Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Warmsignal

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 168
1
General / Re: Would you replace a Greatest Hits/Reprint game?
« on: September 11, 2023, 12:17:52 pm »
I used to think that way, but now I don't really care. If I already have it from years ago I keep it, especially my childhood copies. I can't just toss those away because they don't match up to my snobby adult collector standards. Those are authentic pieces of my history. If I'm out shopping for some new game, then sure I'll still hold out for the OG copy, but I'm not going back and rewriting my own history.

2
General / Re: Your Own Opinion About Collecting Today
« on: August 27, 2023, 11:29:54 pm »
Since the start of this thread, I've felt like I have had a bit of a revelation. I've decided that I want to accelerate my "end goal" plans for retro collecting. Going through my various wishlists, there's just a lot of shit on there that honestly doesn't need to be. I really wanna go through, and trim my wishlists (of which I have multiple written up). I wanna nix a lot of the stuff that I added just because "it looked kinda cool". I've had a tendency to do that, a lot of it just sits on my wishlist and I won't admit to myself that I don't need it.

When the 3DS eshop closed, I did this thing I do where I go researching through a console's entire library and add anything that looks cool and I can see myself playing to the wishlist, but in all honesty 90% of my 3DS wishlist is just shit that I would never loose sleep over not owning. Not that I think the stuff is bad, but I think I compiled that list due to FOMO and the need to feel like the 3DS has this extensive library of good games, but the truth is it doesn't. It has plenty of good games sure, and I think I own most of them already. So there's a lot of other stuff that maybe looks cool I guess, but why do I need those? Here I am with 33 games on my 3DS wish list, and can't justify my desire for nearly any of them. Story of Seasons? As someone with an infinitesimal interest in the Harvest Moon cliche who already owns other Harvest Moon games and knock-offs, do I need yet another iteration of the same damn thing on a tiny 3D screen? Absolutely not. Trash Pack? What the hell even is that? An aptly titled waste of time and resources? It's time to put the collecting crack pipe down. I don't even really like portable gaming. DS is just a rare exception because I like the gimmicky features of two screens and "3D effect". I'd be surprised if I ever play the majority of my DS stuff, because it's a tiny portable, where I like to play games on a giant TV screen.

I just think it's time to be more brutally honest with myself than I have been, if I'm going to take exiting from the mental slavery of being a retro game collector seriously. I don't want to be a retro game hunter all of my life, and I also don't just want to give up on the things that I truly seek after, or I have wanted for a long time. Those are the things that will stay on the wishlist, and I will focus intently on checking them off.... but I think it's really time I go and cut a lot of the baggage out of my wishlist, make some maybe tough decisions, and really streamline my collecting goals even more thoroughly. It's been a good 15 year run, but I am serious about reaching the peak, and very soon.


I more or less did this same thing about a year ago. My video game want list, even after the years of accumulating games, was still easily a 1000+ games. However, when going through that list, I'd say 2 or 3% of those games actually excited me at the prospect of owning them someday, while the rest were "yeah, that game looks kinda fun, maybe I'd play it some day." This allowed me to trim down that list considerably to where I just have games on there I genuinely really wanted. And even then, I found ways to trim it down even more to where there are less than 20 games on there I'd still like to own someday.


I think it is admirable that you're willing to put your foot down and say, "this is it." I don't necessarily have a distinct line in the sand like this, but for me it's knowing I'm done hunting for games, spending insane amounts of money on rare retro titles, and going out of my way to feel a few minutes of joy, only to put the game on my shelf and forget it's even there until I just happen to glance at it months later. I'm happy with what I have for the most part, and it sounds more appealing to have one large shelf with all my favorite games someday rather than the 7 or so I currently have with a bunch of games I deluded myself into thinking I'd have the time or motivation to play someday when I first bought them.


On a side note, it's kinda crazy seeing so many of us long time VGcollect users being at this point relatively around the same time. I've certainly seen little glimpses of this in my personal life too with the various local groups I follow. Still, there are always new people jumping in to replace the ones that leave, although I feel like I see far fewer hardcore NES or even SNES/Genesis people coming in now, and it's more younger collectors looking for Gamecube, PS2, or even Wii and PS3 games. I'm still wondering if the hobby will slowly crash someday, although the ironic part is if it does, I won't be the enthusiastic collector swooping in and buying games for a fraction of what they used to sell for like I thought I'd be. I want my collection to be small and personal, although I am grateful I got to have a large collection and know what it's like to fulfill a childhood dream of owning every video game you'd ever wanted. It was fun while it lasted, but it's time for a change, which is what I'm hearing from a lot of people on here.

Precisely. My ambition is to whittle it down to just those games which excite me at the thought of owning and playing, and really focus on that. Of course, what those games are is always something very specific to each person. My personal must-haves, might not seem like must-haves to other collectors. But for me, they're all games I have a strong desire for and have neglected to bite the bullet on. Admittedly there's even a couple of super expensive retro grails in there. PDS is not one. I've cut it from my list for good, it's not my type of game anyhow. However, I do still really want to snag OG Klonoa, and Cannon Spike, just to name a couple of pretty crazy ones. Who knows, maybe even some of these will get cut, at a certain point it just becomes too lofty an ideal.

I think you're quite a few steps ahead of me in terms of the cool down. I still do believe that I will get around to most of my 2500+ games at some point, most likely when I am no longer buying and hunting for more, and don't have to constantly think about what my next purchase should be before the price of something gets worse. I haven't felt what it's like to not be thinking about that stuff in so long. I actually don't have too much of an issue with my current collection size, like there isn't a whole lot that I regret buying, or feel like I need to get rid of. Most of it I'm happy to keep, but it's hard to justify much more beyond this point, as a lot of what I don't already have is well represented by 20 or 30 other games like it already in my collection. So my focus going forward is strictly for those games I've always held a spot on the shelf for, and those which seem worthy of the remaining time and money I care spend on the hobby.

3
General / Re: Your Own Opinion About Collecting Today
« on: August 27, 2023, 04:14:12 am »
Since the start of this thread, I've felt like I have had a bit of a revelation. I've decided that I want to accelerate my "end goal" plans for retro collecting. Going through my various wishlists, there's just a lot of shit on there that honestly doesn't need to be. I really wanna go through, and trim my wishlists (of which I have multiple written up). I wanna nix a lot of the stuff that I added just because "it looked kinda cool". I've had a tendency to do that, a lot of it just sits on my wishlist and I won't admit to myself that I don't need it.

When the 3DS eshop closed, I did this thing I do where I go researching through a console's entire library and add anything that looks cool and I can see myself playing to the wishlist, but in all honesty 90% of my 3DS wishlist is just shit that I would never loose sleep over not owning. Not that I think the stuff is bad, but I think I compiled that list due to FOMO and the need to feel like the 3DS has this extensive library of good games, but the truth is it doesn't. It has plenty of good games sure, and I think I own most of them already. So there's a lot of other stuff that maybe looks cool I guess, but why do I need those? Here I am with 33 games on my 3DS wish list, and can't justify my desire for nearly any of them. Story of Seasons? As someone with an infinitesimal interest in the Harvest Moon cliche who already owns other Harvest Moon games and knock-offs, do I need yet another iteration of the same damn thing on a tiny 3D screen? Absolutely not. Trash Pack? What the hell even is that? An aptly titled waste of time and resources? It's time to put the collecting crack pipe down. I don't even really like portable gaming. DS is just a rare exception because I like the gimmicky features of two screens and "3D effect". I'd be surprised if I ever play the majority of my DS stuff, because it's a tiny portable, where I like to play games on a giant TV screen.

I just think it's time to be more brutally honest with myself than I have been, if I'm going to take exiting from the mental slavery of being a retro game collector seriously. I don't want to be a retro game hunter all of my life, and I also don't just want to give up on the things that I truly seek after, or I have wanted for a long time. Those are the things that will stay on the wishlist, and I will focus intently on checking them off.... but I think it's really time I go and cut a lot of the baggage out of my wishlist, make some maybe tough decisions, and really streamline my collecting goals even more thoroughly. It's been a good 15 year run, but I am serious about reaching the peak, and very soon.

4
General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:
« on: August 25, 2023, 12:25:35 pm »
You know what's mind blowing? NES really is still the king of being over-priced, when it comes to retro games. There are almost 80 games for the system over $100 in NA. I believe there's at least 10 that are over a grand. No other console can touch that, not Saturn, not the SNES. Power Blade 2, is a thousand dollar cartridge. Can you believe that shit? All of my info comes from Price Charting, btw.

Who knew Atari 2600 has regained so much value? It's one of the more valuable libraries out there now. Neck and neck with GameCube.

Nintendo 64 did something really weird, where the value fell off of cliff in 2022, and then spiked all the way back up where it was, just this year. Very strange, wonder if some manipulation is a factor with that one. Literally regained all of it's lost value in June of 2023.

There's got to be a lot of manipulation that goes on. Take for example, Starshot Space Circus. Really obscure game, no one cares about it, never been super rare. It saw a gradual increase over the years, even after Covid still just a steady increase over time. Then in January of 2023, people decided it was time to pay double it's previous price at $150, and not just a handful, but many, many sales at that new price. Why? How? People have collected N64 for a long time, there was never a rush on Starshot Space Circus before. It makes no sense, who was the first person to decide they didn't like the old price and instead wanted to pay double? Nobody would do that. It's got to be manipulation, as they don't think people are paying attention to games like that, so they'll just accept a new price that they've established most likely through fraudulent sold listings. I swear, I've seen the same thing happen many times. Nobody just decides a game is worth double or triple in one sale to the next.

5
General / Re: Your Own Opinion About Collecting Today
« on: August 24, 2023, 12:48:30 am »
If I can be blunt, it's a bitch. I'm diligently working towards an "end goal" plan, where I call myself finished with retro buying for good. Modern games, I'll probably continue collecting as they release. I consider my collection to be purely a curation of stuff that I like, nothing more and nothing less. I never want to own full sets of console games, or something sealed or rare because of it's notoriety or value. No interest.

It's very hard to be a collector today, prices are just so insane on so many things that just don't feel like they're justified at all. Expensive price tags no longer shock me, it's the cheap ones that do. A lot of people can't realistically afford a good deal of this stuff anymore, and that's unfortunate. I'll even admit, that I tend to spend way more than I should trying to manage this "end goal" I'm pursuing. Going through old wishlists, where items were put there when they were still reasonable but at their current prices, I'll never consider them again. FOMO is real game collecting because it's true. You will miss out. Things will get too out of hand expensive... which is why I'm still buying a lot at the moment, on lower prices wishlist items. Even considering a few "whales" that are soon departing into the sea of rich idiot speculator territory. Once they crest 3 bills, I'm almost always out.

My objective is basically to rage-buy my way to the end of this decades long saga, because I truly want to move on to the next chapters of my life. I've been so heavily focused on this hobby for over 10 years. While I feel that the state of my collection is good, it could be better, and while I still have the chance to make it better, I'm going to pursue that.


6
I think collecting plays only a minor role in preservation, mostly as a steward of these physical trinkets that many years down the road, will be seen as novelties of the past. As with anything which stops being mass produced, it's true eventually the number of surviving copies will diminish over time. Seeing as game collecting is so huge, I think a lot of this stuff is going to last a very long time.

That aside, collecting has little to do with the actual preservation of the media itself. That is something entirely different, and already well archived and preserved through emulation, ROMs, etc so there's slim chance it'll ever be lost.

I think media preservation is a worthwhile endeavor, but only in pursuit of that which is actually in danger of being lost. 99% of video games are not that category, outside of unfinished projects, betas, tech demos, etc. A lot of that stuff is just not in the hands of people who thought it was worth saving, but it does surface from time to time on an old development kit, test cart, or hard drive. Usually, people will dump whatever data it contains onto the Internet and there you have it. That's preservation. As a rule, anything you can readily buy at a store, is already well preserved online.

7
Off Topic / Re: Un-Allowed Media
« on: August 22, 2023, 09:19:51 pm »
Pretty much just explicit music or anything with a parental advisory warning on it. I believe they bought into the whole "explicit music brainwashes and turns kids violent and deviant" panic that was going around since the 80s into the 90s. They didn't really seem to grasp the ESRB indicators, but on a few occasions when I'd want a mature game you'd have an asshat game-store associate give a spiel about all the "bad stuff" in a game they were about to buy for me. They'd always give in, but who the hell are these do-good'ers who think it's their job to stand there and guilt trip a customer over buying their kid some video game smut? Pizz off register jockey, it's not your place to grill people on what they buy.

8
I found a genesis game I've been trying to find for years, though not on my most wanted list Im happy to finally have it. Viewpoint!

Heh, I picked that one up last month or so myself. I debated a long time over whether I wanted the PS1 or Gen version. Settled on Gen when I saw a nice cart for the right price.

9
In a sense, but not really. I mean, I'm picky about condition almost to a fault. Cuz if I'm gonna collect I don't want junked up stuff, generally. So you could say that I'm trying to preserve copies in their best state. I don't really think that I'm helping in any meaningful way to actually preserve the media itself. I think that is already largely taken care of by people a great deal more savvy than myself in those practices. I don't think there's any risk of any game in my collection perishing from all existence.

In other ways, I am mildly interested in the preservation of endangered and lost media of other forms. Like obscure music, TV or movies. It fascinates me that people can create digital works of art that become lost to the world because nobody cared enough to back it up. If I ever come into the possession of something that doesn't appear to exist on the Internet, I'd take the necessary steps to get it into the hands of those who could properly archive it.... but such an opportunity is yet to present itself.

10
General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:
« on: August 22, 2023, 08:35:02 pm »
As long as they don't let any voice actor pronounce it "merry-o", then it's fine. It's never been pronounced that way in any Super Mario Bros media that I'm aware of, so why do some insist on flubbing it in that way? Do you merry-o people also pronounce Wario as weary-o? No? Then cut out the merry-o crap.

11
General / Re: What Are Your Top (Four) Consoles Right Now And Why?
« on: August 22, 2023, 08:24:44 pm »
If we're talking which systems am I hot on right now, instead of an all time favorites list... that's something a bit different. Right now, I'm into...

- OG Xbox. This system has aged well. So underrated by the retro scene, but the games still look and play so damn good! The support for 480p might not have meant much back then, but it sure is appreciated now.

- Dreamcast. Hard not to be charmed by it, and just the magical feel of most of the games that belong uniquely to this system. Like having a late 90s arcade machine in your home.

- PS2. Difficult to argue with the plethora of games available. The graphics aren't always the prettiest, but guaranteed your gonna find something cool to play that no other console has.

- Wii. I doesn't matter to me if few others see the value and fun in it, I think the motion controls are a welcome feature. I also think the depth of the library is much greater than popular opinion credits it for.

12
Modern Video Games / Re: Are "triple A" games dead?
« on: August 05, 2023, 10:00:49 pm »
I think some of the output has been toned down abit, but there's plenty of AAA releases coming out on the regular.  Dead Space, Resident Evil 4, Tears of the Kingdom (It's AAA, just not on the level of current gen releases) and Final Fantasy XVI are just ones I personally played this year.  God of War Ragnarok came out just the end of last year.  I know coming up we have Armored Core VI, Spider-Man 2, and Starfield (Which could very easily have a bad launch, we'll see) off the top of my head.  I think we have more flops or mishaps nowadays, but I have so many games to play from the biggest to smallest, I don't have the time for it all lol

I forget about remakes, but I'm not a fan so I tend to overlook them. I guess the fall is usually the biggest time for games to drop, and it looks like there will be some stuff. I forgot about Immortals of Aveum which is coming soon, then there's The Crew Motorfest, Lords of the Fallen, etc, coming fairly soon.

13
Modern Video Games / Are "triple A" games dead?
« on: August 05, 2023, 07:01:32 pm »
Maybe a bit dramatic to say, but maybe not.

I'm still unwilling to jump on the bandwagon of those bashing the PS5 as having no purpose to exist. Some like myself, certainly appreciate the spec upgrade compared to the PS4... the problem is, and I'm sure you're aware, what are developers doing with it? Hardly anything. Because it's starting to feel like triple a game's are dead. They barely come out anymore, and when they do, they're broken and completely burn all enthusiasm on day one.

Even putting that issue aside, it's like the triple a scene never recovered from the pandemic. The attempts made are very few, and far between now. I guess the last $70 game to drop was Final Fantasy, fair enough it wasn't that long ago. But what came before that? I think there's been maybe two or three major releases this year that even caught my eye. Granted, it's difficult for me to recall any release that I just had zero interest in. But I think it was just Forespoken, that's about it for me this year. I don't think Atlas Fallen will be a $70 game. Indie games far, far outnumber larger project on PS5.

I dunno, it's weird. Last gen, it was like some major release was hitting shelves every month it seemed. 7th gen, the better part of retail games were all mostly consider major releases aside from the shovelware. Here we are ten years later, and major game releases are almost non-existent, and 9/10 of them bomb spectacularly.

14
General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:
« on: August 05, 2023, 06:35:24 pm »
Just got back from another retro gaming convention. I've got to say, these things are on a steady decline. Maybe it's just me, but I've noticed less and less of a selection of games at these places, which is telling given than many of the vendors come from near and far to attend. The selection is just at a point where a lot of those big ticket, sought after titles, common or not, just aren't there much anymore. I kept overhearing people in search of those same high profile titles that I was hunting out more than 10 years ago. Folks still want to find that stuff today, and collect it.

Luckily I'm no longer looking for those sorts of games, as I have most of them. I guess that's the point, they've been put into collections. I'm mostly scoping out oddities and obscure hidden gems which fit into the category of not too rare, or valuable. I found a handful, not a lot.

Anyhow, I think the enthusiasm for these events is waning. A lot of collectors fighting against one another for what little is left in stock, I think it's indicative of the state of game collecting. Supply running low, while yet even more people become enticed every day to jump into the hobby. The level of collecting is outgrowing the supply from golden age of physical media, and yet they're desperate to stop producing physical media with today's games.


I've noticed this too, however I don't think it's because it's harder to find rarer/more sought after titles due to being locked up in collections. Sure, that is part of it to a degree, but I think it's mostly that retro video game collecting has about run its course.


Around the time I got into collecting, NES was all the rage, and most retro stores I visited barely had any NES games and when they did, it was either your ultra common stuff, or stuff they'd literally got in that same day, and would likely be gone in a day or two. This lasted until 2014 or so when SNES replaced it as the retro console to collect for, then Genesis, then N64, then PS1, and so one and so on. My point is that people who grew up with this stuff reach a certain age where they can go back and rebuy this stuff, however after a while, the amount of people who haven't already got into collecting for a certain console(s) dramatically drops off. I'd venture to say that 98% of the people who had any interest in NES collecting have already done so, meaning that pool of people who will enthusiastically want games like Ninja Gaiden or Batman is quickly being outnumbered by the amount of available copies. And each year I see more and more people downsizing their collections, or just flat out selling everything off for one reason or another. Eventually in another 10-years or so, nearly every person who wanted to collect for a console that came out in the 80s or 90s will have done so.


I knew this day would come as it has with more or less every collecting craze over the last 30-years. People that grew up with something reach their peak earning years, want to rebuy their lost childhood, prices go crazy, then these same people start losing interest while very few new people are jumping in due to that lack of connection to said collectible. It happened with Baseball cards, it happened with vintage comics, it happened with vintage toys, and now it's happening with retro video games. Genuinely rare games like Little Samson or Hagane will always be valuable and they will never be sub-$100 games ever again, and many of them might even continue to go up in price. However, anything that isn't at least an 8/10 in terms of rarity will either stagnate or drop in price from here on out.


So I think the lack of stuff or vendors at the convention you went to was less to do with a lack of inventory, and more to do with people leaving the hobby, both as sellers and collectors.

The reason this theory doesn't make sense to me, is that these days, all I see is veteran collectors getting out of the hobby and selling off their collections. You'd think that means more on the market and a decrease in value, but it's not.

I think sort of like you mentioned, generations do go through phases of trying to re-buy their childhood, but then instead of just bottoming out when that gets old, it just transfers into the hands of speculator types more and more. The folks who got into collecting back when I started and before, I think genuinely just wanted to own and experience the games. They collected for the love of old school gaming. These days, it's dominated by the resell types and the speculators. Retro gaming on YouTube use to be chalk full off people nerding out about their collections and their pickups. A lot of that kind of content is gone. Now most retro collecting oriented stuff is like Pheonex Resale "Oh my God bro, I just found this box of games worth $1000 profit", as well as sealed game grading, "rare" game worship and just like people going for "full sets" for the hell of it (I would say probably as an investment).

So I think that's where classic games are largely ending up. Gamers getting rid of their collections, and going into the hands of people stashing them away as future investment projects, with full sets, rare games, sealed games, just anything they think will be worth a fortune some day. So a lot of that stuff is not recirculating. Anyway, that's my cynical take.

15
General / Re: VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:
« on: July 23, 2023, 10:36:35 am »
Just got back from another retro gaming convention. I've got to say, these things are on a steady decline. Maybe it's just me, but I've noticed less and less of a selection of games at these places, which is telling given than many of the vendors come from near and far to attend. The selection is just at a point where a lot of those big ticket, sought after titles, common or not, just aren't there much anymore. I kept overhearing people in search of those same high profile titles that I was hunting out more than 10 years ago. Folks still want to find that stuff today, and collect it.

Luckily I'm no longer looking for those sorts of games, as I have most of them. I guess that's the point, they've been put into collections. I'm mostly scoping out oddities and obscure hidden gems which fit into the category of not too rare, or valuable. I found a handful, not a lot.

Anyhow, I think the enthusiasm for these events is waning. A lot of collectors fighting against one another for what little is left in stock, I think it's indicative of the state of game collecting. Supply running low, while yet even more people become enticed every day to jump into the hobby. The level of collecting is outgrowing the supply from golden age of physical media, and yet they're desperate to stop producing physical media with today's games.

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 168