Messages

4291

General / Re: What are you playing?

« on: April 13, 2014, 02:43:00 pm »

I've been on a handheld kick recently. Started playing Astroboy Omega Factor on the GBA this morning and WOW. . .where has this game been all my life! It definitely has Treasure's stamp of awesomeness all over it :p

4292

General / Re: Who Pays Full Market Value For Games?

« on: April 10, 2014, 09:03:48 pm »

If I'm going for a complete original XBox collection, I could probably complete it all for pretty cheap right now (minus a few games).

Very true.

I finished my entire XBOX collection in a little over a year, and didn't spend more than $5 on any title. That includes some of the more expensive ones like JP Operation Genesis and Digimon Rumble Arena 2. Definitely the time to collect for the XBOX if you have any intention to do it ever.

4293

General / Re: Who Pays Full Market Value For Games?

« on: April 10, 2014, 10:55:20 am »

Most people do pay retail for games, us deal hunters are the minority (I don't buy all my games below retail/market value, but probably 85% of them I do). From what I've seen, most collectors are looking for a good deal, but most do not mind dropping full price on a specific game they want. This is why resellers are able to make a living off selling games.

4294

Classic Video Games / Re: Counterfeit Games Being Sold

« on: April 09, 2014, 07:02:20 pm »

A guy in my class has been talking recently of buying stuff to change the data on SNES chips... And he explicitly said he wanted to sell fake Sword of Manas and Mario RPG and Earthbounds for full price because that was easy money. That pissed me honestly, and I told him so. I tried to convince him that it's not an appropriate thing to do, and he said he might sell ROMS and imports instead. And I really hope he meant it, and will not sell fake by saying they're real. 

There is a local collector/reseller who is an infamous scam artist when it comes to repros. He has sold thousands of fake GBA and DS games on Ebay over the past year, and doesn't tell anyone they are fake. I am surprised Ebay hasn't banned him seeing how he has at least a dozen negative feedback rating regarding his games being fake. Not to the same extent, but he also sells fake Genesis, NES and SNES carts as well; I know he was selling fake Ninja Gaiden Trilogy and Wild Guns carts for like $80 each. I hate people that do this crap, and feel sorry for the people they scam.

4295

General / Re: Koji Igarashi left Konami! D:

« on: April 05, 2014, 01:18:27 pm »

Agreed. Hopefully he'll pull something like Inafune did and start up an indie studio. Unfortunately that means we'll prolly never see one of his games on a physical format ever again though.

Yeah, and sadly no matter how much praise a potential Igarashi indi project would get, I still could not buy it if it was digital only.

As amazing as Mighty 9 looks, I can't buy it unless it saw a physical release. They are definitely beyond the hardware capabilities of retro consoles, but would love to see some of these indi releases get a very limited cartridge or CD release for an older system. I'd be the first in line to buy them, even if they were over $100 each.

4296

General / Re: As Capcom Continues To Die And Who Do You Want To Get There IP's

« on: April 05, 2014, 01:11:33 pm »

Resident Evil is a hard one. I know a lot of publishers would like that one.... I'd go with Ubisoft or Activision.

If either of these companies, or EA, got their hands on the Resdient Evil rights I would never-ever buy another RE game for as long as I live. The series already has one foot in the grave (pun intended), and if this happened it would be officially dead to me no matter what they decided to do with it. I can't think of a more horrible fate for the franchise.

4297

General / Re: Store Employees Poaching Games

« on: April 05, 2014, 01:06:17 pm »

Customers can not be "alienated" by what they never know about -and- only a fool is going to tell the truth to/brag about things to their customers that would alienate them.

The store I was talking about has a lot of alienated, pissed off customers because of the grabby employees, simply because they know this happens and are tired of seeing shelves filled mostly with sports games and crappy budget titles. Just knowing it happens is enough to turn people away just because they know they'll never find certain things they may be looking for. I know a handful of people, not just gamers and collectors, that have stopped shopping there because the selection is pretty stagnant, except for more of the same old crap being put on the shelf.

And the employees often do not have the same goals as management, and certainly not corporate, so yes, they love to brag and gloat about the stuff they got that you didn't. They could care less if you don't want to shop there, all they are about is getting the good stuff before any of the customers do. It's almost like they feel entitled to the games that come in and how dare anyone try and buy them before they do. It's that attitude that alienates people as well.

I get you.

I'm thinking that, even if one or two or 4 or 5 new people started working there - even if none (or even 1 out of 5) continued this practice, that your 'assumptions' about the store would remain unchanged.

Yes, I would always assume at least one person was doing it since it has always been this way since I have been going there. I should say it is less of an assumption and more of a fact though; when I go up to an employee and ask, "hey, do you guys have any SNES games that might have come in recently." I am often told no or something along the lines of, "Oh yeah, we got a ton in last week, there was like Zombies Ate My Neigbors, Final Fantasy III, Earthbound, but a few of the employees already bought them." I have been met with answers like this ever since I first started shopping there, except at that time the employees seemed to be after specific games rather than everything and anything that came through the door that was sought after or they could flip easily for a decent profit. When less grabby employees worked there I thought it was cool that they were able to snag a certain game they've wanted and left the rest to the customers because myself and others still found enough to make the trip to the store worthwhile. Now, the only valuable games I find are super obscure games that only the most intense collectors and enthusiests really know about. So I am at least aware that someone is picking certain games out at any given time, and I honestly don't mind as long as they don't get carried away like they have now. I feel like the main problem at the moment is that more resellers are doing this than actual collectors. It's an easy way for them to supplement their income.

4298

General / Re: Koji Igarashi left Konami! D:

« on: April 05, 2014, 12:55:14 pm »

Apparently after Lords of Shadow, he got transferred to the "social games" department. :\

I can understand why he quit. Such an enormous waste of talent.

4299

General / Re: Koji Igarashi left Konami! D:

« on: April 05, 2014, 11:19:11 am »

I feel like he is one of many star developers that have left these huge developers due to the rapid and mostly negative changes in the gaming industry. With many of these big companies losing tons of money and actual talent it is hard not to imagine another video game crash coming soon.

4300

General / Re: As Capcom Continues To Die And Who Do You Want To Get There IP's

« on: April 05, 2014, 11:15:18 am »

While it is highly possibly at this point, I can't see Capcom going under and selling off their assets THQ style. They are still doing a lot of stupid stuff that is costing them to lose lots of money, but I feel given many comments that have been made by management and some key developers, they are finally getting why people aren't buying their games more and why many of their core fans have left. They have all the resources they need to make a huge comeback, I guess only time will tell if they actually utilize these resources in the right way. I for one believe the following moves would bring back a huge number of fans:

- Reopen the Megaman Legends 3 project and release another Mega man much like the originals or X.
- Make Resident Evil a survival horror series again, with actual scares, atmosphere, and freakin Zombies!
- Really focus on the Dragon's Dogma series and make it even better then it already is. Market the hell out of it too.
- Discontinue their infamous digital distribution and DLC practices that have pissed many off, including myself.
- Create several new IPs that are targeted toward core gamers, not the casual, shooter, or mobile crowd.

Just my thoughts.

4301

General / Re: Store Employees Poaching Games

« on: April 04, 2014, 07:13:08 pm »

Customers can not be "alienated" by what they never know about -and- only a fool is going to tell the truth to/brag about things to their customers that would alienate them.

The store I was talking about has a lot of alienated, pissed off customers because of the grabby employees, simply because they know this happens and are tired of seeing shelves filled mostly with sports games and crappy budget titles. Just knowing it happens is enough to turn people away just because they know they'll never find certain things they may be looking for. I know a handful of people, not just gamers and collectors, that have stopped shopping there because the selection is pretty stagnant, except for more of the same old crap being put on the shelf.

And the employees often do not have the same goals as management, and certainly not corporate, so yes, they love to brag and gloat about the stuff they got that you didn't. They could care less if you don't want to shop there, all they are about is getting the good stuff before any of the customers do. It's almost like they feel entitled to the games that come in and how dare anyone try and buy them before they do. It's that attitude that alienates people as well.

4302

General / Re: Store Employees Poaching Games

« on: April 04, 2014, 12:20:21 am »

While I partially knew this one going on at the store I was referencing, it didn't bother as much until I unknowingly responded to one of their Craigslist ads and was being asked to pay Ebay prices for games they paid $2 for with their employee discount. I understand they make minimum wage and it's retail, but just think management needs to step in for the customer's sake and give us a fighting chance. I mean, the employees are literally dividing up the recent buybacks within minutes of them being taken in as if they feel entitles to them. Just infuriates me.

And I knew someone at a local thrift who used to do this as well. He was definitely the bragging type as well, having to tell me some of his best scores he got while working the backroom, including boxed SNES RPGs, boxed retro consoles, and $100+ games for only a couple of bucks. Haven't shopped at that thrift in years, but wonder if he still works there.

4303

General / Store Employees Poaching Games

« on: April 03, 2014, 11:36:23 pm »

One of the biggest problems I have ran into as a collector of video games, at least for the past year or two, is store employees picking over the rare, valuable and sought after games, mostly at used media stores like GoHastings, Bookmans, Entertainmart, 2nd & Charles and places like that. One such store in my area sells all games older than PS3/360/Wii for only $3 each regardless of title. When this store first opened up I was in heaven, picking up games like Fire Emblem Path of Radiance, .Hack Quarentine, and Ogre Battle 64 for only $3 each. However, for about the past year, this same store has accumulated about six employees that are collectors, resellers or both, and literally snag any game worth over $15 for their own personal agendas before it ever has a chance to make it to the shelves. While this store is the worst, there are several other stores in my area that rarely put anything on the shelf worthwhile because of the employees having the advantage of being able to see new games come in and pick it up right away.

So my question is, what is your opinion of employees doing this, and what is your experience with dealing with this?

I personally think it is very annoying and unfair. As a retail business I believe it is their primary motive to cater to the customers before the employees in terms of the incoming merchandise. If most of the decent merchandise never makes it to the shelf because of grabby employees, it definitely dampers moral for customers to continue shopping at a specific store.

Your thoughts?

4304

General / Re: April 2014 - Recently Added to Collection/Recently Purchased

« on: April 03, 2014, 10:10:35 am »

FINALLY found a cheap and real copy of the Zelda Minish Cap today! Every copy I have ran into was either $20+ or fake, glad I finally got the real deal for a good price

You just made me realise I never cheked mine to see if it was genuine or not. I was especially worried since I don't remember AT ALL where I got it (I was reorganizing my games one day, and when I saw it I was all "What, I have Minish Cap? Okay then"). But seems like it's genuine, phew!

I am always careful with this will all GBA and DS games, especially the popular and expensive titles. About 6-month ago I almost bought a fake Minish Cap for $20, but luckily I checked the cart out thoroughly before checking out. The worst are the Pokemon games; I actually see more fakes then authentic ones, really sad

4305

General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

« on: April 02, 2014, 10:59:00 pm »

Lol, Microsoft's failed Ipod competitor.  Honestly, it's the best piece of hardware MS has ever made IMO, and at the time it was introduced no one else had a service to compete with theirs (pay a flat monthly fee to listen to all the music you want, either on your pc or downloaded to your Zune).  Heck, I *still* use the service and at this point am just dreading the inevitable death of that too. 

It irritates me that they make a piece of crap console (IMO...) and it sells like hotcakes, and meanwhile they make the best MP3 player on the market with an amazing service to match & can't market/sell it worth squat.   

I had a original model Zune and it was great! I used it constantly and loved the hell out of it. But it ended up erroring on me and I was sent out a replacement. The replacement would randomly wipe it's own drive and after another year of it I went out and bought my first iPod Classic.

I was working at Target when the Zune first came out. Working in electronics we used to sell at least a dozen Ipods daily, however I think in the two or three years we carried the Zune I think I maybe sold one, I am dead serious lol.