Sealed Auctions: Secret of Evermore

All the auctions listed in this article series are brand new and sealed. They are relatively hard to find or sought after by collectors.

Secret of Evermore - Super Nintendo

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-27-08 19:03:29
The game sells for $17 used and $199 new.
See Historic Secret of Evermore Prices

Discworld II: Mortality Bytes - Playstation

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-28-08 01:48:06
The game sells for $45 used and $110 new.
See Historic DiscWorld II Prices

Fantastic Four - Playstation

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-28-08 20:29:02
The game sells for $8 used and $150 new.
See Historic Fantastic Four Prices

Illusion of Gaia - Super Nintendo

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-23-08 19:15:07
The game sells for $9 used and $115 new.
See Historic Illusion of Gaia Prices

Xenogears - Playstation 1

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-24-08 00:01:23
The game sells for $48 used and $95 new.
See Historic Xenogears Prices

Power Stone 2 - Sega Dreamcast

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-28-08 20:33:55
The game sells for $40 used and $145 new.
See Historic Power Stone 2 Prices

Pre-Order Collector's Items from Atlus

Atlus announced that pre-order purchases of their upcoming Persona 4, Eternal Poison, and Luminous Arc 2 games will receive an artbook and soundtrack CD along with their game when it releases. Atlus is basically giving you the ability to buy games that are pre-made to be collectible. Let me go through the factors that make them a game collector's dream.

1. They are published by Atlus.

2. They are RPG's (which keep their value longer and have a better chance of increasing).

3. They are limited editions (only pre-order purchases get them for now)

4. Two of them are released near the end of the console's lifespan.

All of these are factors this blog has analyzed as positively influencing the collectibility of a game. Plus if that is not enough, the artwork is beautiful and the games will most likely be great. Check it out the art below.




I'm not saying you should just buy the games and keep them in storage for years, you should play these games at some point too. But it might be a good idea to buy two, one to play and one to keep sealed for your collection.

You can pre-order the games at Amazon, Gamestop, EBGames, or GameCrazy and receive this sweet swag.

Persona 4 on Amazon - $36.99 (Release Date - Dec. 9th 2008)
Eternal Poison on Amazon - $36.99 (Release Date - Nov. 11th 2008)
Luminous Arc 2 on Amazon - $39.99 (Release Date - Nov 18th 2008)

Avast! 5 Expensive Pirate Games & Bilge Rats

Today is international "Talk Like A Pirate Day". To celebrate I'm drinking lots of grog, pillaging my neighbors pantry, and writing a post about Pirate video games. The five most expensive video games with "Pirate" in the title. Plus a few extra beauties for me mates. Shiver me timbers, what a list!

Sid Meier's Pirates Live the Life - PSP

New Price: $32 Used Price: $25
A more recent game tops the list of expensive Pirate games. Its a re-release of a PC Action/Strategy game on the PSP. The game received high review scores and is the best way to become a pirate while waiting at a bus stop.
See Current Pirates: Live the Life PSP Prices

Pirates Gold - Sega Genesis

Used Price: $21 New Price: $30
A real-time strategy game released for Sega Genesis in 1993. Pirates Gold is one of the few RTS games for the Genesis and is relatively rare. Though it can be found online without much problem you won't see it at many garage sales and pawn shops.
See Current Pirates Gold Prices

Sid Meier's Pirates Live the Life - Xbox

Used Price: $17 New Price: $31
The same game as the #1 on our list but released for the Xbox. It is a good game for "Talk Like A Pirate" day. You get to explore, pillage, kill, and steal as the captain of your own pirate ship.
See Current Pirates: Live the Life Xbox Prices

Jetsons Invasion of the Planet Pirates - SNES

Used Price: $14 New Price: $40
George Jetson must take on SPREE (Space Pirates Revelling in Evil Enterprises) and save the galaxy. You don't get to play as a pirate in this game, but it can be fun to stop evil pirates sometimes too.
See Current Jetson's Invasion of Planet Pirates Prices

Pirates of the Caribbean At World`s End - Wii

Used Price: $12 New Price: $17
The Wii game version of the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie. You follow the same basic plot as the movie but with waggle controls. Pointing at screen and shakeing your wiimote is guaranteed to make you feel like a real pirate.
See Current Pirates of the Caribbean At World`s End Wii Prices

Bilge Rats of the Pirate Game Genre (Bad Pirate Games or Titles)

Peter Pan and the Pirates - NES

Used Price: $2
This game is not one of the best remembered NES games and for good reason, it is completely forgettable. If you want to see an 8-bit Tinker-Bell (and I'm sure there are guys like that out there), this is the game for you.
See Current Peter Pan and the Pirates Prices

Dinotopia: The Timestone Pirates- GBA

Used Price: $8
Maybe one of the best Dinotopia games. Ok, that isn't saying much. This might be a good one for your pirate/dinosaur loving kids though.
See Current Dinotopia The Timestone Pirates GBA Prices

Dora the Explorer: Pirate Pig Treasure - GBA

Used Price: $9
The only Gameboy Advance game to explore the "Pirate Pig" genre. Judging by the picture, Pig Pirates are a bit more generous than human pirates.
See Current Dora the Explorer Pirate Pig Treasure GBA Prices





Video game prices provided by VGPC.com

Digg Effect Decreases Game Prices

We've seen the Digg Effect crash unprepared websites and bring tens of thousands of visitors to an article in a matter of hours. Those Digg users don't rush out to buy games after reading articles on the gaming front page. In fact, video games featured on Digg actually drop in price 2.2% on average in the seven days after the article becomes popular!

For the analysis we used all the "list type" articles that became popular on digg.com between August 10th, 2008 and September 10th, 2008. Articles like "31 Best DS Games", "10 Games That Need Mega Man 9 Treatment", and "Top 5 Overlooked Prequels". A total of seven articles and 94 games.

The prices are the average resale price seven days before and seven days after the article became popular. All video game prices come from VGPC.com and are based upon resale prices for games on ebay, amazon, and half.com.

Game	System	Price Before	Price After	% Change
ActRaiser	SNES	$10.53	$9.01	-14.4%
Advance Wars Dual Strike	DS	$18.37	$19.16	4.3%
Animal Crossing Wild World	DS	$21.09	$20.88	-1%
Battletoads	NES	$7.68	$7.61	-0.9%
Blast Works	Wii	$13.68	$13.19	-3.6%
Blaster Master	NES	$2.02	$2.01	-0.5%
Boom Blox	Wii	$37.61	$37.08	-1.4%
Bully Scholarship Edition	Wii	$22.6	$20.34	-10%
Castlevania	NES	$7.88	$8.98	14%
Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow	DS	$19.7	$19.98	1.4%
Castlevania Portrait of Ruin	DS	$16.59	$18.81	13.4%
Contra	NES	$14.87	$17.87	20.2%
Contra 4	DS	$12.76	$14.13	10.7%
Crystalis	NES	$4.69	$4.61	-1.7%
Devil May Cry 3	PS2	$7.62	$7.27	-4.6%
Donkey Kong	NES	$14.37	$14.13	-1.7%
Earthworm Jim	SNES	$12.02	$12.57	4.6%
Elebits	Wii	$11.24	$12.16	8.2%
Elite Beat Agents	DS	$7.89	$7.59	-3.8%
Excite Truck	Wii	$17.28	$18.94	9.6%
Final Fantasy III	SNES	$25.29	$22.78	-9.9%
Final Fantasy IV	DS	$32.17	$30.62	-4.8%
Final Fantasy Tactics A2	DS	$32.62	$30.54	-6.4%
Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn	Wii	$30.29	$29.29	-3.3%
F-Zero GX	Gamecube	$7.33	$7.87	7.4%
Geometry Wars Galaxies	Wii	$14.68	$15.63	6.5%
Guardian Legend	NES	$2.02	$2.1	4%
Guitar Hero III	Wii	$37.96	$43.69	15.1%
Guitar Hero On Tour	DS	$36.54	$35.39	-3.1%
Hotel Dusk Room 215	DS	$25.11	$23.1	-8%
Ice Climber	NES	$3.93	$3.49	-11.2%
Ikaruga	Gamecube	$32.81	$33.49	2.1%
Kid Icarus	NES	$11.73	$11.29	-3.8%
Kirby Canvas Curse	DS	$20.62	$22.42	8.7%
Lego Star Wars Complete Saga	Wii	$37.74	$37.61	-0.3%
Little Nemo Dream Master	NES	$2.39	$2.44	2.1%
Lunar Knights	DS	$18.39	$18.37	-0.1%
Mario and Luigi Partners in Time	DS	$24.18	$25.23	4.3%
Mario Kart DS	DS	$23.3	$24.11	3.5%
Mario Kart Wii	Wii	$46.42	$45.69	-1.6%
Mario Strikers Charged	Wii	$22.85	$21.41	-6.3%
Mercury Meltdown Revolution	Wii	$9.34	$10.12	8.4%
Meteos	DS	$11.4	$8.89	-22%
Metroid Prime	Gamecube	$6.35	$5.95	-6.3%
Metroid Prime 2 Echoes	Gamecube	$14.9	$15.93	6.9%
Metroid Prime 3 Corruption	Wii	$23.41	$22.61	-3.4%
Metroid Prime Hunters	DS	$21.7	$21.59	-0.5%
New Super Mario Bros	DS	$21.94	$21.71	-1%
Nights Journey of Dreams	Wii	$10.87	$9.84	-9.5%
Ninja Gaiden	NES	$4.48	$5	11.6%
Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword	DS	$17.8	$16.82	-5.5%
Nintendogs Dachshund	DS	$15.7	$16.18	3.1%
No More Heroes	Wii	$22.38	$21.88	-2.2%
Okami	Wii	$29.21	$30.99	6.1%
Order Up	Wii	$30.62	$30.81	0.6%
Phantasy Star II	Genesis	$9	$12.85	42.8%
Planet Puzzle League	DS	$18.82	$19.17	1.9%
Pokemon Diamond	DS	$22.42	$22.12	-1.3%
Professor Layton	DS	$22.95	$21.99	-4.2%
Puzzle Quest	DS	$12.5	$11.62	-7%
Puzzle Quest	Wii	$14.63	$16	9.4%
Rayman Raving Rabbids	Wii	$15.06	$15.89	5.5%
Resident Evil 4	Wii	$15.64	$16.54	5.8%
Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles	Wii	$27.77	$25.68	-7.5%
River City Ransom	NES	$13.39	$12.27	-8.4%
Rock Band	Wii	$130.75	$115.43	-11.7%
Sega Superstars Tennis	Wii	$13.05	$12.53	-4%
Shinobi	PS2	$4.36	$3.96	-9.2%
Smash TV	NES	$2.38	$2.38	0%
Sonic Rush	DS	$10.74	$10.03	-6.6%
Sonic the Hedgehog	Genesis	$4.78	$5.13	7.3%
Space Invaders Extreme	DS	$15.17	$14.54	-4.2%
Star Tropics	NES	$2.1	$2.59	23.3%
Sunset Riders	SNES	$15.15	$12.45	-17.8%
Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts	SNES	$5.23	$4.52	-13.6%
Super Mario 64 DS	DS	$17.13	$17.68	3.2%
Super Mario Galaxy	Wii	$31.55	$32.55	3.2%
Super Metroid	SNES	$19.11	$19.06	-0.3%
Super Paper Mario	Wii	$25.6	$24.1	-5.9%
Super Smash Bros Brawl	Wii	$30.24	$29.72	-1.7%
Tecmo Super Bowl	NES	$7.83	$7.67	-2%
Tetris DS	DS	$41.72	$40.04	-4%
Trauma Center Second Opinion	Wii	$21.23	$20.04	-5.6%
Trauma Center Under the Knife 2	DS	$22.72	$24.15	6.3%
WarioWare Smooth Moves	Wii	$33.65	$28.85	-14.3%
WarioWare Touched	DS	$24.89	$26.95	8.3%
Wii Fit	Wii	$133.75	$118.48	-11.4%
Wii Sports	Wii	$28.32	$26.54	-6.3%
World Ends With You	DS	$30.07	$26.9	-10.5%
Zack and Wiki	Wii	$15.24	$15.53	1.9%
Zelda II Adventure of Link	NES	$4.72	$4.64	-1.7%
Zelda Phantom Hourglass	DS	$18.51	$18.39	-0.6%
Zelda Twilight Princess	Wii	$29.38	$27.73	-5.6%
Zelda Wind Waker	Gamecube	$17.25	$17.29	0.2%
	Overall	$20.61	$20.16	-2.2%
	# Up	37	39.8%
	# Down	56	60.2%

What would cause this price decline when games are featured in Digg articles?
It is NOT an overall decline in game prices. The average video game during this same time period had no price decline at all, selling for $13.93 before the articles became popular and $13.93 afterwards.***

The best reason I can think for the price decline - More Digg users sell the games featured in the articles than buy them because of the article. Whatever causes the price decline, the Digg Video Game Effect is much different than the usual Digg Effect.

***The "average video game" price of $13.93 is based upon a weighted average so the weights in the sample match the weights in the average. This was done because the sample had mostly Wii, DS, and NES games and no 360, PS3, PSP, Genesis, etc games. Wii games make up 35% of the sample size so Wii games are weighted at 35% for the average. PS2 is 2% of the sample and 2% of the average. 360 games make up 0% of the sample and are not part of the overall average.

Wii Might Repeat Last Year's Sell-Outs

The CEO of GameStop said as part of an interview with Gamedaily

"I've never seen this type of demand before. I know they're making more, but we're still short like everybody else. I think we'll have a continued shortage this Christmas. I don't see a near-term end in sight for Wii shortages, not unless they really ramp up supply. I think they've ramped it up 20 percent or so, but Nintendo is fairly cautious by nature. They ramped it up 20 and it's still evaporating."

I predicted this same thing back on January 31st of this year. I said Wii resale prices will be above $400 this Christmas season. I stand by my prediction but I don't think the price spike will be as bad as last year's. See the chart below for the 2007 Wii prices.


Wii prices increased almost $200 during November 2007. Right now Wii Console's are selling for $250, the retail price. If the GameStop CEO is right, this is probably the lowest price the Wii Console will be the rest of 2008.

Sealed Auctions: Tactics Ogre for PS1

Tactics Ogre is a rare, sought after strategy RPG for the Playstation 1. It is one of the harder to find published games for the PS1 and is also a great game. All the auctions listed in this article series are brand new and sealed.

Tactics Ogre - Playstation 1

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-12-08 08:20:57
The game sells for $90 used and $231 new.
See Historic Tactics Ogre Prices

Ninja Gaiden Trilogy - Super Nintendo

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-14-08 19:32:14
The game sells for $84 used and $199 new.
See Historic Ninja Gaiden Trilogy Prices

Parasite Eve 2 - Playstation 1

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-11-08 18:00:00
The game sells for $32 used and $149 new.
See Historic Parasite Eve 2 Prices

Namco Museum - Nintendo 64

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-10-08 18:17:40
The game sells for $4 used and $120 new.
See Historic Namco Museum 64 Prices

Suikoden II - Playstation 1

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-11-08 12:40:38
The game sells for $120 used and $233 new.
See Historic Suikoden II Prices

Final Fantasy 7,8 and 9 - Playstation 1

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-10-08 09:34:48
The auction is for the three Playstation 1 Final Fantasy games. FF8 and FF9 are sealed, but Final Fantasy VII has been opened.
See Historic Final Fantasy 7 Prices
See Historic Final Fantasy 8 Prices
See Historic Final Fantasy 9 Prices

Why No Price Drop For Xbox 360 Resale Prices?

Microsoft officially dropped the price of all Xbox 360 Consoles yesterday. The rumors of a price cut have been circulating since early August on joystiq, ign, crunchgear, and every other video game blog and forum on the internet. Advertisements showing the new prices even came out from RadioShack and Kmart confirming the 360 prices (seen below).

RadioShack Ad Showing New Xbox 360 prices - Leaked August 21th 2008

Kmart Ad Showing New Xbox 360 prices - Leaked August 25th 2008

With all the confirmations of the 360 price cuts to $199 for the Arcade, $299 for 60GB, and $399 for Elite, the resale prices didn't change much at all in August. Here is the chart for the 360 Elite's price over the last 12 months.

Click to See Today's Xbox 360 Elite Price
Why didn't the resale prices start dropping with all these rumors? New 360 Elite's are selling for $399 now and the average used price for an Elite is $399 so far in September. The price did drop 3% yesterday to $388 but that is still only $11 less than the new price. I assume the prices will continue dropping now but why didn't they drop earlier?

Rare Auctions: Sealed Myriad 6-in-1 for NES

A sealed Myraid 6 in 1 is the featured rare auction. Myriad 6-in-1 is a very rare game for the Nintendo NES and this copy is still sealed and in great shape. The price is too high in my opinion with a buy it now of $25,000! But this would be a one of the ultimate additions to any video game collection.

Myriad 6 in 1 - Nintendo NES

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-09-08 02:21:37

Secret Scout - Nintendo NES

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-09-08 08:00:06

Starfox Super Weekend Competition - Super Nintendo

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-07-08 19:36:35

Stadium Events - Nintendo NES

Auction Link
Ends: Sep-09-08 21:58:39

Sega CD Games Priced On VGPC

Prior to Friday of last week we tracked Sega CD game prices along with the Sega Genesis console and just added "Sega CD" at the end of the title. This wasn't the best way for Sega CD collectors to find the prices for their games so we changed that.

We now have a separate Sega CD page on VGPC with daily updated prices. We also added every single Sega CD game we could find to the site. So we have 129 games with prices right now and 37 more without prices. When we find a price on those games we will post them on the live site for everyone to see.

All you Sega collector's out there can now find prices for rare and expensive SCD games like Shining Force CD, Lunar Eternal Blue, and Vay.

We plan on adding Atari 2600 to the database later this week due to popular demand. Check back soon to see when we add the system that started it all in console gaming.