Slashdot Mirror
Huge Console Auction Debuts
neura writes "In quite possibly the largest console auction ever, someone is selling just about every development kit and production game console ever made in Japan. They also have listed tons (almost literally) of software to go along with the systems. Anybody ever seen the original Super Famicom development system? The pictures alone are worth taking a gander. :)"
Let's get this out of the way:
1) This guy is the most dedicated console collector the world has ever seen!
2) This guy is the most fucked up collector the world has ever seen!
3) Imagine a Beowulf Cluster made out of them...
4) (Obligatory MS dig for the white Xbox at the end)
5) (Obligatory all you base belong to us joke)
6) Sure, but don't they support Ogg!
7) In Soviet Russia, the consoles buy you!
8) I have an Atari 2600, you insensitive clod!
9) Let's get this out of the way
10) ???
11) Not Profit!
G-Force music visualization
And just think... if only 3 people ever play it, it will have been the most successful 3DO game in the console's entire history!!!
But that's just me. Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh well.
..but I wonder how much more he would have made if he'd listed each item individually, instead of a bulk lot? It'd be a fair bit of work (not massive, since he's already got the details for most of the items), but you think it'd probably be worth it.
"..INTERNATIONAL BONK TO BANK TRANSFER.."
I wish my bank offered Bonking services - maybe I wouldn't moan about their monthly fees if they did.
A dream is good. A plan is better.
1) Buy this whole kit and kaboodle for $100K
2) Open the most bitching video game museum ever
say it with me now
3) PROFIT!!!
Seriously, I would easily pay $10 or $20 to see some of this stuff. This is probably the best chance an existing computer museum has to get a piece of console history in one fell swoop.
Of course, it's not like this guy couldn't have been so dedicated as to milk phones from a zillion different auctions and make up this whole thing as a prank.
- JoeShmoe
.
Nice. Just a few more university japanese courses so I can read the development manuals, a couple (or 80) grand to hustle up before the auction ends, and my ultimate goal of porting Mary-Kate & Ashley: Magical Mystery Mall to every system ever made can be realized.
Don't you get the impression that the person listing the auction is not a naitive english speaker? All of the hardware is Japanese and the seller is located in Hong Kong. A few spelling errors doesn't change what you get.
As far as I know, the development kits are still Sony's property - they're understandably rather touchy about their intellectual property and would not want such a machine to fall into the hands of the general public. Specifically: I thought all development machines were still owned by Sony, you just pay for being able to use them.
I would not be suprised if he receives a visit from Sony's lawyers demanding the return of their development hardware...
There's no group of people (no matter how small) that isn't represented somehow on Slashdot.
Something tells me the Amish are not represented here.
My experience with console development systems is that you have almost no rights to transfer/sell. Everything must be handled through Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo. I predict that, if they want to, they can confiscate all of his development systems. Maybe the rules are different in Japan, but I doubt it.
Look at his selling history and active auctions. He's been selling this stuff on eBay for over FOUR YEARS. He has about 100 seperate items on sale right now. He is probably bored as hell of it. This auction was a great idea, even if no one bids the $100,000 dollars. It has generated HUGE amounts of publicity for him(it had 20,000 hits before it hit /.) If no one bids on it, he'll have no problem selling the items seperately. And maybe, just maybe, there's a video game obsessed nut rich enough to bid the 100k.
"Um, Dad... can I borrow $100,000?"
" WHAT?! "
"...plus shipping..."
I'm sure the seller has quite a bit of experience in this area. He is selling, amongst other things, a development version of the M2. They didn't just hand those out free with your cereal, you know. The M2 development systems were so rare that people doubted they were shipped at all. Add to that the DD development system (did those go outside of Nintendo?), and the Deramcast, Saturn, Playstation, SNK development systems, and you have a surprisingly rare bundle. Now add in the Supergraphix, the Pippin, several unopened bottles of launch wine, multiple PS2 tools (which normally e-bay for about 20k each, I might add), thousands of games, lots of rare variations of every system released in the past 15 years, and this really does deserve to cost a lot more than 100,000 dollars.
Note that the auctioneer makes classic Japanese to English blunders, like switching S for T. In Japanese pretty much all consonants are followed by a vowel, and hence "Dreamcast" is usually pronounced "Du Ri Mu Ca Su T." When dealing with a native English speaker, an inability so spell correctly is usually a sign of below-average intelligence and a general disregard for details. However, when dealing with a Japanese speaker nothing can be read into classic Japanese translation errors.
The ______ Agenda
I have come to the conclusion that if the seller were to list each item separately, he would probably double or triple his returns.
If you honestly believe this you should buy the set, split it up, and relist it.
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for sega."
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Sure, once I receive the funds, I'll be sure to send you all the P-P-Playstations and X-X-X-Boxes.
Join the TWIT army now!
For a collection that large, I'd spend $100K any day.
So would I. That's probably why we don't have it.
The ______ Agenda
Thank you for clearing that up. Without that insight, I would never have realized that 100,000 dollars on consoles is only for insanely obsessed freaks.
Let's break this down, shall we?
PS2 development kit: 20,000 dollars
M2 development kit: I don't think any of these have been sold, but let's estimate at 20,000 dollars for the extreme rarity.
the 10 other development kits: about 2,000 each, or 20k for the lot.
games: PC Engine games are a steal at 4 or 5 dollars each, and he's got over 500 of them. Neo Geo games still demand over 100 dollars each for most titles, so let's put a blanket value at 10,000 dollars.
Special edition systems: Most of the 100 or so special edition systems he has would fetch 200 dollars each, so let's put another blanket value at 20,000
Normal systems: The Bandai, Supergraphics, LaserInteractive, Neo Geo, Turbo Express and many of the other normal systems that he lists routinely sell for over 200 each. Let's put their blanket value at 10k.
We're at roughly 100,000k already, without counting the value of the oddities in the collection such as the PSX / PS2 launch wines and the integrated televion set. 100,000 actually about right for a collection of this size, if not a little low. Of course, anyone thinking of bidding should do a more rigorous item-by-item breakdown of the value of the goods... after all, what would a collector do with a development tool? How many games for the various systems is he selling?
100,000 is not insane. It's just a lot.
The ______ Agenda
Nope...this stuff will not get into the US.
e =UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=customs+seize+dvd & http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q= customs+seize+nintendo
Customs will put a stop to this so fast, it will make your head spin. Current laws allow you to ship yourself ONE dvd/vhs/video game from overseas AT A TIME, and something tells me that 50 freaking game consoles and thousands of games would not make it through customs. Customs would assume that some of them had to be pirated, and would just keep the stuff, with likely there being some legal problems for the bidder.
DOn't belive me? http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&i