Post by wafflerevolution on Sept 12, 2013 18:56:27 GMT
Basics
Member of CCU since March 23, 2005 Charter member and Former Leader.
You have been a part of the CCU from the very beginning and led the union from the time 8-bit vanished until the present, not counting the gap where aspro73 took over temporarily. While not all of our 400+ members are active, or even true collectors, did you think that there were so many people out there that enjoyed collecting games as much as they do playing them?
I was not surprised, mainly because of my understanding of the collector mentality. Before I collected games, I collected comics, before that it was music, and toys before that. My friends growing up collected the same things I did. My parents collect pottery and firearms and my extended family collects lots of things. Collecting is something that I'm familiar with, struggle with, love, and hate. I used to ask people on meeting them what it was they collected and it was strange to me when some of them answered, "Nothing."
What is it about collecting? The hunt? The preservation? Or something deeper?
It's been about both the hunt and the preservation at times. At other times it's been about having good games in abundance to play, or investing, or starting a business. I think that it is also an attempt to recover my childhood and even a little fear of either boredom or mortality thrown in for good measure.
How many games do you currently have in your collection?
4,132 not counting duplicates or on-system alternate versions (CE and regular, longbox and jewel case, etc.)
How many systems do you own?
In this discussion, I include the PC and arcade games. I have 41 systems not counting duplicates; I can play games for 46 systems (GB and GBC on GBA Player, etc.) and I have games for 56 systems
When did you start collecting?
Fall, 1984
What was your first system?
The Mattel Intellivision
What was your first game?
Swords & Serpents, Astrosmash or Triple Action-it's hard to remember now. They all got a lot of play time back then.
When did you feel a tipping point from gamer to both gamer and game collector?
I've kept my original INTV until the present day and had a few systems and several dozen games which I kept pristine as a kid, but got serious about it only since about 2000.
What happened in 2000? Anything you can point to? Do you know what your collection size was back then?
I bought a Dreamcast just to play Soul Calibur with my girlfriend at the time (she had a mean Seung Mina), but there were so many good games on it that it reminded me of the many fun games that I'd stupidly sold as a kid. I had under 100 games when I started to rebuild my Genesis, Sega CD and Master System collections. I got pretty good at finding games cheap, then it sort of got out of hand, and now here we are with me drowning in vintage games.
What do you do for a living?
I am a Ph.D. analytical chemist. My job title is "Scientist" and my job is to develop the kind of test and analysis equipment that people working in laboratories use to analyze, well, lots of things.
Let's talk about your collection
What are your goals as a game collector, how have you developed them, and how do you feel about your progress toward them?
My collection used to grow without set goals; I just acquired lots of interesting-looking games on systems with which I was either familiar or unfamiliar. After amassing a whole lot of stuff, I started to target games that followed themes, like "every Dynasty Warriors title" or "every PS1 RPG" or "every Atlus game published in NA" both as a book-keeping measure and to provide a challenge. As for progress towards my collecting goals, I'm at about 80% of where I'd like to be, though I don't mean in terms of size-there's a lot of stuff that I don't think I'll keep.
So you see yourself filtering some of your current collection then at some time? What would be the first to go?
It's already started with the multiples. The games that I don't have a strong attachment to, i.e. those I have never played or don't want owing to their condition, would be the first to go. This would include loose carts on Nintendo and Atari systems first.
Loose carts where you already have a copy?
I definitely sell if I have a better copy, but even if I don't. I don't subscribe to this "real collectors never sell anything" nonsense. I hear that from folks with much smaller collections than mine and I put no stock in it. If it benefits or pleases me to sell something, then I sell it, end of story. Your perspective changes when you've got two thousand games that you have yet to try.
What's your favorite part of your collection?
The big three are my Laseractive, Atomiswave, and dolled-up Neo Geo. For the first two, the games are fun and unusual and when I talk about them with people who tell me that they're "big game collectors", I get blank looks. For the AES and A-wave, I just like having arcade-perfect games at home.
What would you like to improve in your collection?
I'd like to upgrade the condition of my incomplete or damaged games, and I'd definitely like to phase out all loose cartridges, just like I have culled out all but a handful of the loose disc-based games. Three pretty costly things I want are: to consolize my Atomiswave, to buy a Super MVS II Adapter to play my MVS games on my Neo Geo AES, and to get the remaining modules for my Laseractive so that, in addition to Genesis, Master System and Sega CD and some NTSC MegaDrive games, I can play all NTSC MegaDrive and Mega CD games and everything on every NEC system except the SuperGrafx in one deck with very nice A/V capabilities.
How many games, systems, etc. are "enough"?
Unless you've got more hands than me, one game at a time is really "enough", but aside from the snide answer, I'd say that if your indulgence in the hobby gets too expensive, bulky, or divisive, or if you start to lose interest, then you've got "enough" games.
What's your proudest moment as a game collector?
Completing a collecting goal is nice, so is finding new people that share this particular kink.
What's your least proud moment as a game collector?
I stole the Gear-to-Gear port cover from a Game Gear at a pawn shop because the second-hand GG that I had bought the previous week lacked one. I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway. At the time, I rationalized that the worth of the GG hadn't really changed and it had sold by the next time I went there, but that doesn't make it OK. I don't steal anymore, even things with no real value.
What's your biggest game collecting blunder or missed opportunity?
Over the years, I've seen a few unfamiliar game systems for sale that I passed on only to realize later that the prices were a steal. The most memorable was a Coleco Adam, complete with a printer, for $25. A more recent blunder is my buying an Atomiswave cartridge of Metal Slug 6 for $70 (It hasn't arrived yet) when they usually go for $250, only to discover after the auction that its serial number matches that of the bootleg copies that have been appearing recently. The bootlegs sell for ~$30 new from the Chinese company making them. Thankfully I didn't win the copy of Samurai Shodown 6 that the seller had, though I bid it up to $250. Somebody got screwed hard on that one, and it was nearly me.
What item in your collection do you feel you most overpaid for?
A PAL-format Supergun that I thought I could adapt to work with my TV. It was a waste of $45 and a lot of time, although it did come with a working Double Dragon motherboard that I kept.
What do you think was your best deal while game buying?
The 1-cent factory-sealed GC Ikaruga comes to mind. It's still sealed since I had a playing copy prior to finding that one.
Amongst your non-gaming friends, are you proud of your collection or is it something you don't bring attention to?
Non-gaming friends?!
I don't generally call attention to the fact that I have enough games for a small city with my professional acquaintances, just like they don't talk about how much they like refinishing old furniture or reenacting Civil War battles. I am a little worried about spreading details of how much stuff I have, just from a safety standpoint. Crackheads don't care about how much trouble you've gone through to assemble a complete set of mint-condition whatever, just how much rock they can get for it.
Good point. Did you ever have to defend your collecting to someone, and if so, how?
I have occasionally had to explain "WHY?!" I have so many games to someone. I usually explain the reasons like, "It's better than blowing the money on meth", and "I'm a big fan of shelves", and then they laugh and I change the subject. It's hard to explain or defend the tendency to have a lot of something to someone who doesn't have that tendency. I am absolutely certain that I'm not a hoarder after watching a season and a half of A&E's Hoarders for two key reasons. First, other than the game room, my house is uncluttered, clean, and easy to navigate. Second, I sell things constantly. I don't mention the transactions where I flip games much on the CCU board, but along with every 10 games I add to my collection, there are probably 1 or 2 being flipped or traded to subsidize the cost of what I do buy.
What do you feel is the most valuable and/or rare item in your collection?
Most valuable is a Ranger Mission full kit. They were fetching ~$1500 from arcade distributors when I got mine, even though I got it for a lot less.
Rarity is tough to rank when you start factoring in low print run stuff, games that were store exclusives or were released at only one convention, homebrews, cart conversions, prototypes, arcade motherboards, imports, demos, etc. That said, for normal commercially-released games, it's a tie between a few PS1 games: Psychic Detective, The Special Edition of Rayman 2 that came with a wristwatch and Fox Hunt, which are all R8s according to the Digital Press. I'd like to be able to say that it's an Elemental Gearbolt Assassin's Case Edition, but $1400 was a little rich for my tastes.
What do you feel is the strangest or weirdest item in your collection?
My Trance Vibrator is weird, I guess, but I don't think that I have a good gauge for weird.
What item(s) do you not have in your collection that people are surprised to hear you don't have?
There are lots of mainstream titles that I've never wanted: most glaring to most people is that I have no Guitar Hero in any form. *Gasp* I just don't care for it.
Fair enough. We can't all like everything. Do you have a funny story about your collection?
Once , when we were still in an apartment, our complex sent crews out to replace all the sink aerators and install low-flow shower heads in the bathrooms. Three people came through my apartment at different times, and all three of them saw my piles of boxes and asked me the same question, "Oh, are you moving in or moving out?" I also get a lot of generous offers from people to let me lend games to them. I think it's funny that they expect me to say yes.
Where/how do you store it all?
*laughs weakly*
In lots of shelving, boxes, and until recently, a climate-controlled storage unit. My entire collection (aside from a Virtual Boy that I bought on vacation and accidentally left at my parents' house) is in the same place again after an extended period where my collection had outgrown my apartment. I'm still sorting and arranging it, a process that fluctuates after getting a more than full-time job.
What gaming resources and game collecting tools do you use?
My collection is recorded in an Excel spreadsheet, although I have on-line versions at Gamespot, The Digital Press, and now, Backloggery. I have the Collectorz software, along with the little barcode reader that they offer, but it only took ~150 scans before I found two games with exactly the same SKU: Snowboard Kids on DS, and World Soccer '94: Road to Glory on Genesis. They are both Atlus-published, and I guess they decided to reuse the barcode thinking that those two games wouldn't coexist at retail. That derailed my plans to quickly populate my collection in a Collectorz database on the first day, unfortunately. I use TrueAchievements, GameFaqs, Neo-Geo.com, and Xbox360achievents.org and eBay is a really useful tool, as is Craigslist sometimes.
Have you ever had to move your collection to another house? What was it like?
Yes. It was literally quite painful; see my blog entry on mercenary practices in the rental real estate business for details. I actually had numbness in my extremities for weeks from a back injury that occurred during the move.
Yikes. Hopefully you won't have to do that again anytime soon. The console for which you have the most games is the Playstation (541). Is that indicative of it being your favorite console or just a matter of availability? I think that is about a third of the games made for the Playstation.
Availability. There are certainly some PS1 games that I'd put amongst my all-time favorites, but that number is not proportional to the number that I own.
You have a few systems for which you have just one game, the Phillips CD-i, NeoGeo CD, Commodore 64, Atari Jaguar and Jaguar CD, NG Pocket Color and Channel F. Now for some of those games I know that you don't yet have the system, but for those consoles that you do have do you have any desire to get more games for those systems?
I have a Neo CD and a Pocket Color. I'd like to get more games for the Pocket, but my local shop treasures them ($20+ apiece, loose) and I generally don't play games on the go. I strive for complete ones, which means eBay, and I usually get distracted once on the site looking for things that are higher up on my want list.
A rundown of the others:
CD-i--the only console that I've owned once and don't want back. It ate my copy of the miserable Link: The Faces of Evil.
NGCD--I'd like to get Ironclad and Crossed Swords 2, but it's just not a priority.
Commodore 64--I found that Star Trek game cheap somewhere and bought it, but I have no experience with the hardware.
Jaguar-- I've got 1 game and a multi-tap, but that's it. I'd like one, but it'll have to fall in my lap, same with the CD drive.
Channel F--Got a complete game in a trade, but I don't have a system on which to play it. Someday, maybe...
Can you recall which of your games was on your "hit list" for the longest time? The game you knew you wanted, but took you the longest time to acquire?
It was probably Magician Lord, but buying the system to play it took a lot of mental wrestling (AES launch until 2004) before finally deciding to get one.
Does it diminish your sense of accomplishment that that game is now available for digital distribution on the Wii?
Not at all. I've got nothing against the Virtual Console, XBL Arcade, or digital distribution of older titles, but Wii owners that feel they've got the full Neo Geo experience having played an emulated copy of Magician Lord are mistaken. I've got Samurai Shodown V on X-Box, but I still want the AES version, for the same reason.
What's at the top of your game wish list right now?
Right now, it's probably Pulstar on AES, but I'm not holding my breath, as it is $500+ when it appears. The problem with the more expensive Neo stuff is counterfeiters passing off bootlegs and conversions as the real deal, and the likelihood of that increases with expense, so I'm hesitant to drop that kind of money on a title with a history of being faked.
In addition to collecting games, do you collect any other game related paraphernalia?
Yep, mostly strategy guides (got about 425 now) and weird peripherals. I have some art books and soundtracks, but I've never really made it a point to collect toys, plushies, etc. Recently, I have been getting some more apparel, although I can't really wear it at work.
Is there any way you'd ever stop collecting?
Never say never, but I doubt it.
Well, if you were to, what's your "walk away" price (enough money for you to sell your entire collection and walk away)?
I don't think I could take less than $75k, and I'd use part of it to start rebuilding a more selective version of my current collection.
What are you going to do if physical game media becomes a thing of the past?
I think that there will be too much pushback from the market for this to become widespread. In the cases of print media and movies, where digital distribution is catching on, the difference between watching a 2-hr movie once and once every few years is small enough in people's minds that it explains the popularity. e-Readers and books are also similar enough experientially that I can understand their popularity. Gaming is different. I have never wanted to revisit books or movies or trade them with friends as much as games, and the high value of mass-market videogames relative to mass-produced movies and books make them useful on the trade-in market, which helps sustain the new game market. All that said, if we start to lose physical media for games, I will grudgingly have to follow the trend or I won't be playing anything new. However, I will be holding on to anything where I have a physical copy with a death grip.
If your significant other told you no more games, what would you do? Or does your significant other collect as well?
I strongly doubt that this would ever happen, as games are pretty firmly a part of my interests. If she actually gave me an ultimatum like that, then it would be a symptom of bigger problems with the relationship. It would lead to counseling or worse outcomes failing that. My wife does have an N-Gage and a meager collection of games for it, but having lots of games holds no interest for her. Besides, where could she put them?
Let's talk about the gaming side of this hobby
How many of your systems are hooked up and ready to play?
Only a few at present: 360, PS2, PS3, Wii, CDX with Power Base Converter near to hand. I get the urge to play systems that use RF switches very infrequently these days.
What kind of audio-video setup do you experience your games on? (For example, 40 inch LCD tv with surround sound?)What kind of audio-video setup do you experience your games on? (For example, 40 inch LCD tv with surround sound?)
My PC is a pretty run-of-the-mill Vaio desktop from '07, though I've got a 24" flatpanel monitor for it. My A/V setup looks impressive, but I rarely use it to the fullest. I've got a Monster Power rack-mount power conditioner, with full 5.0 surround sound (I don't need a sub with the speakers I've got) system's worth of speakers and a nice receiver, but I leave them turned off and just use the TV speakers 99% of the time. The TV is a 36" HD tube, the same one from the old collection photos. I still think that a 4:3 tube is the best all-around gaming TV that you can get. I usually play sitting on a $20 folding chair, placed about 3 feet from the TV. I'd like to get a more comfy chair, but I haven't found quite the right one yet. We recently mounted the Kinect on the wall above the TV so we can play 2-player without moving the couch.
What percentage of your games are still sealed?
Roughly 10% of the unique titles; it's a bit higher if you count multiples.
What percentage of your games have you actually played? Completed?
Played? Roughly a third. Completed? Maybe 400 titles--a solid number but still a woefully small percentage.
As a gamer, do you have many opportunities to play games co-op?
I don't take them very often, but I've had a good time playing co-op through Live. I used to play a fair amount with Wafle, Jollyroger, and Pikadeth's wife, but it's been a while. I don't play much local co-op since my wife isn't much into gaming and I try not to let too many folks into the secret that I've got a good-sized pile of games in my house. I used to throw game parties pretty regularly during grad school where people would come and sample various new acquisitions, but those dried up as we all graduated. As for my friends that are close enough to drive over, we usually just play over Live.
Where do you get your gaming news?
I read Penny Arcade pretty religiously. I never miss a Zero Punctuation episode or a Jimquisition, and I consume the Destructoid show and Podtoid every week. I like to catch reviews from Adam Sessler or Morgan Webb and watch Jessica Chobot's IGN Insider stuff on Live when I get the chance. I visit lots of gaming forums and I visit Gamespot, Kotaku, IGN, Giant Bomb, Pete Dorr's Youtube channel and sometimes NeoGaf and Ars Technica.
Of the current generation consoles, what do you spend most of your time playing? Collecting for? Why?
For both play time and collecting, it's the Xbox 360. I just like it more than the PS3 and the Wii. I collect notable games on all three systems, but the likelihood is that I'll only play it if it's on 360 and I'll only buy it on another system if it isn't on the 360. Of the current gen systems, I like the games that appear on it (and PS3) the most; I like Live; and I like achievements. I don't have a single Trophy. When I played the PS3 more, they didn't exist yet, and I haven't gone back to the PS3 for gaming since. My PS3 is probably turned on as much or more than my 360, but I use it for Blu-Ray playback.
Do you consider yourself unbiased with regard to the other systems on the market?
No. I try to keep an open mind, but I still have a grudge against Sony regarding their role in Sega's leaving the hardware business that isn't subtle. I still support Sony, but not as strongly as the other platform holders.
Well, that seems like an understatement considering you are the number one Sony game collector in the CCU, with over 1069 games on Sony systems alone!
Thanks, gmsnpr, for your time!
Member of CCU since March 23, 2005 Charter member and Former Leader.
You have been a part of the CCU from the very beginning and led the union from the time 8-bit vanished until the present, not counting the gap where aspro73 took over temporarily. While not all of our 400+ members are active, or even true collectors, did you think that there were so many people out there that enjoyed collecting games as much as they do playing them?
I was not surprised, mainly because of my understanding of the collector mentality. Before I collected games, I collected comics, before that it was music, and toys before that. My friends growing up collected the same things I did. My parents collect pottery and firearms and my extended family collects lots of things. Collecting is something that I'm familiar with, struggle with, love, and hate. I used to ask people on meeting them what it was they collected and it was strange to me when some of them answered, "Nothing."
What is it about collecting? The hunt? The preservation? Or something deeper?
It's been about both the hunt and the preservation at times. At other times it's been about having good games in abundance to play, or investing, or starting a business. I think that it is also an attempt to recover my childhood and even a little fear of either boredom or mortality thrown in for good measure.
How many games do you currently have in your collection?
4,132 not counting duplicates or on-system alternate versions (CE and regular, longbox and jewel case, etc.)
How many systems do you own?
In this discussion, I include the PC and arcade games. I have 41 systems not counting duplicates; I can play games for 46 systems (GB and GBC on GBA Player, etc.) and I have games for 56 systems
When did you start collecting?
Fall, 1984
What was your first system?
The Mattel Intellivision
What was your first game?
Swords & Serpents, Astrosmash or Triple Action-it's hard to remember now. They all got a lot of play time back then.
When did you feel a tipping point from gamer to both gamer and game collector?
I've kept my original INTV until the present day and had a few systems and several dozen games which I kept pristine as a kid, but got serious about it only since about 2000.
What happened in 2000? Anything you can point to? Do you know what your collection size was back then?
I bought a Dreamcast just to play Soul Calibur with my girlfriend at the time (she had a mean Seung Mina), but there were so many good games on it that it reminded me of the many fun games that I'd stupidly sold as a kid. I had under 100 games when I started to rebuild my Genesis, Sega CD and Master System collections. I got pretty good at finding games cheap, then it sort of got out of hand, and now here we are with me drowning in vintage games.
What do you do for a living?
I am a Ph.D. analytical chemist. My job title is "Scientist" and my job is to develop the kind of test and analysis equipment that people working in laboratories use to analyze, well, lots of things.
Let's talk about your collection
What are your goals as a game collector, how have you developed them, and how do you feel about your progress toward them?
My collection used to grow without set goals; I just acquired lots of interesting-looking games on systems with which I was either familiar or unfamiliar. After amassing a whole lot of stuff, I started to target games that followed themes, like "every Dynasty Warriors title" or "every PS1 RPG" or "every Atlus game published in NA" both as a book-keeping measure and to provide a challenge. As for progress towards my collecting goals, I'm at about 80% of where I'd like to be, though I don't mean in terms of size-there's a lot of stuff that I don't think I'll keep.
So you see yourself filtering some of your current collection then at some time? What would be the first to go?
It's already started with the multiples. The games that I don't have a strong attachment to, i.e. those I have never played or don't want owing to their condition, would be the first to go. This would include loose carts on Nintendo and Atari systems first.
Loose carts where you already have a copy?
I definitely sell if I have a better copy, but even if I don't. I don't subscribe to this "real collectors never sell anything" nonsense. I hear that from folks with much smaller collections than mine and I put no stock in it. If it benefits or pleases me to sell something, then I sell it, end of story. Your perspective changes when you've got two thousand games that you have yet to try.
What's your favorite part of your collection?
The big three are my Laseractive, Atomiswave, and dolled-up Neo Geo. For the first two, the games are fun and unusual and when I talk about them with people who tell me that they're "big game collectors", I get blank looks. For the AES and A-wave, I just like having arcade-perfect games at home.
What would you like to improve in your collection?
I'd like to upgrade the condition of my incomplete or damaged games, and I'd definitely like to phase out all loose cartridges, just like I have culled out all but a handful of the loose disc-based games. Three pretty costly things I want are: to consolize my Atomiswave, to buy a Super MVS II Adapter to play my MVS games on my Neo Geo AES, and to get the remaining modules for my Laseractive so that, in addition to Genesis, Master System and Sega CD and some NTSC MegaDrive games, I can play all NTSC MegaDrive and Mega CD games and everything on every NEC system except the SuperGrafx in one deck with very nice A/V capabilities.
How many games, systems, etc. are "enough"?
Unless you've got more hands than me, one game at a time is really "enough", but aside from the snide answer, I'd say that if your indulgence in the hobby gets too expensive, bulky, or divisive, or if you start to lose interest, then you've got "enough" games.
What's your proudest moment as a game collector?
Completing a collecting goal is nice, so is finding new people that share this particular kink.
What's your least proud moment as a game collector?
I stole the Gear-to-Gear port cover from a Game Gear at a pawn shop because the second-hand GG that I had bought the previous week lacked one. I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway. At the time, I rationalized that the worth of the GG hadn't really changed and it had sold by the next time I went there, but that doesn't make it OK. I don't steal anymore, even things with no real value.
What's your biggest game collecting blunder or missed opportunity?
Over the years, I've seen a few unfamiliar game systems for sale that I passed on only to realize later that the prices were a steal. The most memorable was a Coleco Adam, complete with a printer, for $25. A more recent blunder is my buying an Atomiswave cartridge of Metal Slug 6 for $70 (It hasn't arrived yet) when they usually go for $250, only to discover after the auction that its serial number matches that of the bootleg copies that have been appearing recently. The bootlegs sell for ~$30 new from the Chinese company making them. Thankfully I didn't win the copy of Samurai Shodown 6 that the seller had, though I bid it up to $250. Somebody got screwed hard on that one, and it was nearly me.
What item in your collection do you feel you most overpaid for?
A PAL-format Supergun that I thought I could adapt to work with my TV. It was a waste of $45 and a lot of time, although it did come with a working Double Dragon motherboard that I kept.
What do you think was your best deal while game buying?
The 1-cent factory-sealed GC Ikaruga comes to mind. It's still sealed since I had a playing copy prior to finding that one.
Amongst your non-gaming friends, are you proud of your collection or is it something you don't bring attention to?
Non-gaming friends?!
I don't generally call attention to the fact that I have enough games for a small city with my professional acquaintances, just like they don't talk about how much they like refinishing old furniture or reenacting Civil War battles. I am a little worried about spreading details of how much stuff I have, just from a safety standpoint. Crackheads don't care about how much trouble you've gone through to assemble a complete set of mint-condition whatever, just how much rock they can get for it.
Good point. Did you ever have to defend your collecting to someone, and if so, how?
I have occasionally had to explain "WHY?!" I have so many games to someone. I usually explain the reasons like, "It's better than blowing the money on meth", and "I'm a big fan of shelves", and then they laugh and I change the subject. It's hard to explain or defend the tendency to have a lot of something to someone who doesn't have that tendency. I am absolutely certain that I'm not a hoarder after watching a season and a half of A&E's Hoarders for two key reasons. First, other than the game room, my house is uncluttered, clean, and easy to navigate. Second, I sell things constantly. I don't mention the transactions where I flip games much on the CCU board, but along with every 10 games I add to my collection, there are probably 1 or 2 being flipped or traded to subsidize the cost of what I do buy.
What do you feel is the most valuable and/or rare item in your collection?
Most valuable is a Ranger Mission full kit. They were fetching ~$1500 from arcade distributors when I got mine, even though I got it for a lot less.
Rarity is tough to rank when you start factoring in low print run stuff, games that were store exclusives or were released at only one convention, homebrews, cart conversions, prototypes, arcade motherboards, imports, demos, etc. That said, for normal commercially-released games, it's a tie between a few PS1 games: Psychic Detective, The Special Edition of Rayman 2 that came with a wristwatch and Fox Hunt, which are all R8s according to the Digital Press. I'd like to be able to say that it's an Elemental Gearbolt Assassin's Case Edition, but $1400 was a little rich for my tastes.
What do you feel is the strangest or weirdest item in your collection?
My Trance Vibrator is weird, I guess, but I don't think that I have a good gauge for weird.
What item(s) do you not have in your collection that people are surprised to hear you don't have?
There are lots of mainstream titles that I've never wanted: most glaring to most people is that I have no Guitar Hero in any form. *Gasp* I just don't care for it.
Fair enough. We can't all like everything. Do you have a funny story about your collection?
Once , when we were still in an apartment, our complex sent crews out to replace all the sink aerators and install low-flow shower heads in the bathrooms. Three people came through my apartment at different times, and all three of them saw my piles of boxes and asked me the same question, "Oh, are you moving in or moving out?" I also get a lot of generous offers from people to let me lend games to them. I think it's funny that they expect me to say yes.
Where/how do you store it all?
*laughs weakly*
In lots of shelving, boxes, and until recently, a climate-controlled storage unit. My entire collection (aside from a Virtual Boy that I bought on vacation and accidentally left at my parents' house) is in the same place again after an extended period where my collection had outgrown my apartment. I'm still sorting and arranging it, a process that fluctuates after getting a more than full-time job.
What gaming resources and game collecting tools do you use?
My collection is recorded in an Excel spreadsheet, although I have on-line versions at Gamespot, The Digital Press, and now, Backloggery. I have the Collectorz software, along with the little barcode reader that they offer, but it only took ~150 scans before I found two games with exactly the same SKU: Snowboard Kids on DS, and World Soccer '94: Road to Glory on Genesis. They are both Atlus-published, and I guess they decided to reuse the barcode thinking that those two games wouldn't coexist at retail. That derailed my plans to quickly populate my collection in a Collectorz database on the first day, unfortunately. I use TrueAchievements, GameFaqs, Neo-Geo.com, and Xbox360achievents.org and eBay is a really useful tool, as is Craigslist sometimes.
Have you ever had to move your collection to another house? What was it like?
Yes. It was literally quite painful; see my blog entry on mercenary practices in the rental real estate business for details. I actually had numbness in my extremities for weeks from a back injury that occurred during the move.
Yikes. Hopefully you won't have to do that again anytime soon. The console for which you have the most games is the Playstation (541). Is that indicative of it being your favorite console or just a matter of availability? I think that is about a third of the games made for the Playstation.
Availability. There are certainly some PS1 games that I'd put amongst my all-time favorites, but that number is not proportional to the number that I own.
You have a few systems for which you have just one game, the Phillips CD-i, NeoGeo CD, Commodore 64, Atari Jaguar and Jaguar CD, NG Pocket Color and Channel F. Now for some of those games I know that you don't yet have the system, but for those consoles that you do have do you have any desire to get more games for those systems?
I have a Neo CD and a Pocket Color. I'd like to get more games for the Pocket, but my local shop treasures them ($20+ apiece, loose) and I generally don't play games on the go. I strive for complete ones, which means eBay, and I usually get distracted once on the site looking for things that are higher up on my want list.
A rundown of the others:
CD-i--the only console that I've owned once and don't want back. It ate my copy of the miserable Link: The Faces of Evil.
NGCD--I'd like to get Ironclad and Crossed Swords 2, but it's just not a priority.
Commodore 64--I found that Star Trek game cheap somewhere and bought it, but I have no experience with the hardware.
Jaguar-- I've got 1 game and a multi-tap, but that's it. I'd like one, but it'll have to fall in my lap, same with the CD drive.
Channel F--Got a complete game in a trade, but I don't have a system on which to play it. Someday, maybe...
Can you recall which of your games was on your "hit list" for the longest time? The game you knew you wanted, but took you the longest time to acquire?
It was probably Magician Lord, but buying the system to play it took a lot of mental wrestling (AES launch until 2004) before finally deciding to get one.
Does it diminish your sense of accomplishment that that game is now available for digital distribution on the Wii?
Not at all. I've got nothing against the Virtual Console, XBL Arcade, or digital distribution of older titles, but Wii owners that feel they've got the full Neo Geo experience having played an emulated copy of Magician Lord are mistaken. I've got Samurai Shodown V on X-Box, but I still want the AES version, for the same reason.
What's at the top of your game wish list right now?
Right now, it's probably Pulstar on AES, but I'm not holding my breath, as it is $500+ when it appears. The problem with the more expensive Neo stuff is counterfeiters passing off bootlegs and conversions as the real deal, and the likelihood of that increases with expense, so I'm hesitant to drop that kind of money on a title with a history of being faked.
In addition to collecting games, do you collect any other game related paraphernalia?
Yep, mostly strategy guides (got about 425 now) and weird peripherals. I have some art books and soundtracks, but I've never really made it a point to collect toys, plushies, etc. Recently, I have been getting some more apparel, although I can't really wear it at work.
Is there any way you'd ever stop collecting?
Never say never, but I doubt it.
Well, if you were to, what's your "walk away" price (enough money for you to sell your entire collection and walk away)?
I don't think I could take less than $75k, and I'd use part of it to start rebuilding a more selective version of my current collection.
What are you going to do if physical game media becomes a thing of the past?
I think that there will be too much pushback from the market for this to become widespread. In the cases of print media and movies, where digital distribution is catching on, the difference between watching a 2-hr movie once and once every few years is small enough in people's minds that it explains the popularity. e-Readers and books are also similar enough experientially that I can understand their popularity. Gaming is different. I have never wanted to revisit books or movies or trade them with friends as much as games, and the high value of mass-market videogames relative to mass-produced movies and books make them useful on the trade-in market, which helps sustain the new game market. All that said, if we start to lose physical media for games, I will grudgingly have to follow the trend or I won't be playing anything new. However, I will be holding on to anything where I have a physical copy with a death grip.
If your significant other told you no more games, what would you do? Or does your significant other collect as well?
I strongly doubt that this would ever happen, as games are pretty firmly a part of my interests. If she actually gave me an ultimatum like that, then it would be a symptom of bigger problems with the relationship. It would lead to counseling or worse outcomes failing that. My wife does have an N-Gage and a meager collection of games for it, but having lots of games holds no interest for her. Besides, where could she put them?
Let's talk about the gaming side of this hobby
How many of your systems are hooked up and ready to play?
Only a few at present: 360, PS2, PS3, Wii, CDX with Power Base Converter near to hand. I get the urge to play systems that use RF switches very infrequently these days.
What kind of audio-video setup do you experience your games on? (For example, 40 inch LCD tv with surround sound?)What kind of audio-video setup do you experience your games on? (For example, 40 inch LCD tv with surround sound?)
My PC is a pretty run-of-the-mill Vaio desktop from '07, though I've got a 24" flatpanel monitor for it. My A/V setup looks impressive, but I rarely use it to the fullest. I've got a Monster Power rack-mount power conditioner, with full 5.0 surround sound (I don't need a sub with the speakers I've got) system's worth of speakers and a nice receiver, but I leave them turned off and just use the TV speakers 99% of the time. The TV is a 36" HD tube, the same one from the old collection photos. I still think that a 4:3 tube is the best all-around gaming TV that you can get. I usually play sitting on a $20 folding chair, placed about 3 feet from the TV. I'd like to get a more comfy chair, but I haven't found quite the right one yet. We recently mounted the Kinect on the wall above the TV so we can play 2-player without moving the couch.
What percentage of your games are still sealed?
Roughly 10% of the unique titles; it's a bit higher if you count multiples.
What percentage of your games have you actually played? Completed?
Played? Roughly a third. Completed? Maybe 400 titles--a solid number but still a woefully small percentage.
As a gamer, do you have many opportunities to play games co-op?
I don't take them very often, but I've had a good time playing co-op through Live. I used to play a fair amount with Wafle, Jollyroger, and Pikadeth's wife, but it's been a while. I don't play much local co-op since my wife isn't much into gaming and I try not to let too many folks into the secret that I've got a good-sized pile of games in my house. I used to throw game parties pretty regularly during grad school where people would come and sample various new acquisitions, but those dried up as we all graduated. As for my friends that are close enough to drive over, we usually just play over Live.
Where do you get your gaming news?
I read Penny Arcade pretty religiously. I never miss a Zero Punctuation episode or a Jimquisition, and I consume the Destructoid show and Podtoid every week. I like to catch reviews from Adam Sessler or Morgan Webb and watch Jessica Chobot's IGN Insider stuff on Live when I get the chance. I visit lots of gaming forums and I visit Gamespot, Kotaku, IGN, Giant Bomb, Pete Dorr's Youtube channel and sometimes NeoGaf and Ars Technica.
Of the current generation consoles, what do you spend most of your time playing? Collecting for? Why?
For both play time and collecting, it's the Xbox 360. I just like it more than the PS3 and the Wii. I collect notable games on all three systems, but the likelihood is that I'll only play it if it's on 360 and I'll only buy it on another system if it isn't on the 360. Of the current gen systems, I like the games that appear on it (and PS3) the most; I like Live; and I like achievements. I don't have a single Trophy. When I played the PS3 more, they didn't exist yet, and I haven't gone back to the PS3 for gaming since. My PS3 is probably turned on as much or more than my 360, but I use it for Blu-Ray playback.
Do you consider yourself unbiased with regard to the other systems on the market?
No. I try to keep an open mind, but I still have a grudge against Sony regarding their role in Sega's leaving the hardware business that isn't subtle. I still support Sony, but not as strongly as the other platform holders.
Well, that seems like an understatement considering you are the number one Sony game collector in the CCU, with over 1069 games on Sony systems alone!
Thanks, gmsnpr, for your time!