|
Video game collecting is the hobby of collecting and preserving video games, video game consoles, and related memorabilia. Most video game consoles, and their games, are considered to be collectors' items years after their discontinuation due to their functional longevity and cultural significance. Collectors usually narrow their search to games holding characteristics they enjoy, such as being published for a specific video game console, being of certain genre, or featuring a specific character. The value of a game depends on the quantity manufactured, the quality of the gameplay, its cultural impact, and the condition of the specific game being questioned. Games that are complete with their original packaging and paperwork are considered more valuable. In many cases, these components are valued more highly than the games themselves. Many times, video games crossover with other mediums, so collections often overlap with those of anime, manga, comic books, and other media. ==Approaches== The majority of collectors focus on collecting officially licensed releases of console based games, and pick from the following criteria to focus their collecting: * By platform: Collectors sometimes pick to collect for a platform they enjoy, sometimes going as far as aiming to complete a set of official licensed games for one console or computer, such as the NES or Commodore 64. It is up to personal preference whether to include imports, unlicensed games, manuals, or packaging. Some consoles and computers are more popular to collect for than others due to their popularity during their lifetime. * By region: Most collectors only aim to obtain video games in their region due to the difficulty of buying games from other regions and consoles and computers having regional lockout chips. Language differences may also limit buying options. Some games do not get international release, and become collectible as imports. This commonly affects RPGs and shooters. For example, shoot 'em up games for the Sega Dreamcast are particularly sought after and can be expensive to purchase, such as ''Border Down'', ''Ikaruga'' and ''Under Defeat''. * By generation: Collectors sometimes have preference for one generation of video games. For example, a video game collector who collects video games from the fourth generation would strive to collect games for the SNES, Sega Genesis, Neo Geo, and TurboGrafx-16. * By series: Video game series that give personal enjoyment or are of consistently high critical acclaim are often desired. Some franchises, such as ''Mario'', include many entries across various genres and consoles. Popular examples include ''The Legend of Zelda'', ''Castlevania'', and ''Mega Man''. * By creator: Some choose to collect video games encompassing a specific publisher, developer, producer, programmer, composer, or artist. For example, someone may collect games produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, or published by Capcom. * By genre: A collector may choose to collect games from a specific genre, normally one that person appreciates for its gameplay. RPGs often retain or increase their value by their quality, length of gameplay, and niche popularity. Other popular examples include survival horror, platformers, and fighters. Collections normally stray outside the realm of licensed console games exclusively. The following categories are also popular: * Consoles: Video game consoles themselves may be collectible, especially if they include original packaging. Consoles that are sought after are normally either limited editions, variants, hotel consoles, display consoles, odd and interesting consoles, console clones, or prototypes and cancelled consoles. * Unlicensed games: Some video games are not licensed for their respective video game consoles. One example is ''Bible Adventures'' for the NES. Most Christian video games for consoles are unlicensed because many console manufacturers, such as Nintendo, do not want religious video games on their systems. Homebrews and ROM hacks would also fall under this category. * Bootlegs: Bootleg games, systems, and add-ons may be desired for their unofficial status. Also, video game collectors can get rare video games on a reproduction cart, so they can still have them in their collection. Since this may violate the copyright law, these can be considered black market collectables. Multi-carts from China are popular bootlegs to collect. * Prototype and development releases: Games and equipment may become collectible by virtue of its unavailability. This includes games available only in prototype form, which may have left the company because of liquidation, theft, journalistic review, or other cause. Games that were not released to the public are still of interest to the gaming community, as their software can be copied and distributed over the Internet. Prototypes tend to decrease in value when their ROM is released publicly. Because these titles are not supposed to leave their respective companies, they can also be considered black market collectibles.〔http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/23/3〕 * Arcades: Arcade games and system boards can also be collected. Many arcade game collectors usually buy used arcade games from restaurant and arcade owners. Most arcade game collectors change the switches on the back of the cabinets to make the games free play. They may also refurbish artwork to make it appear new. Arcade collecting is becoming more common due to the current decline of arcade gaming. * Memorabilia: Memorabilia includes any merchandise related to video games such as toys, figurines, posters, giveaways, or promotional items. It can also include retail displays and kiosks that were previously unavailable for purchase. * Accessories: Accessories includes special controllers, lightguns, memory cards, add-ons, or other devices. An accessory that has found very limited release will be more collectible, such as the Dreamcast broadband adapter. Online modems or network equipment for retro consoles may be collected for completeness despite their official inoperability. Many PC video game collectors collect video cards, sound cards, keyboards, joysticks, and other computer hardware. Third party accessories may also be of interest. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Video game collecting」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|