GPX

I was a skinny kid up until 20 years of age, and was never really into sports back then, both in real life as well as in video games. From the age of 20, I set about changing my mindset, trying to build on some size and fitness with badminton, tennis and Aussie rules football. Due to my late entry with sports, I never really aimed to be elite at anything and fun and fitness was more the aim. 

Fast forward to the years of the Covid pandemic and I stopped playing sports altogether for the first 2 years of that fear and isolation period. I suffered some burnout periods back then and I decided to start playing tennis again in the last 2 years. Currently, I’ve cut back on my work hours and focusing much more on health and fitness, and aiming to perhaps play some amateur league tennis for fun later this year. In the past 6 months I’ve been doing 3-hour sessions (mainly playing doubles) of tennis 3-4 times per week.

Games-wise, I’ve never really been a fan of sports video games. I’ve touched Madden games (as a collector) at least 1000 times over the years and I’ve never even played it once! Most fun I’ve had with sports games were Wii Sports 1 and 2, and NBA Jam. Usually those are only played at parties with others around, as I usually prefer other genres when by myself.

This topic is about sports gaming. Some questions to kick start the cranial matter:

Do you like real life sports? Or do you prefer to sit comfortably on the couch/sofa and let your fingers do all your sporting feats through a controller? What kind of sports are you into? Are you sports phobic (aka lazy ass)? What kind of sports games do you recommend?

️️⛷🏎⛸️‍‍

10 hours ago, fcgamer said:

That's quite simple really. Games were being sold together in a lot, conditions weren't described properly, and there was a dead bug in a cruddy -looking cartridge. This doesn't really sound like collector territory tbh

 

Not sure why you’re arguing like the seller sounds like a swell guy?

Though I do I understand to some extent  where you’re coming from. The issue is with the SMS game cases is that there are small crevices that dust or very small insects can enter if left in storage for a long time. If the game cases have cracks  then that increases the chance of unwanted entries. 

So I wasn’t majorly angry with the bug found inside a common game, but more so the response I got from seller. Bearing also in mind that I’m not usually the type to bad mouth sellers. 

Mystical Ninja on the SNES had some fun mini-games like whack-a-mole and snake. It also had a playable level of gradius in an arcade arena.

Shenmue had some Sega arcade games to play, in an arcade arena. I’ve never got to this point, but read about them on magazines.

Here’s the link:

https://www.google.com.au/search?client=safari&sca_esv=d66abf2c052447ae&channel=iphone_bm&sxsrf=ACQVn0-8rMAcJRbdGYTEQSuwFvK06rksZQ:1712009478744&q=boonga+boonga&tbm=vid&source=lnms&prmd=ivsnmbtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-n9SmhKKFAxVhcmwGHcwNDHQQ0pQJegQIChAB&biw=390&bih=664&dpr=3#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a6d72777,vid:aNTtaDV_yvU,st:0

Looks very dull. But now I have the urge to seek this game!

12 hours ago, GPX said:

Estil you little…

Easter drunken thread?

I would like to retract this comment. Totally forgot about April Fool’s! 
Well done @Estil you prankster, you!

3 hours ago, fcgamer said:

I think sometimes people just get greedy, sadly enough. The friend knew I had been the first in line for the lot of games, but he pressured the seller after not following instructions. It's a situation where I pretend that I don't know he's the one who did this, to maintain friendship and relationship for buying/trading things from said friend in the future, but at the same time I've definitely lost some respect for the person.

I think this situation happens a lot more than we think. Particularly if the interest is a highly niche market like the rare items, you are bound to know a fair few of the similar types of collectors. Unfortunately, if you’re chasing after the same thing and they pop up once every few years, more “backdooring” is likely to occur than the common variety. Greed is certainly a factor, but also the drive to complete a set can make some people do funny things.

5 hours ago, fcgamer said:

Did the guy just pull the set of games out of his garage and throw them up on ebay whilst cleaning house, or was it a collector? If the situation was A, then I honestly don't think he did much of anything wrong. Yeah he could have perhaps wiped the games off better or taken more pictures, but I wouldn't call it shady not doing so either.

Why would you assume A? He’s a definite collector, selling all top-tier CIB items. What made it even more sour was that I had bought a game from that ass prior to purchasing the bundle. First transaction went smooth. Second transaction I got insulted for calling out the games were in poorer condition than as described, dead bug or otherwise!

Btw, he didn’t give me a “good deal”. He just jacked up the price and lowered it to a reasonable market value deal. There were only a couple of the uncommons, but nothing outrageously rare. I bought the bundle for a handful of condition upgrades. 

Watching that Twinbee 3 review really gave me a nostalgic hit with that classic Konami charm. All mixed with inventive enemies, bosses, backgrounds and Japanesey tunes. 

@T-Pac, I recommend trying out Parodius on the SNES if you haven’t already played it. Very similar kind of charm. 

Estil you little…

Easter drunken thread?

6 hours ago, fcgamer said:

I think it comes with the territory of large untested lots, actually. 

That’s not the point. Firstly, the listing was arguably deceptive. If the game(s) come in poorer condition, and included a  dead bug with some cart rot, the seller needs to take some responsibility. Instead I got called “petty” without that ass even wanting clarification from what I meant by “dead bug found in cart”. The pic was later shown to him via the eBay refund process, and no apology given whatsoever by him. 

The seller is likely the type to pull other dodgy stunts as in the theme of this thread.

1 hour ago, Tyree_Cooper said:

that sucks but there was nothing missing from the lot

Rare game missing vs common game with a dead bug. 
Still in keeping with the theme shonky sellers and big lots!

My general advice for new members is to show a bit of passion. Members will likely respond if you have the right passion in gaming/collecting. We’ve been through a lot of pain by dodgy resellers and scalpers, so if we feel you’re one of those types, we’re less likely to want to communicate with you.

Also, don’t be put off by some negative attitudes, it’s part of the online environment. By the same token, if you give positive vibes, you’re more likely to get responders.

Too many shady bulk deals I’ve encountered over the years. The latest one was a purchase of roughly 30 Master System games. Was listed in very good condition and no pics showing the back of the manuals and no mention of any obvious flaws. 

When I had received the bundle and after inspection, there were 2 notable flaws:

1. Some manuals had store prices written on their backs (not mentioned in the listing)

2. One game was in appalling condition with tatty manual and a dead bug among the pins, with rust. Yep, a damn bug!

When I wrote asking for a small partial refund. He didn’t ask for proof of what I was saying but abused me and called me petty, as he felt he already gave me a good deal. In collecting terms, that seller was a downright dick!

I returned the bundle, got my refund through eBay and I never bothered to reply to him again.

56 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Streets of rage vs Sonic was the real final lol

I think it’s a reflection that more people’s played a Sonic game than a Streets of Rage. Particularly when a lot of the Sonic games were sold as console bundles. 

I usually only regret when I buy a “near mint” or “mint” item, and then the seller packs in a care-free manner such that the item becomes a downgrade “VGC”.

Particularly annoying when they charge maximum dollars for postage fee. You assume they’d do a stellar job with the packing but only to be disappointed with the game received inside a plain padded envelope and nothing else.

Ghouls’n Ghosts was an early title that showed the Megadrive’s potential. Gunstar Heroes ramped it up a few notches, and was probably the best example of the console’s abilities. Both must-haves for arcade lovers. 

The rest of the poll are all deserved of being top 10 Megadrive games. Some unbelievable nostalgic memories! Love those 16-bit pixels!

Einhander is my personal fave. It has great replay value with trialing different weapon combos, and finding all its secrets and bonus features.

Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga are both excellent arcade quality shooters. Parodius is a hidden gem. R-Type and Raiden were earlier arcade classics that I loved.

On 3/25/2024 at 7:32 AM, RegularGuyGamer said:

This perplexes me. I genuinely have no clue why this would hold such a premium and to who(m). And raw?? Makes 0 sense to my plebian mind. 

Sealed + NES + dentist + HA + WATA 

= winning formula

On 3/19/2024 at 11:37 AM, B.A. said:

At one point I heard that the sliding fee was due to insurance. It made some sense to me, especially when they were backed up 1+ years. They would have to do something to protect against a warehouse fire or some such. The insurance premiums go up with the value. I haven't seen this confirmed anywhere though, so who knows. You'd think the fee angst would be easy enough to dispel at least if it were actually insurance related.

Likely to be a half-truth, with the other part being to suck more money out of customers. It’s clear that their service was primed at getting maximal profit and in a massive hurry. 

I don’t dunk on any collectors because I rather use my time better to game, collect and to post whacky threads for fun. 

Admittedly, my patience isn’t the same as where it was around 10 years ago. Newcomers who only asks questions (eg. prices? are these reseals?) without contributing to the forum, I don’t bother to reply these days. 

5 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

It's not fraud. Like I said, I can tell you something I'm not selling is worth whatever I want. I could tell you a property down the street is worth $1,000,000, is it my fault if you buy it and find out if it isn't? In order for fraud to take place, it has to meet certain criteria and one criteria is that I have to gain an interest from the fraud. Wata helped increase the value of games they did not own and did not gain anything from the sale of games they did not own.

Whether or not Jim Halperin benfitted is not relevant to whether Deniz and Wata are guilty.

Whether or not Bronty benefitted is not relevant, he was just an advisor.

Whether or not Mark Haspell benefitted is not relevant, he wasn't the owner.

People here are confusing morals with crime, the 2 aren't the same. It was a shit thing to do but there isn't anything illegal about telling someone a product they have no interest in is worth more than it is. In fact, I'm not actually sure if the lawsuit even mentions fraud (maybe it does and I'll have to retract this) but I thought it was just about missing service level agreements.

The only financial gain Wata saw was from an increased demand for their grading service which isn't the same as whether or not a game is worth a million dollars.

 

He inflated his assets in order to gain more loans, that is a federal offence and is not the same as telling people a hobby is worth more than it is. This isn't even in the same section of the law book.

 

They weren't giving financial advice, where did you read that? Someone asked them what it was worth and he gave his opinion. If I go to my local game store and ask someone behind the counter what a game is worth, are they liable for fraud if it's not true? No, that's not considered financial advice.

 

This is not comparable to what happened. Deniz did not ask for investments in his company and promise dividends. He told me and you that a game they did not own is worth a certain amount. If you go and buy the game, that's on you, it's only fraud if Deniz was the one selling the game which he was not. There is a world of difference here in inflating an asset that you own and do not own.

 

It's not fraud. And yes I was and I still have not bought that game even though I think I own every other game he has made. He should follow the rules.

Again, there was deception and I don't think it was right but it also doesn't meet the criteria of a crime (except missing the SLA).

I think we all can agree there was a hell of a lot of deception and unethical practices. The key question is how much of this translates into actual illegal acts and fraud. I can see that your argument doesn’t hold quite true on some issues:

- agreed that you or anyone on VGS can say an item is worth whatever they think; but when you have a position of authority and making a false estimate on value AND making it known to the entire world, this is where minor deception becomes an exponential major deception.

- Deniz may not benefit directly from giving estimates, but there was definite indirect benefits regarding the benefits of his company staff, company association (HA) and his own personal collection would likely gain in value.

- agreed that the buyers should be smarter in learning about market values, but this doesn’t detract from the fact that WATA should also stick to service rules and legal principles.

12 hours ago, Hammerfestus said:

What generation of platforms are you referring to?  My experience is mostly NES related and for me the box flaps are always the dead giveaway.  Are repro discs themselves convincing?

I’m talking generally from all The CIBs I’ve collected from carts to discs. Particularly when looking at just the pics from the seller listing.

23 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

I think the agreement is that there will likely be no criminal charges but I can see the civil suits being ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. The fact of the matter is WATA offered grading services that had documented SLAs and failed on a majority of them to meet their own deadlines. That coupled with a financial reason to grade games higher to charge more on insurance without giving the customer a chance to refuse seems like a win. Now depending on the judgement levied it may bankrupt the company or at least put them in an operating hole. 

Also the big thing for me from the recent news, is that they were grading games from their own staff or board members, while making the claim they were too busy to keep up with the customer’s demands and hence the long waiting times. 

Well gee, how about grading the customer’s items first before grading the staffs’ inventory? That would probably help to reduce the waiting time.

It really irks the crap out of me when I see a repro game listed as “brand new”. 
My general tip is to seriously question authenticity if the game/box is mint but missing the manual. And if it comes in CIB form, then look at the manual because that’s what I feel is the hardest to do a reproduction on.