General Arcade & Retro Chat' Special Championship Edition

o1s1n

Interesting find!

Link to the auction, on 6k at the moment

https://www.ebay.com/itm/134272604161?hash=item1f43455801:g:ZF8AAOSwenNjQNGe&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoF1IolHndMm9kraJSQdxDsFA5nSvdLJK82%2FvOYkXVANHe7A4JMRe8pbqlE9KTnPUIUMlsAvMVmhOAaCk1WfCc5ThH5mv3s5Os2ulzLeszpkezPkpJxLoUWeZB66Xq5xDPnkREVI%2FSZQij7murs%2FalHXcl8%2FhbuyGf4ie239nYMth4X5mgtwyPZ2mfP17Xiuw%2FwU2eah62w8%2Bt2AcC0FrY2s%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7qc2Jz6YA

Doge

https://kotaku.com/simpsons-waterworld-arcade-game-meme-playable-macaw45-1849650457?utm_campaign=Kotaku&utm_content=1665613804&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook

..

Mr.Saturn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119725639#Comment_119725639

In an update no one asked for, they eventually cancelled it as out-of-stock and then immediately reposted the listing as in-stock at the same shop for 4 quid more. I suspect it's not actually in-stock still and the prices have just been adjusted as they do normally, but, yeah, fair play to CeX for introducing the element of chaos into the humble online shopping experience.

Edit: and boom, it's gone as of 2 minutes ago.

DaveyDave

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119744741#Comment_119744741

This is a very unusual scenario. I would definitely email customer support about that with a list of previous orders/items it happened to. Most of their staff aren't gamers so I wouldn't give them too much credit for being wise to what's being ordered and canceling orders to buy it themselves. You'd have to be very unlucky to have the same shop/people canceling orders but with their 15% discount they'd be in a better position to make a profit. Stranger things have happened...

I can't remember if something is adjusted off automatically when marked out of stock, if that's the case they would have to adjust it back into stock which can't be done without management approval.

Mr.Saturn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119744979#Comment_119744979

Yeah I'm slightly less concerned about shenanigans after we were talking about it last time, but customer service sent me a weird, generic reply when i asked them about the relisting and if it's actually in-stock, then the ad was marked as 'out of stock' again. I've had it happen a couple times recently, weirdest one so far. Worst case scenario some other schmuck thinks they're getting DQ6 for a bargain.

I'd be fascinated to hear more CeX insider stories, it seems like the most thankless, chaotic retail job out there. The only other comparison I can really think of is Cash Convertors and they left Ireland a long, long time ago.

Quigs Snr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119745332#Comment_119745332

Happens all the time.

Just counted through my emails there. 17 similar cancels to yours in the last 12 months. 14 of them on what I would consider to be below market priced games.

My local store is great. But some stores are notorious e.g. Sligo cancel a lot of orders.. and dont get me started on Dublin George Street.. they would send you discs so bad that you would be embarrassed to throw them into the bin in case the bin man saw the condition of them.. and 1 in 3 of the orders they send me is a reprinted cover (which promptly goes back to my - usually mortified - local store for a refund). Recently they sent me a moderately higher value PS2 game (circa 30 ish euro - with no cover... IN A PS3 GAME BOX)

Mr.Saturn

Segues nicely into the fact I recently had to go back 3 times to the George's Street shop to fix various issues with my Xbox 360 E purchase. Ended up in a conversation with a guy waiting in line with me on my 3rd return and he swore blind it was the best CeX.

Quigs Snr

They might be in person….. but your odds are significantly lessened if you are buying online from that store.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119746645#Comment_119746645

DaveyDave

It's funny George's St used to be my go to when sourcing replacements for online orders.

Standards used to be much better. I remember they used to reject any discs where you could feel the scratch with your nail or any 360 discs with laser burn rings. Now they take all media in and just clean it when it's going out, which obviously doesn't happen. Interesting to see the media covers aren't being done properly either, shops used to do it themselves but did such a poor job at it they decided to add a print station to the e-commerce office and send covers in the weekly transfers as needed.

Quigs Snr

Their policy is to not sent cover reprinted out from the Eshop. George’s street and a couple of others have consistently failed to get that memo.

Mr.Saturn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119747138#Comment_119747138

I mean, they were so on-the-ball they gave me a dud 360 3 times...............

@DaveyDave why do you think standards have fallen so low now? I mean, they were kinda reliable at one stage but now the experience is a bit of a crapshoot and you're paying upper-end eBay prices for the privilege.

Saving grace is selling to them online as their pick-up is really generous for what it is. That said, your store credit is getting you less and less as times go on and they're increasingly the only option in town for what they do.

sniper_samurai

Retro-Bit are showing off prototypes of a new wireless Saturn "pro" controller with dual analog support(including left stick for compatible Saturn games).

https://twitter.com/RetroBitGaming/status/1581313038912991238?t=yoD54P2hHk3ZtuXuNlm6zg&s=19

Mr.Saturn

Did the NEW 2DS/3DSXL ever come down in price or has it been commanding retail price the whole time?

CiDeRmAn

They seem to be more expensive than a Switch Lite right now, across Adverts at least

Quigs Snr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119757640#Comment_119757640

In the year I have been back collecting they have been at or above retail the whole time. A boxed one will often run you more than a boxed switch.. and will get you two switch lites.

I did fluke one on a marketplace deal with about 20 high end games for a song. Kept 7 or 8 that I didn't have, traded the rest into CEX and ended up getting a PS5, 2 games for it and about 250 ish worth of 3DS games for an outlay of 120 euro.

Doge

Any fans of TOCA Touring cars on PS1/PC?

Im going to do a live stream in the coming days of the 90s TOCA Touring car championship mod for Assetto Corsa in VR with the original soundtrack for the game playing in the background. Please give the Facebook page "Cork Retro Gaming" a follow if you're interested in watching it.

https://youtu.be/QO-jUyJNELs

This is gameplay from the mod:

https://youtu.be/LWm84-3to10

Mr.Saturn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119744741#Comment_119744741

Sure haven’t I only gone and tried ordering it again, hope you’re all on the edge of your seat.

CiDeRmAn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119795328#Comment_119795328

Breathtaking stuff.

I think I have that one, tucked away with the rest of the DQ games on DS, they really have gotten quite expensive

Retr0gamer

DQ6 seemed to have been over produced after Nintendo really underproduced DQ5 and didn't want to make the same mistake again only to release it into a market ruined by piracy. It was everywhere and discounted quite a bit so I imagine there's a lot of copies out there.

Chris Kohler had an interesting tweet about his experiences recently selling games at cons. Seems interest in NES games has totally dried up the same way it did for the Atari collection scene. Rare stuff still gets snapped up but it's impossible to shift less popular or common titles. Same with PC Engine and Megadrive. SNES is still going strong but PS1 and PS2 gen stuff has gotten silly and DS and 3DS is getting silly.

Retr0gamer

It's just come to light that Rieko Kodama passed away back in May through a tribute in the Megadrive 2 mini. Sega did not announce anything out of respect for the family.

Quite shocked about this one. Always liked the games she was involved with and she was one of the few prominent female game developers from the 80s and 90s era.

o1s1n

Wow. I don't think I've ever heard of someone's death being announced as almost a kind of videogame Easter Egg before.

Always wondered what spite artwork she did for the original Sonic game.

Retr0gamer

I think she is credited for stage art, some probably the some background tile art.

Retr0gamer

...

Mr.Saturn

Someone been frequenting Gamexchange again?

o1s1n

In all my years looking in Gamexchange, I don't think I've ever bought a single game.

DaveyDave

Still tempted to buy a Mega Drive Mini 2. I might wait and see if it can be modded to add more games like the original.

sniper_samurai

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119800191#Comment_119800191

Mine is in the post. Amazon say it will be arriving on Tuesday.

DaveyDave

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119800726#Comment_119800726

I ordered one on Amazon last week then cancelled 10 minutes later haha. Only concern is them selling out. Not expecting to get it cheap like I did with the first Mega Drive Mini, just want to give it some time to allow for loading games!

McDermotX

Dropped in the door earlier, but TBH, I doubt it'll ever even be out of the box 😆

One for the shelf, never the biggest fan of the 2 to begin with, but it'll look the part beside the others. I'd imagine they will be modded much like the others, but in some ways, I don't see the point - that PS1 effort aside. They're nice little knick-knacks to be sure, but not something I'd spent an awful lot of time on.

Mr.Saturn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119800183#Comment_119800183

Not for a lack of trying on my part, I've often told the story of the time I tried to buy F Zero X in there and it turns out they were just selling the box.