Le Tuna Analogy

[kidfresh]

Yes, this does relate to videogames.

Okay, so I'm sure a lot of people around here know about the Tuna shortage in Japan. Boiled down completely, it is this - the Japanese love Bluefin Tuna. So they eat lots of it. And then it starts disappearing.

We're approaching the *30* year mark for a lot of video game systems that most of us grew up with (The Japanese Famicom is already 30). Unlike the Bluefin Tuna, CIB copies of Earthbound don't and can't get together and create more copies - you could argue they do this through piracy, but I digress.

With so many copies retro games being sold on eBay daily, a seemingly growing demand for retro games, and with the number of available copies only dwindling as time goes on - we here at racketboy are facing a crisis far greater than running out of Bluefin Tuna.

Just in the past few years, I've watched video game prices skyrocket, and it sucks. When do you think the retro video games we know and love will become "antiques?" You think it'll even be in our lifetime? If prices keep going the way they are, will it make any of you shout at the cat and forget about collecting?

[ninjainspandex]

we need to start breeding copies of Earthbound in captivity

[BogusMeatFactory]

we need to start breeding copies of Earthbound in captivity

I will volunteer my body for this endeavor.

[Hobie-wan]

we need to start breeding copies of Earthbound in captivity

Eventually we'll be lending each other copies of games to ensure genetic diversity in the breeding.

[kidfresh]

we need to start breeding copies of Earthbound in captivity

I will volunteer my body for this endeavor.

[J T]

we need to start breeding copies of Earthbound in captivity

I will volunteer my body for this endeavor.

As Earthbound is another title for Mother, so too can BogusMeatFactory be another name for a cloning facility.

[BogusMeatFactory]

we need to start breeding copies of Earthbound in captivity

I will volunteer my body for this endeavor.

As Earthbound is another title for Mother, so too can BogusMeatFactory be another name for a cloning facility.

Curses! The mystery of my name has indeed been figured out!

[Bikeage]

Just in the past few years, I've watched video game prices skyrocket, and it sucks. When do you think the retro video games we know and love will become "antiques?"

Never. There has been a speculation "bubble" growing most of the last decade because those who grew up in the 8 and 16 bit eras now have the disposable income to wax nostalgically and pay seller's prices for those games and consoles.

It will level out at some point, and some poor souls will be desperate to offload copies of Earthbound they bought for hundreds of dollars just to break even. Games that are not truly defined as "rare" or scarce" will be about as "antique" as a copy of Spider-Man #1 from 1990.