Video Game Collecting Dying Thoughts?

[98dgreen]

Collecting Videogames is more populair then ever why would it by dying anytime soon? I'd almost  start calling it a hipster hobby, wherest 15-20 years ago it was just seen as a poor man's hobby.

I was being laughed at school sometimes because i was into older games, like why would you want that old junk can't you afford a ps2!!

GBA came out at the very same time as the ps2 and those where all 2D games. and since they where brand new games it's not a poor mans hobby in that case.

Pretty much every kid liked 2d games at the time as a result of the gba being really popular. Ds also didn't shy away from 2d games.

I'm talking retro stuff, what does the gba have to do with this it was new back then. If you were like 16 in 2002 all most school kids cared about was playing gta 3 and maybe (smoking cigs and drinking beer.)
If you were seen walking around with a handheld you would end up being laughed at for it being a kids console or in the worst case being bullied, well atleast it was like that to the school i went.
Since i was into master system and sega in general i was being laugh at for being too poor to buy the latest consoles, not that i really cared anyway, trading a pack of cigarettes or couple of beers for a ps1 rpg, well don't mind me if i do, yep i was still being called an idiot after the trade.

was pretty different for me at the time.

Everyone was playing pokemon or mario smash. GBA was just as new as the ps2. it wasn't retro ps2 was released in 2000 gba in 2001. ps2 is more retro than the gba.

Sure people had GTA aswell. but in my case at school everyone was talking about regi puzzles and such. You where the cool kid if you knew the secrets of such games. Fun times especially since I was one of the guru's at the time for this kind of stuff. pretty much everyone was busy with nintendo it seems.

Gamecube was the console for multiplayer ps2 and xbox where not really notable at the time in my region at least. and when people usually had those aside from GTA they only had shovelware.

I also remember that even at the time we would download snes roms or that people had a sega console from their parents that they would use.

Guess what's popular will vary per region. Always interesting to see what other people's experiences where at the time.

In my area people were playing both Pokemon and GTA type games concurrently.  PS2 being the console of choice for single player and Xbox for multiplayer.  I only knew 2 people with a Gamecube when it was current. 

[oldgamerz]

In my area back in 2004 the Nintendo GameCube was the most affordable modern console at GameStop of the time, surprisingly ALL Nintendo related games were cheap. and the same goes with the accessories. However the Ps2 and Xbox original was like  $120 while my first GameCube was only $60 USD and they were making decent GameStop branded New GameCube controllers, for $12 USD or less.

At my local GameStop back then. they were selling used Nintendo 64, GameCube PlayStation 2, OG Xbox, and new Xbox360 and early PS3 games might have grazed there shelfs as well. When GameStop was in it's prime it was a thriving franchise back then. So many people went to them, and I remember their ad around Christmas time, it said GameStop can outshine Santa.

I wish the children of tomorrow would be able to get physical video games for a Christmas gift, In an all digital future there will be no gift to wrap our children just a code maybe.

just think of al the stores that are going out of business because of digital, at least for now you can get music and movies, both digital AND physical for those who want it. and CD's and Movies are indeed selling so there is a profit for record companies to be made.

CD's DVD and Blu-ray are easy for factories to build, all the laborers need to do is probably press a button and presto, good quality media made.

and for the record, no pun intended, CD's are more likely to have better quality then MP3 or MP4 digital downloads do. There is an easy way to get 3D surround audio out of just about any kind of sound system if you rip your music CD's in loss less format. and never use burned copies, only original CD's have the best quality sound possible

(edit) but the older Vinyl records are said to be the best quality but I heard that does not go with the newer Vinyl records

See this thread for details on how to get your own CD's into lossless format, but You will need to re-record them (see thread for details)

https://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,11038.msg181629.html#msg181629

[astralsoul]

I'm very late to the discussion but I wanted to chime in with 2 thoughts:

1. Video game collecting won't die. Even if years from now everything is digital, people will still try to buy the old stuff. Even if systems and games die there will likely be someone out there to fix it. So even if interest wanes in the future, which it might, it won't go away completely.

2. Even though I'm fairly confident there will be SOME kind of fix to continue to play PS3/4/5 and beyond in the future it's still a hassle and depending on the fix it could be something fairly easy like just downloading a custom firmware update or something mechanical that needs to be replaced, it's not going to be nearly as simple as like buying a NES, buying a cartridge and plugging it in and playing it. Because that's part of what keeps me playing those old games. The ability to just put in a game and start playing. No downloads, no updates, no patches, no fear of a game becoming unplayable. And at absolute worst is having to open a cartridge and simply replace the save battery. But on top of that the fact that it seems Sony in particular is just dead set on destroying the future collectability market and basically forcing people to move from one generation to the next, it just completely sours my taste for both the PS5 and modern gaming as a whole. I know the day gaming goes all digital I'll likely stop buying new games or at least new consoles and just play on PC. Not only that the games I'll buy will be far and few between. I know I am in the minority and most people are perfectly happy to pay full price for what is essentially a long-term rental that you don't own, I cannot get behind it. I buy more games than I should because I like collecting them. Taking that away gives me much less motivation to buy them. Again I know this is me and I'm the vocal minority and I'm sure a lot of us here are as well. But sometimes I look at my 100+ ps3 and ps4 games and wonder if they'll just become garbage after a few years. Then I look at my 100s of NES/SNES/N64 games and I know I will be taking them to the grave with me.

[pzeke]

If I die that would be a blessing to me @flashback, then I could have whatever I want, and never have to deal with you or anyone elses shit ever again

The problem with being dead though is that... you're dead. I don't think we'll find any CIB mint game collections (or 72 virgins or whatever *insert religion* promises you) down there in the gaping black void to keep us occupied for eternity...

Not unless I'm evil, we can't talk religion on this forum it's against the rules

[Warmsignal]

I sense the smoldering of a dumpster fire.

But yes... to beat the skeleton of dead horse game collecting is "dying", because oh my lord how many people out there are willing to fork over hundreds per title, myself included. It's mind blowing how thirsty we are. We all need to find a new hobby. Preferably one where you aren't collecting something.

[covfefe2020]

Imagine being a childrens game / toy / comic maker in the 1980s and a 30 year old man time travels into your warehouse and starts grabbing everything he can.  muttering about ¨mint condition.¨

[pzeke]

Imagine being a childrens game / toy / comic maker in the 1980s and a 30 year old man time travels into your warehouse and starts grabbing everything he can muttering about ¨mint condition.

Give me the opportunity, and I'll do it without a single ounce of shame.