What's in your Investment box?

[the7k]

The whole "Play the games" excuse is pretty weak, in my opinion.

All the games I have factory sealed and shit, I HAVE played. Usually, I download the .isos off the interwebs. I have the game - so it's legal for me to play the backup. (At least, that's what I tell myself.)

I call that "Having your cake and eating it too."

[noiseredux]

The whole "Play the games" excuse is pretty weak, in my opinion.

it's not an excuse. I personally collect games that i want to play. I don't find downloading ISO's to be fun or exciting. I do find hunting cartridges fun and exciting. When I finally find one I've been after for a while, it's quite rewarding to play the game (as the anticipation has been built as I've hunted, rather than just instantl gratification via downloaded ROM).

on the flip -- I can't see myself banking any sort of return of revenue on a game. That just seems silly to me. It doesn't make sense to me as an investment. I'm not sure how any of this is an "excuse"?

[Octopod]

The fact is that video games are a poor investment. I would imagine that over time you loose much more money on video games than you gain. I guess if you find something rare in the wild from a seller that does not know what they have you can make money off of that item. I think of all the games I bought new though that are now worth $5-15. That is a lot of money lost over the years and a couple of $1 finds that end up being worth $100 are never going to make up for it.

[TheyCallMeTheSwede]

The original European pressing of Napalm Death - Scum on Vinyl.

[the7k]

Octopod: "I think of all the games I bought new though that are now worth $5-15."
So, losing money on games that you played through negates money that will be made on future sales?

You still got your fun out of them. As far as I'm concerned, the two are not related at all. One you consume, the other you sell. It's not like not reselling games is going to make you not lose money.

Obviously, you don't buy just any game to resell. You make smart investments. Not too long ago, I found a bunch of factory sealed PS3 games for $20. They were all games that would drop in value fast (Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, etc.), so I sold them immediately - for $35-45 each. I then used that money to buy stuff I actually wanted.

Another case in point - the closing of Circuit City. Got Prince of Persia, Fallout 3, and many other games for pennies. I knew I didn't give a crap about them, so I sold them for a very healthy profit.

The games I keep in a pile are games that aren't valuable now, but will be once the PS2 dies. It's pretty much only Atlus and NIS games, although I do have Samurai Shodown Anthology in there as well. These were all games I got at places like Target, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, etc, that were getting rid of games that their customers wouldn't buy.

If you wanna get a good idea of how to make money selling and holding on to video games, check out the clearance aisle at Target. There's always crap in there, but every now and then, you find good games. GREAT games. Brand new, factory sealed. For $5. Five Dollars. It's insane not to indulge from time to time.

[Octopod]

The original European pressing of Napalm Death - Scum on Vinyl.

Punk vinyl is probably not a good investment strategy either but it is far superior to video games. At least they go on to surpass their purchase price, sometimes by quite a bit. I have plenty of three dollar 7" that are now worth 5-10 times what I paid for them. I still do not consider them an investment though.

[fastbilly1]

For fun investments I really only collect books signed by the authors. The most famous off the top of my head:
Don Rosa - Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck
Terry Brooks - Sword of Shanara
Alan Dean Foster - Dinotopia Lost
Bruce Campbell - If Chins Could Kill
Frank Capra - The Name above the Title

All but the last were obtained by me - the last by my father. I collect them because these are either books or authors that I like. And I hunted them out at conventions. I have a couple autographs I had to pay for, but the VAST majority I got free.

[vlame]

add the dark crystal laserdisc

[Haoie]

I really don't think games are worth any money. Well, serious money to most people.

No sealed games here.

[gtmtnbiker]

Only stocks & mutual funds for me. I don't consider anything else that I have to be an investment.