I've had enough and am selling most of my stuff

[Magic Knight]

Gentlemen, it is magic time. I decided last night to sell most of my games and associated books and magazines since I just don't have time for them. I'll start with my X68000 and FM Towns games. I look up and see two copies of Monkey Island 2. One for the PC I bought when a teenager in Ireland for about 30 pounds. The other is the FM Towns version which I can assure you was not 30 pounds. Will I regret selling my X68000 stuff? No, I have the freaking original PCBs sitting behind me. Will I regret selling the PCBs? No, because I never play them as I have too many. Forgotten Worlds, Ninja Warriors, Nemesis, Salamander, Psycho Soldier, these games are worth good money so I might as well have it since I don't ever play them. Spatter alone is worth a fortune.

I'll still keep the games I really want like Green Beret, Out Run, Bomb Jack and so on. I'm just spending, and have spent, way too much money on these. I've started supporting a women's university football (soccer) team from Okayama, and when I say 'support' I mean I actually give them cash in envelopes. That makes me feel better than chasing after games I just stick on the shelf.

Well, that's enough of my nonsense. I'll post a new thread in the sales area to start off, just in case anyone here is looking for the stuff. Then I'll hit the other forums. My wife wants me to stay away from YAJ until the new year.

[Shou]

Good luck! I did the same about a decade ago.

Sold it all in 1 go but came back to it (not saying you will).

[Magic Knight]

Good luck! I did the same about a decade ago.

Sold it all in 1 go but came back to it (not saying you will).

About $75,000 you got for your stuff, wasn't it?

[Shou]

Good luck! I did the same about a decade ago.

Sold it all in 1 go but came back to it (not saying you will).

One thing that triggered it was your story of the guy with 4,000 PCBs. In the past I'd say "I want to be that guy", now I'm thinking "What a pathetic man, he needs psychiatric help". Every time I look at games I just see the price I paid for them and I just can't enjoy it anymore.

About $75,000 you got for your stuff, wasn't it?

$100,000 for everything

[Magic Knight]

Good luck! I did the same about a decade ago.

Sold it all in 1 go but came back to it (not saying you will).

One thing that triggered it was your story of the guy with 4,000 PCBs. In the past I'd say "I want to be that guy", now I'm thinking "What a pathetic man, he needs psychiatric help". Every time I look at games I just see the price I paid for them and I just can't enjoy it anymore.

About $75,000 you got for your stuff, wasn't it?

$100,000 for everything

Well done, I won't get that much, I know that. Until now I've had no real incentive to sell, as I have plenty of money saved so I always reasoned that I might as well just keep the games, especially as selling can be such a hassle. But some of these games I've simply never played properly, because I have too many more that I also haven't played. And books to read, records, films, Japanese to learn...
are you looking for anything in particular? I have Space Harrier, but that's one I might keep. There again, one sold on Yahoo for over 200,000... makes a man think.

[Shou]

Well done, I won't get that much, I know that. Until now I've had no real incentive to sell, as I have plenty of money saved so I always reasoned that I might as well just keep the games, especially as selling can be such a hassle. But some of these games I've simply never played properly, because I have too many more that I also haven't played. And books to read, records, films, Japanese to learn...
are you looking for anything in particular? I have Space Harrier, but that's one I might keep. There again, one sold on Yahoo for over 200,000... makes a man think.

To be fair, it was nearly 3000 games including a pretty good English AES collection and about 300 boards.

I sent you a PM

[Gaijin Punch]

I feel you, MK.
I'm down to just games I will play, and it's only a few. I'm trying not to collect anything. I buy a camera lens every now and again and I realize I don't use them enough to warrant the price tag often and sell them. I just used my zoom for the 3rd of 4th time of 2012 (no shit) for my son's undokai. So, I think out the door it goes. I bought a Zeiss in hopes it would light a fire under my ass to get out and utilize it. I will try to use this one 3 times a week for 2 months and assess whether it's worth the dough or not. For the zoom I think I'll get 70,000 yen for it used even, so it's hard to justify having it for just a few times a year.

Anywho, looks like you're giving community members first dibs which is nice. Hope you enjoy the feeling of getting stuff done. I have a hard time utilizing all the stuff I have now, and it's way less than I've had the last 10 years.

[Magic Knight]

I feel you, MK.
I'm down to just games I will play, and it's only a few. I'm trying not to collect anything. I buy a camera lens every now and again and I realize I don't use them enough to warrant the price tag often and sell them. I just used my zoom for the 3rd of 4th time of 2012 (no shit) for my son's undokai. So, I think out the door it goes. I bought a Zeiss in hopes it would light a fire under my ass to get out and utilize it. I will try to use this one 3 times a week for 2 months and assess whether it's worth the dough or not. For the zoom I think I'll get 70,000 yen for it used even, so it's hard to justify having it for just a few times a year.

Anywho, looks like you're giving community members first dibs which is nice. Hope you enjoy the feeling of getting stuff done. I have a hard time utilizing all the stuff I have now, and it's way less than I've had the last 10 years.

Do you know, I bought a nice camera six years ago, and only read the manual for the first time THIS WEEK! I am genuinely interested in seeing what photographic stuff you have for sale though, because the one I have has the lens directly attached and can't be swapped out. I take pictures at the matches I go to. Have a look at my http://nadeshiko-league.blogspot.jp/ blog to get an idea of the kind of shots I take. It would be great to have a better camera, I would actually use it. Thus far I've only taken pictures of games for sale, bit of a waste really.

I am enjoying the feeling of getting stuff done. Just sent a Strider 2 out to the UK a few minutes ago.

[Gaijin Punch]

Well, to go with the adult ADD for games, I've been getting into vintage/modified lenses. I actually got two Minolta Rokkor 58mm F/1.2's as one was a good deal, and wanted to compare the two. They are different versions. I've not done that yet. But, one will be for sale. Here is a collection of photos from this absolutely sick lens. There is a caveat on my 5D Mark II. It hits the mirror after the focus is at about 25 feet or so. It does not hit the mirror on Canon's APS-C "crop" sensor cameras though, which is basically the 7D and down.

The other thing I have is a Sigma 70-200 F/2.8. It's a great lens. I just don't use that focal length accept to shoot my kid (no pun intended) at Yoyogi Park. Even then, I could live w/ a 100mm Prime or even my 24-70 to an extent. So, it must go.

There are cheap ways to get into the DSLR world and get great examples. You can get a used Canon 50D on Yahoo for *probably* 50,000 yen now. Maybe even less. It's a solid camera. 7D would be only 80,000 and is even better. It took me becoming a parent to put such a high value on my photos. Also, I will venture that Tokyo is a much bigger sandbox than Miyagi, although I'm sure for nature and whatnot Miyagi is great. I'm more into urban photography, although I seem to have hit a creative block recently.

[RadiantSvgun]

I feel you man. I'd love that salamander, but I'm kinda doing the same thing. When I moved, I took 3 days just to move boxes of console games. I've been constantly listing on ebay and such (I'd recommend with your stuff you not do that) but I keep finding NES shit I didn't even know I had. Frankly, it feels good to let a lot of that stuff go, and the extra income is going to paying off old college debt and going to new projects.

Edit: I guess you got to get it down to what you like. I don't regret selling my battle garegga kit, but I miss my gunbirds. There is hype and what everyone else likes, but you gotta go with what you enjoy.

[Magic Knight]

Well, to go with the adult ADD for games, I've been getting into vintage/modified lenses. I actually got two Minolta Rokkor 58mm F/1.2's as one was a good deal, and wanted to compare the two. They are different versions. I've not done that yet. But, one will be for sale. Here is a collection of photos from this absolutely sick lens. There is a caveat on my 5D Mark II. It hits the mirror after the focus is at about 25 feet or so. It does not hit the mirror on Canon's APS-C "crop" sensor cameras though, which is basically the 7D and down.

The other thing I have is a Sigma 70-200 F/2.8. It's a great lens. I just don't use that focal length accept to shoot my kid (no pun intended) at Yoyogi Park. Even then, I could live w/ a 100mm Prime or even my 24-70 to an extent. So, it must go.

There are cheap ways to get into the DSLR world and get great examples. You can get a used Canon 50D on Yahoo for *probably* 50,000 yen now. Maybe even less. It's a solid camera. 7D would be only 80,000 and is even better. It took me becoming a parent to put such a high value on my photos. Also, I will venture that Tokyo is a much bigger sandbox than Miyagi, although I'm sure for nature and whatnot Miyagi is great. I'm more into urban photography, although I seem to have hit a creative block recently.

Ok, I'm not too up to date on photography, but I do know that a telephone is not going to produce a good picture. Seriously, people at my wedding sending me pictures they took on their phones... it could have been anyone getting married. So I'm mostly going for a camera where I can change the lens, and the lenses are pretty good and I can take long distance photos. I'm mostly going to be taking pictures of the girls playing football, so that's what it's really for (I sound like a pervert). I got more entertainment and more pleasure standing in the damp on Sunday watching them play for free than I do from expensive games, and even from making posters for them with crayons and glue.

See the yellow blob in the upper right corner of this picture? They're my posters for the girls. I had asked them a week earlier to bring up scarves and t-shirts for me, and they did so, and I could never sell them. Ninja Warriors, yes, I can sell that. It cost me only $25, so I can't possibly lose!

[Gaijin Punch]

Well, read up and research to figure out your needs. Best sports Camera in the Canon line is the 7D, hands down. Auto fire on that thing is like 7 FPS... maybe more. My 5D2, which has a "better" sensor, is full frame, and has excellent high ISO performance is a mere 3.9 FPS. So, you gotta decide what you need. Also, read up on full frame lens versus crop. Basically, my 5D2 is full frame. The 7d is crop by a factor of 1.6. So, what is 70-200mm on my body, would be 112-240mm on the 7D. In short, substantially more reach, which is usually another plus for sports photography.

After that you have the wonderful world of lenses. (Jargon: A 'fast' lens refers to it's aperture). The fastest zoom lenses are 2.8. As you probably know, this make the depth of field really shallow, and gives you a lot more room on the shutter speed. I don't take sports photography, so I don't know where the "sweet spot" is...especially for something like football where you may want multiple players' faces in focus. It is nice to have it when you need it though. I don't think I'm ever going to use my zoom in the dark, so unless my son starts playing organized sports in the evening (highly unlikely) my zoom is too much for me, so I simply need to sell it for something more reasonable. Canon's 70-200mm F4 would have made sense to buy from the beginning, but is similar in cost to my Sigma. Decisions, decisions.

[Magic Knight]

Well, read up and research to figure out your needs. Best sports Camera in the Canon line is the 7D, hands down. Auto fire on that thing is like 7 FPS... maybe more. My 5D2, which has a "better" sensor, is full frame, and has excellent high ISO performance is a mere 3.9 FPS. So, you gotta decide what you need. Also, read up on full frame lens versus crop. Basically, my 5D2 is full frame. The 7d is crop by a factor of 1.6. So, what is 70-200mm on my body, would be 112-240mm on the 7D. In short, substantially more reach, which is usually another plus for sports photography.

After that you have the wonderful world of lenses. (Jargon: A 'fast' lens refers to it's aperture). The fastest zoom lenses are 2.8. As you probably know, this make the depth of field really shallow, and gives you a lot more room on the shutter speed. I don't take sports photography, so I don't know where the "sweet spot" is...especially for something like football where you may want multiple players' faces in focus. It is nice to have it when you need it though. I don't think I'm ever going to use my zoom in the dark, so unless my son starts playing organized sports in the evening (highly unlikely) my zoom is too much for me, so I simply need to sell it for something more reasonable. Canon's 70-200mm F4 would have made sense to buy from the beginning, but is similar in cost to my Sigma. Decisions, decisions.

Oof! Well, I'll read up on it and maybe ask your advice in the future. I don't mind paying good money for the stuff, since I really will use it every weekend. There's an announcement before every game about how we're not to take photos and put them on the Internet and so on. My ability to understand Japanese mysteriously vanishes for this time, and then comes back when I want to meet the players.

[Ganelon]

Nice PCB collection. And very reasonable prices too. Is the focus on 80s games based on personal interest (as opposed to selling off more recent games earlier/later)?

I recall buying some X68 games from you awhile back and then having an X68 deal not come to fruition. If this were 5 years back, I'd definitely pick up a few boards (The Outfoxies in a heartbeat for one). But right now, I'm a lot more ambivalent. I gave myself a day to reconsider and oddly enough still couldn't bring myself to buy anything. Is this the 1st symptom of someone moving past gaming? Or is interest in something else equally captivating, such as women's soccer, necessary as well to replace it?

It's interesting how many diehard game fans lose interest and then one day decide to sell everything. I don't really need cash now but I reckon one day I might come across the liberating illumination that I'll never get back to most of the games.

Oddly enough, I always expected to be someone who would play old games if/when I retire. But it appears that a passionate older gamer is a rare find so I'm less certain about that fate now. If I ever lose interest in games, I imagine I'd hold on to everything for 5-10 more years just to make sure. I still remember my old "love-no love relationship" with Legos as a kid where years would separate the times I'd want a Lego gift.

And if my interest really does disappear, then I would expect to go the Shou route of selling everything at once (on a tangent, $100k was a great bargain for that set in hindsight) to avoid hassle. But saving some of the most personal games doesn't sound like a bad idea either.

Anyway, have fun with soccer. It seems like an engaging hobby and I'm sure the girls could use the support. On a side note, this may sound funny but my pet peeve watching soccer nowadays is white cleats (I miss when everyone had on the classic Copa Mundial or Nike equivalent). I'm not sure why but it turns me off about as much as seeing socks with sandals, an adult wearing Crocs or Uggs, or a figure skater wearing over-the-boot tights. I'm shocked nobody else seems to consider white cleats a fashion faux pas.

[Magic Knight]

Nice PCB collection. And very reasonable prices too. Is the focus on 80s games based on personal interest (as opposed to selling off more recent games earlier/later)?

I recall buying some X68 games from you awhile back and then having an X68 deal not come to fruition. If this were 5 years back, I'd definitely pick up a few boards (The Outfoxies in a heartbeat for one). But right now, I'm a lot more ambivalent. I gave myself a day to reconsider and oddly enough still couldn't bring myself to buy anything. Is this the 1st symptom of someone moving past gaming? Or is interest in something else equally captivating, such as women's soccer, necessary as well to replace it?

It's interesting how many diehard game fans lose interest and then one day decide to sell everything. I don't really need cash now but I reckon one day I might come across the liberating illumination that I'll never get back to most of the games.

Oddly enough, I always expected to be someone who would play old games if/when I retire. But it appears that a passionate older gamer is a rare find so I'm less certain about that fate now. If I ever lose interest in games, I imagine I'd hold on to everything for 5-10 more years just to make sure. I still remember my old "love-no love relationship" with Legos as a kid where years would separate the times I'd want a Lego gift.

And if my interest really does disappear, then I would expect to go the Shou route of selling everything at once (on a tangent, $100k was a great bargain for that set in hindsight) to avoid hassle. But saving some of the most personal games doesn't sound like a bad idea either.

Anyway, have fun with soccer. It seems like an engaging hobby and I'm sure the girls could use the support. On a side note, this may sound funny but my pet peeve watching soccer nowadays is white cleats (I miss when everyone had on the classic Copa Mundial or Nike equivalent). I'm not sure why but it turns me off about as much as seeing socks with sandals, an adult wearing Crocs or Uggs, or a figure skater wearing over-the-boot tights. I'm shocked nobody else seems to consider white cleats a fashion faux pas.

Most of the early boards I bought and want to hold on to are games I knew when I was young, mostly from the ZX Spectrum conversions. I almost never went to an arcade when I was young.

My problem is that I am obsessed with the price of things. I have a Chiki Chiki Boys Megadrive cart here beside me. It's been here for about 5 years. I have never played it and I want to sell it to get back my amazing 300 yen. Now, obviously 300 yen is nothing, it's laughable, but I cling to the belief that this thing is worth money and I can sell it. I should just give it away, or throw it away. But I'm obsessed with numbers and spreadsheets and have to record everything. I think that's what's opressing me really. Plus I can't move in this room. And I just have way too much stuff. I bought a Ghouls'n Ghosts about two weeks ago, still haven't played it.

Every time I buy a game I'm not thinking of playing it, I'm thinking, how much can I get for this when I resell it in the future... and I've been stuck with games for years. I should just sell them and move on.

I think as well the fact that I had almost no work to do in school the last six years led me to have to feel busy by buying things. I'm feeling depressed here now, not because I'm sad to see the stuff go, but that I ever bought it in the first place.

[Gaijin Punch]

Interesting topics. On the camera front, Japanese are fucking petrified of their "privacy" being violated... yet, nobody moves out of the god damn way on the street. Really, really whacked priorities IMHO, but what do you expect from a country where paying for anal sex is legal but showing a beaver in a movie is not.

I'm always willing to give what advice I can. Just drop me a line.

I know a lot of the reason I'm not into games now is my personal life. Not the biggest secret, even though I don't get into it in public forums. But, I am now separated. I see my son 3 times a week (2 weeknights, 1 weekend day). It sucks, but it's the way it's gotta be. I am indeed dating again. While my new squeeze has absolutely no problems with my dorkier side (she's seen my house) I just seem to have less time to devote to games (they are a time suck, no doubt) as I actually do stuff with her. My future ex-wife and I did almost nothing together. Once the kid went to sleep, I went into the Otaku-beya and she watched asinine bullshit on TV. Rinse, repeat.

I'm also more into photography now, as it is a nice escape. On top of all the bullshit above, work was pretty tough for a while, and the economy was absolutely fucking brutal. I was stressed out, and walking around w/ my camera helped. Trying to do music as much as possible but the magic of that hobby is somewhat neutralized by the fact that everyone wants to be a DJ, and anyone can get a gig, no matter how awful, as long as you have a ton of friends or have tits. I still do it, just not nearly as enthusiastic about it.

^_~

[Magic Knight]

Interesting topics. On the camera front, Japanese are fucking petrified of their "privacy" being violated... yet, nobody moves out of the god damn way on the street. Really, really whacked priorities IMHO, but what do you expect from a country where paying for anal sex is legal but showing a beaver in a movie is not.

I'm always willing to give what advice I can. Just drop me a line.

I know a lot of the reason I'm not into games now is my personal life. Not the biggest secret, even though I don't get into it in public forums. But, I am now separated. I see my son 3 times a week (2 weeknights, 1 weekend day). It sucks, but it's the way it's gotta be. I am indeed dating again. While my new squeeze has absolutely no problems with my dorkier side (she's seen my house) I just seem to have less time to devote to games (they are a time suck, no doubt) as I actually do stuff with her. My future ex-wife and I did almost nothing together. Once the kid went to sleep, I went into the Otaku-beya and she watched asinine bullshit on TV. Rinse, repeat.

I'm also more into photography now, as it is a nice escape. On top of all the bullshit above, work was pretty tough for a while, and the economy was absolutely fucking brutal. I was stressed out, and walking around w/ my camera helped. Trying to do music as much as possible but the magic of that hobby is somewhat neutralized by the fact that everyone wants to be a DJ, and anyone can get a gig, no matter how awful, as long as you have a ton of friends or have tits. I still do it, just not nearly as enthusiastic about it.

^_~

Wow, sorry to hear about the problems you've been having, I know what the stress can be like. I'm selling these games basically for my mental health. Incredible how looking at old games and books on a shelf can really depress you.

I was thinking I could go to Hello Work and see if I can get on a photography course or something, they have these courses you can do while unemployed, things like welding chairs and extremely basic computer use. I have to do something just to get the money, since there aren't any jobs to apply for around here. Maybe I'll tell them I want to be a photographer, who knows what might come up. I have to go twice a month with evidence I've been applying for jobs etc., I don't know what to do.

[Gaijin Punch]

Yeah, idiots. It's also not against the law. Basically there's something called 肖像権 but, like every other law in japan, it's incredibly vague. From what I've heard, people will ask you to take down their photo. Just be a good gaijin and comply and everyone will love you. Having said that, I try to not take photos of minors... most of the time, anyway.

The other hobby I'm about to take up (don't laugh) is sewing. I went to Burning Man this year and it was a life altering experience. Want to go back, but the outfits can get pricey, and to be honest, I'd rather just make a few pieces anyway. I doubt I'll be making pants by then, but who knows. I'm a fast learner. First sewing project is actually for my bicycle (yep). Prototype semi-worked, but I'm going for version 1.0 now. Fuck the 4 hours it takes doing it by hand.

[Magic Knight]

Yeah, I don't take pictures of children. Being a real teacher, I was alarmed to see how teachers here take photos all the time. A teacher in a school I worked in was arrested a few weeks ago for uploading child porn. Pictures of the children in his care. Outrageous.

If the girls asked I would of course remove the pictures. But I gave prinouts of my reports and copies of the photos to the coach and he said the players (these are all in university) would be delighted.

Sewing sounds good to me. I say go nuts.

Someone just pm'd me on shmups, I had to log on for the first time in years just to reply.

[emphatic]

I think it sounds like you're heading towards a great life now. In the end, things you own end up owning you. Me, I have too much stuff as well (I do re-read books from time to time, but 80% of them I will never pick up again), I have enough video games to last me a lifetime if I go for 1CC (I only play arcade games or ports), so the games I keep, I play from time to time. The list of games I need to get rid of is short, and they're all pretty cheap. Also, having kids (third kid is a month away) makes "serious gaming" impossible, as I just respect my girlfriend too much to just lock myself in somewhere to play.

[Magic Knight]

Good stuff. There's a guy I've never heard of on another forum criticising me for selling my games (I gave supporting the women's football team as the reason, I'm not going into details with people I don't know). Maybe if he watched his home, his neighbours' homes and half the city being washed away his priorities might eventually change too. The whole 'people > stuff' deal.

[Gaijin Punch]

For the most part what little games I"ve played are pick up -> put down games. Arcade for the most part, but I did purchase Jet Set Radio HD. Not sure if it counts when it's a game you've cleared dozens of times and only takes a few hours. Will probabl play through it again!

There are douche bags all over the internet. As I get older, tolerating them becomes much harder. Mainly b/c it's hard to relate to them. I know a lot of us here are in our early late 30's and whatnot, so it's not as pronounced as some places. Shmups actually has a few older members. Assembler gets worse and worse as it goes. The older members bail out, and younger ones join. Anyway, one of the respectable members of shmups will be contacting you here in PM form, so, perhaps that helped a little.

A teacher in a school I worked in was arrested a few weeks ago for uploading child porn. Pictures of the children in his care.

That's fucked up. There was a case in California a few years back as well. I'm always weary of that shit as a parent. Apparently there are often zero signs of such bullshit going on. Sick.

[Magic Knight]

For the most part what little games I"ve played are pick up -> put down games. Arcade for the most part, but I did purchase Jet Set Radio HD. Not sure if it counts when it's a game you've cleared dozens of times and only takes a few hours. Will probabl play through it again!

There are douche bags all over the internet. As I get older, tolerating them becomes much harder. Mainly b/c it's hard to relate to them. I know a lot of us here are in our early late 30's and whatnot, so it's not as pronounced as some places. Shmups actually has a few older members. Assembler gets worse and worse as it goes. The older members bail out, and younger ones join. Anyway, one of the respectable members of shmups will be contacting you here in PM form, so, perhaps that helped a little.

A teacher in a school I worked in was arrested a few weeks ago for uploading child porn. Pictures of the children in his care.

That's fucked up. There was a case in California a few years back as well. I'm always weary of that shit as a parent. Apparently there are often zero signs of such bullshit going on. Sick.

Yeah, things are moving on for me, I got Saigo no Nindou sold just now for obviously good money (well, what I paid for it). I'm just glad I'm at home and have time. When I was trying to send stuff out after work it was painful.

That dude in my old school put cameras in the kids' toilets... how the hell did someone not notice this!

[Gaijin Punch]

Is he locked up? Did they blame the local gaijin for influencing him?

[Magic Knight]

Is he locked up? Did they blame the local gaijin for influencing him?

I hope he's locked up but I haven't heard. Last I read was that Niigata police came to arrest him. It was the janitor woman in school who mentioned the camera and so on. The news reports were of course a bit more vague for legal reasons.