Posts Tagged ‘ Playstation ’

Retropalooza 2017

Despite a lack of updates here, I’ve been insanely busy the last few months 2017 and a great deal of that busyness has been due to three things. First, of course, was game hunting itself, but for the last six months of the year, I was working on converting my father’s vinyl collection to mp3 to give him for Christmas. That was about 200 albums in total, which required each one to be recorded on each side, then converted with meta data added in. In addition to this project was organizing another large quantity of items, but that’s where this story will eventually lead.

While I normally wouldn’t reach back and relate game hunts from months back, these sort of snowball into the biggest gaming find I’ve ever experienced, so it’s worth telling the whole story over the course of a few posts.

So get your Super Scope, put on your Captain N jacket, and strap in. We’re going on a game hunting story time adventure!

Retropalooza 2017

On October 7th and 8th, The Game Chasers held Retropalooza V in Arlington, Tx and despite the relatively close scheduling between it and Let’s Play Game Expo, of course I had to go. I had spent about half the money I set aside for Let’s Play at that convention, so I assumed I would spend about the same about, and the remainder of my game hunting cash, at Retropalooza.

In addition to that cash, I had a number of the sealed games from the Half Price Books gold mine for trade. As is becoming tradition, my first stop was at seeing the Nostalgic Nerds at their table to see what they had. Honestly, not too much caught my eye with the exception of Kickle Cubicle and Mega Man X3. That price tag on Mega Man X3 caught my eye as well, though. As expected, it was pricey. Around $250, though the quality of the label certainly demanded a high price tag for a rare game.

I wasn’t looking to wipe myself out immediately and wasn’t sure I wanted to spend that much on a game in general, so after we chatted a bit, I moved on to see what else was around. As always, Retropalooza had a ton of vendors and they all had great stuff. Prices weren’t outrageous, though some were higher than I was willing to pay and a few a little higher than I thought was reasonable. Of course, as with most conventions, you can usually negotiate if you buy a stack of things.

The first booth we came across that really caught my attention was a small one, a bit cramped with 3 tables in a “U” shape that only allowed a couple of people to stand in there at a time. My friend Phil looked over some of their hand held games while I waited to get in. Nothing much on top of the table really got my interest other than Winback Covert Ops for N64 at a fair price (finally) and Tiny Toon Adventures 2 on NES, but there were boxes and tubs under the table that weren’t open. Only one was and I wondered what might be down there.

The one box that was open had the Nintendo Power StarFox 64 promotional VHS, which was kind of interesting. I remember having it as a kid, so I pulled that out, but nothing much else in there besides Powerpuff Girls Relish Rampage (Pickled Edition) on GameCube, which was on my hunting list. A few more good games were there, but nothing else I was looking for from my list.

Moving over to the closed boxes, I opened one to take a peek and saw a pretty good stack of things. Namely NES game boxes. In great condition! I asked about Super Mario Bros 3 and he wanted $10. Star Tropics complete in box (with the letter) was about $10 as well. Lion King for SNES box, GBA Sonic collection, Sonic Advance box. An Akira figure of Kaneda with the motorcycle for a few bucks. Digimon World and Digimon World 3 were super cheap as well! Then, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on Playstation. It was a blank case, but the disc was in great shape and it had the manual. Normally $30 for just the disc, for $5, it was a steal!

Phil got a few things from them as well, but we combined it into a single purchase and started Retropalooza off taking a pretty big chunk out of my cash, but we got far more value than what we paid.

I stopped by The Gamer Chasers booth and caught Billy clearly up way too early for his liking. It was almost 10AM and he informed me it was closer to the time he normally went to sleep, not got up. They’re not kidding on the show when they say he’s not a morning person. I purchased a Caught ‘Em Slippin’ t-shirt and each season of the series on DVD, but left them with Billy to, over the course of the convention, get everyone to sign them. I managed to get Billy & Jay, Melvorn, AlphaOmegaSin, and Woods, but it would take a return on the second day to manage to get Dodongo’s signature.

A big goal of this convention was to finish off the last of my N64 targets. I had just gotten Winback Covert Ops, leaving Loderunner 3D and Goemon’s Great Adventure to be found. Towards the end of my winding through the booths set up, I finally found one with the last of my N64 targets, and for reasonable prices. Done and done. I was finally finished with my N64 collection. I didn’t go for a complete collection and don’t plan to, though I might start keeping more if they fall in my lap. For what I set out as my goal on the system, though, I had finished that set. Plus, a booth cut a price to almost half off to convince me to add StarCraft for N64 to my collection as well.

Finally found Crystal Castles and the Tron games for Atari 2600 and I picked up a few manuals as well.

As the day was winding down, I got Ar tonelico from YouTuber Scottsquatch and on my way out, I picked up Animal Crossing (with the memory card), Wild Arms 2, and Spawn on SNES.

Overall, a good day and certainly the bulk of my spending and game finds, but there were still some gems to pick up upon returning the next day!

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Day 1 was not too shabby!

Day 2 – Return to Castle Retropaloozastein

 

The second day is usually either pretty light or extremely heavy, depending on your luck. Sometimes vendors want to go deep on discounts and clear as much as possible so they don’t have to load everything to take back. That wasn’t on my mind, though, with so little left in my wallet. Don’t let that deter you at a convention, though. I know someone that made a wild pitch of $10 for an entire box of games and walked away with them. Nothing great, all commons, but they traded into a local store and he got enough credit to get a high value game from said store for essentially the $10 he spent.

I hadn’t had any luck with trades the first day and the second proved lackluster in working any trade deals as well. Although I had some good titles, sealed games didn’t grab much attention since they’re hard to move and take longer to find a buyer.

I picked up an SNES Super Scope for $5, which was just a fun thing to have, even though I’ll never really use it. The big score out and about was a booth that I guess had opened a lot more of their crates and were trying to clear them out. Crate after crate of Atari 2600 games at $3 each or 3 for $5. I knocked out 9 Atari 2600 titles I’d been looking for and was more than happy to do so.

Wrapping up the day, I rounded back to Nostalgia Nerd’s booth and took a final look at what they had. I had a few things they were interested in taking as trade and so, with a combination of trades and the last of my cash, I got that Kickle Cubicle and, of course, that Mega Man X3, completing my SNES Mega Man X trilogy. And, as tends to be my luck, Mega Man X3 has steadily dropped in value since I bought it…. but I have a beautiful condition label and it’s a great game, so I can’t be too disappointed.

I didn’t quite end the day there, as I finally decided to add one final N64 game to my library that wasn’t on my original list. Since I had Goemon’s Great Adventure, I decided to sell some Texas Instruments game cartridges and used the money to pick up Mystical Ninja starring Goemon to have both Goemon N64 games.

Finally tapped out and rather tired of two days of convention walking, I headed home. Of course, an hour before the convention ended, I came back when I realized I had left my Super Scope with the Nostalgic Nerd guys so I wouldn’t have to carry it around. It was this final hour return run that let me get Dodongo’s signature on my Game Chasers DVDs as well.

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Day 2 wasn’t as hefty, but Mega Man X3 was a huge addition.

And with that, finally, Retropalooza 2017 drew to a close for me. I thought my game hunting was pretty much done for the year. After all, October leads right into holiday shopping season and Christmas gifts would need to be bought, but of course….

Fox (Game) Hunt: 8/23/17 – A Hunt and a Thread

I had a pretty rough week with the post office losing a package, a rather expensive order that’s been delayed 2 years not getting a response for an update, and yet another delivery sending the wrong item. Phil suggested some game hunting was in order to counter the negative vibes and so once again, we headed out on the hunt!

First Stop – Cash America

Pawns shops were our main target again, this time looking for current games that were priced cheaper than GameStop’s trade value. With the 60% bonus credit deal, it’s possible to rack up quite a bit of store credit, which can be used for new games coming out or retro games on their site.

With this in mind, our first stop did not disappoint. Red Dead Redemption, Injustice, GTA V & NBA 2K17 on 360 for $35. Trading these in with the promotion was $75 store credit (though I lost a few bucks to refurbishing fees). Plus I grabbed Destroy All Humans and Call of Duty 2 on PS2 for $1 each.

Second Stop – First Cash Pawn

We went to a different First Cash this time, going in a completely different direction that our previous outing. Not too much to choose from and the one game with value had the wrong disc in it, but I got a GameBoy Advance SP for $15 with a carrying case and a Namco Museum game in it. That’s all in all worth about $50-$60.

Pawn Shop Busts

We hit some more pawn shops in the area we were in, but were coming up empty. The only thing I added to the finds was a free copy of Whacked on Xbox without the manual. Not bad for free, but overall it looked like we were mostly done.

Final Stop – Half Price Books

I’ve said before a lot of people dismiss Half Price Books, but I still like to check them from time to time. I’ve found good stuff in clearance before and a lot of the stores are getting better about pricing games fairly instead of how they used to price Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt at $50 and anything Zelda was $50-$100. There are a few in my area that I really like stopping by, so after grabbing a bite to eat, we went by one of my favorites.

And it proved the right choice.

Someone had recently brought in a treasure trove of games. Phil snagged a handful of Game Gear games with their manuals for $2 each before he started eyeing things in their cabinet. He picked up Persona 4 and I picked up Persona 3 on PS2, but Persona 3 had a crack in the center of the disc and Persona 4 was just a little overpriced, enough to pass for now.

Inside the case, however, was Legend of Zelda Link’s Awakening DX complete in box for $50. Lost Kingdoms for $15. Atelier Iris 3 for $20, Alundra for $50, and Shadow Hearts for $40.  I had been looking for Shadow Hearts for a while to complete that trilogy, so I grabbed all these only to find Shadow Hearts was factory sealed. Yes, please and thank you.

I also picked up Alone in the Dark on Dreamcast, though the second disc looks a bit rough. I think it should be okay, though. For $6, I added Buster Busts Loose complete in box for SNES as well. Super Scope 6 was in clearance for $2 with the receiver in clearance for $3, so I just need a Super Scope now. Finally, Okage was $15, which is sliiightly higher than Pricecharting, but I’ve been looking for it and the couple bucks would be taken up by shipping most likely, so I added that.

There were a couple others I was considering, but ultimately put them back due to their high price. While Phil was checking out, I ran over to the actual clearance section for a final check. To my surprise, there were a lot of games there. Checking them in Pricecharting, I started adding more to my pile. These would all be sell/trade bait, but I couldn’t pass them up at $2 each.

Carve, Adrenaline Misfits, 187 Ride or Die, NCAA 07 Football, Quantum Redshift, Max Payne 2, College Hoops 2K7 all on 360 for $2 each….but did I mention they were also factory sealed?

A few $10 value PS2 and GameCube games at $2 each were tossed in because why not? Their main guy that keeps the game area organized, prices their games, and sort of owns the section told us he had a lot more games he hadn’t managed to go through and price yet, but if we came back the next day he’d let us go through them and he’d price what we wanted. Essentially we’d have first crack at whatever was left. Final grab, I asked him to quickly price Punisher on Xbox, which was $10 and also factory sealed. I added that to the pile as well.

With that, I headed to check out as the store was nearing closing time.  We had plans for Thursday night, our weekly night that all my friends on Final Fantasy XIV do something as a group, so I wasn’t sure we could make it back.

As the night came to a close, I headed home and Phil returned to his, both of us pleased with our finds for the day. However, the thought of going back kept gnawing at me.  I popped open Google hangouts.

“Hey Phil…FC night is usually around 7. I’m off work at 4. We could meet back at the store at 4:30 and see what he has and still make it back in time to meet up with everyone on XIV.”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll see you there.”

The plans were set.

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 Title Purchased Est. Value
Whacked $0 $7
Destroy All Humans $1 $7
Call of Duty 2 $1 $3
Red Dead Redemption GotY $5 $12
Injustice $5 $10
NBA 2K17 $5 $20
GTA V $5 $12
Carve sealed $2 $6
Adrenalin Misfits sealed $2 $5
187 Ride to Die sealed $2 $10
Mario Aniversary CD sealed $2 $5
Nascar Dirt to Daytona $2 $11
Max Payne 2 sealed $2 $10
Quantum Redshift sealed $2 $10
The Punisher sealed $10 $35
NCAA 07 sealed $2 $10
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 $2 $6
Playstation Mega Mem Card $2 $5
SNES Dust covers x 2 $1
GBA SP Platinum $15 $50
Alone in the Dark $10 $20
Buster Busts Loose $10 $25
Link’s Awakening DX $50 $67
Tony Hawk’s Underground $2 $7
Scooby Doo Night of 100 Frights $2 $10
College Hoops 2k7 $2 $19
Legaia 2 $2 $10
Lost Kingdoms $10 $16
Alundra $50 $60
Shadow Hearts sealed $40 $80
Atelier Iris 3 $20 $20
Okage $15 $15
Super Scope 6 $5 $5
Total $286 $588

Return to Half Price Books – GOLDMINE!

 

We returned to the Half Price Books and sure enough, the guy started bring out stacks and stacks and stacks of games. And of these stacks of Playstation 2 and Xbox games… almost every one was factory sealed.  Silent Hill 4 The Room. The Warriors. TMNT 2 Battle Nexus….. Haunting Ground. As I started picking what I was interested and building a maybe pile, he would come and go through and price them. It quickly became clear that we were going to get the option of getting these at their complete price, not sealed price. $100 for Haunting Ground is good, but factory sealed? Unbelievable.

In the end I walked away with 30 games. Some open ones I’m keeping. Some NES CIB games are for a guy I know that’s going for a complete NES CIB collection. The sealed ones I planned to sell/trade for things I want. I’m not a sealed collector, I want to play these games one day, but I know some do collect sealed copies.

That said, TMNT 2, MGS 3, and Haunting Ground might be staying with me for a while. It’s just pretty cool to have factory sealed games of IPs that you love, or in the case of Haunting Ground, a sealed game that’s not only rare, but has a really cool story of finding it.

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 Title  Spent  ~ Value
 Dino Stalker $10 $35
 Rave Master $14 $20
 The Warriors $20 $75
 Haunting Ground $100 $250
 Wild Earth African Safari $5 $16
 Capcom Fighting Evolution $8 $26
 Dead to Rights II $5 $30
 Quidditch World Cup $5 $22
 colin mcrae rally 2005 $5 $35
 Ghost Rider $5 $18
 Manhunt $8 $38
 Scooby Doo Unmasked $5 $17
 The Sims $5 $37
 TMNT 2 Battle Nexus $5 $40
 Everblue 2 $5 $60
 Jaws Unleashed $6 $50
 Saints Row $4 $35
 MGS 3 Snake Eater $8 $20
 Aliens vs Predator Extinction $20 $70
 Silent Hill 4 The Room $20 $78
 Morrowind $10 $33
 Tenchu Z $8 $40
 X-Men Legends $2 $22
 Dukes of Hazzard Return of General Lee $15 $50
 Test Drive Unlimited $6 $32
 Hogan’s Alley $6 $20
 Battleship $15 $15
 Firehawk $15 $15
 Atelier Iris $25 $35
 Mana Khemia 2 $54 $50
Total:  $425 $1284

Let’s Play Game Expo 2017

Let’s Play Game Expo (LPGE) started 3 years ago and was held at the Plano Convention Center the first two years. I first became aware of the convention through flyers at one of the stores that helped get the convention started: FX Game Exchange. In only three years, the relatively small convention has rapidly outgrown its inaugural location in Plano. From the start, the arcade set up has been above and beyond what I’d expect at a small convention and this year was no different. There’s also a free play console area in addition to the free arcades.

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Just about 1/3 of the arcades set to free play at the convention for the weekend.

The vendor count has only grown with over 85 vendors at this year’s convention according to the website.

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Likewise, this is maybe 1/3 of the vendor area.

The other big draw has been the tournament scene held each year. This year’s tournaments included Low Tier City 5’s national Smash Bros. Tournament, The Ultimate Q*Bert Hi-Score Tournament (with special guest Warren Davis, creator of the arcade game itself), an Oregon Trail tournament, Quake III, and even a Virtual Boy tournament among many others. The Nintendo Playstation was also on hand for viewing.

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Tournaments are shown on a main stage.

Normally, the convention has been in June, but with the move to the new, larger, venue along with tournament scheduling, it was scheduled for the first weekend in August. The problem, at least for me, with this was the short time between LPGE and Retropalooza in October. Not as much time to recover spending money as a June to October stretch.

I had sold some finds, put money back, and had games to trade, hoping to knock out the last 15 or so N64 games still on my hunting list for around $200 to $250, then knock out a chunk of Atari 2600 or GameCube titles on my list. In total, I was taking $825 cash along with $3,000 worth of games to trade. I was more than ready to work a deal to knock those games off my list, taking the losing end of a trade in order to get closer to completing my primary collection goal.

Day 1 of LPGE

My friend Phil, @TerranceHarken, met me at the expo at opening. He and I both paid $8.50 online in advance for convention parking, only to find it was $8 at the parking garage. On top of that, there was no in & out privilege for parking. A bit frustrating as parking was free at Plano’s location.

Nostalgic Nerds

All the same, we headed into the convention to start the big hunt. Our first stop was to visit a buddy of mine that makes up one half of The Nostalgic Nerd. Looking over what they had, nothing jumped out immediately… except Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers 2. For $240.

Let me take a moment to promote these guys just a bit. What Patrick and Matt do with Nostalgic Nerd tends to beat most other vendors at conventions. They price based on Pricecharting and add tax on the sticker, so what you see is what you pay. Rescue Rangers 2 is at $225 on Pricecharting and they had it at $240, but other vendors were anywhere from $250 to $300 for this gem. Overall, their prices were better than other vendors. They also are eager to trade, offering 75-80% of Pricecharting values in trade or 50% in cash. But I wasn’t here to buy an expensive NES game!

First Purchase

Moving on from Nostalgic Nerd, I had to start looking around. We started meandering along the rows of vendors. Phil found a place that had Final Fantasy V for Game Boy Advance complete in box for a reasonable price and was going to buy it, but I hopped in and asked about Superman on NES and got it bundled in for $5 off the total of the two. Comic book based games are a sub-list I’ve been collecting for, so I was happy to grab that one.

“I love the Power Glove. It’s so….bad.”

The first thing that I came across that really interested me was the Power Glove, with hook ups. The Power Glove is one of those items that I don’t need, but think is cool to have. However, they wanted $100 for it and I was definitely not paying that. Moving down a few tables, we found another one for $60, also with everything but the box and any paperwork. I considered it briefly, but wanted to wait before dropping a large chunk of money. When I hesitated, the guy dropped it to $40, which seemed like a good enough deal to me, so I walked away with a Power Glove of my very own.

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The Power Glove gives me John Cena level invisibility

An Unexpected Find

Continuing to venture through the vendor area, I came across a copy of Valkyrie Profile for Playstation. I asked mainly out of curiosity and the guy wanted $120, but right off said he’d do $100 on it, which he was pretty sure was the disc only price on Pricecharting. That seemed fair, but I wasn’t planning on buying pricey Playstation games at this convention. Still, I had to look it up and see and the current price was showing $85 for disc only, so he agreed to do $90 if it was cash. So, once again, I decided it was a fair deal to knock out one of the last 3 notably expensive Playstation games on my list, and an RPG at that. I was quickly going down the spending hole and I had barely been here an hour. (Side note: Funny enough, I am in a Facebook group with the guy and neither of us realized it at the time).

A Few Good Pick Ups

We also came across a copy of Star Fox complete in box for $35 at a vendor that had a few other games well below Pricecharting values. However, they had some issues, so I passed on the others (minor cosmetic issues here and there mostly), but I decided to take the Star Fox so I could upgrade my box at home. I also found an Atari 2600 cartridge of Snoopy and the Red Baron, which I’ve been looking for a good while now for $5 off regular price.

I found a booth that had Ocarina of Time Collector’s Edition, Dr. Mario 64, and a guy sharing the booth that had Tactics Ogre 64: Person of Lordly Caliber. Prices were fair, but I was really hoping to find ALL my N64 targets in one location and work a killer deal in a large bundle. Still, I kept thinking about those for a while.

We made a few more final loops and Phil picked up some extra games before he had to head out around midday due to work.

Going Solo

After he left, I kept looking around vendors, seeing if I had missed anything and what I wanted to make mental notes for a return trip on Sunday rather than pay sticker price. A lot of vendors do deals before closing up the last day to avoid packing and hauling things back home.

I decided I hadn’t seen Ocarina of Time anywhere else, so I went back and got Dr. Mario 64 and OoT together. I didn’t get a great deal for the two, the guy taking $3 off, which brought them down to Pricecharting prices, but it was something.

On my way out, a guy had N64 games they were still trying to get out. Tubs of them. We went through and found a few more on my list: Castlevania Legacy of Darkness, 007 The World Is Not Enough, and Wipeout 64. I went back to the Ocarina of Time booth and tried to get Tactics Ogre for $35, then $40 but the guy was staying firm at $45.

So, having had no luck with anyone willing to take anything I brought for trades, I went back to Nostalgic Nerd and let them pilfer my list for what they’d want. In the end, they cleaned out a good portion of my complete Sega Genesis games, a number of NES carts, some N64, and Wii titles. I left the first day with one final game I never really thought I’d pick up: Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers 2.

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I honestly never thought I’d actually pick this up.

Overall, the first day was pretty good.

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Day 1 results

Day 2 of LPGE

I returned the second day and had a good start to the day saving that 50 cents by paying at the garage rather than online and got a great parking spot. It’s important to appreciate small victories.

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Pretty close to the elevators, I’d say.

No Returns or Exchanges…sorta!

I started off by going back to the guy I had bought Ocarina and Dr. Mario 64 from after I had realized the night before I already had Dr. Mario! Despite keeping a list, it seems I had forgotten to remove it from my hunting list. I was asking for a straight value trade and I’d put the balance of cash towards his price on Battletoads in Battlemaniacs, but he wanted an extra $3 on it. I told him I’d think on it, but was rubbed a little wrong by the idea. He recognized me, he remembered the purchase, he knew I had bought from him the day before, but wasn’t willing to make the trade on value for the mistake. Instead, he wanted to recoup the $3 he had knocked off (which was $3 over Pricecharting to begin with). I was fairly sure I wasn’t going to take the deal, but wasn’t going to completely write it off.

A Really Good Trade In

One thing I had seen the day before was a copy of Thousand Arms for Playstation at a booth that was asking $125 for the game with manual and case. I had a copy of the game without the manual and research had revealed it had originally included a holographic card as well as memory card stickers. The game, case, and manual was regularly $50 on eBay, but I had asked them what the trade value would be on mine without the manual. They had told me $90, but I hadn’t made a trade. The more I thought on it, however, the more it seemed like a good deal considering I had only paid $20 for my copy. As such, they were my next stop for the second day.

Going back, they were still good with a $90 trade credit on my copy without the manual, so I handed it right over and bought a complete copy with manual, case, game discs, along with sticker sheet, a second sticker sheet (missing 1 sticker), and 2 of the holographic cards on eBay for $85. I then picked up Shiren the Wanderer for Nintendo Wii, Radiata Stories, and Banjo Tooie for a friend.

Patience Wins Out

I didn’t find much else and spent most of the day looking around and chatting with vendors, though I did get Dig Dug with a very nice label for $3.  I then went back and got Tactics Ogre 64 for $40 (let a game sit on the table for two days and people are more ready to make a sale!). Next to them, I picked up Shadow Hearts From the New World for $20.

Finally, I was getting ready to wrap up the day and went back by Nostalgic Nerd. I had been considering some Sega Genesis games they had, including Phantasy Star I and II and had brought some more NES games for trade.

Instead, I wound up taking Sonic Adventure 2. I had spent enough cash, I was starting to get tighter on the wallet and wanted to keep to trades. However, Matt just had to tell me of a booth he was sure was cutting good deals during the weekend and with the day winding down, I had to check them out.

Final Deals

Sure enough, they had reasonable prices and I was debating a bundle of games, but really wanted a Star Wars game for Atari 2600 I had seen. I had them put the bundle aside so I could see how the Star Wars panned out. After getting it, Star Wars: The Arcade Game, for $20, I headed back but saw Superman on Atari 2600…and snagged it for one whole dollar!

I returned and scrapped a game from the pile, but still got Golden Axe II for Genesis, Phantasy Star Online Ver 2.0, and Evolution the World of Sacred Device for Dreamcast. However, when I come back to make that deal I find Matt and Patrick of Nostalgic Nerd going through the guy’s stuff to make some deals for themselves! I couldn’t help but swing by their booth and grab a pic.

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“Gone deal hunting, back later.” – Those nerd boys are at it again!

The weekend was winding down to a close and I still had half my money left. I went back to my car and locked everything in the trunk before going back to browse this year’s free play arcade.

All in all, I felt like I took home a pretty big haul of some high value games, which tends to be the real benefit of conventions these days. If you’re still looking for more common and lower price titles, eBay and game stores are still a pretty good source, but for the real valuable games, conventions tend to have a lot of them.

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Day 2 results

I don’t feel like trades are as strong at conventions as they used to be, though. Unless you have rare and higher value things, people just aren’t interested in doing trades, with a few exceptions. Some stores want to boost inventory of common games and anything Nintendo first party is likely to be a consideration. I just didn’t have much luck with anyone even wanting those this time.  As always, cash is king, even if people are taking credit cards at conventions more often now.

So here are my main pieces of advice for conventions:

  1. Look for your rarer and hard to find items on your list.
  2. Walk around to every booth before buying things. Look for price differences and buy the best value for your buck.
  3. Try to look for multiple things you want at a single booth and bundle up. You’ll usually get better deals that way.
  4. Practice your negotiating skills at garage sales and flea markets. They’ll help at conventions too!

Now there’s 2 months left until Retropalooza, so it’s time to get out and hunt, find some deals, and do some trades and flips to build up cash for the next round of convention hunting!

Fox (Game)Hunts 7-22-17

Author’s Note: I’m trying a particular method for writing these game hunting “hunter’s journal” entries. The format and writing style will likely change as I decide what I like best, and what readers seem to like best.

6:40 AM

I had found a Craigslist post for a garage sale that had video games the night before. An e-mail to the poster had confirmed the games were for PSP and PS2. As the correspondence had come back late in the evening, I had elected to retire for the evening rather than answer the query as to any titles I was in search of. My PS2 list is still rather long, so I expected I would simply see what was there on the morrow.

Upon waking, I looked to the clock and had the dreadful realization that I had over-slept. Not by much, but mere moments can prove all the difference when hunting elusive video games. I quickly put the dog out and brushed my teeth before throwing on clothes. I called for the dog to come in, but she ignored me. Going out, she was around the house and upon seeing me, excitedly followed back inside. Another minute lost.

In the car, I drove as fast as I dare go, wary of surpassing posted limits, but making all haste possible. The address of the garage sale wasn’t far, but time was ticking and each red light taunted me. Upon reaching the proper street, a sign posted at the end indicated I had entered a digit wrong in GPS. I hurried to the sign’s address to find no games. Returning to the initial address, I now spotted the location of the morning hunt! The sale was to start at 7 AM and I was still a bit early at 6:55 AM. Hurrying up the drive, I learned the games were purchased in full approximately 10 minutes prior, leaving only Scrabble for Playstation behind. The seller, a kind gentleman I placed possibly in his 40s at most, shared that the games had actually included Playstation 1 titles when he listed Final Fantasy Tactics and Xenogears as examples of what he had.

Not wanting to inflict further disappointment, I did not ask what he had charged. In hindsight, despite the late hour, I should have replied to the e-mail and perhaps even offered to buy them the night before, but alas, I did not and could only move forward.

With Let’s Play Game Expo two weeks away, I had not planned to go garage sale hunting, but out and with the bitter taste of lost games in my mouth, I decided to do a little bit. Finding a post with a CIB (Complete in Box) PS2 in the photo, I headed for another sale. I worried I was again a step behind. After all, another hunter was in the area, so I assumed they would already be on the trail of this one as well.

7:15 AM

I arrived at the house to find no sale. Checking the listing again, I realize it started at 8 and there I sat pondering the best course of action. Ultimately, I decided to wait, hoping for an early start. Not long after, the garage door opened and a short, Asian woman pulled the care out to park in the drive way. I opened my door and half stepped out, asking her if the sale was still scheduled to start at 8. She confirmed the start time and apologized. About 15 to 20 minutes later, she came out again, as well as her husband, who came towards my car.

I got out and he said they had some things to set up, but would start now and I could come look. As I walked up, I told him what I was interested in and they had it sitting on a shelf in the garage. He said something to his wife before going inside, which I thought sounded like he was speaking Japanese. Upon looking at the games, I realize they were all Japanese releases! There was a GunCon 2, which was black rather than the bright orange of the US release. They were asking $50 for the CIB PS2 and games as well as $50 for the CIB Wii and games. A fair price on both, but I only had $100 in my pocket and a game convention in 2 weeks, so I passed.

7:25 AM

I was considering giving up for the morning, but there was another sale just around the corner from the last, so I stopped to check. As I walked up, I spotted a few Wii games along with Call of Duty on PS3 and PS4. They asked $2 each on the Wii games and $5 each on the Playstation titles. I knew Mario Party 8 was worth about $20 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii was worth about $10, so I took them. I had to check values, but went ahead and picked up Michael Jackson The Experience, Brave, and Wii Sports. I tend to always pick up Wii Sports as it sales on eBay for $10 in the cardboard sleeve. This was a Nintendo Selects copy in a plastic case. He agreed to $8 as that was all I had without breaking a bill.

Upon returning to my car, I realized I had not checked to ensure the discs were present and immediately proceeded to do so. Mario Party 8 had no disc, but it was in Michael Jackson’s case. Brave had Michael Jackson. Wii Sports had Wii Sports. I went back and showed them, thinking I would swap the game for Disney Princess My Fairytale Adventure if they didn’t have the disc. Ironically, I should have picked it up first as it’s worth more than Brave.

The man’s wife told him it might be in the Wii, which was in a box right there by the front door. He plugged it in and pressed the button and sure enough, we found Brave. He said the system wasn’t working anymore and I asked what he planned to do with it. He was planning on seeing what a store would give for it, thinking they could fix it. Since I’ve been getting into the repair hobby on consoles, I was interested. For another $10, I got the Wii system with 2 controllers, 2 nunchuks, all hook ups, and the Disney Princess game thrown in.

7:40 AM

Feeling much better about the day’s outing, I had one more stop I wanted to go to, though it was a good 30 minute drive away and would not open until 10 AM. I decided to backtrack and stop at all the signs for garage sales I had passed. The first one I stopped at had a pair of Guitar Hero guitars with their boxes for Nintendo Wii. Normally I’m not interested in the instruments, but it made me ask if there were games and the older gentleman who was busy with numerous people at this sale said there were! Only, he wasn’t sure where they were.

We began searching, looking around different boxes as his wife was asked where they were. I was about to give up and leave him my contact information when his wife found them. Nothing incredible, but 007 Nightfire on GameCube and NBA2K13 for Wii made it worth the $1-$2 each they were asking. I went ahead and took the guitars for $1 each as well. They also had the manual for Pokemon Red & Blue, which was included at no cost.

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9 AM

I continued to stop at any signs I saw on the way, but mostly came up lacking. A Nintendo DS Lite for $2 was my only find before heading for a small resale shop’s closing sale.

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Looks like poor Kirby’s gotten beat up.

10 AM

Once I arrived at the shop, I saw they had Wii accessories and Disney Infinity figures priced rather high to be considered a real deal, but not completely unreasonable either. I kept looking. In the back with a box of casette tapes, I found a pair of N64 games. Sports titles, but $2 each. To finalize the hunt, I picked up a Tiger Handheld Baseball game for $1 to go with them.

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Pulling out of the shop and heading home, I stopped at a final garage sale, but had no luck. Satisfied with the morning results, I headed home to prepare for the evening’s activities: a Facebook group’s game meet up.

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Game Spent Estimated Value
Mario Party 8 $2 $20
New Super Mario Bros Wii $2 $10
Michael Jackson The Experience $2 $10
Wii Sports $2 $10
Brave $0 $10
Disney Princess My Fairytale Adventure $0 $18
Wii System with controllers and hook ups $10 $50
NBA2K13 $1 $15
Ultimate I Spy $1 $4
Game Party 3 $1 $5
007 Nightfire $2 $9
Guitar Hero III $1 $5
Guitar Hero III guitars in box $2 $10
Nintendo DS Lite $2 $20
Track and Field 2000 $2 $11
NBA Showtime NBA on NBC $2 $5
Tiger Handheld Baseball $1 $10
TOTAL $33 $232 Estimated

Facebook Game Group Meetup

5:30 PM

I spent the midday getting all the extra games I have together for a Facebook group meetup. I didn’t think I had anything truly worthwhile at this point, but it was worth taking. My goal was to sell and trade without spending any money.

Upon arriving, I looked around at what people had out. A decent spread of NES and SNES, Wii, PS2, and Playstation games, but little N64, which are what I’m particularly hunting right now. I did meet someone I knew to trade Phantasy Star Online on Dreamcast for Fighting Vipers on Sega Saturn. I also had my first sighting of live chodes in the wild as both Billy and Jay from The Game Chasers showed up.

Finding some small space to utilize, I brought my boxes in and set them up for people to look through. A few found things they were curious about, but no purchases or trades. Once things started to clear out a bit, I moved to a table with more room. Still not much overall, but I sold a few Atari games, Rampage Total Destruction on GameCube, and Bottom of the 9th on N64 for around $22 total.

I had left my higher value items in the trunk, but kept eyeing the table next to me where a guy had Earthbound and Suikoden II. After offering to trade the Tiger Handheld Baseball for Suikoden II was declined (though it was clear it was a struggle for the guy, I assure you!), I knew I’d have to trade some big titles. I loaded up what I had out and brought in the good stock.

He was willing to trade Suikoden II for Dokapon Kingdom CIB on Wii, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker CIB on GameCube, and Super Smash Bros. Melee without a manual on GameCube. I was hesitant to make the trade. These were quality trade bait for Let’s Play Game Expo and had a value of about $165 vs Suikoden II’s $140 average. I started to back out to wait for the convention.

Taking another look, I examined the Suikoden II’s case, manual, and disc. They were in immaculate condition. Despite the value disparity, I decided two common GameCube games I paid $7 for was worth adding to the Dokapon Kingdom trade. We shook hands and I knocked off one of the hard to find, and second most expensive, game on my Playstation hunting list.

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As I left, I noticed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II for NES in a very nice box. The guy wanted $30, but would take the game out and do $20 for the pristine box and manual. I went ahead and spent the $20 I had made selling the earlier games.

All in all, not a bad day.

Game Spent Value
Suikoden II $97 spent on games traded for Suikoden II $140
TMNT II Box & Manual $7 spent on games sold, then cash spent for the box & manual $30

On to Let’s Play Game Expo!

 

Going Retro: Getting into Game Collecting

Disclaimer: The top image is not my game collection….yet!

I went to GameStop a few years back (I don’t have nearly as much of a problem with them as some) and saw a friend of mine who was the store manager at the time. Before I left, she recommended I read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Her recommendation was so high that I wound up going to Barnes & Noble the same time to pick it up. I read the full book in a flight to Seattle and back.

I loved the book, but it also kindled a fire in me for nostalgia of my own childhood, primarily for video games. I started thinking about my backlog of games on current consoles and, like many gamers, wondered if I’d ever get through them all. Then the idea hit me: If I couldn’t play through all the games, why not start collecting them and curating a library of of the best ones?

I started by going to garage sales and looking for older games. One of the first I went to I met a guy who was also collecting and working towards a complete North American licensed release NES library. He invited me to join a Facebook group and I began to realize how many people were into retro game collecting. I decided I need t obetter define what games I wanted to start building my own library.

What Games To Get?

I started by thinking about consoles. I still had my NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Genesis, and PS3 at this point. I decided I would try to get all the consoles I had played growing up and a “Top 100” library of the best games on each system. Then I’d also include memorable games I enjoyed as a child if they weren’t on the “Top 100” list. This meant acquiring an Atari 2600, Sega Saturn & Dreamcast, a Playstation and PS2. I didn’t include hand held systems as they have never been a big interest for me.

To determine a “best of” hunting list for each system, I started with sites like IGN and GameSpot that had done “Top 100” articles before. Next, I went to fogurms where posters had debated their picks for the best games with discussion and votes moving games up/down the list and adding/dropping off the list. I took the titles that appeared across each list and made that my Hunting List.

For example:
IGN Top 100 NES Games
Retro Sanctuary Top 100 Best NES Games
Game FAQs Top 100 NES Games

All in all, I actually came up with a list of:

  • 106 Atari 2600
  • 164 NES
  • 147 SNES
  • 101 Sega Genesis
  • 88 N64
  • 95 Sega Dreamcast
  • 83 GameCube
  • 215 PS2
  • 220 PS3

Obviously the “Top 100” grew with the additional titles I remembered and moreso as I decided to include infamously bad titles and all RPGs.

Benefits of the List, and How to Use It

I highly recommend creating a list to work from, even if you are going for a complete library of every title on a system. Put the list in Google Drive and get the app on your phone. I use a spreadsheet listing the titles and their Pricecharting value across 6 rows to minimize scrolling, divided up by systems. This way your list is always on hand and you can make sure you don’t buy a duplicate of something you’ve already picked up (so long as you update and save the file in Google Drive, of course).

I did mention I keep the price for each game from Pricecharting on my list. I’ve seen in some groups there are people who think Pricecharting is crap and should never be used. I’ve yet to understand why some think this. Pricecharting basically tracks prices of completed auctions from eBay to give an average price. Using completed auctions ensures you’re getting information based on what people are actually willing to pay. I don’t advise taking it as the absolute price, though. You can look at the auctions the data is coming from to make sure they’re recent. If not, you can go to ebay directly and see what recent prices were on sold listings. Sometimes Pricecharting doesn’t have recent data on their averages, but I find this an uncommon occurrence.

One thing to remember is these are largely eBay based prices, so I think it’s safe to push for a bit less than those prices since a seller would lose 10% to eBay fees, not to mention the hassle of shipping.

Where To Hunt for Games?

The simple answer is: everywhere.

Garage Sales / Flea Markets / Thrift Stores / Antique Stores
Obviously these are all hit or miss, but you never know what you might find. I always keep an eye out for other items completely unrelated to video games that I can flip for profit to further pay for game collecting such as vintage posters, Disney or Warner Bros. items, or anything that I think might be worth reasonably more than is being asked.

GameStop
If you’re looking for XBox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, or Wii U games, it’s worth looking into GameStop prices. There are some titles I’ve gotten much cheaper at GameStop than Pricecharting shows, meaning you’re actually better off with GameStop, especially if you have their Power Up Reward card. A few examples as of the time of this writing:

Sakura Wars on Wii is worth $25, but $13.50 with discount at GameStop
Arc Rise Fantasia on Wii is worth $34, but $27 with discount at GameStop
Ar tonelico Qoga: Kneel of Ar Ciel on PS3 is worth $22.50, but $9 with discount at GameStop

If you’re really lucky and can find a copy of Dokapon Kingdom at GameStop, it will run you $45 rather than $80 for just the disc.

It’s just a matter of researching the titles you’re looking for and checking if they have them near you, then going or calling to verify if they’re complete with manual. If you hunt during a Buy 2 Get 1 Free weekend, you can really clean up.

Half Price Books
People in a lot of gaming groups hate Half Price Books, primarily because they overprice games. I’ve found some stores do, some don’t, and some are reasonably in line with Pricecharting prices. I find it’s worth looking at least and I tend to drive around to as many as I can on the coupon weeks for 20-50% off coupon purchases. That’s how I got Skies of Arcadia on GameCube for $35 and Mario Cement Factory for $50.

Game Stores
The chain stores, such as Game X-Change, are unlikely to offer real deals unless you catch them slipping on values. Sometimes you’ll find fair prices on titles you’ve been looking for but haven’t had luck finding. Game X-Change also offers a B2G1 deal on all games $7.95 or less. This doesn’t help as you get to a point where you’re hunting more expensive titles, of course.

Your best bet is small independent stores where the owner is more likely to be willing to work a deal with you if you buy multiple games at a time and return with repeat business.

eBay
Of course, this is sort of a last resort, but if you’re patient and watch close, you’ll sometimes catch good deals on games you’ve been looking for with no luck for a long while.

Facebook Groups
You’ll find Facebook groups where people buy, sell, and trade their extra games. I recommend taking some time to get a feel for how the group is and if you want to work with them for trades.

Gaming Conventions
If you want to get a good deal at conventions, you probably want to work on your haggling skills and still go in with good games to trade and cash to spend. The last few conventions I’ve been to weren’t too great for deals, but were full of rare things you won’t find at the average store. You might use conventions to target rare and hard to find additions for your collection.

Growing Up Gaming – Playstation

Like so many others, I started the shift to Playstation from Nintendo for one game in particular. Final Fantasy VII.

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Final Fantasy II and III (still talking US SNES here) made me a full Final Fantasy fanatic. When Squaresoft announced the next installment on Playstation, it was already no question I would get it, but then the commercials showed off some cut scenes and it was like the future had arrived. The cut scenes they showed were like nothing we’d had seen before. If you go back to look at them now, they still aren’t that bad, but certainly show their age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then there are the graphics of the actual game. They aren’t too bad in combat, and the backgrounds were definitely beautiful, but the polygonal block bodies of the characters are certainly rough. The game definitely had weaknesses, not helped by some poor localization translations due to a rather short deadline given to the localization team. It has since developed a divided opinion with some feeling it’s an overrated entry and others feeling it’s the best entry in the series.

Personally, I had leaned towards it being a great game that was still overrated, but have started leaning back towards it being pretty damn good. I’m not sure it’s the best entry in the series and I honestly don’t want to try to narrow down a de facto decision of which I think is the absolute best, but Final Fantasy VII, in my mind, definitely deserves its praise.I think Sephiroth is generally overrated and JENOVA is generally underrated in the game’s dual villain dichotomy. While I liked all of the cast, and I was stunned when Aeris (Aerith!) was killed, my favorite team was Cloud, Tifa, and Red XIII (Tifa being the best of waifus past, present, or future).

Hopefully the forthcoming remake collection will make the game what it truly should be, with improved localization and fleshed out segments that were clunky or unclear in the original release.

The summons got more details in their animations and more impressive, but there was one thing I particularly didn’t like about them – too many Bahamuts. I’m on board with Bahamut being among the strongest summons, if not THE strongest, but having Bahamut Zero, Neo-Bahamut, and Super Hyper Ultra Supreme Zeta Excelsior Turbo Arcade Capcom Bahamut got a bit much.

I finished Final Fantasy VIII on the system, but didn’t like the game nearly as much, especially the Draw system. The graphics were a clear improvement over the polygons of VII, but are still pretty rough to go back to today and the story and characters weren’t as memorable for me. I will give VIII credit on having a better ending than VII, though, since it actually had a conclusion for the main characters while VII basically gave us a Final Fantasy ending for Disney’s The Lion King.

I loved Final Fantasy IX much more than its predecessor and it ranks highly in my all time favorites in the series. With the return of characters being specific classes, the game seemed able to really set scenes to give each character their own story arc with personality and growth.It was alos a nice change to have the more cheerful world and cast after the darker, even angsty, atmosphere of the previous two games. Even Final Fantasy VI was a good bit darker, particularly the second half. While I said previously that I would be hard pressed to pinpoint my absolute favorite Final Fantasy, I do think IX is my favorite ending of them all, and definitely my favorite ending of the series on Playstation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other Final Fantasy game often overlooked on the system is Final Fantasy Tactics. I had not played tactical RPGs with the aforementioned exception of Shining Force II. I actually liked the earlier portion of Tactics as the story is more grounded in the war and political intrigue amidst the kingdoms before it gets into demons and monsters and nefarious looming evils.

Though I loved Final Fantasy VII, another RPG I have fond memories of came out alongside it on the Playstation – Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. Where Square Enix was breaking new ground with CG cut scenes gaming hadn’t seen the equal to before, Lunar (originally on Sega CD) had beautifully animated anime cut scenes and vocal songs that kicked off right from the intro. It is a fantastic game a lot of voice acting (and includes a collection of outtakes and bloopers at the end, which get rather amusing).

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are so many RPGs on Playstation and so many I never played as a result. A few others I particularly enjoyed were Star Ocean: The Second Story, Wild Arms, Breath of Fire III, and Tales of Destiny. Chrono Cross was a good RPG, but came off feeling a little disappointing for me as a follow up to Chrono Trigger. Likewise, I enjoyed Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete, but not as much as Silver Star Story.

Moving away from RPGs, Playstation pulled me far into a new genre: Survival Horror. I had been exposed to the genre with Alone in the Dark on PC, but didn’t get too far in that one. Now Resident Evil 2 truly dragged me into it. I learned to dread the “click click click” of Lickers and became paranoid of a sudden burst of glass with dogs or ravens coming for me. I really knew to be worried if I found a room with a ribbon, ammo, and herbs with a typewriter. This led me to go back to play the first one and I then continued with each main entry since.

Playstation also had Spider-Man, which was the first really good Spider-Man game (also available on N64) that let you climb the walls and ceilings as well as web swing on top of good combat. It was followed by the equally good Spider-Man: Enter Electro. While the games may not seem as good today, especially without an open world, they were absolutely great at their time. These games began the tradition of having unlockable costumes that I really hope continues on the new Playstation 4 game.

 

 

 

The last game to have the a long lasting impact on me from the Playstation is Metal Gear Solid. I most remember the trippy 4th wall break with Psycho Mantis being such a surprise. The solution was quite clever as well, though it drove me nuts figuring out the call frequency that’s given to you on the back of the case. The Metal Gear Solid theme is one of my favorite video game music pieces.

 

This line up is far from complete, though. I played Crash Bandicoot and was introduced to Spyro the Dragon on the system. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was a lot of fun as well. And yet despite all the good memories on Playstation, I still barely scratched the surface of what was available. As with every console I collect for, hopefully I’ll be able to get back to more of them some day.

That’s it for this entry. Next up, I’ll briefly discuss my time with the overshadowed Nintendo 64.

 

National Videogame Museum Opens Its Doors

The National Videogame Museum (NVM) opened in Frisco, TX on April 2, 2016. It was a bright, sunny Saturday morning. 10:00 AM, to be precise, was the opening of the doors. I was there and I was excited. Obviously, it’s taken a while for me to get to writing my thoughts on the grand opening of the nation’s, the world’s, first museum dedicated to the history of video games (I use “video game” though the museum officially uses “videogame”).

I had arrived at the Frisco Discovery Center, where the NVM is located, at 10:05 with a bit of a hurried step. I wanted to get in with plenty of time to look around as I was meeting someone in 3 hours to hand over some video games I had accumulated that weren’t going into my collection. I knew the doors opened at 10, so I went right in. And found the line. I followed the line outside again and saw just how many had arrived to see the history of their hobby.

There were a lot. The Museum holds about 240 people and the line was well out of the building and along the sidewalk, starting to curl around the build like a human formation of Nibbles.

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One or two people showed up

I stood in line with a mother whose 7 year old son was running around playing with other kids while they waited. Preston was here to see more about video game history, particularly Pac-Man and Galaga. I learned something from Preston’s mother in the hour we waited outside.

Pixels was a good movie. That’s right, Pixels.

Pixels

Yes, THAT Pixels.

Preston saw Pixels more than once in theaters and probably a dozen times at home since it released on blu-ray and DVD. Pixels introduced this young boy to Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Q*bert, and made him want to learn more. He went to Google and began reading about these games and these characters and when they came out. He grew interested not only in the games themselves, but their history.

If a 7 year old boy loves a movie about video game characters, and that movie drives him to pursue the history of the industry, then I have to say the movie did something right. Adults and critics may not like it, but if it stirred the interest and curiosity of children, then it’s a good movie by my measure.

And so, there we were, at the first museum in the nation that would let him explore more of that history. TekForce was present and volunteered to provide music and MC the waiting room that we reached at 11 o’clock. I was able to speak with him a moment and learned that the museum was expecting 1,500 visitors for the grand opening day. In the first hour, they were adjusting expectations to 4,000. They underestimated how many people would come out for the grand opening.

As we waited for our ticket groups to be called there were pictures available to color, music played, and a couch set up with a Wii U and Super Mario Bros. available to play. Kids were having a great time. There was also trivia to win prizes – the question I was present for was regarding Pac-Man’s original name (The answer is Puck Man).

At 11:35, our ticket group was called up and we finally went into the NVM lobby to pay for our tickets to the museum proper. Tickets are $12 for adults, but include $1 worth of tokens for the arcade at the end of the museum. By noon, 2 hours after arrival, I finally set foot inside.

The Museum is divided into 16 stages, all of which cover a different portion of video game history.

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But first, you’re greeted by Mario

 

Stage 1, “Begin” covers the early days of video game history. In fact, with Ralph Baer’s “Brown Box Prototype” on display, it might be safe to say this touches on video game pre-history and then advances through history from there.

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An important aspect of the NVM is that it’s not just exhibits to look at and read. There are a lot of interactive features at the museum, mostly in the form of playable games in the exhibits. Almost every Stage has something you can play.

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Just like the one you grew up with, right?

Stage 2, “Timeline” is the most time consuming interactive option. With screens set up above oversized Super Nintendo controllers, this allows visitors to browse every single video game console ever released to get some information about them. Release year, MSRP, some highlighted games, as well as notorious games, and some of the most valuable on the system can be reviewed. There are 53 different consoles to read about, all of which are on display on the wall.

Stage 3, “Third Party” showcases a number of the third party titles that helped consoles excel with the public. Pitfall, which is playable in the exhibit, Stampede, Megamania, River Raid are on display in their original boxes in a display case while some notable Nintendo entries from Activision share the bottom shelf of the display with Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, Rampage, and more.

Stage 4, “Control” is, quite simply, a full wall with a history of controllers through the years. Multiple controllers from each system are displayed, as well as a disassembled Atari 5200 controller.

Stage 5, “Portable” explores portable games. Game n’ Watch is on display, along with others that pre-dated the Game Boy most think of when “portable gaming” is mentioned.

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Again, there are playable games set up here as well. However, one of the most notable items features in this display is the Barbie Edition Game Boy, which is an unreleased prototype Game Boy Pocket. Supposedly the deal never went through and only two of the systems, along with a gaudy carry case, were made.

Stage 6, “Crash” is ironically my favorite exhibit, despite its dark days in gaming history. It deals with the video game crash of 1983. The first thing I liked was the introduction plaque does detail that the cause of the crash is much more complicated than the simple examples often cited, but not without being self aware of these rumors. Poor E.T. still appears in the stage’s image, even though it’s acknowledged the game was not the cause.

What I really liked about this exhibit, though, was the “going out of business” store front. With various 80s items such as Pac Man trading cards and bubble gum under the glass, a Top 5 sign for the week’s hottest games (which includes E.T., I might add), and a sign indicating the store is going out of business, it’s a very nicely done presentation.

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I promise I was also NOT the cause of the crash.

Stage 7, “Rise” presents the return of video games, stronger than ever, on both computer and with the Nintendo Entertainment System. A lot, and I do mean a lot, of set ups are here to play and interact with.

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At this point, as you venture through the museum, you’ll find the bathrooms. Not exactly something you’d think worth mentioning, but this is the NATIONAL VIDEOGAME MUSEUM, so of course the bathroom entries are worth mentioning with their clever indication of “Men’s” and “Women’s” signs.

 

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Women’s

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Men’s

Stage 8, “Create” presents games moving from just being games and actually involving the user in the creative process. Games like Mario Paint are on display, but I wasn’t able to spend much time hands on (there were a lot of people here, remember?).

Stage 9, “Invent” presents a theoretical game studio’s office. Games adorn the shelves, a PC and work station are present, various articles and news clippings are framed on the walls.

Stage 10, “Transmit” discusses the rise of online gaming with various Blizzard entries, Quake, and two terminals that visitors can use to communicate and send a webcam image to each other on either side of the exhibit with.

Stage 11, “Listen” details music coming into games more with entries such as Parappa the Rapper and, of course, Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution.

Stage 12, “Unplugged” is likely to surprise many visitors with the various board games that were released based on video game properties. Frogger, Q*bert, Pac-Man, Legend of Zelda, and more are all on display.

Across from “Unplugged” is an exhibit showcasing various items. Systems, the Pokemon series, rare and valuable games, this section is an eclectic mix of things that didn’t belong to a single exhibit, but are definitely fun to look at.

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Before venturing to the next stage, there’s also an exhibit with various pieces of merchandise, including the wearable Mega Man helmet.

Stage 13, “Family” accurately portrays a family living room from the 1980s, with a console hooked up for play on the television, a fake plant, wood panel walls, and a Dogs Playing Poker painting on the wall! There are even family photos on display.

Stage 14, “Sanctuary” depicts a teen’s bedroom. Bear in mind, the NVM is in Frisco, Tx, so if you aren’t a Cowboys and Rangers fan, forgive the decor!

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A Pac-Man throw pillow, 80s movie posters, a record playing 80s music, and a Mario phone. It’s worth noting that the visitor I caught in this picture….still had trouble with the NES Zapper hitting the ducks in Duck Hunt.

Stage 15, “Respect” isn’t an exhibit so much as an art display. A cube art mural of Ralph Baer hangs near the conclusion of the museum tour.

Stage 16, “Bonus” is a collection of framed posters, displays, arcade machines, and a life size statue of Gabriel Belmont. Along the wall next to Stage 16 are a line of consoles, all of which had someone playing them. I did get to finally play a bit of Bonk’s Adventure on Turbo Grafx-16, though. Above the consoles is a mural with a number of recognizable video game characters.

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Stage 16 leads to an 80s style arcade to conclude the tour of the National Videogame Museum. The lights are dark and lit more by the neon marquees and the screens of video games than overhead light and it was packed with a person on just about every cabinet. A machine is in the arcade to give tokens for dollar bills in case your 4 tokens from entry aren’t enough to get your gaming fix.

Finally, you exit the arcade to find yourself in the gift shop. I didn’t look at everything, but overall they had some cool items in there. Some books particularly caught my eye and they were all priced reasonably compared to Amazon.

I’ve gone on for over 1700 words about this museum and don’t think I’ve scratched describing it. I was hopeful for this endeavor after visiting the “History of Videogames” exhibit at the Experience Music Project museum in Seattle, WA, but this is far beyond what was presented there.

The one thing I’d like to see NVM add if they are ever able to expand in size is to build a display library for every system. The curators, I believe, have only brought out a small part of their overall collection. I would love to see a glass display shelving every Atari or NES title in their boxes. In time, seeing every video game on every system lined up on shelves, their spines facing out would be truly a sight to see.

If conclusion, if you’re in the DFW area in Texas and have time to get to Frisco, the National Videogame Museum is well worth your time. I only had a couple of hours available and don’t feel like it was remotely enough time. I’m looking forward to going back with friends when they come into town, but I might have to sneak an extra trip before they make it.

My only hope is that they get repeat business and are able to stay open for a long time to come. Video games have become a huge part of our culture, both in America and across the globe, and it’s great to see a museum preserving and sharing their history.

 

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate – More of the Same? That’s Okay!

This week, Ubisoft officially announced the next Assassin’s Creed game would be titled Syndicate and confirmed it would take place in Victorian era London. As has become standard for the Internet, responses ranged from eager anticipation to bemoaning a release of yet another Assassin’s Creed game that is essentially the same game repackaged with a new coat of paint.

The first Assassin’s Creed was released in 2007 and in the past 8 years, there have been 9 entries in the main series with an additional thirteen side games, as well as comics, graphic novels, a short film, animated shorts, and soon a full length feature film starring Michael Fassbender. It’s hard to argue that’s not a lot of games in 8 years. It is.

Focusing on the main series, 9 entries is essentially a new entry in the main series every year with a little short of here and there to squeeze an extra in that cycle time. This has led to some gamers seeing Assassin’s Creed as old, dull, boring, or a cheap rehash of the same game with nothing new. Some would prefer more creativity and true innovation in each sequel with longer cycle times while others are happy to play the games as they are each year.

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With the exception of when they’re released buggy as all get out.

Essentially, Assassin’s Creed has become Ubisoft’s Call of Duty, a franchise that uses the same engine and same gameplay with each installment allowing for short cycle times and fast turn around getting the product out. Personally, I’ve played every installment except for Rogue and have yet to play Unity. I own it, I just haven’t gotten to it yet. I actually acknowledge it’s the same game each time with a new location, but I’m actually okay with that. It’s not exactly a new phenomenon in the game world either.

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8 games in 9 years with only two missing an annual release.

The question, though, is whether or not this rehashing with a few new bells and whistles is acceptable or not. Personally, I’d argue it is.

Assassin’s Creed is Ubisoft’s tentpole movie if they were a Hollywood film studio. Paramount Pictures has a proven track record that year after year they will make millions of dollars on sTransformer, though I’d actually take any Assassin’s Creed plot over Transformers films myself. Essentially, Ubisoft knows they’ll make money with each installment with minimal development time and minimal investment. It’s a low risk, high return on investment game.

Some will feel that’s bad from a perspective of the art and craftsmanship of a team making the games, but I again point to Hollywood. Not every movie, nor every game, needs to be a critically acclaimed artistic achievement. Some are summer blockbusters you enjoy with popcorn, talk about for the weekend, and maybe watch again later on DVD, Bluray, or Netflix. Maybe you make your child watch/play through it one day.

The reason I compare it to the Hollywood tentpole movies is that it serves a similar purpose. It keeps revenue coming in and allows Ubisoft to continue to operate and take chances with other games. For every wildly profitable Assassin’s Creed they publish, they can take chances on smaller games and new IPs like Watch_Dogs, Child of Light, or Valiant Hearts The Great War plus games like South Park The Stick of Truth. Ubisoft isn’t a one trick pony milking their only cash cow. They’ve made a lot of games. 76, to be precise, of varying types just between Assassin’s Creed and Assassin’s Creed II, for example.

If the profits weren’t rolling in from the blockbuster title each year, would we have gotten Child of Light or Valiant Hearts at all? Valiant Hearts was already a labor of love that almost didn’t get the okay to be made. And while, yes, Ubisoft doesn’t make award winning game after award winning game, it’s still good for them to be doing some exploration with other ideas and genres. Plus Watch_Dogs likely wouldn’t have been made at all if it weren’t for Assassin’s Creed’s success. That game had its share of complaints as well, but I wager the second is going to be a huge improvement much like the leap from Assassin’s Creed to its first sequel and may give Ubisoft two flagship games to generate revenue and allow for more experimentation with other games as well.

So whether you’re like me and love some stabbin’ each year or you’re tired of Assassin’s Creed entirely, I think it’s worth remembering that so long as the games are bringing in a profit, it’s quite likely that we all could benefit from it allowing Ubisoft to bring other games forward in the future.

How Resident Evil’s Horror Could Survive

Capcom has been going in new directions with Resident Evil for a while now with mixed results.  After being one of the most well known series in the survival horror genre with Resident Evil 1-3 and Code Veronica, Resident Evil was always an anticipated release when a new installment was announced.  The Resident Evil REmake and Resident Evil 0 were well received on GameCube and a Resident Evil 2 REmake is one of the most fan requested games out there.

But with Resident Evil 4, Capcom switched to over the shoulder gameplay rather than the old clunky “tank control” scheme, yet 4 was still highly praised despite getting away from Umbrella Corporation’s T-Virus.  That warm reception wasn’t waiting for Resident Evil 5, which followed Chris Redfield and his new partner Shiva in Africa where the T-Virus’s origins were first discovered and Umbrella as fans came to know it was born (which las plagas from Resident Evil 4 still factored in).  Resident Evil 5 split fans as the game seemed to get further away from its survival horror roots and go more towards an action game.  Resident Evil 6 had fans hopeful with the apparent return to a city devastated by a new outbreak similar to Raccoon City, but while the game started with more familiar elements of survival horror, it started showing signs of action. When the game picks up with Chris Redfield, it’s more of that action game style with giants stomping through cities and battles of 2 men against tanks.  The final chapter takes it even further with motorcyles outrunning tanks and jumping over helicopters and a plane crashing into a city before a fresh outbreak of a new virus.

Resident Evil has been going bigger and bigger like a Hollywood action film. Explosions are more frequent than tense jump scares as Capcom has sought to pursue a more broad audience.  Left in its wake are the faithful fans who still long for survival horror like Resident Evil was built upon.

Resident Evil Revelations 2 is supposed to be a return to survival horror while still using the over the shoulder model and hopefully Capcom gets it right.  We’ll see how that pans out in February 2015, but in the meantime, here are a few things that I think Capcom should do with the series to get it back on track.

1. Start over but continue forward
Fans are familiar with the established characters of Resident Evil.  Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Rebecca Chambers, Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield, and Albert Whesker are the familiar faces the series follows, but that may also be detrimental at this point as well.  These characters are likewise familiar with these events. While they tried to give Chris some PTSD elements, he’s overall able to push through and Leon has become so hardened to bioweapons he’s pretty much a specialist specifically for such operations.

For that reason, I think it’s time to get away from bioweapons being common and time for the old cast to step aside for new characters.  For Resident Evil 7, I would set the game about 5-10 years after Resident Evil 6.  After the incident in China, almost all nations around the globe unified to outlaw the research on bioweapons and aggressively hunted down any cells still continuing work from the days of Umbrella (and Neo-Umbrella was just a ridiculous name).  Essentially start the game in a world where the events of Resident Evil 1-6 are a dark mark in human history but no indication of such things have been seen for years now.

Set the game anywhere you like, though I would likely pick a more remote country – perhaps somewhere in South America. Perhaps an Interpol task force or a drug taskforce infiltrate a compound on information of a major drug production operation.  During the infiltration, something goes wrong and only a handful make it into the facility (yes, mirroring the set up of the original Resident Evil).  As they begin to investigate the facility, they find out a group has been doing research from the ground up based off Umbrella’s T-Virus and have successfully recreated it.  Thus we are thrown back into a game where the protagonist is just as terrified as the player is when creatures start coming at them rather than cool and collected and the player is dealing with claustrophobic corridors, zombie workers, undead dogs, spiders, rats, or whatever creatures you like, and a few mutants as well.  Perhaps you can even bring back a new version of Tyrant if you really wanted.

The key point is to get back to basics of the plot and have this scenario be completely new to the characters in the story so they have reason to be terrified.  Sure, people would have still heard of these things, but even 5 years after the China incident, a 25 year old operative would have been in college and possibly less than concerned with such events.  It yields itself for fear from the characters and if done well, that fear will be passed on to the player as the new research can be completely unknown and with enough variations the game can keep players unsure of what to expect.

2. Over the shoulder, under pressure

The over the shoulder perspective worked well in Resident Evil 4 and has worked well ever since on its own.  Slow moving zombies are easy to get headshots on when you’re able to aim reliably.  But 6 headshots only kills 6 zombies if there’s a dozen shambling towards you and your 6 shooter is slow to reload or worse, you only have 20 bullets to your name and have no clue what’s in the next hallway.

That’s a bit key to survival horror in my opinion.  Limited resources and inventory management.  In a game like Resident Evil 4-6 where you’re moving forward, I understand the need to suspend disbelief and have magical storage units that hold items, but having a dozen guns on your person is a bit much.  Bring back the limited inventory and the storage chests with their own limited inventory.  If the facility we’re in is designed so it makes sense, don’t even have the storage units share inventory and make players have to go back to retrieve what they stashed.

That sense of “did I bring the right weapon and do I have enough ammo” helps build tension as you open one more door or go down one more dark set of stairs.  In Resident Evil 6, having “enough” ammo was okay because you’d be able to blast through the zombies or monsters and collect more ammo from their body to keep blasting away.  In the old Resident Evil games, realizing you were at max capacity on two weapons and just found three more boxes of bullets actually instilled a bit of fear because “Why are they giving me this much ammo? Oh no, what’s about to come after me?!”

3. Bruce Lee doesn’t train zombie defense
This one is a problem we brought upon ourselves.  In the old tank control Resident Evil games, we were always grumbly about having to wildly swing a knife when we were low on ammo.  Why couldn’t we side kick a zombie in the chest? Why couldn’t we have any form of hand to hand combat?

Well, we eventually got it and it honestly made the games trivial enough that survival wasn’t a big deal.  Even without the abundance of zombies dropping ammo, you could conserve a lot by taking two shots and then giving a round house to splatter a zombies head, or deliver a running bulldog worthy of Rick Steiner from WWE.  If you can take out monsters without guns, why worry?

Having this be a new recruit on the team would make the idea of going hand to hand against creatures willing to bite your face off a bit outlandish.  And if they’ve only gone through basic hand to hand, they aren’t in a position to reliably fight off these creatures anyway, giving a reasonable excuse for removing the feature and putting us back to relying on our ever diminished ammunition and somewhat unreliable knife, or maybe a collapsible baton this time. Just cuz…

4. We can still acknowledge our favorite characters

Just because a new character is green behind the ears and about ready to soil himself over this horror he’s stumbled into doesn’t mean we can’t give him some reassurance now and then.  After managing to find a radio, you could get word out reporting what you’ve found.  Later on, your next opportunity to try and make radio contact could be none other than Leon Kennedy, Jill Valentine, or any other of the familiar characters. While not on site with you, they could offer some insight and advice to the new character, encouraging him to keep it together and make it through this alive while they marshal resources to get there.

5. And don’t go straight into the same problem again

At the end of the game, why not have the problem unresolved and even escalating?  Why not have the protagonist stop the researchers at the facility in this game only to radio into HQ at the end to tell them he’s found there are other facilities set up and something worse.  Our final scene could show that the virus has already somehow been spread to contaminate a nearby city.

And that easily sets you up to go right into Resident Evil 8 with an outbreak in a city just like Resident Evil 2.  And again like Resident Evil 2, why not go even worse than Leon’s predicament? Why not have a protagonist that isn’t part of any organization or organized force? Perhaps a retired police officer, or even just a random citizen trying to survive this.  You could have your new character from the previous game arrive and split the game between the two like the old games used to at times and you could again have our established characters remotely involved or arrive late.  For that matter, I’d have them running clean up and just a few steps behind to contain the situation before it gets out of hand so all their specialized skills and knowledge aren’t enough to prevent the horror from breaking out again.

I’d even consider it worth thinking about having each game take place with a new character who may come into contact with familiar characters, and only rarely have the game mostly focus on familiar characters arriving to work in a new location.

Conclusion:

I’ll admit some of this might come across as just re-visiting Resident Evil 1 and 2 with new characters and a new location, but I think that’s almost what Capcom should do at this point.  By going forward without a reboot, it lets fans of the series continue on while also introducing those old games’ style of survival horror elements to a generation that never played the old games.  A generation of gamers never played the Playstation entries and likely have no interest in doing so, which would make this a new experience for them while nostalgia would likely make these worthwhile, yet still different enough, to be interesting for old players.

E3 – Day 1

E3 Recap time!

Getting caught up on E3 news for the first day here.  I’ve said before I’m not an X-Box fan, so I didn’t watch the Microsoft presentation, though moreso because I wasn’t at the computer but was picking up a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on GameCube (what’s up?!) at the time.  From what I’ve heard second hand, nothing particularly stands out to me as amazing for me.  Halo fans will probably be thrilled at the variety of 100 multiplayer maps in Halo’s Master Chief collection, so that’s out there for fans of the series.

The things that intrigued me from Microsoft’s presentation are available on PS4, though.  Tomb Raider: Rise of the Tomb Raider, The Division, and Dragon Age: Inquisition are some games I’m looking forward to.

Ubisoft’s presentation was rather interesting.  I’ve never played a Far Cry game either, but the Far Cry 4 preview was a great hook. It’s a good start up to pull you into the story.

I’m not sure if I’ll continue following the Assassin’s Creed series with Unity as it looks like it’s going to grow in importance of multi-player which doesn’t tend to get my interest for console games, but on the other hand, the trailer did look pretty good.  With the open world design and problems coming up as you move, the game could be more interesting than other installations have gotten.  I was particularly interested in the way they showed the character running after a thief, but stopping when he came upon a murder scene. Coming out of the murder scene, you hear the comment “I can’t solve every problem” which could make the game very interesting if there’s some impact on ignoring some problems and addressing others, especially if there’s no way to resolve them all.

The Division looks interesting and if I can get a friend or two to play alongside me, I’ll definitely be playing that.

Valiant Hearts: The Great War.  We didn’t see the gameplay of this game, but the art style is very stylized and the central character it revolves around that ties all the characters together is a dog. Set in World War I, it’s an extremely unique game inspired by letters from soldiers in World War I.  It has support from historians and actual photos are apparently used courtesy of various historical sources.  Just from the trailer video, it looks like it will be a rather touching and emotional game in its own right.  It may be one of those games that every gamer should play when all is said and done.

I’m also not a FPS player, but the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six preview actually looked really cool.  Another one that looks like it would be a lot of fun with friends who play together regularly.  I have to give them credit when an FPS actually gets my interest.

Now I’m caught up….. I’ll blog thoughts live on the Sony presentation.  🙂

Sony Presentation

Sony kicked off with Destiny.  Again, I’m not a fan of FPS games, but this one has been doing a fantastic job of making me want to know more about it.  From the commercial last year with the law of the pack to this intro video just now, it looks like a cool world they’re building.  I’m not sure it’s enough to pull me into an FPS game, but it does look like a cool game.  Exclusives for Playstation with PS4 players able to play Destiny Alpha next week and July 17th for beta for Playstation.  Looks like PS4 will also get it released first.  Exclusive weapons, ships, and maps for PS4.

Next showing is The Order 1886, a PS4 exclusive IP.  It looks pretty darn good from what they showed.  Seamless transition from what looks like cut scenes and play footage.

Entwined. A game about two souls in love who can’t be together (looks like a bird and a fish).  Guiding two characters at once, one with each analogue stick (yikes).  It looks somewhat Star Fox-ish in style, flying through tunnels and hitting targets.  It looks like a very artistic game from a small development team.  Sony continues to promote the small and indie developers.  PS4 available now for $9.99 tonight with PS3 and Vita (cross buy) to come.

Getting more inFAMOUS content in August.  There’s another exclusive Playstation title.

Little Big Planet 3 is showing next.  From what I heard, the Project Spark game shown at Microsoft’s project looked a lot like Little Big Planet.  With LBP’s fan base, I’d say it’s already got the lead, despite Conker’s addition to Project Spark.  I played Little Big Planet 1 a bit, but honestly, this game with the 4 player team work really looks like it will be a lot of fun.  It will be coming out in November.

Big cheers for Shuhei Yoshida on stage.

Yoshida is introducing a new IP – Bloodborne.  Another zombie based world, looks like it’s set in a medieval time period. Coming in 2015.

Next up we see Far Cry 4.  The intro from UbiSoft was interesting, as earlier stated.  This showed more of the gameplay. Fairly standard FPS in terms of shooting, but still interesting.  Big news…you can invite friends to play with you who don’t have the game only on PS4.  That’s a pretty big thing.

They’re going through letters from players about things they’ve wanted to see next.  Here’s what we get in response to these letters:

Next up…Zombies.  Amusing style trailer.  Very different approach to zombie style game for Dead Island 2.  Funny trailer, check it out.  30 day exclusive beta and an exclusive character class for PS4.

Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition on PS4 will include zombies from Last of Us in a special dungeon.

Battlefield Hardline gameplay trailer up next.  It looks like it would make a great Bruckheimer/Bay film.

Disney Infinity exclusive edition on PS3 and PS4 with Incredible Hulk.

Partnership with Paradox Interactive.  More exclusive PS4 games, starting with Magicka 2.

Grim Fandango will be getting remastered exclusively to PS4 and Vita.

Console debut exclusive to PS Platforms: Devolver, Broforce, Titan Souls, Not a Hero, Hotline Miami Wrong Number, The Talos Principle – a lot of indy style games in there.

Another PS4 exclusive with a violent brawler game called Let It Die coming in 2015.

Giant Squid development team (creator of Journey’s new team) bringing us Abzu.  It looks a lot like Journey in style, but underwater.  This is also a PS4 exclusive.

Final game that will make its debut on PS4 looks like a Sci Fi exploration world. Interesting art style that reminds me of Wild Star a bit.  Looks like another FPS, though currently they’re flying a space ship…into space through meteors, able to shoot in the ship from cockpit view.  Looks like worlds can be discovered and the player who discovers them is marked as such.  Flying around the planet, did a barrel roll!  Shooting down other ships.  The title is No Man’s Sky.  Indy game as well and looks damn impressive.  Every player starts on a different planet.

They’re now talking about the Playstation Camera, an optional addition (nice jab at Microsoft), and how it can bring gaming to a new dimension. Yes, folks, Project Morpheous.  Sony’s Virtual Reality headset.  Creative teams are working with Sony to define this, the game’s in the booth with three game demos, two of which are new.  (Stay tuned, planning a solo blog post on this)

Shawn Layden on stage, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America.  Talking about the drive for innovation at Playstation.  PSN – Playstation Network – robust and evolving, reacting to what gamers want; to share experiences and connect with friends.  New tools are brought to the PS4 faithful with Share Factory and photo mode in inFAMOUS Second Son.  95% of PS4s are connected worldwide, social activity is astounding. 1.25B hours spent gaming, +1B multiplayer sessions, share button has been used 220 million times, and YouTube is coming to PS4 later this year.  With a press of the Share button, pS4 gamers can upload video to their YouTube channel.  Can see your friend’s shared YouTube videos in the “what’s new” activity feed.  150 million spectate sessions.  Twitch and Ustream will allow viewers to communicate with the players they’re watching.  Create broadcast sets for your broadcasts.

This YouTube feature is going to be an amazingly massive feature.  They brushed over it, but I predict this is one of the biggest features hitting any console.

Sony is committed to Free to Play games.  Currently 25 F2P games coming in the next 12 months – Kingdom Under Fire, Planetside 2, and Guns Up.  At point of entry, free to play is free to play.

Playstation Now hits open beta on PS4 July 31st this year.  Select Sony televisions will be able to access Playstation Now without a Playstation console.  Just need the Dualshock controller.  Wise move to help the sluggish television sales.

Support continues for the Playstation Vita.  It will have access to Playstation Now. It has 100 games in development. Child of Light and Tales of Hearts R, Tales from the Borderlands, and Minecraft (full console experience with co-op).  The US will also be getting Vita TV due to the unprecedented support and demand.  $99 for Vita TV or $140 for Vita TV, a Dualshock 3 controller, HD cable, and digital Lego Movie game voucher.

Mortal Kombat X footage premiere is up next.  Graphics look great.  New characters I’ve never seen before.  Graphics are smooth and the game is gory as ever. 😉

Entertainment offering is taking a “new superhero twist.”  Sony Picture Entertainment is bringing exclusive content to PS4 (this is sort of what Microsoft got burned for talking about last year).  Powers is the first series, based on Bendis and Omen’s graphic novel series.

RATCHET AND CLANK MOVIE!  I’m not going to lie, this looks like it will be awesome.

The Last of Us comes to PS4 (not news, but we get a look at it).  This game pushed PS3 to the limits…PS4 takes it further and it does look amazing.  July 29, 2014 release date.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain new trailer shown.

Grand Theft Auto 5 coming to PS4, footage shown from Playstation 4.  Comes out this fall, taking advantage of the system capabilities and features enhancements. Current PS3 and 360 players will be able to transfer their progress to PS4.

Batman: Arkham Knight footage up next.  I still don’t like the new suit, but the game looks amazing. Showing a lot of the gameplay footage of the Batmobile useage.  Movements look faster and smoother than past games.  Exclusive missions on Playstation.

And to wrap up the presentation…

UNCHARTED 4.  The crowd is pretty happy.  Just a trailer, really. It’ll be out in 2015.

End with a montage of footage from various games for Playstation 4.  Kingdom Hearts 3 was shown among them as well.

All in all, really impressive presentation from Sony.