Have you seen Rarity: Retro Video Game Collecting in the Modern Era? If so, what do you think of it? Are there parts you enjoyed? Was the focus on Wata and graded games strange to you or not? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Great video as always and so glad you guys covered this, I must not have been the only one who mentioned it ;-) I agree, it would be way better without the Wata "commercials"... in fact so much so I made an edited versions that removes them completely. Man it's way better now, and actually feels like a documentary about collecting games in the modern era 🕹
This ''documentary'' or should I say infomercial shows everything that's WRONG with retro collecting in this day and age. It's all about the MONEY !!! These F*cking youtube SELL OUTS that are in this WATA commercial should be cancelled ( that's what people do these days right ? 😉 ) and ashamed of themselves ! ( James AVGN learned nothing from that cheetahmen 2 kickstarter fail ) I started collecting for the NES in 1999 and saw the hobby getting rapped by Nintendoage and these so-called Nostalgia fans / collectors like Dain Anderson. And where are they now ? Gone with money in there pockets and games sold. I still have my old NES games and don't buy retro games for insane prices. Take my advice : Buy the retro games you grew up with for nostalgia. The games you got for your birthday and with xmas. If you really want to. For the rest... get yourself a flash or multi cartridge from aliexpress and play all the games you want. If you want to make money you should take advice from Warren Buffett. Don't invest in Bitcoin or retro games Minder tonen
Putting aside the WATA segment. Which I skipped since there was nothing of value to take from of it, I thought the documentary was good. Pretty matter-of-fact. Not cheesy or preachy. It was neat to see the rarer stuff I hadn't seen. The collectors interviewed had insightful and wise things to share about the hobby. Overall a positive experience, but again, without taking into account the WATA plug halfway through.
Thanks for talking about this. I just found out and would like to see the good segments. I've had my fill of WATA and rich dentist collectors from your excellent coverage of them. I will skip those parts.
I think writing a book that contains every game with reviews for future buyers is doing more for “gaming history” than containing games inside plastic shells
The part about Eric the dentist that makes me curious is how he said he got the money by pooling together money from friends and fam to go in on the graded games as an investment. What is the investment strategy for these people? Most of the titles he was showing off have already blown up in value and starting going back down, and in some cases saw massive drops. If he's essentially HODLing for the group, then what type of return on investment are they thinking they will eventually get? I would hope he already sold off the majority during their covid peaks. Otherwise, he isn't doing his investor buddies any favors. Not that I have any stake in it. Just weird from the outside looking in.
I remember being surprised back in the day that no one wanted Panzler Dragoon Saga in perfect condition for $60. I ended up selling it for $50 so someone could enjoy it
I remember buying a book from Pat at Retro Game Con in Syracuse NY in 2016. He was really nice, took a couple pictures with me, was even gentle with dismissing my half-serious pitch for a Genesis guidebook, BUT I did notice he looked really out of it or exhausted and was worried I said or did something to annoy him. Glad to hear randomly at the beginning of a segment on the podcast nearly 7 years later that I (probably) didn't annoy him and he had just done a lot of touring beforehand 😎
Came back to this video just as the WATA commercial in the documentary was starting. I literally thought you guys were calling him Dennis Con when in fact his name is Dennis Khan. That was just too funny to me and so I had to come back and leave this comment. Sometimes the joke just writes itself too perfectly.
I love Pat's documentary idea. I'm primarily a toy collector and think such a documentary could be broad and could have segments regarding many collecting categories. Specifically, I would love to see graded collecting in general, brought up in direct comparison to what came before that didn't need fixing. That we, as collectors, self-graded games in person and online through images. There was never a problem looking at an auction and a guy saying he thinks it's a C9, then judging the images provided. Also, how features of eBay ruined valuation and keep collectibles out of circulation with "buy it now, and to a lesser extent the "reserve" feature, compared to true auction systems of extending time and lengthy listing existence to maximize visibility.
Game Grading: Guy #1: why don't we sell snake oil and make thousands of dollars? Guy #2: Snake oil is too expensive, why don't we sell an empty promise of snake oil instead and make millions?
Yeah unfortunately this was being produced while WATA was still on top, and those "in the know" about the industry were being drowned out by all the money
It's still part of history. History is not always show the goodness of everything but also the bad. We cannot just simply erase the bad part of history.
Slabbing turns a game into an ornament. Maybe, that will help to "preserve" a few copies of Super Mario Brothers for 80,000,000 years. I'm sure that those distant-future archeologists will be substantially puzzled.
Game collecting doesn't need investment capitalism. I agree with all the criticisms, and most of them relate to how they conflate collecting with speculative profits. Profit is the worst incentive to "elevate" games.
This podcast really got me into retro collecting..not for profit, but collecting games I enjoy. I'll be really sad to see you guys go, but I just wanted to say thankyou Pat, thankyou Ian for the hard work, dedication, and quality entertainment over the years. In a world where couch co-op no longer exists, thanks for keeping us all company during our gaming sessions, God bless.
Hey, I’m the director. Thank you for your honest opinion. We made this doc on a shoestring budget during Covid so we were limited in the capacity of who we could get, where we could travel. I myself do have some graded games, I also have thousands of non-graded games and have friends on both sides of the fence in that segment. Because grading at the time was a hot button topic. It needed to be included. Part 2 which is already filming will have 3 times the interviews, people from all over the world and nothing about graded games. That being said I would love to offer you both a spot in the documentary where you can say whatever you want about the topics with no editing on our end. Again thanks for watching and giving your review. Onward and upward.
Hi Edward, thanks for stopping by. The issues isn't that graded games "needed to be included," but that it was presented in such a one-sided fashion and ignored a lot of facts known at the time in the community. I feel if you are doing a follow-up, it is important that there is information about what happened in the sealed/graded game market with a clear view of the landscape. With that said: 1) Whose decision was it to dedicate a near 25-minute section of your film promoting Wata games and graded games in general? Was that your sole decision or a combination decision of the directors/producers? 2) Was VGA or CGC contacted in a attempt to add to or refute information presented by Deniz and Eric? 3) Was any research done to substantiate value claims made by Eric Naierman, and if not, why? 4) Why was there no pushback in the film to the pro-graded games rhetoric such as "mantra of jealousy" and "organic rarity?". 5) Were other participants in the film made aware that statements like these that would end up in the film? 6) Why was there no real mention or coverage of the various Wata and Heritage Auctions controversies discussed over the years by us on the #CUPodcast, Seth Abramson, Karl Jobst, etc.? Do you feel it wasn't necessary or didn't fit with the theme of the film? 7) Will the second film address these aforementioned issues, the sale of Wata Games, the class-action lawsuit filed against Wata and Deniz, the bursting of the graded/sealed game market bubble, etc.? Will folks like Eric and Deniz be contacted to participate again and see where their stances and investments are at versus when this documentary was filmed? Looking forward to your responses and best of luck in the future.
Hi, I want to apologize for accidentally deleting the director’s reply by while fumbling on my phone post Super Bowl. It was thorough and while I definitely did not agree with 100% of the answers or reasoning, I commend Edward for stating his opinion openly.
@@PatTheNESpunk No worries. Here it is again for transparency. 1. While it may seem like that section was dedicated to Wata, it was really about appealing to and showcasing people who collect sealed games and showing it’s not all “speculators” or “Market manipulators and people collect sealed and or graded games for different reasons. The idea was never to have a pushed narrative at all but let the creators tell us what they thought. It seems most people we interviewed either were not against graded gaming, didn’t care how people wanted to collect or were for it. If anyone had something to say about not liking graded games (Robert) they were showcased. So I know this is long winded but the answer is this section was never set out to be a Wata section but through interviews Wata is mentioned enough. The theme of the whole piece is there is no right or wrong way to collect so the experiences and comments are each presenter’s personal feeling towards each subject. Timeline wise, by the time the Seth or Karl released their videos the movie was already done and if anything outside of allegations come from that, IE Wata loses a Lawsuit or is investigated by a governing body we will of course talk about that but while people get away with Libel and slander often on UA-cam it’s something I we want to stay clear of until there are actual governing sources with substantiated evidence and findings. 3. To answer the question about CGC and VGA. VGA was contacted with no response and CGC was not a thing yet when it came to video games. 4. By the time the doc was ready to come out, similar games with worse grades than Eric’s set record sales on Heritage, Goodwill and Ebay. We also personally know many regular people who throw money around like this on Video games, one particular is just a husband and wife with a small 70’s style house who spent hundreds of thousands per month on video games. Eric also holds the record for the highest ever sold Babe Ruth Card and other collectables and has been on TMZ as well as ESPN CNN etc talking all about his collection with actual journalists. Also having friends who collect comics and cards, the numbers being thrown around for video games are significantly low in comparison to the records in those other collectable fields. While it seems like a lot of money, 1,2, 3 million dollars is not a lot of money anymore. I know people who shoot weddings for a living making more than that in a few months or people in Los Angeles who will spent 200 grand on a vacation. It’s hard to fathom for some people, but rich people operate on a different level. 5. These are his feelings, there isn’t really a way to debunk someone’s personal feelings a l bout something. 6. Participants went to a private premiere before the film was ever released to the public, no concern was ever brought up by anyone except for the safety of Deniz at the premiere. By the premiere the Karl video was released As mentioned before, creators either didn’t care about grading, were for it. The people who didn’t care about grading didn’t care about the Karl video. The people who were for grading are still waiting for something to materialize outside UA-cam and Twitter allegations or also didn’t care. No one in any of the graded game collecting communities I follow in Facebook seem to care about either the Seth or Karl allegations, the only people who seem to care are those who were against graded games to begin with. 7. The idea of the doc was to explore different ways people collect whether that is hardware, software, region. As mentioned none of those controversies were out before the film was finished. There is 1 clip with the Karl controversy highlighted but because everything was already shot it was just B-roll. 8. The second doc we didn’t plan on having any segments about Graded games at all but we may mention it as a “state of collecting now” if by the time it comes out people are still talking about it. We were toying with Whatnot and DKoldies segments for example but by now that is already old news. Believe me, us ourselves have plenty of DMs etc from the anti-graded game community but the overall response to that section has been positive. We are taking comments and criticisms seriously going into part two and trying to stay away from controversy and show people more of the stuff they love like the rental segment which seems to be people’s favorite. While we were limited before because of Covid (and because literally 2 of us made this documentary) this second doc we will be traveling all over the country and even out of country to shoot human interest pieces on people who are in love with Retro games. Deniz and Eric may be contacted but just in the sense of their personal collections, we may do a recap on the state of the market but can’t guarantee their involvements. Again thanks for your honest review. We knew going in graded games in general we’re going to o be a touchy subject, our goal was to have something for everyone and that will continue to be our goal for part 2.
Have you heard? They are going to update the original Magnavox Odyssey! Color screen overlays and everything! But it will only work on a Magnavox TV. Easily will far outsell the PS2.
Just watched the documentary, just like Ian said, there are a few good stuff, stories and opinions, but I really hated the 'dentist' segment given everything that was uncovered about this "collector" and WATA. I surprisingly did not hate when Deniz Kahn was talking about his collection, but I wouldn't have showcased WATA at all. Grading could have been talked about in a more objective way without naming specific companies. I think If I was the director, I would have found people challenging this a bit more just to engage a discussion. Also, It would have been nice to have a bit of script around the whole narrative, giving a bit more perspective about the hobby in general, instead of just testimonies made by youtubers. The movie lacks research. On a positive note, I really enjoyed Jim Fontanot's perspective on Japanese culture towards collecting and I would have definitely taken more of Robert Komen or Heidi from Sweden, who, in many regards, are collectors I relate to.
Yep, speculation is certainly not a new or particularly saavy tactic, but like certain ex Presidents, it is the utter lack of subtlety to their entire organization that I find galling; like they’ve really convinced themselves that they are on the level as business professionals? It’s like they’re daring us to punish them…
To me the experience includes flipping all the cards at Toys R Us to read the backs and torture my parents for hours trying to pick one out of hundreds of games, and then reading all the backstory and looking at all the art in the instruction book in the back seat on the way home. Objectively a lesser experience without that.
I'm watching the documentary right now and at about 19 minutes into it a guy is literally telling the same exact story I heard Pat tell about getting a PCE system of some kind. The story is that he's at a flea market/swap meet, friends are browsing an "electronics" booth and he decides to look, finds it on the end of the table like "ZOMG, there's no way they know what this is" so he holds it up with his right hand high in the air and plainly asks "How much is this?" Seller replies "What is it?" This is the part where the story changes slightly so he explains some ethics, but just like Pat's story he just goes back to repeating the question, and then the seller assumes it's a router and says "$2" IIRC in Pat's story it was $5 tho, so maybe this is a separate occurrence of the EXACT SAME STORY
Weirdly, Frank Cifaldi got into a big argument with me on Twitter because I agree with you guys that it's not really preserved until the rom is dumped. To me preservation is the ability to play the rom and to have access to all the associated art and materials in some form.
It's why I really appreciate Digital Eclipse's efforts. Some people call them mere rom dumps, but the amount of extra materials like manual scans, concept art, etc etc makes them an experience. Not to mention being able to legally play Ducktales 2 without having to fork over hundreds of dollars is something I've been waiting decades for. (Also people have figured out how to extract working roms from some of their releases, so this is one of the best ways to get legal roms for emulator use)
Am I the only collector that collects games with BlockBuster labels? I love the novelty and the story the cartridges carry. I don’t understand mint game collecting. It’s no fun if you can enjoy the games.
I used to hate them, but now I keep all the games I get in rental cases as is. It's interesting to me as someone who grew up renting most of the games I played.
I have a copy of Power Rangers the fighting game for the SNES with a Blockbuster security sticker. The cartridge definitely looks like it got rented a lot, but the sticker adds to the story like you said.
Thanks guys. Sometimes I feel like voices of reason are drowned out by social predators (whether that be financial, emotional, physical, etc...), but your reasonable arguments and hard work, combined with your platform, do a great service to those who might be impacted by this kind of stuff.
The Documentary is called "Rarity". That alone should tell you the motivation of the filmmakers. It frames the whole situation in a subtle way before you even press play. This is also a last ditch effort to attract any remaining investors - the really slow "get rich quick" types who may come upon this on a streaming service, and think they've struck gold.
Grading sealed games is just like slabbed coins. It adds premiums not value to the item. The item has a value out of a graded container and a value in a graded container. The difference is just for a sticker showing the grade one person decides it’s condition. Grading is subjective. Big scam to squeeze money.
For me, nostalgia is just celebrating the things that made us who we are now. I don’t look at it so much as living in the past, but embracing the games, shows, movies, toys, etc, because we are who we are today as a result of those things being a part of our lives. Our childhood shouldn’t be locked away or ignored, it should be celebrated because we would be different people without those things we feel so nostalgic for now.
It’s not that nostalgia is necessarily bad, but it’s easily manipulated. A misremembered past, weaponized by a marketing exec to get you to pay a premium for retro looking toys/games/etc. A push to consume. A focus on the superficial trappings of an era without the ethical concerns or political background that informed those trappings or media pieces that made such an impression in the first place.
I just wanna say, when they are talking about your "investment level" and being more likely to enjoy the experience completely by tracking down the old game, hooking up your old console and all that; so true. I play my N64 games so thoroughly as if I was a kid again. I dont listen to podcasts while playing them. It's just me and the game. Even if I only played a half hour I feel so much more satisfied than if I played my more recent games for 3 hours. To me it's like Potato chips vs a fancy Dessert, cant have it all the time but when I do its soooo good.
The point that Ian makes about Spotify vs having an actual record really speaks to me. I lost my 4th, 5th and 6th generation consoles in a hurricane and currently emulation is my substitute but I do miss the days of popping in a cartridge or putting in a disk and sitting down and playing and giving that game my full attention instead and having a memorable experience. Emulation hasn't always been able to recapture that feeling and that's why I continuously keep my eye on ebay, dkodies and other places because I'm sure at some point I'm going to rebuy all of that old hardware.
@Nyx I've seen enough videos of people getting broken, dirty or defective consoles to for me not to trust them. If the prices were lower, I'd give them a shot.
For me collecting and seeing peoples rooms full of games and old stuff is not really exciting or interesting anymore. I used to follow more people on UA-cam but i started to feel like a lot of them only collect for approval and ego. I’d watch some of them and they had nothing to say about the games they owned other than to gush about how it’s rare and expensive. I have a small collection in comparison to people on UA-cam but a lot of my games I had as a kid and I have a lot of memories playing with friends and family. I do have some things that I haven’t got around to playing but I didn’t buy them because they were rare and expensive. I bought them because I thought they were interesting and I do have the intent to play all of them. I don’t think you always have to play everything and maybe you just like the art or the history and that’s fine. I just don’t get all excited about how much things are worth because it means nothing to me.
Totally agree about never acknowledging death threats. Lotsa people show them to the public, probably because they know that sympathy and support will come flooding in like never before, which is fine if you don’t mind giving the troll EXACTLY what they wanted at the same time. Much better to show them that their words were completely disposable.
There was a documentary about Nintendo Quest that I thought was great…however its since been tainted, not by the filmmakers, but by the fact Todd Rogers has a big part of it
How the hell are they gonna have the gall to say Wata is breaking down barriers to collecting? How? By making it too expensive for the majority of people? Also, How to Be a Scumbag 101: the first thing they teach you is: Pretend you've received death threats. Every shit stain on every social media platform does it. It's so gross.
Im 24 and i collect pretty much anything retro, though im big into ps1 right now. I dont understand grading games im not interested in them at all. I think they look nice and the high price makes them interesting. But im big into collecting controllers and accessories to use and play with. Why would i want a sealed one, what am i gonna do with that?
I was robbed of my storage from my wifes sister who is now in prison and lost my entire gaming collection. It was over 50,000$ worth of games including a unconfirmed real prototype for gyromite and Suprise at Dinosaur Peak. It is completely unrecoverable. Between that, my CVA, and being jumped and getting my teeth smashed - I find it hard every single day to continue bothering staying on this planet. Life sucks.
Collectors buy games to have the option to play. They get specific games or consoles etc they are passionate about. They don't just buy sealed things to stare at and never play. Games are meant to be played.
it's sad when a rich person says, your jealous. on the other hand that dude has the Barrett Jackson of collections. Besides the dentist and the WATA guy, i found the documentary mostly boring as i have already seen a thousand videos of all these youtubers pumping their pages.
When I send games to wata, I like to fart in the box in the hopes it is captured in the clear case. If you put it in the fridge and it fogs up, you have a winner! 😜
When someone "pays" $1.5 million for a sealed rated game that I enjoyed in my childhood and knew that every other kid had a copy of it (so we're saying millions of copies are out there is good playable condition; The only explanation I know of is MONEY LAUNDERING and an attempt of market manipulation.
I consider myself a fairly serious collector of games. I couldn't care less about game grading, or WATA. I think it's a total waste of money, and makes the hobby less accessible for the average person. Too many people buying WATA games don't care at all about games. It's just an investment. Which is a shame. Regardless, I'd NEVER pay more for a WATA graded game. Ever.
I am jealous. I wish I had money to throw away, at health insurance. Organic rarity was true rarity because no one thought to save or hoard worthless crap that only kids bought. Now people buy boxes of sealed games in the hope they become rare. Comparing games to Picasso? They compare games to art but are missing the point of videogames. I like art but videogames are not "art".
Aw shoot! Is that what I'm doing wrong? I shouldn't be buying these games because I like them, and they are neat to see them run on original hardware. A collector is someone who gets them in order to flip them at a higher cost! Oh, the egg on my face.
I do not trust anyone who contributes to this lunacy. Graded games, comics, and movies are what's ruining retro gaming collecting and preservation. It's all about money and status nothing else. If you find a game store or comic store that has shelves of graded products don't buy from them they are most likely ripping you off.
Wow, "organic rarity" is a wild thing to say - it's absolutely nonsensical. It'd almost be like me saying "presumptuous alphabet" or "methodical oxygen", it's just word salad gibberish. The fact it's used as an advertising term is nothing short of astonishing. What's sad is it probably worked on some people too.
If there's one thing I don't need more of in my life as a collector, it's more plastic shit. Especially plastic shit that serves no purpose other than to sit on a shelf or in storage.
I've started buying older games because it was either a game I had and sold it and want to play again or games I wanted but couldn't afford at the time not to turn a profit that's a trader not a collector. It's annoying when they call them self a collector with the intention to make a profit YOUR A F*****G TRADER.
I have to disagree with Ian on his views of Nostalgia. When people talk about "things being better in the past" what they mean is there was a standard that has been lost and things have suffered for it. Look at the comic book industry and how it's collapsing from too many years of horrible products no one wants. Look at the movie industry and how it's been so terrible that comic book movies have basically been the thing keeping it from falling apart as opposed to all the varied and innovative movies that came out in the 70s/80s/80s/very early 00s. Look at the music industry and how it's been stuck on repeat when back in the day musicians wanted to one up each other and it was the competition between artists that created scenes. And of course the video game industry like Nintendo vs. Sega where it came down to who had the better games? Ones unique to that console. It's not a subjective opinion. It's an objective fact. It's why people who are saying to Hell with things how they've been and instead are returning to the old standard, like in comics Eric July with his comic ISOM, have been met with great success. It's only now that the content creators are done with playing by the rules everyone else has been playing by for like 15-20 years that we can finally look forward to good content again. The Iron Age IS here, but it hasn't been wrong for the time in between to say it like it is and say things HAVE sucked when they didn't in the past.
For me, it's always about maintaining the memories that fade through time. That's why I still pick up an old game and keep playing. These superficial materialistic goofs can keep putting their games in plastic. It's their choice, but I'm not buying. Joke years ago. It's a joke now.
I love you guys videos. Been a follower for a long time. Don’t always agree with you guys tho. The whole grading issue you guys have is kinda ridiculous. The WATA shit that happened and went on is a crock of shit but at the same time some of us collectors like having our favorite game from back in the day sealed and graded. It means something to us. Not everyone does it to make money or “get in early” as y’all would say. Y’all always pretty much shit on anything that gets graded. I mean that’s what happens when something get popular. Comics records ETc. that’s what happens when something retro takes off and isn’t niche anymore. I completely understand your view on some of this but sometimes I think y’all look at the whole subject totally one sided. Anyways love you guys content. Keep up the great work and this is just my opinion about graded games like that is y’all’s. Thanks again.
7.22 im a 80s baby but i dont see the point of retro gaming collecting. Your example of records only helps the thought process of why people choose physical over digital or vice versa not why people collect nes etc. Nes/snes/megadrive has low quality music/graphics with zero attention to detail, even avgn says nes sucked in one episode, prior he cherry picked saying it CAN be good it CAN be then lists off a finite of games eg zelda/meteroid etc Games in that era were like poker machines to milk kids out of money, games werent designed to be completed with one credit, such as in the arcades and that mentality never changed on console. In the 90s game developers put more effort i.e no limited lives/credits/time limits (except maybe certain games) The old guy in waynes world said it best describing a little cube character he invented where the game cant be won but kids would keep pumpin in quarters (despite modern games like tekken CAN be won with one credit) The next cartridge also is DOUBLE the size of the motherboard, what a waste plastic and space pps games designed by western creators were even worse they gave zero fks, thats why the nerded listed gamed that were all JAPANESE!! 80% of the game you pick off the shelf right now for nes would be garbage, nostalgia has to have actual love behind it eg macgyver the tv show was fun, good music, morals that shaped you into adulthood, here its basically collecting the brand ITSELF whether its playable or not
Just like dashie games, he rants on about megaman was da bomb despite its not even his era and his terrible at games, people like a image or feeling (eg of nostalgia) is fine, but dont dont it for the sake of it, his bad at basic platforming (eg megaman and donkey kong) AND modern games. His never finished one of those games properly. Here is the same, those games wont be worth anything and unlike music/movies they wont age well in gameplay. James rolfe convinced me 30s horror and old movies can be good, THEY age well, here, its doing it for the sake of it
What's so weird I collect figures and movies because I enjoy having them. To me it's all an extension of myself and my personality and what I enjoy. To have this weird elitist mentality about sealed graded games makes absolutely no sense to me.
Wata is a Scam I like to have a game I can play for cheap not investment crazy money,I can see grades for coins but a video game?they are scamming people out of their money that doesn’t no better
Have you seen Rarity: Retro Video Game Collecting in the Modern Era? If so, what do you think of it? Are there parts you enjoyed? Was the focus on Wata and graded games strange to you or not? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
I haven't seen it. But I value your opinion on these things. Keep up the good work, Pat.
Great video as always and so glad you guys covered this, I must not have been the only one who mentioned it ;-)
I agree, it would be way better without the Wata "commercials"... in fact so much so I made an edited versions that removes them completely. Man it's way better now, and actually feels like a documentary about collecting games in the modern era 🕹
This ''documentary'' or should I say infomercial shows everything that's WRONG with retro collecting in this day and age. It's all about the MONEY !!! These F*cking youtube SELL OUTS that are in this WATA commercial should be cancelled ( that's what people do these days right ? 😉 ) and ashamed of themselves ! ( James AVGN learned nothing from that cheetahmen 2 kickstarter fail ) I started collecting for the NES in 1999 and saw the hobby getting rapped by Nintendoage and these so-called Nostalgia fans / collectors like Dain Anderson. And where are they now ? Gone with money in there pockets and games sold. I still have my old NES games and don't buy retro games for insane prices. Take my advice : Buy the retro games you grew up with for nostalgia. The games you got for your birthday and with xmas. If you really want to. For the rest... get yourself a flash or multi cartridge from aliexpress and play all the games you want. If you want to make money you should take advice from Warren Buffett. Don't invest in Bitcoin or retro games
Minder tonen
Putting aside the WATA segment. Which I skipped since there was nothing of value to take from of it, I thought the documentary was good. Pretty matter-of-fact. Not cheesy or preachy. It was neat to see the rarer stuff I hadn't seen. The collectors interviewed had insightful and wise things to share about the hobby. Overall a positive experience, but again, without taking into account the WATA plug halfway through.
Thanks for talking about this. I just found out and would like to see the good segments. I've had my fill of WATA and rich dentist collectors from your excellent coverage of them. I will skip those parts.
I think writing a book that contains every game with reviews for future buyers is doing more for “gaming history” than containing games inside plastic shells
But but what about the *organic rarity* those plastic shells provide??
If only there was a certain guidebook OR guidebooks! 😂 gotta pick up the SNES copy
Retro gaming fans still need Pat and Ian so we aren’t left with a bunch of yes men who sell one side of a story to us.
I never knew how elevated video game collecting could get until people started entombing their games in plastic!
those people arent gamers they are tax fraud artists and criminals.
You guys are needed in this space, to call out the bullshit!
The part about Eric the dentist that makes me curious is how he said he got the money by pooling together money from friends and fam to go in on the graded games as an investment. What is the investment strategy for these people? Most of the titles he was showing off have already blown up in value and starting going back down, and in some cases saw massive drops. If he's essentially HODLing for the group, then what type of return on investment are they thinking they will eventually get? I would hope he already sold off the majority during their covid peaks. Otherwise, he isn't doing his investor buddies any favors. Not that I have any stake in it. Just weird from the outside looking in.
I remember being surprised back in the day that no one wanted Panzler Dragoon Saga in perfect condition for $60. I ended up selling it for $50 so someone could enjoy it
I just dropped an organic rarity in the toilet.
Hahahahaha
Now that's a physical release !
@@JBird401 hahahahaha
Make sure you send it to WATA
If WATA grades it a 9.6 or higher, I would be a buyer in at $45k.
I remember buying a book from Pat at Retro Game Con in Syracuse NY in 2016. He was really nice, took a couple pictures with me, was even gentle with dismissing my half-serious pitch for a Genesis guidebook, BUT I did notice he looked really out of it or exhausted and was worried I said or did something to annoy him.
Glad to hear randomly at the beginning of a segment on the podcast nearly 7 years later that I (probably) didn't annoy him and he had just done a lot of touring beforehand 😎
You guys made slopes game room 4 hour documentary on the amico. Really going to miss the weekly podcasts.
On a related note, a complete Blu-ray set of the Video Game Years would be nice. Even if it was just Standard Def on Blu-rsy.
Cannot think of a single blu-ray transport that's incapable of reading a DVD
That bit about preserving games by dumping ROMs and scanning box art gave me chills.
I hear you. It's preservation for the right reasons.
9:00 nah, it's good that that's in there, because that dentist should absolutely be shown for who he is, who all these speculators are.
Pat is literally the retro video game Sherrif. Keep on keeping on Pat. Bang bang!
The "bang bang" bit gave me the hearthy chuckle I needed, thanks!
@@albedo00 :)
@@albedo00 and now I can't unsee Pat cosplaying as cactus jack
Came back to this video just as the WATA commercial in the documentary was starting. I literally thought you guys were calling him Dennis Con when in fact his name is Dennis Khan. That was just too funny to me and so I had to come back and leave this comment. Sometimes the joke just writes itself too perfectly.
Go ahead, you know you wanna say it: the founder of WATA is a kahn artist. 😂
I love Pat's documentary idea. I'm primarily a toy collector and think such a documentary could be broad and could have segments regarding many collecting categories. Specifically, I would love to see graded collecting in general, brought up in direct comparison to what came before that didn't need fixing. That we, as collectors, self-graded games in person and online through images. There was never a problem looking at an auction and a guy saying he thinks it's a C9, then judging the images provided. Also, how features of eBay ruined valuation and keep collectibles out of circulation with "buy it now, and to a lesser extent the "reserve" feature, compared to true auction systems of extending time and lengthy listing existence to maximize visibility.
Game Grading: Guy #1: why don't we sell snake oil and make thousands of dollars? Guy #2: Snake oil is too expensive, why don't we sell an empty promise of snake oil instead and make millions?
That's really disappointing that WATA was featured at all in this. At least the market is starting to correct itself.
Yeah unfortunately this was being produced while WATA was still on top, and those "in the know" about the industry were being drowned out by all the money
It's still part of history. History is not always show the goodness of everything but also the bad. We cannot just simply erase the bad part of history.
They need to be held accountable for market manipulation
I suppose Deniz would only agree to appear on the condition they do the plug.
Slabbing turns a game into an ornament. Maybe, that will help to "preserve" a few copies of Super Mario Brothers for 80,000,000 years. I'm sure that those distant-future archeologists will be substantially puzzled.
Those archeologists will be like oh so thats why their civilization collapsed.
Game collecting doesn't need investment capitalism. I agree with all the criticisms, and most of them relate to how they conflate collecting with speculative profits. Profit is the worst incentive to "elevate" games.
OT, but wanted to remind everyone that the 3DS eShop closes next month on the 27th!
Having a Wata section in this is like having FTX as a sponsor segment.
This podcast really got me into retro collecting..not for profit, but collecting games I enjoy. I'll be really sad to see you guys go, but I just wanted to say thankyou Pat, thankyou Ian for the hard work, dedication, and quality entertainment over the years. In a world where couch co-op no longer exists, thanks for keeping us all company during our gaming sessions, God bless.
"Sealed games" is Schrodinger's cat paradox. Ridiculousness.
All in the service of making collectors salivate like Pavlov’s Dog…
Hey, I’m the director. Thank you for your honest opinion. We made this doc on a shoestring budget during Covid so we were limited in the capacity of who we could get, where we could travel. I myself do have some graded games, I also have thousands of non-graded games and have friends on both sides of the fence in that segment. Because grading at the time was a hot button topic. It needed to be included. Part 2 which is already filming will have 3 times the interviews, people from all over the world and nothing about graded games. That being said I would love to offer you both a spot in the documentary where you can say whatever you want about the topics with no editing on our end. Again thanks for watching and giving your review. Onward and upward.
lol. lmao even
@@arcadeages3917 lol
Hi Edward, thanks for stopping by. The issues isn't that graded games "needed to be included," but that it was presented in such a one-sided fashion and ignored a lot of facts known at the time in the community. I feel if you are doing a follow-up, it is important that there is information about what happened in the sealed/graded game market with a clear view of the landscape. With that said:
1) Whose decision was it to dedicate a near 25-minute section of your film promoting Wata games and graded games in general? Was that your sole decision or a combination decision of the directors/producers?
2) Was VGA or CGC contacted in a attempt to add to or refute information presented by Deniz and Eric?
3) Was any research done to substantiate value claims made by Eric Naierman, and if not, why?
4) Why was there no pushback in the film to the pro-graded games rhetoric such as "mantra of jealousy" and "organic rarity?".
5) Were other participants in the film made aware that statements like these that would end up in the film?
6) Why was there no real mention or coverage of the various Wata and Heritage Auctions controversies discussed over the years by us on the #CUPodcast, Seth Abramson, Karl Jobst, etc.? Do you feel it wasn't necessary or didn't fit with the theme of the film?
7) Will the second film address these aforementioned issues, the sale of Wata Games, the class-action lawsuit filed against Wata and Deniz, the bursting of the graded/sealed game market bubble, etc.? Will folks like Eric and Deniz be contacted to participate again and see where their stances and investments are at versus when this documentary was filmed?
Looking forward to your responses and best of luck in the future.
Hi, I want to apologize for accidentally deleting the director’s reply by while fumbling on my phone post Super Bowl. It was thorough and while I definitely did not agree with 100% of the answers or reasoning, I commend Edward for stating his opinion openly.
@@PatTheNESpunk No worries. Here it is again for transparency. 1. While it may seem like that section was dedicated to Wata, it was really about appealing to and showcasing people who collect sealed games and showing it’s not all “speculators” or “Market manipulators and people collect sealed and or graded games for different reasons. The idea was never to have a pushed narrative at all but let the creators tell us what they thought. It seems most people we interviewed either were not against graded gaming, didn’t care how people wanted to collect or were for it. If anyone had something to say about not liking graded games (Robert) they were showcased. So I know this is long winded but the answer is this section was never set out to be a Wata section but through interviews Wata is mentioned enough. The theme of the whole piece is there is no right or wrong way to collect so the experiences and comments are each presenter’s personal feeling towards each subject. Timeline wise, by the time the Seth or Karl released their videos the movie was already done and if anything outside of allegations come from that, IE Wata loses a Lawsuit or is investigated by a governing body we will of course talk about that but while people get away with Libel and slander often on UA-cam it’s something I we want to stay clear of until there are actual governing sources with substantiated evidence and findings.
3. To answer the question about CGC and VGA. VGA was contacted with no response and CGC was not a thing yet when it came to video games.
4. By the time the doc was ready to come out, similar games with worse grades than Eric’s set record sales on Heritage, Goodwill and Ebay. We also personally know many regular people who throw money around like this on Video games, one particular is just a husband and wife with a small 70’s style house who spent hundreds of thousands per month on video games. Eric also holds the record for the highest ever sold Babe Ruth Card and other collectables and has been on TMZ as well as ESPN CNN etc talking all about his collection with actual journalists. Also having friends who collect comics and cards, the numbers being thrown around for video games are significantly low in comparison to the records in those other collectable fields. While it seems like a lot of money, 1,2, 3 million dollars is not a lot of money anymore. I know people who shoot weddings for a living making more than that in a few months or people in Los Angeles who will spent 200 grand on a vacation. It’s hard to fathom for some people, but rich people operate on a different level.
5. These are his feelings, there isn’t really a way to debunk someone’s personal feelings a l bout something.
6. Participants went to a private premiere before the film was ever released to the public, no concern was ever brought up by anyone except for the safety of Deniz at the premiere. By the premiere the Karl video was released As mentioned before, creators either didn’t care about grading, were for it. The people who didn’t care about grading didn’t care about the Karl video. The people who were for grading are still waiting for something to materialize outside UA-cam and Twitter allegations or also didn’t care. No one in any of the graded game collecting communities I follow in Facebook seem to care about either the Seth or Karl allegations, the only people who seem to care are those who were against graded games to begin with.
7. The idea of the doc was to explore different ways people collect whether that is hardware, software, region. As mentioned none of those controversies were out before the film was finished. There is 1 clip with the Karl controversy highlighted but because everything was already shot it was just B-roll.
8. The second doc we didn’t plan on having any segments about Graded games at all but we may mention it as a “state of collecting now” if by the time it comes out people are still talking about it. We were toying with Whatnot and DKoldies segments for example but by now that is already old news. Believe me, us ourselves have plenty of DMs etc from the anti-graded game community but the overall response to that section has been positive. We are taking comments and criticisms seriously going into part two and trying to stay away from controversy and show people more of the stuff they love like the rental segment which seems to be people’s favorite. While we were limited before because of Covid (and because literally 2 of us made this documentary) this second doc we will be traveling all over the country and even out of country to shoot human interest pieces on people who are in love with Retro games. Deniz and Eric may be contacted but just in the sense of their personal collections, we may do a recap on the state of the market but can’t guarantee their involvements.
Again thanks for your honest review. We knew going in graded games in general we’re going to o be a touchy subject, our goal was to have something for everyone and that will continue to be our goal for part 2.
Have you heard? They are going to update the original Magnavox Odyssey! Color screen overlays and everything! But it will only work on a Magnavox TV. Easily will far outsell the PS2.
Black and white TV or a newfangled color TV?
Make sure to include the Cable/Antennae switch box.
Just watched the documentary, just like Ian said, there are a few good stuff, stories and opinions, but I really hated the 'dentist' segment given everything that was uncovered about this "collector" and WATA. I surprisingly did not hate when Deniz Kahn was talking about his collection, but I wouldn't have showcased WATA at all. Grading could have been talked about in a more objective way without naming specific companies. I think If I was the director, I would have found people challenging this a bit more just to engage a discussion. Also, It would have been nice to have a bit of script around the whole narrative, giving a bit more perspective about the hobby in general, instead of just testimonies made by youtubers. The movie lacks research. On a positive note, I really enjoyed Jim Fontanot's perspective on Japanese culture towards collecting and I would have definitely taken more of Robert Komen or Heidi from Sweden, who, in many regards, are collectors I relate to.
Yep, speculation is certainly not a new or particularly saavy tactic, but like certain ex Presidents, it is the utter lack of subtlety to their entire organization that I find galling; like they’ve really convinced themselves that they are on the level as business professionals?
It’s like they’re daring us to punish them…
To me the experience includes flipping all the cards at Toys R Us to read the backs and torture my parents for hours trying to pick one out of hundreds of games, and then reading all the backstory and looking at all the art in the instruction book in the back seat on the way home. Objectively a lesser experience without that.
I'm watching the documentary right now and at about 19 minutes into it a guy is literally telling the same exact story I heard Pat tell about getting a PCE system of some kind. The story is that he's at a flea market/swap meet, friends are browsing an "electronics" booth and he decides to look, finds it on the end of the table like "ZOMG, there's no way they know what this is" so he holds it up with his right hand high in the air and plainly asks "How much is this?"
Seller replies "What is it?"
This is the part where the story changes slightly so he explains some ethics, but just like Pat's story he just goes back to repeating the question, and then the seller assumes it's a router and says "$2"
IIRC in Pat's story it was $5 tho, so maybe this is a separate occurrence of the EXACT SAME STORY
Riggs and Nerd on the cover!
Weirdly, Frank Cifaldi got into a big argument with me on Twitter because I agree with you guys that it's not really preserved until the rom is dumped. To me preservation is the ability to play the rom and to have access to all the associated art and materials in some form.
Here's my take, you collect video games to PLAY them and enjoy them. I don't understand putting them in plastic.
It's why I really appreciate Digital Eclipse's efforts. Some people call them mere rom dumps, but the amount of extra materials like manual scans, concept art, etc etc makes them an experience.
Not to mention being able to legally play Ducktales 2 without having to fork over hundreds of dollars is something I've been waiting decades for.
(Also people have figured out how to extract working roms from some of their releases, so this is one of the best ways to get legal roms for emulator use)
Am I the only collector that collects games with BlockBuster labels? I love the novelty and the story the cartridges carry.
I don’t understand mint game collecting. It’s no fun if you can enjoy the games.
I used to hate them, but now I keep all the games I get in rental cases as is. It's interesting to me as someone who grew up renting most of the games I played.
I have a copy of Power Rangers the fighting game for the SNES with a Blockbuster security sticker. The cartridge definitely looks like it got rented a lot, but the sticker adds to the story like you said.
Thanks guys. Sometimes I feel like voices of reason are drowned out by social predators (whether that be financial, emotional, physical, etc...), but your reasonable arguments and hard work, combined with your platform, do a great service to those who might be impacted by this kind of stuff.
I play my Retro Game Collection. It's called fun. And fun is worth a lot more than a WATA graded game, sitting on a shelf, never to be played. 👍
The Documentary is called "Rarity". That alone should tell you the motivation of the filmmakers. It frames the whole situation in a subtle way before you even press play.
This is also a last ditch effort to attract any remaining investors - the really slow "get rich quick" types who may come upon this on a streaming service, and think they've struck gold.
Grading sealed games is just like slabbed coins. It adds premiums not value to the item. The item has a value out of a graded container and a value in a graded container. The difference is just for a sticker showing the grade one person decides it’s condition. Grading is subjective. Big scam to squeeze money.
For me, nostalgia is just celebrating the things that made us who we are now. I don’t look at it so much as living in the past, but embracing the games, shows, movies, toys, etc, because we are who we are today as a result of those things being a part of our lives. Our childhood shouldn’t be locked away or ignored, it should be celebrated because we would be different people without those things we feel so nostalgic for now.
It’s not that nostalgia is necessarily bad, but it’s easily manipulated. A misremembered past, weaponized by a marketing exec to get you to pay a premium for retro looking toys/games/etc. A push to consume. A focus on the superficial trappings of an era without the ethical concerns or political background that informed those trappings or media pieces that made such an impression in the first place.
I just wanna say, when they are talking about your "investment level" and being more likely to enjoy the experience completely by tracking down the old game, hooking up your old console and all that; so true.
I play my N64 games so thoroughly as if I was a kid again. I dont listen to podcasts while playing them. It's just me and the game. Even if I only played a half hour I feel so much more satisfied than if I played my more recent games for 3 hours. To me it's like Potato chips vs a fancy Dessert, cant have it all the time but when I do its soooo good.
The point that Ian makes about Spotify vs having an actual record really speaks to me. I lost my 4th, 5th and 6th generation consoles in a hurricane and currently emulation is my substitute but I do miss the days of popping in a cartridge or putting in a disk and sitting down and playing and giving that game my full attention instead and having a memorable experience. Emulation hasn't always been able to recapture that feeling and that's why I continuously keep my eye on ebay, dkodies and other places because I'm sure at some point I'm going to rebuy all of that old hardware.
@Nyx I've seen enough videos of people getting broken, dirty or defective consoles to for me not to trust them. If the prices were lower, I'd give them a shot.
For me collecting and seeing peoples rooms full of games and old stuff is not really exciting or interesting anymore. I used to follow more people on UA-cam but i started to feel like a lot of them only collect for approval and ego. I’d watch some of them and they had nothing to say about the games they owned other than to gush about how it’s rare and expensive. I have a small collection in comparison to people on UA-cam but a lot of my games I had as a kid and
I have a lot of memories playing with friends and family. I do have some things that I haven’t got around to playing but I didn’t buy them because they were rare and expensive. I bought them because I thought they were interesting and I do have the intent to play all of them. I don’t think you always have to play everything and maybe you just like the art or the history and that’s fine. I just don’t get all excited about how much things are worth because it means nothing to me.
Same issue with vinyl.
I don't believe organic rarity can even come close to replacing gaming racist.
.
But wha-I CAN'T EVEN TYPE BECAUSE THAT SHIT SOUNDED RIDICULOUS.
.
.
Totally agree about never acknowledging death threats. Lotsa people show them to the public, probably because they know that sympathy and support will come flooding in like never before, which is fine if you don’t mind giving the troll EXACTLY what they wanted at the same time.
Much better to show them that their words were completely disposable.
I personally think it's crazy to criticize how someone reacts to death threats, rather than the person who created the death threats.
There was a documentary about Nintendo Quest that I thought was great…however its since been tainted, not by the filmmakers, but by the fact Todd Rogers has a big part of it
The dentist part was my favorite. LOL So fake and what a fake.
When someone tells you get this thing or it won't be here much longer, it's already too late.
How the hell are they gonna have the gall to say Wata is breaking down barriers to collecting? How? By making it too expensive for the majority of people?
Also, How to Be a Scumbag 101: the first thing they teach you is: Pretend you've received death threats. Every shit stain on every social media platform does it. It's so gross.
Im 24 and i collect pretty much anything retro, though im big into ps1 right now. I dont understand grading games im not interested in them at all. I think they look nice and the high price makes them interesting. But im big into collecting controllers and accessories to use and play with. Why would i want a sealed one, what am i gonna do with that?
I was robbed of my storage from my wifes sister who is now in prison and lost my entire gaming collection. It was over 50,000$ worth of games including a unconfirmed real prototype for gyromite and Suprise at Dinosaur Peak. It is completely unrecoverable. Between that, my CVA, and being jumped and getting my teeth smashed - I find it hard every single day to continue bothering staying on this planet. Life sucks.
I'm not saying this video deserves it, but I enjoy the petty pat jingle and I hope we get more uses of it soon
Thanks for the review. Love it. Keep up the good work.
I remember stuff about this being made on Facebook and my gut told me there was fishy wata stuff involved, can't believe I was right
Collectors buy games to have the option to play. They get specific games or consoles etc they are passionate about. They don't just buy sealed things to stare at and never play. Games are meant to be played.
Putting games in a sealed case would be the exact opposite of "organic rarity". In fact its literally artificial rarity.
funnily enough the seals are more like artificial scarsity if anything, organic my arse
Man, I’m going to miss this. 😢
What’s good about games I can’t play?
I’m not at all jealous of sealed collectors. If I had their stuff I would open it and play it!
it's sad when a rich person says, your jealous. on the other hand that dude has the Barrett Jackson of collections. Besides the dentist and the WATA guy, i found the documentary mostly boring as i have already seen a thousand videos of all these youtubers pumping their pages.
To say nothing of the denial behind how they justify their wealth/compensation no doubt…
When I send games to wata, I like to fart in the box in the hopes it is captured in the clear case. If you put it in the fridge and it fogs up, you have a winner! 😜
What's the criminal record of that "dentist"? Any pseudonyms? Is he a sneaker collector? Because I bet he's got some Sketchies on.
When someone "pays" $1.5 million for a sealed rated game that I enjoyed in my childhood and knew that every other kid had a copy of it (so we're saying millions of copies are out there is good playable condition; The only explanation I know of is MONEY LAUNDERING and an attempt of market manipulation.
‘Organic rarity’ is just artificial scarcity reworded into something without a negative connotation:)
*Plastic Case Containing Boxart Collecting Documentary
VGA has been around for a while good company. They don't stick their junk in everyone's face so to speak lmao!!!. Glad you guys covered this.
this is on tubi tv just incase any was wondering...
I consider myself a fairly serious collector of games. I couldn't care less about game grading, or WATA. I think it's a total waste of money, and makes the hobby less accessible for the average person. Too many people buying WATA games don't care at all about games. It's just an investment. Which is a shame. Regardless, I'd NEVER pay more for a WATA graded game. Ever.
I am jealous. I wish I had money to throw away, at health insurance. Organic rarity was true rarity because no one thought to save or hoard worthless crap that only kids bought. Now people buy boxes of sealed games in the hope they become rare.
Comparing games to Picasso?
They compare games to art but are missing the point of videogames. I like art but videogames are not "art".
Nice, a GA shoutout.
Aw shoot! Is that what I'm doing wrong? I shouldn't be buying these games because I like them, and they are neat to see them run on original hardware. A collector is someone who gets them in order to flip them at a higher cost! Oh, the egg on my face.
I do not trust anyone who contributes to this lunacy. Graded games, comics, and movies are what's ruining retro gaming collecting and preservation. It's all about money and status nothing else. If you find a game store or comic store that has shelves of graded products don't buy from them they are most likely ripping you off.
Wow, "organic rarity" is a wild thing to say - it's absolutely nonsensical. It'd almost be like me saying "presumptuous alphabet" or "methodical oxygen", it's just word salad gibberish. The fact it's used as an advertising term is nothing short of astonishing. What's sad is it probably worked on some people too.
If there's one thing I don't need more of in my life as a collector, it's more plastic shit. Especially plastic shit that serves no purpose other than to sit on a shelf or in storage.
I've started buying older games because it was either a game I had and sold it and want to play again or games I wanted but couldn't afford at the time not to turn a profit that's a trader not a collector. It's annoying when they call them self a collector with the intention to make a profit YOUR A F*****G TRADER.
Sounds like Wata paid a lot of $$ to produce this flick.
I'd wager preservation is more along the lines of fixing and maintaining cartridges and consoles over turning them into some digital monstrosity
Wata is the devil of retro game collecting. I hope the bubble pops as soon as possible.
I agree with most of what yall said in this segment. It sucks that this documentary was so great and so awful both
Sealed Video Game collectors live rent free in my head
I have to disagree with Ian on his views of Nostalgia. When people talk about "things being better in the past" what they mean is there was a standard that has been lost and things have suffered for it. Look at the comic book industry and how it's collapsing from too many years of horrible products no one wants. Look at the movie industry and how it's been so terrible that comic book movies have basically been the thing keeping it from falling apart as opposed to all the varied and innovative movies that came out in the 70s/80s/80s/very early 00s. Look at the music industry and how it's been stuck on repeat when back in the day musicians wanted to one up each other and it was the competition between artists that created scenes. And of course the video game industry like Nintendo vs. Sega where it came down to who had the better games? Ones unique to that console.
It's not a subjective opinion. It's an objective fact. It's why people who are saying to Hell with things how they've been and instead are returning to the old standard, like in comics Eric July with his comic ISOM, have been met with great success. It's only now that the content creators are done with playing by the rules everyone else has been playing by for like 15-20 years that we can finally look forward to good content again. The Iron Age IS here, but it hasn't been wrong for the time in between to say it like it is and say things HAVE sucked when they didn't in the past.
I think I’m going to buy a Intellivision Amico “game” and send it to WATA to get graded just to fuck with them. 😂😂😂
"organic rarity".... amazing the buzz words people create to fit their narratives
If you're buying games just to sell them, then you're not a collector, you're an investor.
Collecting is just organized hoarding.
......."Organic rarity". Wow. Wada can just make shit up and not get called out huh!
The important part about this segment is that I'm great 🤣
a shame about that middle section
dudes getting thristy as this podcasts dies off...... the Reddit Roasting Pat is hiliarious!
You guys looking for some
WATA sponsorship
For me, it's always about maintaining the memories that fade through time. That's why I still pick up an old game and keep playing. These superficial materialistic goofs can keep putting their games in plastic. It's their choice, but I'm not buying. Joke years ago. It's a joke now.
Hard copies are still nice because you have the right to enjoy them or sell them away.
I love you guys videos. Been a follower for a long time. Don’t always agree with you guys tho. The whole grading issue you guys have is kinda ridiculous. The WATA shit that happened and went on is a crock of shit but at the same time some of us collectors like having our favorite game from back in the day sealed and graded. It means something to us. Not everyone does it to make money or “get in early” as y’all would say. Y’all always pretty much shit on anything that gets graded. I mean that’s what happens when something get popular. Comics records ETc. that’s what happens when something retro takes off and isn’t niche anymore. I completely understand your view on some of this but sometimes I think y’all look at the whole subject totally one sided. Anyways love you guys content. Keep up the great work and this is just my opinion about graded games like that is y’all’s. Thanks again.
Video games are meant to be played!
7.22 im a 80s baby but i dont see the point of retro gaming collecting. Your example of records only helps the thought process of why people choose physical over digital or vice versa not why people collect nes etc. Nes/snes/megadrive has low quality music/graphics with zero attention to detail, even avgn says nes sucked in one episode, prior he cherry picked saying it CAN be good it CAN be then lists off a finite of games eg zelda/meteroid etc Games in that era were like poker machines to milk kids out of money, games werent designed to be completed with one credit, such as in the arcades and that mentality never changed on console. In the 90s game developers put more effort i.e no limited lives/credits/time limits (except maybe certain games) The old guy in waynes world said it best describing a little cube character he invented where the game cant be won but kids would keep pumpin in quarters (despite modern games like tekken CAN be won with one credit) The next cartridge also is DOUBLE the size of the motherboard, what a waste plastic and space pps games designed by western creators were even worse they gave zero fks, thats why the nerded listed gamed that were all JAPANESE!!
80% of the game you pick off the shelf right now for nes would be garbage, nostalgia has to have actual love behind it eg macgyver the tv show was fun, good music, morals that shaped you into adulthood, here its basically collecting the brand ITSELF whether its playable or not
Just like dashie games, he rants on about megaman was da bomb despite its not even his era and his terrible at games, people like a image or feeling (eg of nostalgia) is fine, but dont dont it for the sake of it, his bad at basic platforming (eg megaman and donkey kong) AND modern games. His never finished one of those games properly. Here is the same, those games wont be worth anything and unlike music/movies they wont age well in gameplay. James rolfe convinced me 30s horror and old movies can be good, THEY age well, here, its doing it for the sake of it
I gave a bunch of my games away cuz I use flash carts or boot off HDD. I'm not using them so why let them sit on a shelf
Im more into the Free Range Rarities 😌
'Organic Rarity'? It's more like 'Artificial Rarity'...
Wata is a s,cam, dude
Time to get throat
What's so weird I collect figures and movies because I enjoy having them. To me it's all an extension of myself and my personality and what I enjoy. To have this weird elitist mentality about sealed graded games makes absolutely no sense to me.
Sealed collectors also view their items as an extension of themselves and their personality. It’s the same exact thing.
Wata
is a Scam I like to have a game I can play for cheap not investment crazy money,I can see grades for coins but a video game?they are scamming people out of their money that doesn’t no better