One of my biggest regrets is I stopped buying PS2 games when PS3 offered digital versions in their digital store, thinking I would eventually buy all the games I wanted at cheaper prices and not worry about storage. Well, I like playing obscure japanese and survival horror games which haven't really been released digitally and now are ridiculously expensive. The games I own now, I will never sell and cherish them even more now. I know I could emulate them on PC, which I have, but it's not the same to me as having the physical copy on the original system. I own Silent Hill HD collection on PS3, but playing original on PS2 just feels better. I also threw away a large CRT TV thinking it took too much room in my house and my HDTV had necessary video connections for older game systems, but old games just look better on old monitors but then there is the space issue again.
BaD 2017.6: for the hoard?
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 On 02/08/2017 at 01:30 AM by Julian Titus See More From This User » |
In my last blog, I wrote about how much I love my physical media, even though it can be a pain to deal with sometimes. That got me thinking about my fabled game collection, which I’ve been talking about a lot on Nerds Without Pants, if you follow the podcast. I’m going to pepper this post with some relatively recent pictures of my game room. Keep in mind that since these were taken I have added some art on the walls, there are more games on the shelf, and there is currently a huge stack of about twenty games sitting next to the TV that need to be filed.
I wasn’t always a video game collector. Back in my Gamefellas retail days I was trading in my games on a nearly weekly basis. I’d buy a new release, beat it in one or two weeks, and trade it in towards the next game. As such, the games you see here are but a fraction of what I’ve owned since 1997. My PSX collection, for example, sits at a paltry 35 titles, but I’m sure I’ve owned a good four to five hundred in my time.
I was excited to finally have a space in which to display my collection, and start, you know, playing these games. Sure, I’ve played a lot of the games on these shelves, especially if we’re talking the 8 to 64 bit eras. I’ve also played a good majority of my PS2 games to completion. While there are a lot of 360 games here that I haven’t played that is largely in part because it was during that generation that I began picking up games that were a perceived “deal” to me; if I saw a good sale on Black Friday or found something good in a bargain bin I’d grab it.
I am not a focused collector. I’m not trying to get every game for a particular console. The only thing that I am compelled to collect are the mainline Final Fantasy games. That sickness is real, and I’m moving on from collecting multiple U.S. releases and beginning the hunt for complete Japanese editions. I try to go for a quality over quantity approach to my older games. That’s changed slightly recently, but I’ll get to that.
So…here’s the thing. I’ve been coming to the slow realization that I don’t really understand why I’m doing this. I don’t have kids, and I never plan on having them, so there is no future where I’m passing this stuff down. I don’t have any family that would inherit the collection if I die, either, and the people named in my will would likely cherry pick a few titles and ebay the rest. I’ve barely played anything pictured since I set up the game room. I played quite a bit of Guitar Hero, but beyond that I’ve only fired up these systems to test recent game purchases.
I think in the back of my mind I’ve been hoarding these older games because I feel that the time is fast approaching when I’m not going to be on the bleeding edge of gaming. I’ve been on that edge since 1996, and I have not taken a break from this hobby, ever. But one day I’m not going to be buying the latest consoles, but I can still see me wanting to play video games. Nostalgic video games. Games that feel a little more “pure”, and less designed by committee and focus tested to death.
But…is that actually going to happen? I can’t even keep up with my current gen releases. I own 31 PS4 games right now, and I’ve only finished about ten of them. Xbox One and Wii U are similarly neglected, although I own fewer games for those consoles.
I’ve been kicking around the idea lately of slowly selling off the bulk of my collection. I’d keep my Final Fantasy games, of course, and certain rare gems like the dot/HACK series, and a smattering of RPGs, of course. I don’t think I could part with my NES and SNES games, as they hold significant sentimental value for me. Like, that NES Metroid cart? That’s my original copy, bought new at Toys R Us when I got my Nintendo. The handwriting of 11 year old Julian is found in the instruction manual for passwords. My Secret of Mana cart? I traded it in to Gamefellas, only to have it come back into my possession a couple years later in the same condition I kept it in. How do I know? The save files weren’t touched, and I used to put the name of whatever girl I was crushing on as the female character.
A lot of memories. A lot of money. But also, a lot of storage room, and the time it would take to play these games is more than I probably have in life. It’s a lot to think about, and I’m not sure I’m ready to make that decision. Sorry for this super long BaD. Hope it was GuD.
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