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The Art of Purchasing Used Games
From Press The Buttons, an article entitled Acquisition: The Art Of Purchasing Used Video Games. In it, the author lays out useful tidbits for getting the most from your hard earned gold pieces. From the article: "Yes, you could go all willy-nilly and toss a handful of game paks into a shopping cart down at the local Electronics Boutique, but the most obvious way of obtaining a used video game is not always the most economical. Allow me to share with you a few rules I have learned over the years about locating and acquiring used video game entertainment."
'Keeping the second hand market pirates afloat is NOT a worthwhile tactic."
I'm confused: Did I miss a part of the article where he recommended buying 'backup copies' of games, or are you confused about the legality of selling used software?
"Derp de derp."
Only if you're buying those Chinese "pirate" cars like Bluicks and Plontiaks, or the ever popular Fjords.
A fine is a tax you pay for doing wrong and a tax is a fine you pay for doing all right.
This fluff piece was so devoid of helpful tips created a vaccuum it actually sucked useful knowledge out of all of the articles around it.
All the author seemed to care about are the most common Nintendo games-- Zelda and Mario. Is it really that hard to figure out how to get a deal on those? I mean, they only made millions of those carts... Why not tell us how to find something off the beaten track, like rare Dreamcast RPGs?
He suggests buying new games that bundle or repack the classics on different systems (e.g. the original Super Mario Brothers on a Game Boy.) Never mind that many retro gamers want to own the original cartridge on the original system-- it's not just about the actual game (why not just use an emulator?), but recreating the experience. A game boy doesn't play the same as the NES.
His advice for eBay buyers is ridiculous. Of course you check the sender's location, that's eBay 101. Anyway, I don't recall ever seeing a flood of used game (or used anything!) sellers from China-- at most, there might be one or two UK or Australian sellers on a page.
I could go on, but it's just too sad. Need we be subject to college newspaper quality articles just because they're about games?
Number one on my list is shopping at thrift stores. It's not as good of a source as it used to be, but that's how I got most of my Atari 2600 collection. You still have to leave your brain in gear, as they often price games without consideration to the game itself, so you could see a $4 SMB/DH next to a $4 Bubble Bath Babes. Okay, so maybe you won't find a Bubble Bath Babes, but I found a Chase the Chuckwagon and a 5200 Meteorites at the same thrift store. If you're one of those crazy "one of each" collectors, carry a list with you to avoid duplicates, and check the rarities so you don't pay too much for those commons. At least lately, thrift stores have been finally catching on that nobody wants to buy those endless copies of Sega sports games, and have been pricing them at a dollar. If they're complete and I don't already have one, or if they're in a good condition Sega CD jewel case, sure I'll pay a dollar for them.
Also good are flea markets and pawn shops. Pawn shops aren't all that great for older games, but sometimes you can find an out of the way place with a good cache of stuff. There's always at least one guy at a good flea market with a bunch of cartridges. And I mean a real open-air flea market with people who only sell for one day or one weekend, not those stupid indoor flea markets in an old Wal-Mart building.
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"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
Garage sales, garage sales, garage sales. You can pick up old cartridges by the bucketload for a few dollars at most garage sales. You can usually make a reasonable but small offer on the whole bunch and walk away with a crate of goodies. Plus these usually happen about the time that college students move out, so head on over to a college town around the beginning of June and get some steals.
Going out-of-business sales and police auctions are your friends. A lot of people have a lot of old or used merchandise sitting around, and if you keep your ears up you can get some amazing deals.
If you're going to E-bay, check the lowest price that the game has gone for in the past year, and stick with that price over time. Don't go over. It's easy to get swept up in bidding wars, but if youre patient the price always comes down to something reasonable. I've seen Ikaruga go for as high as 60 dollars the month before I picked mine up for 25.
And if you don't really want to have it, but just want to try it, go with redoctane or another online game rental company. They're a lot cheaper than picking up a series of titles that don't deserve to be played for more than a day or two.
The ______ Agenda
So buying second hand cars is a threat to General Motors?
By God Yes!
It is bad enough that they don't get paid their due everytime the driver gets behind the wheel - they don't even get compensate for the use of their intellectual property by passengers!
When you buy a car, you buy the box it comes in and a license to drive. You don't really own the car, its just leased to you!
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
"The first thing you should do is slam it into your game console, right? No! Clean that game pak first, otherwise you'll be playing that game with everyone who has ever played it before. You never know how the previous owner(s) treated the game."
I do this the first time I have sex with a woman. Clean it and wrap that rascal!!!!
-Dipster