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[West Texas CEO]

where's the "lunch thieves are ruining America!!!" thread?

at least I help keep people slender.

 

[bender]

at least I help keep people slender.

Except your girlfriend.

 

[West Texas CEO]

Except your girlfriend.

hey, I only want to pump her if she's plumper.

 

[Scotty W]

Fuck you I got mine!

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

hey, I only want to pump her if she's plumper.

So you a chubby chaser?

 

[West Texas CEO]

So you a chubby chaser?

I don't chase chubbies, but yes.

 

[Skifi28]

Oh noes, they're buyin' all ze gamez!

 

[Last Hearth]

Scalpers are just people providing a service to people. These guys are providing a service to people who can’t personally travel to Japan.

 

[StereoVsn]

I have been buying Japanese versions of PS1, PS2, PSP, Vita, Saturn, Dreamcast, MegaCD (and so on) games for a few years now since Western prices are freaking nuts and I can understand and read a bit of Japanese.

Don’t see anything wrong with that… but I have been getting those via eBay, Amazon, some other import shops or services shipping you items off Yahoo Auctions and such.

 

[March Climber]

The bubble will burst, these people will be left with a bunch of games they can't sell. Then they'll sell them for cheaper prices. The key is for everyone to stop paying these inflated prices.

What's your estimate on when? For me it depends on how long the 'all modern games suck' sentiment lasts online. Could be months could be years, not sure. Just waiting for them all to focus on everything that's not AAA.

 

[jshackles]

That's like... the least concerning thing that foreign tourists are ruining in Japan lol

 

[YeulEmeralda]

What a load of commmie bullshit. Stores sell to people who pay.

Reminds me of Spaniards who are angry that Northerners can afford to buy olive oil for 12 euro per bottle. Don't like it get rich.

 

[Danjin44]

Tourists are taking more and more vintage games out of circulation in Japan.
It's not too hard to understand.

But tourist or not you can’t stop people buying games.

 

[West Texas CEO]

But tourist or not you can’t stop people buying games.

Not with that attitude.

 

[MALpractice311]

"I saw a guy just taking everything off the already paltry DS shelf. There [are] tons of people like him and very little anyone can do because it’s obviously not illegal. So I don’t even bother anymore."

You know that guy is selling those games on eBay for inflated prices.

And? How is that a problem? If someone is willing to pay those inflated prices, then guess what? That's capitalism.

Edit: Wow. I read more of the responses in this thread and don't understand the cognitive dissonance. This forum is definitely right leaning and pro-capitalism, except when it comes to vintage video games? The market dictates what something is worth and if these resellers are able to find people willing to pay ridiculous prices, the fault is on the buyers, since they're the ones setting the market.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

So you a chubby chaser?

Yo, I've been with skinny bitches and chubby bitches. Having something to grab onto is pretty fucking cool. As is the fact you know you're not going to shatter them

 

[Crayon]

Still plenty of neo geo cds.

 

[West Texas CEO]

Yo, I've been with skinny bitches and chubby bitches. Having something to grab onto is pretty fucking cool. As is the fact you know you're not going to shatter them

Not to mention rolling her in flour so you can locate the wet spot.

FUPA for life!

 

[Northeastmonk]

This is why I’m happy with my digital library. Give me remakes or remasters with Quality of Life improvements. What sucks is that I have Parasite Eve, Vagrant Story, and etc. on my Vita via PSN and what happens if the hardware gives out and the store gets closed? I sold my physical copies of those games years ago. We don’t even have Lunar 1 and 2 digitally except a smart phone port of Lunar 1 and the PSP game with menus instead of a world map.

I love physical games, especially Japanese PS1 games, but I’m also fond of not swapping discs. I use to own all the Dragon Quest and Castlevania NDS games. Now they’re all a fortune to buy back. The thought of paying someone over $100 for the cart sitting, not being played sounds crazy. Knowing they’re doing this now versus years from now will kill the enjoyment for some. This whole thing killed my collector enjoyment besides CE’s and some gaming figures. It came from buying digitally and selling games for digital credit.

I have copies of Chrono Cross and FFV7-9, but if I replay those games it won’t be on physical discs. Going to Japan to buy Famicom games sounded like a dream for ages, but it’s actually cheaper to buy them off eBay. I recently bought a blue Japanese Vita in excellent condition to replace my old model. Now a days some person on YouTube already purchased whatever I might have purchased.

I’m not surprised by this, but collecting has gone down hill when everyone hiked the prices up. Why jump in unless you magically find a rare game at a thrift store or Good Will.

 

[j0hnnix]

What in the world is a weeaboo?

 

[Pelao]

There is a whole ecosystem of selling and reselling used retro games, mainly in Akihabara.
Foreigners who go and buy these games remove them from that cycle, thus reducing the amount of games in rotation in the market.
Semi-related, several Tokyo neighborhoods are already taking measures to ban foreign tourists due to their bad behavior. Depending on how much the retro game store owners care about this problem, it wouldn't be surprising if they start banning foreigners from their stores as well.

 

[West Texas CEO]

What in the world is a weeaboo?

--Noun.
weeaboo (plural weeaboos) (fandom slang, derogatory) A non-Japanese person, stereotypically an unsociable male, who is overly infatuated with Japanese culture; a loser Japanophile. quotations ▼ (fandom slang, sometimes positive) A person who is obsessively interested in anime and/or manga.

 

[GHound]

Well, it's a store so...

They're mad people are buying the games? Scalpers are shit, but what evidence does this """researcher""" have that the majority of the purchases are by scalpers?

Much like his self-awareness, the amount of actual evidence he has is probably zero.

 

[Kings Field]

My parents used to import Famicom, Super Famicom, PS1 and 2 games for me right from Japan years ago when my dad would travel for work. As a kid I would always love the cover art more than the American versions and it enticed me to learn how to read Japanese and be able to understand it enough to play the games.

I still buy Japanese imports of games to this day if they were made by a Japanese developer.

I usually buy from the same three or four Japanese eBay sellers and have had great experiences. The one guy even mailed me the insert for the Bloodborne limited edition he forgot to put back in the case and also sent some common Japanese Pokémon cards as a “sorry”. I didn’t even notice it until one day a small package came and I didn’t order anything recently.

Plus they’re usually much cheaper compared to the US counterpart. Chrono Trigger CIB was only $20 imported compared to $900 for the US version.

 

[West Texas CEO]

Scalpers are just people providing a service to people. These guys are providing a service to people who can’t personally travel to Japan.

People who can't travel to Japan should just be naturally filtered out.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Looked up the definition of weeaboo.

Burn this universe and let’s start over.

 

[ReyBrujo]

Super Famicom prices have been slowly rising, they used to be dirty cheap but now that yen is at an almost historic low foreigners are sucking everything from the shelves.

 

[Ulysses 31]

Is there really a big retro market for Japanese versions of games that foreigners want to play? How many of them can even read Japanese?

 

[Gamerguy84]

What kind of stores? The independent shop owners can refuse sale I they want right?

 

[ZehDon]

Japanese companies: *Sell Retro games*
Japanese and foreign customers: *buy said Retro games*
Japanese social media: Fucking weebs

 

[Raven117]

Stop Dissing Weeaboos

West Texas CEO

Your username cracks me up every time.

But weebos deserve scorn and ridicule.

 

[yet_another_alt]

What in the world is a weeaboo?

People with anime avatars.

 

[Crayon]

Super Famicom prices have been slowly rising, they used to be dirty cheap but now that yen is at an almost historic low foreigners are sucking everything from the shelves.

Shopping there right now is a fucking killing spree for the adult-child. They should probably raise the prices on some of the vintage stuff in the high traffic areas. Some places like mandrake will keep the really nice stuff on display with prices more like you see on eBay.

But buying new stuff with that exchange rate is good getting now, too. Funny, between the exchange rate and the rolled-in shipping, the thing I really have to sweep for there are Tamiya rc kits. Funny like ironic because those motherfuckers are not small. I have to flatten the boxes and cram all their little guts mixed up in a luggage. Throw away the wheels and tires lol. I did a death stranding haul with two of these sum bitches tied to a backpack full of old games with paracord. I really should have got a taxi.

Interestingly, a gpu will be conveniently adjusted to stretch a dollar exactly as far as it does in the US.

For vintage game shopping, depends on what you are looking for and why. Example- I got a neo geo pocket cheap enough, but after I upgraded the screen, I could have got one already done off eBay for a little more. But it wouldn't have been a souvenir from a great trip. I wouldn't buy tokimeki memorial from eBay, but when I saw one with the pretty embossed cover while just flipping through the shelves, it was a no brainer. Getting Saturn pads was just cheap and convenient be cause those 8bit do ones are trash and both broke on me. They're pretty small.

Idk maybe you think you are going to go make some yard sale find on a rare game then... Yeah no.

All that said, I'm not sure about the economics of taking trips to Japan to buy games to scalp. Some of these shops do list games on eBay. The games are getting older, the people who want them have more money, I don't think you need abusive scalping to explain this.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Your username cracks me up every time.

But weebos deserve scorn and ridicule.

 

[Shits_McGiggles]

Oliver Jia is so blinded by his own Americanized bias that he only criticizes things that are "safe" to criticize from a Western perspective while pretending to know what the Japanese people want for their nation.

 

[Agent_Nobody]

What in the world is a weeaboo?

weeaboo - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

en.wiktionary.org

 

[Rockman33]

So collectors are collecting? This somehow angers people?

 

[Kenpachii]

Easily solvable with 1 game per person buy rule and use identity cards if they are foreigners.

The thing is the shop probably loves the income.

 

[ArtHands]

Tourists are taking more and more vintage games out of circulation in Japan.
It's not too hard to understand.

That’s how physical market works. Company manufactured a set copies of games for circulation for the rest of its life time.

 

[nush]

So collectors are collecting? This somehow angers people?

Only True GamersTm are worthy enough to buy retro videogames.

 

[belmarduk]

The Trader in Akihabara seems to be well stocked. Much better then Super Potato... and with better prices!

 

[El Muerto]

Resellers that can't get real jobs are finding something cheap to exploit. I collect VHS and Laserdisc and the same thing is happening. You have these proxy sites like buyee where you can shop stores and buy stuff up for cheap. And most of the people buying these games and movies dont have a modded console or adapters to play them. And those that dont sell them, or have no intention to play them, well they'll probably say-

 

[Synless]

 

[Majormaxxx]

They took r jobs

 

[AREYOUOKAY?]

Is there really a big retro market for Japanese versions of games that foreigners want to play? How many of them can even read Japanese?

 

[EviLore]

Weebs should be banned from glorious Nippon

Weebs aren’t a problem. Some tourists though, the ones who have no manners, talk loudly on the phone on trains, take a half hour worth of selfies at every point of interest, and let their kids run around screaming at the top of their lungs everywhere they go, definitely have a negative effect.

 

[IAmRei]

Usually it will comes to online market, with cranked overprices :/

Anyway, its not weaboos, weebs doesnt buy retro things. It might be Otaku or Collector, or scalpers :/

 

[IAmRei]

If a Japanese girl kidnaps me... I won't put up any resistance xD

It might be rare case, but anything can be true, in japan.

I've been there, in TGS, i have shmups game displayed, and surprisingly lot of girls played it. I even have one group 4 girls, playing the game, screaming when their ship killed, and got high score in their first play : )) as a game dev, i have a joy to look at it.

 

[existensmaximum]

Can people just stop calling it "taking"? What do you mean, taking? It's buying.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

I’m in Japan right now (well leaving Japan later today) and the game hunting was sort of wack. I did find a couple things but honestly not very much and prices weren’t great.

We did a lot of Book Off/Hard Offs both in and outside of cities and it was all sort of meh. Felt like gaming hunting back at home in the states just Japanese. A lot of places had poor selection.