Retro Gamer covers The Elite of Collectors (aka crazy people)

[fishsandwich]

Did anyone catch the two-part article on HARD CORE collectors that appeared in the last two issues of Retro Gamer Magazine? What a facinating article!

The article documents a secret society of super-elite collectors out there who operate in the shadows using aliases, secret websites, incredibly rare items, and insane amounts of money. Actually, money CAN'T buy everything... many collectors will only TRADE rare one-of-a-kinds for other rare one-of-a-kinds. Game carts of unreleased games actually serve as currency.

The article mentions the notorious auction of the unreleased Saturn Sonic game... it involved stalking, serious hacking, death threats, and God knows what else. Collectors have changed phones numbers, e-mails, and have even MOVED to protect themselves. There was mention of two collectors almost getting killed. Anyone heard about this?!? What happened with the Sonic auction?

Some of the items in these people's collections make some of the rarest items I've seen on this board seem almost common and worthless. These people don't play! Well, I suppose they DO play (games) but not when it comes to collecting. We are talking some seriously wealthy and well-connected people here.

A very interesting read!

[98PaceCar]

It's an interesting article, but I think the author took the 'mafia' theme a bit too far. From a strictly informational view though, seeing and reading about some of the rarer dev kits and unreleased games was pretty cool.

That and having my pics published as part of it was a nice touch too!

[cyberfluxor]

Watch it fishsandwich, you might get banned from the internets talking like this.

Just playin with ya but it is funny. There's no doubt there's an elite collectors organization where people have connections but that's with any community really. People only deal with others they know well and know have connections otherwise they'll get screwed out of the real deals. Why do you think so many here believe eBay is a joke? Because it's like a gamble anytime you bid on there. Who knows the condition, if it's going to be the wrong item, a scam or even a bootleg. Oh, and don't forget that "mint" means one thing to one person but something else to another.

[Borman]

I didnt even know there was a second part. Curious to see what it is..

[DreamTR]

, that's the biggest load of crap I have ever heard

[Nimrodil]

First part can be read here:

http://www.assemblergames.com/forums...ad.php?t=12526

Since I like, and want to support, Retro Gamer I will not scan the other part. So regard it as a teaser (the second part is also more exclusive since big parts of the first part alraddy have been publiched earlier in Escapism:-). In the same issue as part two there is also a great Vectrex article by Mayhem from this board and a lot of other great articles!

[Bratwurst]

, that's the biggest load of crap I have ever heard

Oh you would deny it wouldn't you?

[Kid Ice]

Put 2 and 2 together. A bunch of folks here outed a group called the "Presidents Club". Now none of them are around anymore.

I happen to have knowledge of....huh....who's that? Wait I think I hear someone in my house....

[TheRedEye]

fishsandwich, do you have a scanner? I'd love a scan of the part where I'm called "malevolent" and "hostile," but I don't want to buy that magazine and support its yellow journalism.

[Mayhem]

Which did surprise me considering I know both yourself Frank and the guy who wrote the piece (whom I might add doesn't work for Retro Gamer now as he decided to leave to pursue a different career... this article was the last thing he did). John's a great guy so I have no idea what on earth must have happened for him to write that... I'm just sitting it out because I can't have loyalty either way in that matter.

[TheRedEye]

Which did surprise me considering I know both yourself Frank and the guy who wrote the piece (whom I might add doesn't work for Retro Gamer now as he decided to leave to pursue a different career... this article was the last thing he did). John's a great guy so I have no idea what on earth must have happened for him to write that... I'm just sitting it out because I can't have loyalty either way in that matter.

That's cool man, don't worry about it. There's no "it" to stay out of, I'm not making a fuss over it.

I will point out that the quote he had from me was posted on my private forums, and was probably not even directed at John. He quoted that forums post as if it was an interview for this article, which it clearly was not. This is what I meant by "yellow journalism" (besides making shit up, as his UNDERGROUND PRIVATE ILLUMINATI articles tend to do).

[TheRedEye]

I also had my PR person contact the magazine to open a dialogue toward their policies of quoting people out of context and calling it an interview, but we never got a reply. Now that's professionalism!

[Vroomfunkel]

Hmm, I don't know much about the dev / proto scene, but I do know that some of that is rather exaggerated. There was a dev Saturn on ebay UK not too long ago - and it certainly didn't sell for megabucks as his photocaption would seem to suggest that it should

[Nimrodil]

RedEye; if you want I can scan it for you tomorrow (just don´t want to make the hole article public since the mag still sells in the shops).

[fishsandwich]

First part can be read here:

http://www.assemblergames.com/forums...ad.php?t=12526

Since I like, and want to support, Retro Gamer I will not scan the other part. So regard it as a teaser (the second part is also more exclusive since big parts of the first part alraddy have been publiched earlier in Escapism:-). In the same issue as part two there is also a great Vectrex article by Mayhem from this board and a lot of other great articles!

Indeed, I think this issue is a bit better than normal. I usually tear through these things quickly but I still have a lot to read on this issue.

One thing I HATE is when a game appeared on two consoles (a Contra game appeared on both the PSone and the Saturn) but the article only mentions the PSone game and never says the game also appeared on Saturn. I see that in a lot of magazines, though.

[Push Upstairs]

Get out your tinfoil hats!

Actually, seeing pictures of that rare stuff was more interesting that hearing about some super secret video game collecting society.

[TheRedEye]

RedEye; if you want I can scan it for you tomorrow (just don´t want to make the hole article public since the mag still sells in the shops).

Sounds good! I just want the part with me to post on a blog or something.

[megamaniaman]

Put 2 and 2 together. A bunch of folks here outed a group called the "Presidents Club". Now none of them are around anymore.

I happen to have knowledge of....huh....who's that? Wait I think I hear someone in my house....

I don't know why people made such a big stink over the Presidents Club. It seems more like a Moderators forum. Except this one it seems that the moderators were allowed to invite some their friends. Big freaking deal. My guess is that most websites have the same type of forum.

[Cambot]

Makes the X'Eye I found a few weeks ago look stupid.

I actually don't know that having unreleased and non-retail is soley what makes you a collector. Yeah, throwing money at eBay doesn't qualify you either, but scouring thrift stores and yard sales does, in my opinion.

[ProgrammingAce]

Which did surprise me considering I know both yourself Frank and the guy who wrote the piece (whom I might add doesn't work for Retro Gamer now as he decided to leave to pursue a different career... this article was the last thing he did). John's a great guy so I have no idea what on earth must have happened for him to write that... I'm just sitting it out because I can't have loyalty either way in that matter.

I talked to john about it after the article came out. Seems to me as if he spent too much time talking to assembler, who admittedly has gone to great lengths to get some dev hardware. My thoughts on assembler are fairly well known at this point.

As for the article, i love the thought that there are a group of people who have working SNES-CD's.

As for prices, i bought a prototype saturn for $50. The most i've ever paid for something game related was $1500.

You'd need a good network of paid contacts to wrangle this kind of merchandise out of a still breathing company

Riiiiiiiight... Because that's how it works...

The secret society is a joke.