[quote name='gobz']Stamps are just for mailing?
Coins just for currency?
Books just for reading?
The point is some people may choose to collect something (in this case video games) that other perhaps see as fungible goods.
It would be nice if the reprints would be something in the form of "Greatest Hits" which would help maintain the value of originals for collectors.
I and others seek to develop video game collections. Therefore, the only reason for owning a game is not SOLELY because you enjoy playing it. And although I am a huge fan of Don Rickles I have not seen either of the Toy Story films and therefore don't understand your reference.[/QUOTE]
The problem with this is that game value comes largely from people wanting to play it. Look at Tetris DS, Rez, Ico, etc. They're not easy to find, and people want to play them. Same reason that prices drop even when a game is reprinted as a GH, with some other hideous label (I think Ubisoft does this), or released digitally. FF7 being a good example-- it wasn't really rare, it wasn't really an amazing collector's piece, but a lot of people wanted to play it, with good reason. When it came out in PSN, demand dropped for PS1 copies. This is coincidentally the mechanism that TCGs thrive off of-- some people will hoard cards for their collectable values, while others want them for playing with.
On the other hand, people aren't in any shortage of stamps to mail things with, coins to buy with, or books to read from-- books comes the closest to games, but even then the popular ones tend to be reprinted, in less-valuable non-first-editions. If stamp collectors were able to keep people from mailing, people would be more pissed off; except where coins and stamps will keep printing and minting until demand is met (stamp/coin collecting actually makes money for the government; the US government has made like four and a half billion from the 50 State quarter gimmick) , many video games will never be reprinted. Once they're off the shelves, the people that snapped them up can resell them at a higher value.
If you want to collect for the sake of having a collection of games, do it. If you want to make a profit off of your games, don't call it a collection. It's an investment. And like the stock market, your investments can shoot way up, or drop down, depending on supply and demand, which is determined by factors which you can guess at and read about.
The people that really have a right to be pissed off are those who buy from 'collectors' who care about how much they can make by buying low and selling high and then later find that the game is reprinted-- the publisher let it slip for long enough that they had to buy it at an inflated rate instead of being able to buy it new; which benefits neither publisher nor gamer.
On the Fatal Frame Trilogy, I think this would be neat, if it were $20-30. $80 is way too high for three PS2 games, regardless of how much of a cult following they may have. Especially when there are trilogies out of far better series of games-- MGS, DMC, Hitman, GTA-- at far lower prices. For $80, I could get two better games new, and one far better game used. For $80, I could get a dozen comparable games used. For $80, I could get five games on my 'must buy' list right now. For games I'd like to play, but am not dying for, you're going to have to do more to convince me.
ERS, AMERICAN PEOPLE LIKE FATAL FRAME!!! RELEASE THAT SHIT!!!"
