VGC's Anonymous/"General" Topic:

[sworddude]

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'm pretty sure allot of companies would love to keep both since it's more profit at the end of the day. let alone all the free advertising ye get with physical items through stores etc.

But death of physical media is just politics with the "better for the enviroment" excuse.

[tripredacus]

Something I never really thought about, whether or not some of the used PC games I bought that have product keys will actually work. I will find out with Mass Effect 2.

[bikingjahuty]

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.

[sworddude]

I don't think people downsizing is more common nowadays. it has always been a thing even in the early days when I collected. some of my best deals are from there even way back. People downsize for various reasons quite often for cases that they don't have control over it ain't always about just leaving the collection scene. They often need money at a decent speed and big mistakes happen there. meme offers on panzer dragoon saga being accepted for example.

Shitty stuff happens in life.

A new reason that people might have for selling a part of their collection is the big time increase in prices. but I wouldn't say it's more than in the past. I'd argue less considering the supply ain't what it used to be. and that would compensate if tons of people where selling their stuff off and make the prices lower.

Not to mention even underrated consoles like cib gameboy classic (which yes is underrated in comparison to other consoles for cib collecting it used to be ez mode in comparison to snes etc) even the mediocre scraps of bottom of the barrel gc classic games go for insane amounts nowadays and they are not left unnoticed like they used to since a few years ago. anything notable with handheld especially cib vanishes fast these days used to be go unnoticed often. Broken consoles are super ez to sell for nice prices thanks to the increase of people who mod/fix them didn't used to be this way.

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.

It doesn't help that you have more eyes on said sought after games. less things go unnoticed nowadays. If it did run it's course you'd expect less people to be interested in them peak games. I see the opposite. let alone the cib scraps. Also even fodder cart only stuff lots gets sold  faster these days. which actually was hard to get rid off some years prior. We don't talk about ps1 collecting. it's quite tragic what happens there. even fodder lots 


Biggest regret is probably not getting the pokemon sapphire GBA super pak. used to be only 200ish euro's back in the day wasn't to hard to find. Had the ruby pack for cheap quite often so I figured shouldn't be to hard to get. nowadays that sapphire pack is a couple thousand. Shitty thing was that the sapphire pack wasn't even that pricy prior to covid. but afterwards it just skyrocketed like crazy and it will probably remain at comparable insane prices.

Also in my experience from collectors in my own country. collectors are less likely to sell because they often regret doing so in the past and have to get it back at way higher prices let alone find these items in proper condition again especially if your a cib enjoyer. So people have a harder time letting go off the good stuff unless they have to.

[Warmsignal]

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.

[sworddude]

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.

Could be I guess, it is true that we have allot more speculators these days.

[dhaabi]

Surely Chris Pratt won't be voicing Mario forever. Right?

[sworddude]

Surely Chris Pratt won't be voicing Mario forever. Right?

So the speculation of mario's voice being from a different actor in the new 2D title turned out to be actual truth.

Rough times to be a mario fan. It is what it is. 

Charles did a phenomonal job, his replacement has some big shoes to fill. I will miss his voices allot in the new games

[Warmsignal]

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.

[Warmsignal]

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.

[tripredacus]

Since I recognize that I may not actually care about upgrading my current PC to maintain Steam support, I am redoing my backlog by basing the initial version on a chronological list rather than the mishmash it is now. By chronological it isn't when games came out, or even a historical when I got them. Rather I am starting by my addition order on VGC.

How I find this information since it isn't visible via the site normally: In Edit Settings for your account on the main site, you can export your collection vis CSV. Then you can import that CSV into Excel or Google Sheet and there you can find the add to collection timestamp. I will base it on that, and prior to 2020 (When I added Steam to my collection here) I will use Steam's sort by activity function. What this means for me is that I should be able to burn through games in my collection that do not require an internet connection, specifically console games.

I finished a 3rd of it already, which just involves moving 1 line between two text files while referencing the spreadsheet. That took about 5 hours lol.

[wolff242]

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.

I'm old enough to remember the video game crash in the mid 80's. As a poor kid, it was great. You could walk into any drug store or grocery store (Part of the problem in the end lol) and they would have tables of new/sealed games for $1-2 each. Like...hundreds of games to comb through. I would walk down to the store every sat with my allowance and get a new game or two.

[dhaabi]

I'm kinda bummed out. I did some math the other day and found that if i stayed on my current pace of playing things on my backlog, it would take me at least 57 years to complete it.

Since I recognize that I may not actually care about upgrading my current PC to maintain Steam support, I am redoing my backlog by basing the initial version on a chronological list rather than the mishmash it is now.

So, your projected pace of 57 years for backlog completion has been shortened to how long now?

[tripredacus]

I'm kinda bummed out. I did some math the other day and found that if i stayed on my current pace of playing things on my backlog, it would take me at least 57 years to complete it.

Since I recognize that I may not actually care about upgrading my current PC to maintain Steam support, I am redoing my backlog by basing the initial version on a chronological list rather than the mishmash it is now.

So, your projected pace of 57 years for backlog completion has been shortened to how long now?

Well that isn't likely to be that much different but at least now I won't be putting off pruning the list by abandoning many console games I'm sure I won't care for. Starting next year I expect my games list in the 52 to increase, but there will just be more red titles.

[tripredacus]

I finally managed to find a valid upgrade path for my gaming computer. When I say "valid" I'm meaning that it actually works without modifying the OS or the installers, but it certainly is *not* a supported path. It makes use of an intermediary release of Windows 10 that may not be available for download anymore because it got patched very soon after it became available.

Starting with Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64
install KB2990214
Do in-place upgrade using Windows 10 1511 install media
Do in-place upgrade using Windows 10 1809 install media

Now this will hopefully let me continue to use Steam past the end of the year, and this method means I don't have to re-install everything. If i am lucky I will only have to re-install some drivers. The above was done on a test system, an MSI MS-163K.

The next steps are to buy a new SSD, then clone my existing OS disk to it. Then perform the upgrades on the new disk. This way if it fails, I can just put my old disk in the PC.