Topics

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Classic Video Games / How many of you went and sold all your games back in the day?

« on: April 22, 2014, 04:06:42 pm »

I never did this. I've never sold any of my belongings, much less my games from my childhood. I've got the hoarder gene in me, I held on to them. Of course I didn't have a ton of games before. So since I started hoarding/collecting/whatever, I've always been driven by the desire to get things that I've never had.

In my personal opinion, once you're a seller, you're always a seller. Those who sold their games then bought them back, they'll sell them off again. Probably regret it again.

Mine aren't going anywhere. If I ever need or want to get rid of them, it'll probably be when I give them all to a nephew or niece, or if I ever have kids of my own. I'll give them to someone who'll appreciate them as much as I do, and who I trust won't just sell them off for a quick buck. I don't think any realistic amount of money could ever convince me to part with them. 

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General / I've got a bad new complusive habbit!

« on: April 21, 2014, 03:01:43 pm »

Well, it was bad enough that I feel compelled to keep every receipt, and tuck them behind the manuals of my games. Now I've gone a step further. You know those annoying price tag stickers? Most obviously, the GameStop stickers? Now I like take those off of the cover and re-stick them on the inside of the case, under the manual, or wherever I can that is practical and not too noticeable.

I always like to find these old price tag stickers on games, where the cost was a lot lower than what it is worth now. So, I like to do that with my purchases, for future reference. Perhaps one day some of these cheap games will be valued a little more again, and I'll have evidence of what they were at rock bottom price. I sort of wish that I had been doing this for years. No big deal, just another little quirk of mine. I particularly like doing this with Wii games, because I have a suspicion people will look back a bit more fondly on the Wii than the zero love that they gave it while it was relevant.

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Video Game Deals, Sales and Promotions / GameStop B2G1 Sale under $20 going on 4-17 thru 4-???

« on: April 17, 2014, 05:48:42 pm »

I noticed last night this sale is going on. Buy 2 get 1, for all pre-owned under $20. A good chance to rack up on those titles you passed up on a few years back. Lots of stuff in the $8 - $12 range when I went. Just a heads up, because these sales are always spontaneous and short.

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General / Judging games by their title and cover is a bad idea

« on: April 15, 2014, 01:36:10 pm »

This is something that plagued my purchasing decisions for several years. I would often fall victim to buying games I could do without, because I didn't know anything about them and just thought they looked cool when I found them. The truth is, not every game that looks or sounds good, is good, or is worth your dollar. This happens a lot less often to me now, because I've spent a lot of time researching games across many consoles, just out of curiosity of what's out there. There are still a few systems I I'm not too familiar with. Yesterday, I made another lame purchase based on not knowing what the heck I was looking at. I did a trade with a guy for Wario's Woods. I assumed it was a platformer, but no, it's a freaking Bust-A-Move clone. If I knew that, I never would have got the game. I only know the SNES essentials, so I wrongly assumed first party on SNES meant quality, I never would have dreamed it was a cash-in clone title with a Nintendo IP on the cover.

I guess I need to set aside another day to research every SNES game out there. Knowing absolutely everything is essential to not screwing yourself when you go game hunting. It's too bad you can't judge a book by it's cover. It seems like that's something you can do with NES games generally without having to look them up, but SNES it's a bad idea. Many SNES covers and titles are weird and misleading.

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General / The joy of sun-fading your games!

« on: April 15, 2014, 12:20:42 pm »

One would never think that physical copies of games would be so hard to take care of. I have a good chuck of my games hanging out near a window, this window facing almost directly east, where the sun rises. They are alongside a wall that runs adjacent to this window, so not directly facing the sun. But still, I noticed certain titles are fading on the spine - for the record, 360 games turn from green to blue, and Wii games turn from white to yellow. I never would have suspected it. I'm wondering if I pull my shades every night and tilt them upward, will it block the sunlight rays that are damaging my games? I really don't have anywhere else to move those.

It's amazing how much effort is required to keep games in nice condition. Keep them in a dark, air conditioned, well dusted, sterile room with protective boxes or baggies over them or else they'll dematerialize in some way as they sit on the shelf. Sun fading is not even the first type of "damage" I've noticed my games sustaining from merely sitting there upright. I've also found warped cases and sagging sleeves and wrinkled inserts with sealed games! Fragile stuff. 

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Off Topic / real sick tonight

« on: April 01, 2014, 04:01:25 am »

threw up about 10 times, just drying heaving now all night. sorry for posting. keep me in your thoughts guys. im freaking out.

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General / Console exclusive games and good reasons to still follow modern consoles?

« on: April 01, 2014, 12:35:24 am »

Obvious or not, I'm no fan of download only games. I actually own none. It's just my preference to stick with games that have tangible retail releases. I'm also a console gamer. Normally, I don't mind either way what someone chooses to buy, it's their own business. However, I have a friend who used to be pretty big into console gaming and collecting with me. That was, until a few years ago when he discovered Steam, and declared that he was never buying another hard copy new release again, aside from Nintendo exclusives. He prefers Steam for convenience, price, and the fact that PC is always technically superior.

He is of the mindset that basically everything out there worth playing is on Steam, except for Nintendo games. Really he's just uniformed about what's out there, because obviously there has got to be more than just Ninty that you can't get on Steam. Obviously there's PlayStation first party, and Xbox first party. It's kind of hard to tell though, what third party software out there exists that is exclusive to consoles? Without running a search of every game on Steam, that is.

I came across a series of lists on Wiki called "list of (insert generation) console exclusives". But the list was useless, because despite the title, many of the games listed are available on Windows, which is not a console. Either people editing this list do not get the point, or else I don't. But when you talk about console exclusives, you think PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, etc.

I want to give him some good reasons to still look into console games, instead of just assuming anything that is good and relevant is on Steam. I still get the impression that plenty of good games come out that are console only, and not just first party. Another thing I'm unsure of (not a PC gamer), is weather or not every PC game is technically on Steam or not?

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General / What would you do in this kind of situation?

« on: March 29, 2014, 09:05:07 pm »

Say one of your most wanted games on your wishlist popped up on eBay for well under the average price BIN. Pictures looked good, and the game looked complete. But then, you check the description to be sure and it says "case, manual, and disc." "blah, blah, blah." "no manual". So it says that it has the manual, and says that it doesn't also. But the pictures show a manual. You can even see the staples on the spine, so you know it's not a printed off piece of paper.

What would you do? Ask, and wait? Or BIN and hope what you see is really what you're getting?

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General / The lost art of shipping a video game

« on: March 26, 2014, 04:31:39 pm »

It gets to be a headache, especially when buying from sellers on eBay who are not gamers. In my day, I've terrible luck with the methods in which sellers like to ship games that come in jewel cases or oversized jewel cases, mostly PlayStation and Sega Saturn / CD. They show up in a bubble mailer, freshly crushed, plastic shards spilling out of the package. A pity too, when you can tell they were in excellent shape.

I think common sense would tell you a bubble mailer is inefficient to mail a jewel case in, it's no match for the United States Postal Service. It's too bridle, it's like mailing glassware in a grocery bag. I think eBay should force users to into a tutorial about mailing items like games, then quiz them. If they can't pass the shipping quiz, they should be disallowed to sell games.

Well, now I'm off to figure out where I can find some new clear spine jewel cases! 

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General / Ever use re-sealable baggies on your games?

« on: March 25, 2014, 07:14:08 pm »

This is something I am going to start doing soon. The main reason is shelf wear. I hate shelf wear, because I love the glossiness of a brand new game. Also ideal if your home is not air conditioned, like mine isn't. In the summer, depending on where you live, that can wreak havoc on your games. Not everything I have is pristine, but what is, I wish to keep that way.

They make these for DVD cases, but I wonder, do they make them for blu-ray, or 3DS? Vita for that matter?

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Site Feedback / How can I view the site on mobile in desktop mode?

« on: March 23, 2014, 05:52:55 pm »

I don't care for the mobile site because its difficult to navigate between the lists and the category selector area (categories are far from accurate to the touch and sometimes slow and unresponsive). Really I'd like to just view the site as desktop on my mobile. I even have a browser (Dolphin) which allows all sites to view as desktop but Vgcollect still shows as mobile. Funny because the forum views like desktop. What's wrong with the site section?

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General / What all game genres do you enjoy playing and how would you order them?

« on: March 14, 2014, 05:18:09 pm »

In an order from most favorite to least, and exclude the genres you don't play.

For me it goes a little something like this: Action RPG > JRPG > WRPG > Platformer > Action Adventure > Hack and Slash/Dungeon Crawl > Rhythm/Music > Beat em Up/Brawler > First Person Shooter > Third Person Shooter > Classic Adventure/Visual Novel > Puzzle > Shoot em Up/Cute em Up > SRPG > Tower Defense > Fighter > Racing > Sim

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General / Games to consider buying before they some day become pricey?

« on: March 11, 2014, 04:04:25 am »

I've got habit of missing out on games when they were less expensive. Classic, modern, whichever. Happens routinely, gets irritating for a CAG like me. One recent example, Cave Story 3D for the 3DS. Learned about it when it was hovering at about $50, decided I'd get around to getting it before last year's end and didn't. Now? It's about $80 to $100 for a complete copy. It happens a lot with classic games as well. I will discover a cool looking classic game I overlooked, go check prices on eBay and find that it's going for $60. Hit up PriceCharting and learn that the game was going for $20 about 6 months ago. 

Basically things that are suited to my tastes seem to be on the rise, and I'm just a little too late for a reasonable deal. I'd like to take some proactive measures to get ahead somehow if possible. So I ask you classic and modern game guru's, what are some games that are good to invest in now, that you feel will not always stay so generously priced? I know some people say that expensive games never really loose much value after they release. Well, that doesn't explain why some old games can be going for $20 the summer of last year, and now $60. $20 is a significant loss of value from MSRP. Something must have rekindled the interest?

I'm not particularly well versed in NES, SNES, SMS, or Genesis (Mega Drive) despite all that I do already know about their libraries. Those are platforms that have really seen the price jump in recent years. We all know the essentials, but I keep discovering these lesser known gems too little, too late. If there is anything that has yet to become pricey still left, let me know.

Another platform is PS1. I feel like PS1 is an active volcano. I know a few of the games have already gotten out of hand, but also seems that a lot of games are generously priced for now. Any pointers to avoid an inflation disaster on PS1 would be appreciated. ... eh, let's go ahead and add PS2 on that same note. PS2 is mostly reasonable now. I do have a large library, but maybe I've overlooked some cool games that should not be missed at their current price?

For a general idea my top genres rpg, action and/or adventure, platformer, hack-n-slash, rhythm / music, unique / quirky, beat-em-up, run-n-gun... that sort of stuff, mostly but not strictly. Tall order I know. Thanks guys. 

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General / What was the most inexpensive sealed game you ever bought (that wasn't free)?

« on: March 07, 2014, 01:48:41 am »

Interesting topic I think. I thought of this a few days ago after I came across a dirt cheap sealed Splinter Cell 3D (3DS) for exactly $2. The only sealed game I ever got cheaper than that, was a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula (SCD) for $1.

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Video Game Database Discussion / Are there any guides to submitting a covert art?

« on: March 05, 2014, 02:21:53 pm »

I don't see a guide specifying where a hundred and one different things should check out before submitting like with other sites. I'm mostly wondering, is there a specific image size that is or isn't allowed? Can cover images taken from the Internet be submitted? Obviously no watermarks I'm sure, but does it matter the source?