What point does a hobby turn into a collection?

[Jungell]

Well I can't say that I don't understand you! I really wish I had a couple of boxed Sega consoles. I did have a Megadrive box when I was young and the console was still very much active on the market. But you know, cutting out Sonic and taping him to the door seemed much cooler than having a box. I also have a vage memory of the Master System box but it got sold. I was too young to really remember anything from that time but I do remember playing some of the games. I'm trying to collect all of the games we had right now but I'm focusing on the Megadrive because that was the console that I grew up with and that I really remember.

i hear ya i was lucky enough recently to get a boxed 32X, Boxed Sega Mega CD2, 2 boxed saturns, 2 boxed dreamcasts, boxed Atari Lynx, boxed 3DO, limited edition boxed game gear, boxed wonderswan and a few others all in great condition.

Just picked up an unboxed Neo Geo AES for $30USD which i think was a GREAT price..its in decent condition too. Keep your eye out for these things and u can find them very unlikely places...

Yes, and as soon as you tell us where YOU are getting them, I'll get right on it!
COME ON!

He's not as much "getting" them as he is "summoning" them! He is in fact a master of black magic.

So, never play his consoles or games! You might get continues in the games but you soul does not! :O

[Benex]

I never looked at myself as a videogame collector. I never paid more than fair for the games I wanted. I realized that I needed to stop the madness when I paid a lot of money for a PowerGlove, I know that item is cheap in the US but in my country, where probably only 10 or 15 powergloves are around, is a really interesting buy.
Then I realized that the PowerGlove indeed is a nice touch for any gaming-room but a total piece of crap 'cause I can't play anything with it, lol. Like most of NES accesories I have, they are all worthless. But I still own them.
My target is games that I want to play or I feel curious about. If they are in price, I probably got them, never cared about boxes or sealed-status, for me, games are like guitars, there are guitar-collectors that they just buy guitars and they never play them, well I played all the games I have, and I am looking for more. I am not really interested in new/next-gen consoles besides Street Fighter games, so I spent a lot of time playing Nintendo/Sega videogames.

Some people just got stuff to re-sell in the future, that's why it's important for them to keep things sealed or boxed. I don't care. I am gonna be buried with my cartridges

[shaolin242]

Yes, and as soon as you tell us where YOU are getting them, I'll get right on it!
COME ON!

Hey bro

I actually lived in Dubai for 6 years, and now have moved to Kuwait. I found a place here where there are about 30 videogame shops in ONE old complex, some of them very old. I became friends with one of the guys there that owns the shops and he can just about get ANY console in that he wants....so yeah i know how to bargain.

The other finds were from a video game shop in dubai that had existed for 30 years. iwent to their warehouse and they had literally cartons upon crates of OLD stock. All matter of games/consoles for every system imaginable. i grabbed whatever gem i could and got the hell out of there lol. The boxes and boxes of unsold games they had was incredible...like some scene from a treasure hunt or something

[shaolin242]

some snaps of my new favourite store in kuwait. bought a lot of things on these shelves. this is an example of where you can find things quite cheap..

[Erik_Twice]

I think the hobby turns into a collection when you refuse to sell items you are totally done with.

It's not worth it selling old games specially retro ones I would rather keep a game than get 1.5 euro for it. I may play it again on the future, as I do with books. Hell books have far less reread value than games and people don't throw them out.


Anyways, if you buy crappy games you are almost surely a collector. Buying games that you might play is an indicator but not proof, IMHO.

[Hobie-wan]

Hell books have far less reread value than games and people don't throw them out.

I dunno about that. I've reread some good novels several times.

[shallowgamer]

So can you give us a (very) general overview of gaming in the middle east? Is this old stock considered garbage, and that's why you're getting a good deal? How are prices on new games- much higher, like in europe/australia?

Yes, and as soon as you tell us where YOU are getting them, I'll get right on it!
COME ON!

Hey bro

I actually lived in Dubai for 6 years, and now have moved to Kuwait. I found a place here where there are about 30 videogame shops in ONE old complex, some of them very old. I became friends with one of the guys there that owns the shops and he can just about get ANY console in that he wants....so yeah i know how to bargain.

The other finds were from a video game shop in dubai that had existed for 30 years. iwent to their warehouse and they had literally cartons upon crates of OLD stock. All matter of games/consoles for every system imaginable. i grabbed whatever gem i could and got the hell out of there lol. The boxes and boxes of unsold games they had was incredible...like some scene from a treasure hunt or something

[shaolin242]

So can you give us a (very) general overview of gaming in the middle east? Is this old stock considered garbage, and that's why you're getting a good deal? How are prices on new games- much higher, like in europe/australia?

ok you gotta define "middle East" but ill start with DUbai in the UAE.

- Games come out here before anywhere else in the world (they break release dates) - for example i had heavy rain about 2 weeks before the US got it..same as ME2 same as FFXIII
- you can bargain on new games from most non-big mall stores
- New games are around $60+USD or so but if you buy more you get it for less
- Old stock is basically seen as worthless by the masses - you have to understand the Arab mindset - newer = better. Apple ipad=best. Theyre total idiots. It has to be the newest game/car/etc the watch with the most diamonds/gold - its ALL about image. YOu can get bargains here but arabs also take VERY crap care of their products (no this isnt racist, its just the truth) so a lot of the stuff i get is without boxes or in crap condition cos they dont take care of it.

There are some stores which have been around for 30+ years and they have lots of boxed goods in their warehouse - so i did get some lovely boxed items.

What is missing however are the fleamarkets and craigslist kinda things. You got something here called Souq.ae or souq.com (Souq = market in arabic) but a LOT of ppl sell things there for 3-4x their price because as i said, the arabs are idiots and will pay anything without doing research..its not like Ebay where there is a general consensus on prices.