Wrap: Since I reshrinked many items myself while working at Babbage's and Egghead in the late 1980s/early 1990s, I can spot re-wrapped items from miles away. So I always tear off re-shrinked wrap. Once you get a few re-wraps of your own it's easy to spot the differences. The previous post did a good job of summarizing it, so print that out and tack it up somewhere.
For original wrap, I try to hold out for a complete yet open game that I can play, but occaisionally I will crack the wrap. For example, I cracked wrap on Timothy Leary's Mind Mirror for PC, because it hadn't been cracked and distributed on the 'net yet. So off it went. I know I was significantly reducing the value, but it was more important to me to get that piece of software out into the world so it could be preserved for future generations. While I am sure my 360K DSDD disks will last 20 years (I have several 20yr-old 5.25" disks that still work), I am *not* sure they will last 50 years. So a-preservin'-I-will-go.
Yes, I am insane. But aren't we all just a little insane? ;-D
Tomas Buteler wrote:
Thanks for the link Lee. I'll try to educate myself in the Atari in the next couple of days.
About the shrink discussion, I think people have to find the right balance that works best for themselves. I'm helplessly torn between the two positions: I love to preserve games in the original wrap - perfect and imaculated, imagining how many like these there must be in the world - and yet, I love to check all trinkets, read through manuals, code-wheels and the like. I usually find myself doing both. I just think through the games that are worth preserving in wrap and the games that are worth opening. Usually has to do, like many have said, with reselling, which to me is also part of the fun of collecting. So all these things come to mind when I encounter shrinkwraps, and I just try to extract the most fun out of it either way.
But I find myself thinking, what if I leave a Lucasarts game on the wrap, for instance. I could never show hilarious things like The Adventurer paper or the Sam & Max dress-the-guys-funny thingy, say to my future kid. He'd never get into games like I did if he didn't get in touch with these things. Specially now, that games are so stripped to the bare essencials (and by the looks of it that ain't gonna change), I find myself nostalgic towards those kind of things.
I checked the CGC link. I don't think that would be
good for games (sealing them in a plastic case), but
maybe there's a better way to create a grading
authority for games. I bet everyone on the list has
had some ideas regarding this. Maybe if there's a way
to document the trinkets that came with the titles,
people could see for themselves if their copy is
indeed complete. I bet CE knows by heart every item
that came with every Infocom release, so why not
document that (maybe the designers you keep in touch
with could help along with that). That wouldn't take
the fun out of preserving the shrink, but it could
help opened games retain their value.
Funny story about wraps: I was led to open the wrap because I had to check if the game was indeed complete, ruling out re-wraps or manufacturing errors as suggested, only to find out... the game was indeed complete, and I'd just torn out THE original wrap... now THAT isn't my idea of fun.
I think I'll reduce the size of my messages from know on, at the risk of being labeled "the long message bastard".
Best regards,
Tomas
--- "Lee K. Seitz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Tomas Buteler stated:
Both console (and components) and games were manufactured in Brazil, but strictly the same as
their
import equivalents. I believe there are none
exclusive
Brazilian games (maybe compilations, I don't know
too
well), but most hits for the console were
reproduced
by a Brazilian company called CCE. The games are
the
same, yet cartridge labels have CCE's logo on the bottom.
That much I knew. I really don't know if there are any exclusivly Brazilian 2600 games, but I'm sure there are some released there that didn't make it to the U.S. AtariAge (www.atariage.com) will let you pull up a list of South American cartridges, but sometimes it's difficult to tell a localized name from a non-U.S. game.
Imports are your best bet (again, don't know for
sure
if there would be PAL-M - Brazilian standard - incompatibility issues with local carts),
Yes, there are, but it has to do with the TV, not
the console. I have
a PAL game (not sure which version of PAL). It
plays on my console,
but the extra scanlines cause the image to roll. And I seem to lack a
TV that still has a vertical hold knob.
OTOH, I understand NTSC 2600 games will play on PAL TVs, but the colors will be wrong or it will revert to black and white.
-- Lee K. Seitz [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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