Sealed Games: Shame, Greed, and Hesitation

[BoneSnapDeez]

Video game instruction manuals and strategy guides are my typical bathroom reads. No one else does this?!

[irixith]

Video game instruction manuals and strategy guides are my typical bathroom reads. No one else does this?!

See: Aforementioned "poop particles".

[ninjainspandex]

Video game instruction manuals and strategy guides are my typical bathroom reads. No one else does this?!

Remind me to disinfect any games purchased from BoneSnapDeez

[darsparx]

Well admiteddly right now if I do buy any new games they stay sealed but for good reason because while I do want to try them out I have way too many old games to play and catch up on even if I do toss a newer game in that I may've gotten in the past few months if i can(though freedom wars and fire emblem awakening are glaring at me begging to be played....and the urge is really really strong to pick them up off the shelf o_o)

Actually add arkham origins to that list...forgot I had that one(also there's a few games that mjmjr25 sent me that are sealed). Which will get unwrapped after I beat another game or two, it's just why unwrap them(even if I want to play them) until I've accomplished some feats of backlog

[dunpeal2064]

One of those sits there, but makes something happen, the other just sits there.

This is still debatable, as you could likely play any game in your collection without actually owning that game. And certainly without a nice label, box, and manual. So, while you may use it on occasion, its not required, its just... because you like it.

People just enjoy stuff for different reasons, but I think its just far easier to justify game collecting as opposed to sealed game collecting. "No, I don't emulate so I NEED the original game... and, yeah, I actually READ the manual so I need that too... and come on, the box art, I look at that every DAY!"

But realistically, 99% of any given person's collection will be doing the same thing as a sealed collectors, just sitting there. And there is nothing wrong with that. If your goal is just to play, no sealed game collector is stopping anyone from simply playing a game.

Now, PCB hoarders that refuse to dump their games in order to preserve their value, this is what we as gamers should care about. This actually prevents games from being played, and considering that these boards are not built to last, the games could actually be lost forever. If SOF-WTN never decides to dump Dodonpachi Campaign version, that's that, none of us will ever play the game, period. If the 5 Futari Red Label boards stay in private collector's hands, or break, too bad, game essentially never existed. Its this stuff that seriously makes me sad.

[AppleQueso]

Now, PCB hoarders that refuse to dump their games in order to preserve their value, this is what we as gamers should care about. This actually prevents games from being played, and considering that these boards are not built to last, the games could actually be lost forever. If SOF-WTN never decides to dump Dodonpachi Campaign version, that's that, none of us will ever play the game, period. If the 5 Futari Red Label boards stay in private collector's hands, or break, too bad, game essentially never existed. Its this stuff that seriously makes me sad.

Oy yeah the proto collecting scene.

That stuff's pretty hardcore, lots of secrecy, etc. They're often pretty unhappy when stuff gets dumped, 'cause naturally undumped prototypes are worth WAY more, we're talking thousands of $$ vs hundreds, but yeah. Sure you could argue that if it weren't for proto collectors we wouldn't have any of those dumped protos in the first place, which I guess is kinda true, but there's undeniably a lot of practices in that community that are detrimental to the gaming community as a whole.

I'm not even sure what their motivations are for buying this stuff to begin with, especially for the really nice stuff. Status? Unlikely, most proto collectors are REALLY tight lipped about what they have, and buyers and sellers often work through third parties and rarely know who each other are. They rarely seem interested in dumping them (and are often highly resistant to the idea, preferring instead to hold onto them and wait for values to go even higher) so the whole angle of being a historian or preservation doesn't seem to be it either.

It's a big clusterfuck.

[ExedExes]

i think what everyone is saying is that collecting sealed video games is just as stupid as collecting video games

In the end it's a bunch of worthless plastic and silicon we attach an absurd amount of romanticism to.

This forum's ultimate goal has been achieved. Shut it down, sell off and abstain from all video game property.
We're finally ready to defeat the final boss of the internet.



That long lock of hair isn't gonna save your ass now pretty boy! We have let our love for silicon and plastic stop us too long!
COME NOW EX-RACKETBOY MEMBERS!!!!! THE GAMES NO LONGER BIND US!!!!! WE CAN DO IT!

[Ack]

Man, this place gets weird sometimes.

[fastbilly1]

If anyone wants to collect boxart, there's plenty of it on the internet in high resolution to print and display whatever way strikes your fancy.

If only retro games came on vinyl

Some soundtracks have been released on vinyl, and they go for stupid money:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SEGA-Mega-Drive ... 56520406a0

[Jmustang1968]

Man, this place gets weird sometimes.