Virtual Boy Ebay 14,000.00

[Tornadoboy]

Tornadoboy: Did you completely look over the fact that this is my item? Where in this thread would I be laughing at people that obviously have no clue what they are talking about sans DogP and the guys that understand one offs are very hard to price?

Be that as it may, I'm a little busy doing my job right now to particularly care about trivial shit like this, and being that whatever is said here by anyone will have absolutely ZERO impact on your auction I'd advise you to take the same attitude. And I don't generally consider insignificant and rather bad puns like a Virtual Boy being a "virtual waste of money" such a grave insult that it's worthy of getting one's panties in a wad and to come out swinging.

But since my opinion seems to have such impact on you, I am hereby granting you my permission to sell whatever you like for as much as you like regardless of any half-ass jokes I make. And in fact sell the damn thing for the 14K and get the last laugh on everyone, believe it or not I'd like that.

 

[DogP]

There have been Virtual Boy Spaceworld items that have sold for upwards of this and I can 100% assure you $10,000-$15,000 could be had easily if Dragon Hopper or any other high end unreleased Virtual Boy game was found.

Maybe I've missed some auctions/sales, but I can't say I know of any VB related item go for anywhere near $14k. And while I'd like to be proven wrong (by a Dragon Hopper showing up for any amount of money), I'd argue that it would sell for < $10k (my $5k open offer for Dragon Hopper or Zero Racers still stands BTW ). But no point in arguing that, until one shows up . But the proto carts, systems, and dev kits that I know of, have all sold for < $4k.

I don't blame you though... the Video Boy is a really cool piece of equipment. If I had one, I wouldn't sell it!

DogP

 

[ASilver76]

Seriousy...

DreamTR really needs to stop being so defensive. If he wants to (potentially) fleece a mook (per the overall current opinion) on ebay, that's his right...just like it's our right to razz him for it.

As we all know, the golden rule of all serious collectors is the same everywhere: the value of any given item is whatever the collector thinks its worth. Since most of us are not collecting this particular type of item, we find the price to be somewhat humerous. Someone on the 'bay, on the other hand, may find it to be fair. Who knows? Who cares? If it sells, kudos. If not, it makes a great discussion topic for ribbing. It's a win-win either way.

 

[LyonsArcade]

You forgot the other rule of collecting. When somebody else has it, it isn't worth shit, but when you've got it, shit turns to GOLD.

I'm glad he's asking a small fortune for it, it'll make anything I'm lucky enough to find in the future worth MORE, lol. I hope he sells it for that.

I've never understood why anybody would waste anytime wanting somebody to be unsuccessful. DreamTR is a good guy. We should want him to be rich. Why hate? I hope he sells it, then finds a case of them unopened somewhere and makes even more the next time.

 

[sosage]

Although DreamTR should chill out a little, he is definitely to be trusted when it comes to the worth of these super rare console game items. *I* wouldn't pay 14k for this item...most of you wouldn't either, but I can definitely see it being worth that much. Official Nintendo dev units, let alone a press unit, aren't exactly the easiest things to score.

Short story: When I was in the press (later than the VB days), Nintendo PR literally had a rep stay with the dev machine you "rented" and stood there watching you play whatever game you had to cover. They did not let that machine out of their site for a second. The game was often locked into the machine (literally...with a special lock and key). If your organization had a really good rep with Nintendo PR, you might...*might*...get to keep the machine over night. *might*

This isn't even an official dev unit where there is likely a few of them possibly floating around in a third party devs storage unit or some random programmers closet next to his hockey gear and old Playboy mags. There is a very good possibility this is the only unit like it in the U.S, as DreamTR claimed.

Official Nintendo press hardware? Hard as hell to find? Obscure platform? Maybe 4-5 dev kits in the U.S. IF Nintendo didn't reclaim them (counting possible U.S. devs for the platform)? That blows Discs of Tron (with Tron movie in full swing), Medieval Madness and Cliffhanger out of the water FOR FREE when it comes to worth. Maybe Sundance...I dunno...how many of those are there now?

Virtual Boy, as a platform, did suck though...but I have a soft spot for it. I also have a soft spot for the 32X if that tells you anything.

 

[AlkalineJay]

I was honestly interested in this thing, hence this thread of me asking about it, I didnt think it was going to incite a riot!! lol

 

[DreamTR]

Maybe I've missed some auctions/sales, but I can't say I know of any VB related item go for anywhere near $14k. And while I'd like to be proven wrong (by a Dragon Hopper showing up for any amount of money), I'd argue that it would sell for < $10k (my $5k open offer for Dragon Hopper or Zero Racers still stands BTW ). But no point in arguing that, until one shows up . But the proto carts, systems, and dev kits that I know of, have all sold for < $4k.

I don't blame you though... the Video Boy is a really cool piece of equipment. If I had one, I wouldn't sell it!

DogP

You've definitely missed some =P. I've been offered $10,000 for Dragon Hopper TWICE now so I can assure you people would be ahead in that matter..but you said it yourself, if you had it you wouldn't sell it...= ) It's just tough to set a price on such an item...heck even at 5 figures I would miss it. Just like when people post on the forums they wouldn't even take $2500 for their own personal Tron machine which we all know is much more common it really factors to what someone will pay and console stuff is king when it comes to value over arcade stuff.....there are so many machines like Sosage said that are worth X amount but rarity is not there on a lot of them and some don't come close to some of the crazy console stuff out there...

 

[DogP]

Short story: When I was in the press (later than the VB days), Nintendo PR literally had a rep stay with the dev machine you "rented" and stood there watching you play whatever game you had to cover. They did not let that machine out of their site for a second. The game was often locked into the machine (literally...with a special lock and key). If your organization had a really good rep with Nintendo PR, you might...*might*...get to keep the machine over night. *might*

This isn't even an official dev unit where there is likely a few of them possibly floating around in a third party devs storage unit or some random programmers closet next to his hockey gear and old Playboy mags. There is a very good possibility this is the only unit like it in the U.S, as DreamTR claimed.

I'm not claiming that it isn't rare, because it clearly is... but what you're saying isn't the case with this system. These were available for sale from Intelligent Systems to the same people who were able to buy Dev Kits (anyone licensed by Nintendo to develop VB stuff). They weren't really useful for development, so I assume the only people who bought them were ones who expected to use them at trade shows and stuff.

They weren't THAT expensive new... only about $1k, vs. >$10k for development kits (heh, just the C compiler software was ~$2k). A Nintendo rep probably stayed while playing an unreleased game, but nothing about this system is special for playing unreleased stuff. I'd argue that they'd prefer you to play it on the real VB, for the most immersive 3D effect, vs. on a TV with 3D glasses. This was probably best for using with a frame grabber to take screenshots.

You've definitely missed some =P. I've been offered $10,000 for Dragon Hopper TWICE now so I can assure you people would be ahead in that matter.

Oh... that's somewhat true, though not exactly ahead of me. I told a friend I'd throw my money into the pot if he could get a copy, and he thought maybe you knew of someone who had it (if you can't find it, it must not exist )... though I'm surprised he only bugged you twice about it . If you do ever come across it and don't want to sell... I'll pay you $200 to let me play it .

BTW, care to tell me what the item(s) were (not necessarily the price) that I missed that sold for >$4k? I know of proto carts and systems, dev kits, store displays, etc... I can't think of anything that rich (even that crazy guy that bought up everything for insane prices on ebay). I don't remember the Video Boy on Yahoo JP going for that much either. We can take it to PM if you'd prefer... this thread is probably over anyway .

DogP

 

[DreamTR]

I'm not claiming that it isn't rare, because it clearly is... but what you're saying isn't the case with this system. These were available for sale from Intelligent Systems to the same people who were able to buy Dev Kits (anyone licensed by Nintendo to develop VB stuff). They weren't really useful for development, so I assume the only people who bought them were ones who expected to use them at trade shows and stuff.

They weren't THAT expensive new... only about $1k, vs. >$10k for development kits (heh, just the C compiler software was ~$2k). A Nintendo rep probably stayed while playing an unreleased game, but nothing about this system is special for playing unreleased stuff. I'd argue that they'd prefer you to play it on the real VB, for the most immersive 3D effect, vs. on a TV with 3D glasses. This was probably best for using with a frame grabber to take screenshots.



Oh... that's somewhat true, though not exactly ahead of me. I told a friend I'd throw my money into the pot if he could get a copy, and he thought maybe you knew of someone who had it (if you can't find it, it must not exist )... though I'm surprised he only bugged you twice about it . If you do ever come across it and don't want to sell... I'll pay you $200 to let me play it .

BTW, care to tell me what the item(s) were (not necessarily the price) that I missed that sold for >$4k? I know of proto carts and systems, dev kits, store displays, etc... I can't think of anything that rich (even that crazy guy that bought up everything for insane prices on ebay). I don't remember the Video Boy on Yahoo JP going for that much either. We can take it to PM if you'd prefer... this thread is probably over anyway .

DogP

DogP, that's the thing Sosage is pressing on, you had less than a handful of licensed developers anyway; there were NO Virtual Boy releases to begin with, it's Nintendo's easiest system to collect for Complete in Box, all you need is money...Virtual Bowling isn't even that rare nowadays but that's the thing, these things were not around...this was an internal Nintendo development item but yes, it was used to take screenshots...there is a Lynx item that is similar to this as well where less than a handful are out there...

I keep confusing you with Neil as the guy that I know that has Dragon Hopper wants to hold onto it like it's his first born but he doesn't do anything with it. One day it will pop up from someone else like the Neo Geo Ironclad did and no one has to worry about it anymore, LOL, but at the very least Bound High is out there for most people....

 

[MaximRecoil]

Where is the yellow coming from in those screen shots? Wasn't the Virtual Boy monochromatic red?

 

[spmahn]

On a similar note, does anyone know what happens to this type of stuff when a developer goes out of business? For example when Acclaim and Midway both closed up shop a few years ago, is it just a free for all amongst employees as to who can grab the test carts, prototypes, dev. units, etc? Does most of that stuff end up in the trash? I know I've heard stories of people successfully dumpster diving in the Redmond, WA area and finding Nintendo related items, but who knows if there's any truth to that.

 

[Mindl3ss]

On a similar note, does anyone know what happens to this type of stuff when a developer goes out of business? For example when Acclaim and Midway both closed up shop a few years ago, is it just a free for all amongst employees as to who can grab the test carts, prototypes, dev. units, etc? Does most of that stuff end up in the trash? I know I've heard stories of people successfully dumpster diving in the Redmond, WA area and finding Nintendo related items, but who knows if there's any truth to that.

Typically the stuff was returned to the manufacturer, and they hold on to it/destroy it.

I've talked to a few guys who say Nintendo has an employee garage sale, where they sell off some of this stuff to their staff. I know there are some guys on here that should be able to confirm/deny that...

When I worked for a retail chain that bombed, the local reps came in and took some of the stuff back. They didn't take a lot though. Often times they wouldn't visit our store, sometimes they just said "You can keep this stuff" when they replaced it with the old stuff... but not very often.

 

[sosage]

Typically the stuff was returned to the manufacturer, and they hold on to it/destroy it.

I've talked to a few guys who say Nintendo has an employee garage sale, where they sell off some of this stuff to their staff. I know there are some guys on here that should be able to confirm/deny that...

When I worked for a retail chain that bombed, the local reps came in and took some of the stuff back. They didn't take a lot though. Often times they wouldn't visit our store, sometimes they just said "You can keep this stuff" when they replaced it with the old stuff... but not very often.

Pretty much. Some stuff winds up "missing" when an employee is laid off or the system is no longer supported. Prototypes being innocently taken home and forgotten about for various reasons. I've taken home prototypes of software I've worked on and totally forgot about it (I think a lot of people in this group know about doing that for their work).

On the press side it was a general rule (where I worked) to destroy the review/preview copy of the game after we had been given an official final release. It was meant as insurance to protect our rep with pubs/devs. We wanted absolutely no chance of either having the game leaked and tracked back to us or wind up on Ebay (I mean, eventually this stuff gets sold otherwise people wouldn't be selling "preview copy of X,Y,Z" on the console related boards, but you can't trust people to be tactful with the timing). It's extreme, but it was those little things that seemed to really lvl up our relationship with pubs/devs and snagged us a lot of exclusives (believe it or not, it was not bribes or cash).

I'll come out and admit, however, I've saved a couple of press prototype games from getting destroyed, but they were games I really...really...really became a fan of. Never to be sold. Ever.

...I'm rambling...lol!

Hardware depended on who it was. Sega seemed really laid back about their stuff until the end. Probably because we had a good ass rep with them...and that the DC became irrelevant by the time they would want to ask for their stuff back. I don't think they ever claimed their hardware back, so I am pretty sure those wound up in someone's closet. Sony was tougher. We were using mostly our own home-mod'ed systems at one point until the next gen hardware came out. I wouldn't be surprised if they claimed any special hardware they gave out. Nintendo was the toughest one out of the 3 to work with, as mentioned before. I went back to being a freelancer and an art student by the time MS joined in, but I think the norm was simply mod'ing your own box. I had a few freelance gigs where having a moded Xbox was mandatory (but who is going to hand their special hardware to a freelancer?...no one, dats who).