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A UK games journo and general publicist Ryan Brown tried to crowd source to put this in a museum https://twitter.com/Toadsanime/status/1227908339767574528 http

A UK games journo and general publicist Ryan Brown tried to crowd source to put this in a museum https://twitter.com/Toadsanime/status/1227908339767574528 https://twitter.com/Toadsanime/status/1227908339767574528

maxbaines 7y ago
Turned down an offer for $1.2M and expected $3M minimum
- Gaelan 7y ago
  The owner (who is now auctioning it) did, that is.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - vanadium 7y ago
    I’ve held, examined, and played this prototype at a couple of conventions while talking to the seller a bit. He’s an interesting and controversial fellow.
- flyGuyOnTheSly 7y ago
  This Nintendo Play Station is not worth anywhere near $3M, nor is it worth anywhere near $1.2M IMHO. Considering an original Apple I computer just sold for $375k at auction less than 2 years ago [0] People actually used the Apple I computer, saw it, touched it, it existed in the mind of the general public and still does to this day to some extent. This prototype is only valuable to perhaps the engineering team who worked on it, some extremely eccentric gaming enthusiasts, and perhaps a few others. I would have taken the offer of $1.2M if I were him. I imagine the bids in this auction will top out around $100k. [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45647449 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45647449
  - laumars 7y ago
    The fact that Nintendo Play Station wasn't used is what makes this console all the more rare. Plus retro gaming tends to pull higher prices than retro computing (generally speaking) and this piece of hardware is almost mythical in that it's the birth of the Play Station as well as a rare piece of hardware from the much loved SNES era (which also tends to command higher prices than it's 16bit Sega counterpart) When I first saw this auction my first thought was "I bet that gets at least $1 million." - I think $3M is a little ambitious but I wouldn't say it's impossible. This is my observations as a retro hardware collector. Ultimately something is only worth as much as someone else is willing to pay so it's sometimes hard to put a price on rarer items.
    - runawaybottle 7y ago
      I would just like to see this in a well known popular museum, and have a generation kids who own the PS4 and Switch look at this thing and go ‘wait, wtf?’.
    - flyGuyOnTheSly 7y ago
      >The fact that Nintendo Play Station wasn't used is what makes this console all the more rare. Value is not a function of rarity. That's a lesson that took me many years and many thousands of dollars wasted at estate auctions to learn. Palm pilots are pretty rare. And a lot of people liked and used palm pilots. But even brand new ones in their box are worth less than $1,000 at auction right now. [0] You can only play Super Famicom games on this Nintendo Playstation. No games were ever created specifically for it. This is purely a museum piece, not a collectible item that will gain in value over time. Value is a function of supply and demand. There are thousands of chinese porcelain pieces out there worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Some are worth millions. Because China is a wealthy nation now filled with hundreds of millions of people trying to recoup party of their culture that they sold to the lowest bidder of yesteryear. 100 years ago, a lot of these same vases that are now going for millions of dollars were literally being drilled through their bottoms and made into lamps for middle class American households. [0] https://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_odkw=gamegear&_sop=16&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1311.R1.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xpalm+pi.TRS0&_nkw=palm+pilot&_sacat=0 https://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_odkw=gamegear&_sop=16&LH_Com...
phkahler 7y ago
What's telling is that neither Nintendo or Sony give a flying fsck about this. The real reason people are willing to pay so much is nostalgia, then pile on some novelty and rarity. They'll claim it's an important historical artifact, which it may be. But even in the distant future it will not represent the culture of the day, it's just an interesting oddity that never made it to market.
- lostgame 7y ago
  This represents an era whose end resulted in Sony and Nintendo becoming bitter rivals. I wouldn’t expect them to care?
- michaelt 7y ago
  You're not wrong, but it seems to me you could say that of 99.9% of private collecting. Unless the collection becomes so extensive you and it gain international renown, demand for collectables is all driven by arbitrary, subjective human passion.
- Cpoll 7y ago
  I think something like this is more representative of the culture of the day than your pick of million-dollar painting. This interesting oddity and the decisions around it shaped the trajectory of Nintendo, Sony, Phillips and Sega.

maxbaines 7y ago

Turned down an offer for $1.2M and expected $3M minimum

Gaelan 7y ago
The owner (who is now auctioning it) did, that is.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- vanadium 7y ago
  I’ve held, examined, and played this prototype at a couple of conventions while talking to the seller a bit. He’s an interesting and controversial fellow.
flyGuyOnTheSly 7y ago
This Nintendo Play Station is not worth anywhere near $3M, nor is it worth anywhere near $1.2M IMHO. Considering an original Apple I computer just sold for $375k at auction less than 2 years ago [0] People actually used the Apple I computer, saw it, touched it, it existed in the mind of the general public and still does to this day to some extent. This prototype is only valuable to perhaps the engineering team who worked on it, some extremely eccentric gaming enthusiasts, and perhaps a few others. I would have taken the offer of $1.2M if I were him. I imagine the bids in this auction will top out around $100k. [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45647449 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45647449
- laumars 7y ago
  The fact that Nintendo Play Station wasn't used is what makes this console all the more rare. Plus retro gaming tends to pull higher prices than retro computing (generally speaking) and this piece of hardware is almost mythical in that it's the birth of the Play Station as well as a rare piece of hardware from the much loved SNES era (which also tends to command higher prices than it's 16bit Sega counterpart) When I first saw this auction my first thought was "I bet that gets at least $1 million." - I think $3M is a little ambitious but I wouldn't say it's impossible. This is my observations as a retro hardware collector. Ultimately something is only worth as much as someone else is willing to pay so it's sometimes hard to put a price on rarer items.
  - runawaybottle 7y ago
    I would just like to see this in a well known popular museum, and have a generation kids who own the PS4 and Switch look at this thing and go ‘wait, wtf?’.
  - flyGuyOnTheSly 7y ago
    >The fact that Nintendo Play Station wasn't used is what makes this console all the more rare. Value is not a function of rarity. That's a lesson that took me many years and many thousands of dollars wasted at estate auctions to learn. Palm pilots are pretty rare. And a lot of people liked and used palm pilots. But even brand new ones in their box are worth less than $1,000 at auction right now. [0] You can only play Super Famicom games on this Nintendo Playstation. No games were ever created specifically for it. This is purely a museum piece, not a collectible item that will gain in value over time. Value is a function of supply and demand. There are thousands of chinese porcelain pieces out there worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Some are worth millions. Because China is a wealthy nation now filled with hundreds of millions of people trying to recoup party of their culture that they sold to the lowest bidder of yesteryear. 100 years ago, a lot of these same vases that are now going for millions of dollars were literally being drilled through their bottoms and made into lamps for middle class American households. [0] https://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_odkw=gamegear&_sop=16&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1311.R1.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xpalm+pi.TRS0&_nkw=palm+pilot&_sacat=0 https://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_odkw=gamegear&_sop=16&LH_Com...

phkahler 7y ago

What's telling is that neither Nintendo or Sony give a flying fsck about this. The real reason people are willing to pay so much is nostalgia, then pile on some novelty and rarity. They'll claim it's an important historical artifact, which it may be. But even in the distant future it will not represent the culture of the day, it's just an interesting oddity that never made it to market.

lostgame 7y ago
This represents an era whose end resulted in Sony and Nintendo becoming bitter rivals. I wouldn’t expect them to care?
michaelt 7y ago
You're not wrong, but it seems to me you could say that of 99.9% of private collecting. Unless the collection becomes so extensive you and it gain international renown, demand for collectables is all driven by arbitrary, subjective human passion.
Cpoll 7y ago
I think something like this is more representative of the culture of the day than your pick of million-dollar painting. This interesting oddity and the decisions around it shaped the trajectory of Nintendo, Sony, Phillips and Sega.