Collector's Universe (owners of PSA) has Purchased WATA

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

1 hour ago, Shmup said:

Wow this hobby is turning to shit. Becoming like comics every day. 

Just wait until people prepay a premium because the next game might become the next key issue! 

[Brickman | 4,000]

6 minutes ago, FenrirZero said:

Just wait until people prepay a premium because the next game might become the next key issue! 

Haha probably already happening. Once CIB becomes more widespread with grading the full transformation to comics will be complete. 

[Foochie776 | 1,058]

5 hours ago, B.A. said:

Deniz worked his ass off to create something from nothing.  This notion that he didn't earn his success is nonsense and anyone who thinks that has no clue what they are talking about.

Sure I roll my eyes at some of his marketing speak, and I'm sure to make fun of him directly to his face whenever I see him. I for one am happy for him and think it is awesome that a kid I first met when he was like 14 years old has done so well for himself.  

“Dirty little hippie” 

[fcgamer | 4,737]

5 hours ago, spacepup said:

Criticize WATA and his decisions / involvement all you want, but I don't believe there is any reason to call him a douchebag, fraud, and poseur.

Aye, could you please quit jumping from thread to thread calling me out?

Considering a lot of the posts and garbage that I see in these sealed threads, it honestly gets tiring that I'm the only one getting picked on, indirectly quoted time and time again.

I love ambitious people and am all for starting businesses, I've started and own three of them. It takes a lot of hard work and research, especially if you're going at it on a shoestring budget, and you and your partner(s) don't have much if any prior experience. 

Something like Wata though, it brought pretty much nothing to the table, for those who are gamers / collectors. It's basically a perverted take on gaming, the whole comic collectors buying shit they have little interest in, just for the sake of investments and pump and dump. 

Then there's the amount of counterfeit items that have been appearing in the hobby recently, even for lower-cost boxes / manuals, etc. And as outlined in the new breed of collector thread, many new collectors don't care, as they want to be able to jump into a hobby that has out-priced their wallets, thanks in part to Wata and the like.

Folks like NES Devs, or even individuals such as Piko who bought up tons of old, abandoned IPs to legally rerelease for everyone are doing a service to the community, while earning money from their hard work. Same with the NES Maker guy, those with monetized YouTube channels, those writing and publishing books, etc. 

Wata though, not so much. It took our hobby singlehandedly into a very, very dark direction, with fallout coming from all sides, all for personal gains. It's honestly sickening looking at the state of the hobby there, and while I could say a lot more on the subject, I'd likely be beating a dead horse. Besides, I have some stuff I have to do, as in an hour I'm meeting up with a friend:

Shit, my mate is coming over today and I'm gonna introduce him to the original Super Mario Bros., And we'll also play some Mega Drive and SFC. Now that's what the hobby should be about, right?

 

[spacepup | 2,405]

I’m not singling you out nor bouncing around just to “get” you or anyone else.  I don’t see the need for personal attacks and namecalling, that is all.

I am not in love with recent trends and what has happened to the video game market.  I very much dislike how everything appears to be about money, and the influx of investors isn’t something I’m personally celebrating.

However, I’m able to discuss those concerns and feelings of discouragement without the anger, sarcasm, and dismay that many portray. 
 

I am still having a blast with video games and will do everything I can to keep VGS a great place for people to hang out, chat with each other, play games, and more.  And nothing that Heritage or WATA is doing is going to stop that.  I understand the concerns and feelings expressed here, but we could all do with a little bit less gloom and doom and general negativity surrounding everything.

[fcgamer | 4,737]

37 minutes ago, spacepup said:

However, I’m able to discuss those concerns and feelings of discouragement without the anger, sarcasm, and dismay that many portray. 

I think that's a reasonable thing to strive for; however, as you mentioned yourself in the above quote, it's not just some thing that I'm doing, there's many people making snide, sarcastic, negative remarks, shitting on folks when they come here asking for advice on starting companies, posting pictures, etc. So only indirectly quoting me for this behaviour does feel extremely targeted, whether intentional or not.

[O.G. CIB | 415]

I tell you who I’m passed at…… my damn self! I grew up in the card and comic era so I should have known it was just a matter of time with Video Games. I mentioned on NA a few times our hobby was undervalued and had room to grow BUT I made the decision not to dive deep into sealed collecting (I do own sealed games). I bet heavy on CIB because I always wanted to experience the game, read the manual and admire the box art. Hell I even use to own a store in the late 90s and still have my receipt from purchasing a few copies of Mario 64 from my wholesaler lol. Win some and you lose some. We all had the opportunity to get this stuff before it got hot. 

[OptOut | 8,890]

30 minutes ago, Mr. CIB said:

I tell you who I’m passed at…… my damn self! I grew up in the card and comic era so I should have known it was just a matter of time with Video Games. I mentioned on NA a few times our hobby was undervalued and had room to grow BUT I made the decision not to dive deep into sealed collecting (I do own sealed games). I bet heavy on CIB because I always wanted to experience the game, read the manual and admire the box art. Hell I even use to own a store in the late 90s and still have my receipt from purchasing a few copies of Mario 64 from my wholesaler lol. Win some and you lose some. We all had the opportunity to get this stuff before it got hot. 

It completely depends on why you're in this hobby though, doesn't it? I personally don't lose any sleep over the crazy values we're seeing because I've never been interested in the value of my games in the first place!

I guess it also helps that I don't live in America, collect American games, nor care too much about completeness or condition, so I am about as far removed from the ACTUAL effects of this market movement as you can get... Nothing I am buying is going up, lol!

The reason I bitch about WATA and all this stuff is because I have a compulsive addiction to calling out bullshit, and this speculative frenzy is RIPE for mockery and critical satire. It's also a LOT of fun... Now, if you'll excuse me, I got work to do...

**MS Paint noises**

[Estil | 1,265]

I'm actually on their psacard.com forum and have been since 2001.  I mainly do mid 70s-mid-90s complete sets.

You know what's interesting?  And I don't know if this is exactly true but I feel like I'm among the youngest people at the psacard.com forum but among the oldest here at this forum.  I mean, don't kids collect baseball cards anymore?  

Edited July 15, 2021 by Estil

[inasuma | 1,203]

4 hours ago, fcgamer said:

it honestly gets tiring that I'm the only one getting picked on

Because you’re the biggest jerk, buddy.

[OptOut | 8,890]

Okay, WATAroboros is out. Presenting the HYPDRA!!! 

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

3 hours ago, OptOut said:

The reason I bitch about WATA and all this stuff is because I have a compulsive addiction to calling out bullshit, and this speculative frenzy is RIPE for mockery and critical satire. It's also a LOT of fun... Now, if you'll excuse me, I got work to do...

Let's face it...

o/` Every N64 game is sacred... Every N64 game is good... If a graded N64 game gets auctioned (by Heritage Auction)... You are in a bad mood. o/`

Everybody!!!

o/` Every N64 game is sacred... Every N64 game is great... If a N64 game gets graded (by Wata Games)... You get irate! o/`

That is as far as I can go. As we speak I am trying to figure out how to get Disney to make Deadpool an honorary Princess President General Mouseketeer.

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

11 hours ago, fcgamer said:

Something like Wata though, it brought pretty much nothing to the table, for those who are gamers / collectors. It's basically a perverted take on gaming, the whole comic collectors buying shit they have little interest in, just for the sake of investments and pump and dump. 

....

Wata though, not so much. It took our hobby singlehandedly into a very, very dark direction, with fallout coming from all sides, all for personal gains. It's honestly sickening looking at the state of the hobby there, and while I could say a lot more on the subject, I'd likely be beating a dead horse.

I... I'm in full agreement with FCGamer on something?!?

[drxandy | 3,235]

I am enjoying being a spectator on this thread.

[Aatos | 35]

19 hours ago, Shmup said:

Wow this hobby is turning to shit. Becoming like comics every day. 

Is it though? I don’t see how this or the 1.56M sale in any way affects our ability to hunt and collect and play interesting and awesome games, more than we have time for in a lifetime!
 

(I assume that is the hobby you’re referring to, not collecting overprized totems sealed in acryl tombs to sit on your mantel).

[ExplodedHamster | 404]

2 hours ago, Aatos said:

Is it though? I don’t see how this or the 1.56M sale in any way affects our ability to hunt and collect and play interesting and awesome games, more than we have time for in a lifetime!
 

(I assume that is the hobby you’re referring to, not collecting overprized totems sealed in acryl tombs to sit on your mantel).

This is what I never understood. People seem to spend way more time complaining about things they don’t like than doing things they enjoy. Especially in the past decade or so with social media. We got one life, just seems like a giant waste of time lol.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

FOMO  makes folks salty. 

[Gloves | 11,803]

19 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

FOMO  makes folks salty. 

Can confirm - am full of salt.

[WalterWhiteJr. | 1,162]

23 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Can confirm - am full of salt.

Samesies. Very high level of sodium chloride here. 

[ExplodedHamster | 404]

49 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

FOMO  makes folks salty. 

Sure, but I think a lot comes from people who never would buy or want to buy a sealed game ever for any reason. Before I started collecting sealed and way before WATA and these crazy prices, I saw these threads all the time with people fighting about it and it turned me off a ton. So I basically stopped reading the main forum and started posting more in Gamer’s Gauntlet and the off topic forum. I suppose it makes more sense now, but it’s been like this forever lol. Just seems like playing the games would be a more positive use of time. 
 

Tbh, outside of time with family, the thing I’m most excited about is adding some arcade stuff to my basement and building a game room with pins and stuff set up so I can get to games I never thought I’d be able to. I feel a bit caught in the middle with the attention now, but what I really want to do more than anything is just go to a convention later this year and go into the hall with all the games and Mario Kart 64 competitions. Or watch speed runners for SMB/Mario 64. Maybe I’ll dress up as Mario and wear a mask or something LOL.

Edited July 15, 2021 by ExplodedHamster

[RH | 4,934]

17 minutes ago, Gloves said:

 

 

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

42 minutes ago, RH said:

 

"Eh" not "Aye" -- he isn't Scottish  

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

46 minutes ago, ExplodedHamster said:

 

Tbh, outside of time with family, the thing I’m most excited about is adding some arcade stuff to my basement and building a game room with pins and stuff set up so I can get to games I never thought I’d be able to.

Feel free to be legitimately excited about shaving 10-20 years off of your "financial accumulation" phase of life.

 

[Brickman | 4,000]

4 hours ago, Aatos said:

Is it though? I don’t see how this or the 1.56M sale in any way affects our ability to hunt and collect and play interesting and awesome games, more than we have time for in a lifetime!
 

(I assume that is the hobby you’re referring to, not collecting overprized totems sealed in acryl tombs to sit on your mantel).

I’m referring to games being turned into investments and speculated on. People taking complete in box games and putting them in a plastic tomb. These grades don’t personally effect me, I’m not even in the US and don’t collect US games but I still care that it will make it difficult for others in the community. OptOut, fcgamer and others have summed it up well so I won’t bother repeating it. 

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

2 hours ago, ExplodedHamster said:

People seem to spend way more time complaining about things they don’t like than doing things they enjoy.

I enjoy buying games I want at a reasonable price. Because of this part of the hobby, that is slowly being taken away from me.