Heritage Auctions Thread

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

i just hope b.a. still gives ole deniz a noogie every time he sees him. silly guys

[Californication | 1,477]

I think the video is solid, but I do have one small issue. They make it sound like the reason loose carts are going up is only because of the increased focus on sealed video games and I think that completly leaves out the influx of people returning to video games during the pandemic. I am sure the increase in sealed games does bleed over to loose collecting, but I think it is way off from a 1:1 correlation.

Edited August 24, 2021 by Californication

[Alder | 243]

This is all just so very depressing, but I'm really happy Karl did the work putting everything together. That video made me miss the NA database.

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

now all i can think about is a nintendo game jumping into a wata slab singing and it fit me gooood

[Alder | 243]

27 minutes ago, Californication said:

I think the video is solid, but I do have one small issue. They make it sound like the reason loose carts are going up is only because of the increased focus on sealed video games and I think that completly leaves out the influx of people returning to video games during the pandemic. I am sure the increase in sealed games does bleed over to loose collecting, but I think it is way off from a 1:1 correlation.

There are definitely multiple factors at play and the pandemic is one of them. But I wouldn't be surprised at all if there are other shenanigans happening with the non-sealed market. Like people driving up the apparent price of a game by shilling ebay auctions.

[ThePhleo | 2,185]

1 hour ago, BreaKBeatZ said:

Any Deniz defenders still left? The old guard that insists he's a good kid with the best intentions?

I consider myself friendly towards Deniz and Kenneth.

Money does have a way of changing people though, so I’ll reserve any opinions until the dust settles.

I also consider myself a neutral party in all this since I no longer have any sealed games, and own only three or four graded items which were literally just me giving stuff to WATA to show my support for them very very very early on…Deniz actually told me I have one of the first accounts there
 

I will publicly say though that I disagree with some practices, especially the pawn stars thing. He really should have gone with a neutral third party instead of himself.

Either way, very interesting times in the hobby seem to be on the horizon

[WalterWhiteJr. | 1,162]

I do wonder if the recent ridiculous sales really pushed folks to start asking questions and take a deep look into everything. I have said it once and I will continue to believe it, there is NOTHING natural or normal about a Mario 64 going from $20k to $1.56M in 7 months. The COVID effect is real, but it is asinine to point to that as a primary reason. The reality is that people got greedy.

Pigs get fat... hogs get slaughtered. 

Edited August 24, 2021 by WalterWhiteJr.

[guitarzombie | 924]

Something I just found amusing... watching the video I saw at the end Karl Jobst talk about inflated prices of loose games and showed a pic of a SMB64 for $445.  I noticed the location was Valley Stream, which isn't too far away from me and it got me thinking.  I found the listing and took a quick look and some reverse engineering (logging into the old NA site etc), 

Anyway I'm pretty sure the person selling this is NES Gangsta haha

https://www.ebay.com/itm/273826208423?epid=1535&hash=item3fc1505aa7:g:6L8AAOSwUvxdg2Xg

[Gulag Joe | 582]

1 hour ago, Gentlegamer said:

VGA should still be clowned on

Omg that can't be real!

[Pendragonx | 117]

20 hours ago, Gloves said:

 

It's an hour-long watch, and a lot of stuff we've already discussed here on VGS, but it takes everything and puts it in a nice consumable video and makes it all pretty clear.

He goes into NintendoAge stuff pretty deeply especially.

Yikes .. this is really scummy o.O no wonder there's a bubble

[Mijael | 347]

1 hour ago, BreaKBeatZ said:

Any Deniz defenders still left? The old guard that insists he's a good kid with the best intentions?

Yes when i posted the video in a single thread someone replied "fake news" but i guess it was Deniz himself or someone else from Wata.Thread was deleted because the video was already posted here

[a3quit4s | 4,099]

1 hour ago, Californication said:

I think the video is solid, but I do have one small issue. They make it sound like the reason loose carts are going up is only because of the increased focus on sealed video games and I think that completly leaves out the influx of people returning to video games during the pandemic. I am sure the increase in sealed games does bleed over to loose collecting, but I think it is way off from a 1:1 correlation.

Also doesn’t account for inflation, but the pandemic and the stimulus packages definitely fucked us over there. Prices aren’t up just on video games, it’s everything. Can’t dump $3 trillion into an economy and expect no consequences 

[OptOut | 8,884]

5 minutes ago, Pendragonx said:

Yikes .. this is really scummy o.O no wonder there's a bubble

Did SOMEBODY say:

[Gloves | 11,779]

5 minutes ago, Mijael said:

Yes when i posted the video in a single thread someone replied "fake news" but i guess it was Deniz himself or someone else from Wata.Thread was deleted because the video was already posted here

That was just @Californication having a laugh.

[osg | 52]

Hey fellas it's me, some dude. Is something shitty happening at the top of the hobby for the first time ever? 

[Boss | 16]

Our hobby is being attacked by individual greed -- and its not scalpers, its worse ... corporations. 

[jonebone | 1,307]

3 hours ago, BreaKBeatZ said:

Any Deniz defenders still left? The old guard that insists he's a good kid with the best intentions?

I usually don't take the bait but yes, I would go to bat for his reputation any day of the week.  It's not my job to be his defender but he had the Wata idea started very early in his life.  All of these conflict of interest arguments were made 2.5 years ago and I agree they aren't the best look.  But that's for them to worry about, not me.

I just know that as a person, Deniz is not just one of, but probably the most humble and genuine collectors I ever met.  If others around him have muddied the waters that will never change my opinion of him.

[Mijael | 347]

2 minutes ago, jonebone said:

I usually don't take the bait but yes, I would go to bat for his reputation any day of the week.  It's not my job to be his defender but he had the Wata idea started very early in his life.  All of these conflict of interest arguments were made 2.5 years ago and I agree they aren't the best look.  But that's for them to worry about, not me.

I just know that as a person, Deniz is not just one of, but probably the most humble and genuine collectors I ever met.  If others around him have muddied the waters that will never change my opinion of him.

I don`t know him as you , but i think his Wata idea is brilliant and i admire him for that but he is clearly manipulating the market by not disclosing the census

[FireHazard51 | 2,043]

22 hours ago, Gloves said:

 

It's an hour-long watch, and a lot of stuff we've already discussed here on VGS, but it takes everything and puts it in a nice consumable video and makes it all pretty clear.

He goes into NintendoAge stuff pretty deeply especially.

Man, this just leaves a sour pit in my stomach.  Not that I've got any skin in this game.  I like the idea of preserving a sealed game but I'll never use WATA.  I think I'll just get/make my own case to protected it.  

But I get why people on VGS are having a fit over WATA and how they are ruining the hobby.

Edited August 24, 2021 by FireHazard51
typo, like I always make

[Teh_Lurv | 254]

I came across a link to this twitter thread on another forum's discussion of the video and I thought I'd share. It's a long thread, but the author provides some supplemental info that complements the video:

 

 

[retro.magnus | 136]

On 8/20/2021 at 7:48 PM, blarky said:

Article is wrong or misquoted in 2 areas:

"...A sealed version of the first print, with the box graded out by WATA as a 9.0 recently sold for..."

"...And given what the first print in a higher condition went for, we thought the market..."

The recent HA sale was a second print (circle R), not first print.

 

Leave it to Daren Rovel to misquote this kind of stuff lol

[inasuma | 1,203]

3 hours ago, Californication said:

I think the video is solid, but I do have one small issue. They make it sound like the reason loose carts are going up is only because of the increased focus on sealed video games and I think that completly leaves out the influx of people returning to video games during the pandemic. I am sure the increase in sealed games does bleed over to loose collecting, but I think it is way off from a 1:1 correlation.

There’s certainly overlap between pandemic and sealed game propping. But that’s just how Karl writes his content. Very agenda driven.

[Gulag Joe | 582]

My biggest takeaway from this is that this "leaked" population data is still secret after all these bombshell investigative reports. People can keep speculating that all these games are bountiful, but nobody has the fucking guts to post or share a link to this data (Wata OR Vga). So until that happens, as far as I'm concerned, the attacks on video game grading are merely speculation. All these arguments happened in other hobbies decades ago. I strongly believe the biggest factor being overlooked here are the amount of new collectors/buyers entering a hobby that was once so small the crowd of hobbyists couldn't even fill an Indianapolis Pizza Hut.

[WalterWhiteJr. | 1,162]

11 minutes ago, Gulag Joe said:

My biggest takeaway from this is that this "leaked" population data is still secret after all these bombshell investigative reports. People can keep speculating that all these games are bountiful, but nobody has the fucking guts to post or share a link to this data (Wata OR Vga). So until that happens, as far as I'm concerned, the attacks on video game grading are merely speculation. All these arguments happened in other hobbies decades ago. I strongly believe the biggest factor being overlooked here are the amount of new collectors/buyers entering a hobby that was once so small the crowd of hobbyists couldn't even fill an Indianapolis Pizza Hut.

I’m pretty surprised that is your biggest takeaway lol but okay then. 

[Zach | 186]

I love this. How long on NA did myself and others call this stuff out for YEARS? We were told we were trolls, we were jealous, our posts were buried by dumb unrelated comments by idiots like Josh "qixmaster" Byerly (another unlisted partner of WATA). We knew people like Deniz were scammers from day one. This is the guy who somehow amassed one of the biggest collections on the planet by his early 20s by "getting up early and hitting the garage sales" lol. Yeah, okay buddy. We all said this was a scam from day one and the mods at NA, who are mysteriously silent now, deleted our threads and banned us. Tim Atwood tried to call this crap out and was also banned for daring to disparage a "trusted member of the community" like RareBucky. 

This is vindication for me and everyone else who were gaslit and silenced back then. Now the entire world can see what kind of lying, scamming, scheming, people these "collectors" really are