Thought some people here would like this: Terapeak Trends: Will My Video Game Collection Appreciate in Value? | Terapeak (http://www.terapeak.com/blog/2013/05/24/terapeak-trends-will-that-video-game-collection-appreciate) as we all sem to be holding on to a lot of old stuff... :)
Also, via the same slashdot story: Film crew to dig up Atari landfill site, maybe score 3.5 million copies of E.T. (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/06/film-crew-to-dig-up-atari-landfill-site-maybe-score-3-5-million-copies-of-e-t)
Yeah, never understood the second hand pricing. Clearly its only going to be even worse in the future as Xbox One seem to .. at least partly .. block used games. And who knows what Sony does with their PS4 either .. even tho they may currently claim to be open to second hand games lets see what happens when it actually shows up.
The last generation of kids/young people also seem to have been highly taken in by the smartphones. Apart from the worse spelling, math and ability to write .. they have sadly also adapted a "download & delete once used" (disposal) .. with the excuse that "it online somewhere else anyways".
And it isnt only with the software too. About a year ago one of the lesser directors of the danish university suggest that to "budget cut and save space" lets get rid of the ancient greek & latin library. "Just throw it all away as all those books are accessible online anyway". That thankfully didnt happen. But it shows the mentality some people are adapting lately.
Also just looking at Ebay prices it makes little logic in prices either. Like it seems like Amiga games are all being sold around £8-13 .. a price quite close to the price they where sold for back in the day. Where as old Megadrive games are like £2-4 in general .. a quite low price remembering we are talking about hardware-carts that sold for like £40-70 back then.
Going even further back in games & media in general and the prices is either "so low its nearly for free" or "insanely high rare" that show no one but a handfull of people really cares.
Sadly, I think our hobby will die off with our generation. There are more or less zero younger people in the scene, so when we've gone the market will be reduced to a few museums.
That's my cheery thought for this evening :D
Bryce.
Quote from: Bryce on 21:08, 06 June 13
Sadly, I think our hobby will die off with our generation. There are more or less zero younger people in the scene, so when we've gone the market will be reduced to a few museums.
I agree, which is why it's so important to get our children interested in "old" (and by that I mean in the literal sense and also the new sense which platforms such as the Pi) computer technology.
It's interesting that this year is arguably the 70th year of the birth of computing (Colossus was 1943) and the CPC is getting on for its 30th year. In 10 years time, it'll be halfway along the timeline from no computers to computers in absolutely everything!
I think you're being too harsh with the younger generations. True, we're living in a culture that favors the present with little regards to looking back (or truly forward for that matter), however you have to ask: when you were 10 or 12 loading tapes onto your 464, were you really thinking "boy oh boy, 30 years from now I'll be having a blast with this!"? I don't think so.
Someone tell that "Professor" that we may as well shut down his position, since the knowledge is out there anyway.
I actually think there is a bit of a resurgence in people being into retro gaming at the moment, in that it's becoming somewhat fashionable in some way. I would consider my self one of the youngest people to really have been involved in 8-bit computers when they were new, but I know people five to ten years younger that are buying amigas and ataris. And I've seen a number of pubs that think it's really cool and chic to spread some 8-bit computers around as part of the decor (though not actually plugged in or working). Less than 10 years ago you could still pick up sub £5 computers at car boot sales and charity shops, but now people either hold onto them, or really serious collectors arrive at 6am and scoure the place clean.
Even so, I think the CPC is something of a niche, and perhaps that will mean a decline (and perhaps also appreciation in cost/value).
I think that mobile phone gaming has helped the retro scene somewhat. Like the days in 8 bit computing where anyone could make a game without having to obtain various licences for a particular machine, mobile gaming is very much similar. (Though apple phone games need to go through an acceptance procedure which is mostly to make sure that there isn't any trouble with compatibilty in regards to the different series of the phone.)
Also with the ressurgence of retro gaming conventions, podcasts and games still being created, I think that there is way to go before we will see the 8 bit retro scene dying off. :)
Proof for this resurgence is the fact that all those retro-looking games come from indie developers who aren't old enough to have played them as kids, mostly...