame Books
http://www.rolentapress.com
Phoenix 4 coming in 2014
Man, I hate this type of media circus bull crap. This is no different than the unminty label damaged gray and gold NWCs that supposedly sold for 100k a piece to unpaying bidders. "My 2-year-old grabbed my ipad and 'accidentally' placed a bid." Effing trolls. When you play "toss the grenade" somebody always gets burned. 9/10 times it's the seller. Worse part is every gaming media site on the net gets wind of auction like this and publish the results as if it were gospel truth... :facepalm:
This is exactly what I said would happen. These "news" sites don't even ask if money has changed hands. This has happened so many times, it is funny that people even bother looking at gaming "news" sites.
I mean, look at this poorly researched garbage:
The Wire
Gamespot
Hardcore Gamer (this one at least mentions the possibility that the bidding could be a scam)
Kotaku
Game Informer
The Escapist
Yahoo Tech (again, at least it mentions the possibility that the bidding was fake)
It is is interesting to read the comments sections of these articles. A lot from major game news sites are a long the lines of "wow amazing" and "this guy is a loser virgin nerd" (clearly without reading the article). Very few comments mention the possibility that $68 per game might be a bit unrealistic for this lot of games.
<Evan_G> i keep my games in an inaccessable crate where i can't play them
I was there when this one went up and tried to talk a few people down, but no go. The Escapist is an odd bunch of amazingly articulate people that don't know a goddamn thing about half of what they speak. It's so close to pulling teeth that I gave up after four replies.
It isn't a false record. It is the largest collection that Guinness has documented so from their point of view it is the largest. Why can't you guys understand this? It is from a subjective point of view because there can be no objective point of view. If someone had a collection of 20,000 games & took the Guinness record would you take it as fact? Any person who uses logic would say, "thats the biggest one we know about but there could be bigger" & that is exactly what Guinness says when they say "Worlds largest collection as recorded by Guinness. The whole point of the "as recorded by Guinness" part is to say that "this is the biggest one we have documented". No where does anyone claim that this collection is "the largest collection on earth, bar none".
If someone asked you what the largest collection is that you could verify would you be able to verify the true largest collection? No, you would say "the largest one I have ever seen is owned by so & so". Guinness can't objectively say who has the largest collection on earth anymore than anyone of us can.
Is Usain Bolt the fastest man for 100m on earth? He holds the record but no one intelligent would say "there is no man on earth faster than Usain Bolt".
Guinness is saying this collector holds the (documented & verified) record not that he has the largest collection on earth. Sorry if I am sounding repetitive but some of you cant seem to grasp this concept so I am trying so explain it different ways to help you understand.
Jesus Christ, if you have to ultra qualify a record with crap like, "verified by so-and-so", IT'S NOT A RECORD. Double so when Guinness isn't known for performing due diligence (and has awarded multiple records that they ultimately retired because it was impossible to verify). And comparing Usain Bolt's world record to a supposed collecting record is simply asinine. I humbly suggest you buy a clue before you again reply with the exact same load of horse shit.
I really don't understand why it is hard for you to understand why we are not impressed by the Guinness record. What kind of validity does the Guinness record have in the game collecting community when they didn't even bother to find the person with the largest video game collection? I mean, any person could have contacted them for the record. Just because he has the "record" does not mean that it holds any weight to anyone here. It was already established that DreamTR (who has a larger collection) was contacted by Guinness, but they never followed up.
Using the comparison to Usain Bolt is pretty silly. If someone conclusively ran a faster 100 m than Usain Bolt, that person would have the record. Guinness didn't try to find the person with the most games, they just gave the record to someone who contacted them. They could have easily asked on this forum or one of the other major collecting forums to find people who had more games.
<Evan_G> i keep my games in an inaccessable crate where i can't play them
The bolded parts are what's important.
So he wasted one to two years going through the process with Guinness, just to price boost it with the Guinness record when his extended family's well being was at stake? He let them stay in limbo while he did this?
And you want us to support him?
Really? REALLY?
Fuck him. That is fucking disgraceful. If you need to help your family, you sell that shit immediately and don't run in circles with Guinness. And now, since these bids are obviously fake, he is back where he started.
It's really his fault. He tried to sell it on GameGavel, a site with ZERO process control. How'd those calls work out for you, SoCalMike? Did they promise to pinky swear that they'd pay?
What I don't understand is he says he donated 1,000 games to ICHEG... yet he needs money so desperately that he can give games away?
My mind is fucking blown. I cannot wrap my head around it. I can't tell if this is bullshit, desperation, greed, stupidity, attention whoring or all of the above.
What in the fucking hell was Thomasson thinking?
After all this, I don't know how anyone can put any stock in any record they verify. They do not do the due diligence and just rush to make press to sell books. You cannot possibly use this as a defense for your reasoning in future posts. Try something less stupid next time.
Last edited by portnoyd; 06-17-2014 at 09:43 PM.