Interest Check: Price Guides

[Kelekin]

Hey guys! I wanted to come here first to talk about this since I consider Racketboy my gaming home.

As a bit of backstory, what I do for a living is I am the VP of Sales & Marketing at a Printing company. When I came on board, the company specialized in community newsletter publishing. That being said, they knew I was interested in heading up different projects.

After a sit down with the boss today, I expressed my interest in providing video game price guides on a quarterly basis. Obviously, with all the time it would take to gather this information properly, the guides would be available with a fee. A downloadable PDF was the preferred option (available on a website), and if it gained enough popularity, we could provide ordering for printed copies.

I wanted to get everyone's opinion on some questions:

1) Would complete, comprehensive price guides interest you?
2) What would you deem a fair price for such a service?
3) Are there some systems you would prefer over others? (e.g. providing a Nintendo Guide and Sony Guide seperately, and also combined, at different price points)
4) Are there any other types of video game related printed media that would interest you?

If this project is successful, I have the opportunity to actually start up a gaming magazine. So I have a lot of excitement right now but trying to keep a level head. All your comments are welcome and much appreciated. Thanks guys/gals!

Daniel

[dsheinem]

1) Would price guides interest you?

It would have to be significantly better than VGPC

2) What would you deem a fair price for such a service?

tbh, I'd have to see it first. You'd have to convince me to pay for what I can currently get for free. You should also know that Video Game Trader offers prices and magazine articles in their quarterly issues.

3) Are there some systems you would prefer over others? (e.g. providing a Nintendo Guide and Sony Guide seperately, and also combined, at different price points)

again, the strength would be in covering things that aren't already covered. the more obscure, the better. look for things not covered by VGPC.

4) Are there any other types of video game related printed media that would interest you?

not sure what you mean here...i always enjoy a good magazine.

[retrosportsgamer]

Interesting topic and marketplace discussion.

Dave - what are the price guides in VideoGameTrader comprised of (hopefully not the vgpc online stuff)?

[dsheinem]

Dave - what are the price guides in VideoGameTrader comprised of (hopefully not the vgpc online stuff)?

iirc, VGOC is a partner of sorts with VGT, so at least some of the pricing info does come from there...

[Kelekin]

Thanks Dave for the feedback. Honestly, my goal is putting together what people would like to see. Now, as far as having a 'comprehensive' price guide, that is my goal. I would like to -attempt- to list game prices as NIB, CIB, and Game-Only. I would also like to throw in some articles about obscure or rare products that people may not be aware of.

I also would like to use more sources for accurate pricing - I don't believe most of these online price guides use -enough- sources but rather use keyword-only searches to determine trending prices (VGPC has been less helpful to me than more helpful).

In regard to this VGT magazine - do you know what really the price guide entails? The video shows some games and 1 or 2 columns. I'm definitely thinking more comprehensive than that.

[CRTGAMER]

I'm not sure how many will be willing to pay for a quarterly guide when price information is already FREE online and researching local sources. There is also a huge price disparity depending where one shops. Unfortunately most price guides are based on only the more known sources. EBay, Amazon, CraigsList, Gamestop, PlaynTrade, Retro Game Stores and even Swap Meets and Thrift Stores should all be part of the equation.

[Kelekin]

I've debated doing more compendium-based projects. Such as, a compendium of every NES game. Each NES game would get its' own page, with a bunch of information about it (as if it were a wiki page, in a sense), as well as any interesting facts if there are any. Then, it could have comprehensive pricing data as a part of that page. Maybe that would be of more interest?

[dsheinem]

I've debated doing more compendium-based projects. Such as, a compendium of every NES game. Each NES game would get its' own page, with a bunch of information about it (as if it were a wiki page, in a sense), as well as any interesting facts if there are any. Then, it could have comprehensive pricing data as a part of that page. Maybe that would be of more interest?

So you're planning to write something approaching 1000 pages? What's the longest thing you've ever written?

I don't know how exactly VGT arrives at its prices, sorry.

[Kelekin]

About 600. It helps to be able to type 182 WPM though.

[Soldier Blue]

Definitely consider adding in games only released in Japan to the guide. That has always been lacking in vgpc.