Dream has upwards of a million dollars in video games, so I don't think it would ever boil down to selling this game due to financial hardship.  He has countless NES prototypes that would go on the block before this one, not to mention stuff like a Gold NWC and the like.

Due to the nature of the item and the current owner your statement doesn't really apply.  It boils down to "I have something that no one else has that plenty of people want. . . How much are you going to give me for it?"  The leverage is all in Dream's favor, and as a result he dictates the price.  If he doesn't like the price, the game doesn't sell. 

There's a big difference between price and value, and this discussion (not debate) has focused exclusively on the price.

Wow, didn't realize he was sitting on that large a pile...I guess people invest in what they know, but if I could reasonably expect to liquidate into 7 figures, I'd get while the getting was good and move into more liquid income-generating assets (unless you're including his arcade machine inventory, which technically are reasonably efficient income-generating assets)

Matt, I totally agree with everything you just said.  You misunderstood my comment.

What I meant was from the OP's perspective, jdheins.  If JD were to buy it and then face financial hardship, how much could he expect to get for it when he had to sell?  I.e. if he pays $3k for this Madden proto today and then loses his job tomorrow, how much can he expect this to flip for?

There's things people don't mind overpaying for, such as their favorite game sealed, or the last game they need for a set (SE cart), etc.  Even if you overpay, you can recoup a good amount of your costs should you need to sell it tomorrow.

With this item, you better damn well be sure it means everything in the world to you because it will be hard to get your money back.  That's all I"m saying here.

It sounds like JD is a huge Madden nut and the NES Prototype of Madden will be his personal holy grail of sorts.  If that's the case, then I say go for it.  Good luck whatever you do, but it won't be cheap for sure...

Ah, I thought it was in reference to Dream and not the OP.  In that case I can say that I totally agree with you.  Your point was lost in translation, otherwise I would have quoted you for truth.

@Arch: It seems insane to think he has that much in his collection, but when you break it down per item I think $1 million is pretty much point on.  Just think of his arcade stuff alone!  That's some serious dough.

You could say that for even a new car, though. If someone buys a new car, loses job, can't afford payments/has to sell for 60% of the value, etc, it's the same reasoning...

There is no way I believe the Madden proto is worth $3000, and there is no way I would sell/ask for that much for it because it is a rolling screenshot demo but I do want more than 4 figures for it if I do sell it. I never actively tried to sell it but it is one of those things where if someone wants it, someone has to pay what I ask or it sits, no arrogance aside, running auctions, etc, this is one of those items where a private sale will fetch more than a public sale (and also, ebay does not even ALLOW these kinds of items up)

I definitely do NOT have a million dollars in inventory...I own a lot of arcade/pinball machines (over 170) and over 16,000 personal different console games (not including systems, accessories, or press stuff), not including the business console games and accessories that are not counted, but if you add it all up even with the crazy rares, I don't think it's anywhere close to $1,000,000. I haven't really estimated in a couple of years but if I had to guess, it's probably $400,000 or more by now...

Also, I don't think anyone really knows about investing like they say they do. Everything I have seen has gone under/over/etc. I invested in some stocks and got rocked. One from a professional advisor, one from a personal, (where the company basically folded, Midway Games) but the point is, I know video games well enough to understand if I buy something for X amount, as long as I get XX amount back, I will make a profit on it, but as it is, I don't sell a lot of stuff as it is. I do what every other game store person does, buy stuff, sell stuff, pay cheap rent, reap the profits, live and eat and put more into my game collection =)

Also, and this is something people do not realize....protos are the rarest items for any system. Rarity does not equate to value for these but in all honestly I heavily dislike it when someone says something to me about how "X is not worth this much" when there are NO SALES from said item EVER so it's essentially worth unknown amount but automatically "Stadium Events" is worth more; etc.

I had this issue with the NWC also..."It's just painted gold, that crap is not worth that much"

I mean, you can go on and on, but anything I have is for sale at the right price, and yes, it may or may not be worth it, but if I'm the only person with it and not actively trying to sell it, I have a right to ask what I want for it...especially with how cheap I give away most of my released normal store games for you, you guys ever seen my FS threads on those or see me at the trade shows, my stuff FLIES off the shelves....


Mr Mark/Beagle: You guys are more than welcome to document/do whatever you want for that stuff, scan, etc. If you are only doing NES it will take awhile. If you do SNES it will take awhile. Minimum 2-3 days just to go through some of this stuff...it's daunting even for NGD and pserge and they have never even been to my place yet, LOL

Dude, I agree with you 100%, excellent post Jason.

Before checking out your stuff, I owe you a beer. You coming to Game Core? Let me know man, I could talk to you about your collection for hours.

Mark, I've been to the Valley Forge center once before when it was VGXPO, but there are just too many trips to go on this year..I have to go to MWGC, then Vegas for CGE, friend's wedding in Los Angeles, and half the people in the state are trying to get me to go to EVO this year too so my plane ticket and time/money = out on those...so to make a long story short, no Game Core for me this year...

Damn. I'm thinking that there is an outside shot that I'll hit up CGE, so maybe we can get together than. If not, sometime soon!

Dude, Mark, Matt and Jason meeting up and organizing an updated prototype website would be like Jesus meeting Chuck Norris. You guys should totally do it.

Nice reply Jason.

I know that you know "investing" in video game stuff better than most. I was just saying what I would do if I had 7-figures of equity in anything...I would get it into higher liquidity so that I could live on it passively.

If this were another hobby perhaps.  But videogamers for the most part are cheap. The top collectors often aren't rich doctors with tons to blow but guys who buy large and small lots and resell what they have for years and years. Someone spends 2-4k on a single item and it turns heads. This is far from comic book collecting where a single copy of Detective comics 27 just sold for $350,000+

http://www.comicspriceguide.com/blog/post/2010/02/06/Detecti...

You would need 1000 items each worth 1000 bucks each for a million bucks. That is a lot. How many items that you know of are worth more than $1000.00?

Sure you could say 2000 items worth $500.00 each or TEN THOUSAND items worth atleast $100.00 each but any way you look at it that is A LOT. I don't know anyone even close to those numbers.

If anyone was curious Madden is going back in the vault...my time was not wasted, but we did not agree on a sale so back she goes...

Interesting. How do you analyse a price on such things?

Do the next best thing! Take a friggin' hammer to it.

NES proto or not, its John Madden. Any video game with that guy's name on it needs to be lost to the ether.
 
Why bother acknowledging that EA developed a Madden game (or tried to) for the NES? Why not just destroy the damn thing so no documentaion of such things exist at all? You'd be doing gamers everywhere a favor.

Walk into a pawn shop or a use game store, check out the NES,SNES,Genesis,PS1 games

Than....COUNT THE MADDEN GAMES

You'd be doing us all a favor if you destroyed that piece of crap and I hope you find a way to secure your investment so that you actually can.

For one, this was a Ubisoft game developed by(MMS?) EA never developed or released on the NES as far as I know. But I do agree that Madden is a black spot on the world of games. 

I own this, and I think I bought it from Dream about 4 years ago. Funny how I was so active in the thread 5 years ago!

Edit:  And Madden is probably the longest running videogame franchise of all-time with an annual release.  I'm proud to collect the rarest of the Madden items. 

i own the ubisoft game boy proto of madden. it's 100% complete and 100% completely fucking rad.

You bought / own the NES proto?

Yeah, I think I bought it summer of 2011 from Jason.  It's not playable, just a rolling screenshot cart and the ROM has been dumped privately for preservation.  Definitely a neat collectible and the only Madden item I've seen on NES.

Very cool, I got a chuckle too seeing how you were commenting in the original thread.