I found out about seven or eight years ago that I couldn’t stand myself having traded away a lot of my Genesis, SNES, PSX and Sega Saturn games so I finally just stopped trading in games for new ones. It helped that most trade-ins netted next to nothing by that time. There used to be a guy here in Reading that paid top dollar in store credit for games. You could buy new for $50 and trade it in a week or two later for nearly $40 credit. It made sense too because there was always someone waiting to pay $5 less for that game than a new one would cost.
Nowadays, since EB only pays at most $25 for any trade-in and usually pays much, much less, there’s just no more reason to part with games I might want to pop back in someday. I’m much happier though I now have a different problem… lots of games sitting on the rack unplayed that I decided to buy because I was afraid I wouldn’t find it later. :-?
Computer and videogame-wise, my most valuable pieces (monetarily) are probably Ultima IV complete for the Atari 800XL and Freespace 2 on DVD imported from Europe.
Until recently, I always traded or sold games when I finished them. Recently, however, I got this hare-brained idea to collect all of the games I have played throughout my life. Since most older PC games can be found for $5-10, I quickly built my collection to near completion.
Now, I’m concentrating on the Ultima series, having acquired everything post Ultima III(the earlier stuff is low quality/high price). Now thay my collection is nearly complete, I’ve been bitten slightly by the collecting bug. I realize collecting is completely useless (unless does as an investment), but I’m enjoying the whole materialistic aspect of it…
I only own two really old video games. First off, a copy of Computer Ambush! for C64, which I just got off eBay for $22. My prize copy is a very good condition Ultima II for Apple II, including cloth map and all original components. That probably has a value close to $100.
Still, that’s about as collectible as it gets and it’s still not worth THAT much.
My collection is over 750 games and counting. Earliest is Sorcerer for the Commodore C64 by Infocom up to Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and just about every damn game in between! It’s a sickness…
