Rip off prices for early adopters.

[Kubrick]

I've not paid over the odds for hardware, except maybe the PAL Saturn (?400), but my haul of shame includes:

JPN Capcom Vs SNK 2 + Fan Disc (DC) ?80
JPN Zelda Collection (GC) ?74
JPN Devil May Cry (PS2) ?69
USA Street Fighter 2 Turbo (SNES) ?65 (?85 incl a new convertor I needed to run it)

[Dezm0nd]

Perfect Dark USA - ?100

I didnt care, i NEEDED that game so badly, i love it

[VR46]

paid ?500 for a SFC with SMW, then ?70 each for quite a few games (Mario Kart, SF2 Turbo etc).
Brother paid ?600 for JPN PS1 with Ridge Racer ouch.

(most of the above was from Console Concepts/Another World)

[Robster]

I paid ?75 for (US)SFII Turbo when I was in the states on hols( They must have seen me coming - I was only 14)

Best thing was they had to post it to my relatives as they lost my address.

[ChrisF]

Few things that, looking back on now, I regret paying that much for ...

Dreamcast - JAP ?400
SF2 - JAP SNES ?100
Xbox with DOA3 - USA ?500
2x Gamecube - JAP - ?400 a piece (had a slight mix up with the orders on that one...)

[NeilMcRae]

400quid for a PS-2. I got one via the pre-order scheme but wanted another for a xmas present.

[Bada Bing!]

It's shocking what many importers charge us mugs in the UK for new products. Why don't people import themselves though? I'm lucky enough to have a friend in California who sends me things at cost upon request, meaning a US platinum cube and platinum wavebird for something stupid like ?60 all in. He sends using our work's FedEx account (next day as well), so I don't pay freight!

All I have to do is send over a small package of Cadbury's chocolate over once in a while. :P

The only time I've paid over the odds was before the web was here. Around '91 paying ?100 for Street Fighter II on the SFC is my worst for a game. I still have the game, and I've gotten over 10 years out of it! Only other biggies are ?65 for MGS on PS1 and RR4 on PS1 for about the same.

For some of the prices quoted here for hardware, it would almost be worth flying out and buying the goods yourself! You should really look closer at personal imports, it's the only way to avoid getting ripped off. Now that every back-street store has an e-commerce site, you have no excuses.

[The Glider]

I think the most I paid was ?99 for Sin & Punishment plus the cartridge thingy that let me play it on a PAL N64. I've yet to spend over the odds on an import console.

[SUMIRE]

loads of stuff, mainly new consoles at launch back in the days when there wasnt any websites....

Neo Geo AES = ?800.00 ish - Console Concepts, think it was one of the first few in the UK, some HIFI shop bought the other one.

Cyberlip = ?220.00 = Think it was a place called Supervision.

DJ Boy Megadrive = ?95.00 - Console Concepts (Pc Engine Supplies)

Needless to say, I dont jump on the early adopters bandwagon anymore....older and wiser

[merf]

amusingly I think I'm the opposite, older, more impatient & more importantly with more disposable income.

back in the day a Neo Geo or a PC Engine was way out of my reach so i coveted them from afar, by votrast my PSP was a spur of the moment purchase as I walked past game focus on goodge st.

its the curse of working in the tottenham crt rd area I guess !

[Mad Gear]

Jap MD with Altered Beast ?190 (wouldn't have been too bad if i'd got my console, but robbing bastards at PC Engine Services ran off with my money. Was a heck of a lot as a 15 year old. The scars are still yet to heal).

Jap SFC with Mario World ?300 (bought this at a computer show just after launch. Got it home and it outputted in B+W, phoned them up they appoligised and told me they had the wrong leads sent to them. They told me i'd get a new lead, never came useless twats).

Playstation with Ridge Racer ?650 (bought this from some dodgy bloke that traded as M.D consoles up in Dudley. He had a small unit not far from Merry Hill, was a complete ****hole of an area. Later found out he'd been banged up for selling hooky games).

Obligitory SFII ?65 ( bought from Dave Fryer computers in Gloucester. It was originally going to be ?60 but when he saw the amount of orders he had coming in the fat ****er told us a bare faced lie and said his supplier had been stung and he'd have to pass the extra charge onto us. My mate worked with him and he saw the invoice. He also used to sell 2nd hand games for new e.g my mate bought F1 Exhast Heat for the Sfami. It was advertised as new ?50, got it home and it had game saved files on it. He also took some ad space in C+VG advertising stuff he never had in stock and he never payed his bill.....Phew rant over).

Later consoles i bought at UK launch. As you can see my track record wasn't very good with importers .

[iangilroy]

I've spent a fortune on import games and consoles over the last 15 years or so. ?250 PC Engine? Check. ?300 SFC? Check. ?140 Gameboy? Check. A million MD, SNES, PS1, N64, Saturn etc games at daft prices? Check.

This generation I resisted for the first time, only getting an import GC. The weird thing is that new PAL PS2 or Xbox games quickly became a commodity when I could buy them for under ?40 in GAME and just get my money back if I didn't like it. The hassle and expense involved in getting games had disappeared but, somehow, some of the enjoyment did too. It's also led me to miss out on some games for which, in the past, I would have been first in the queue at the importers to buy at an outrageous price.

TBH, the expense was always a bit misleading - I typically used places that sold new games at expensive prices but offered fair part exchange values to regular customers. The net result was that it usually cost something like ?20 or ?30 to swap a game to get the latest Japanese PS1/N64 game. Nowadays, that's what a new US game from videogamesplus costs including postage.

[SUMIRE]

He he I love all these stories of excess, I thought it was just me who blew money like that back in the day.

I wonder what happened to Console Concepts etc. I know they charged the earth back then, but they seemed to be the pioneers of importing in the UK before the internet.

Heh, the import game shops back then seemed such dodgy places.

Ah, I remember another, back in the days of the Playstation. There was a place in Leeds that used to advertise in some of the game mags, seemed to remember the logo was a smilie face or something. Anyway, I remember travelling to Leeds to pick up Tekken for ?75.00 (They never had a shop). I went upstairs in this old office block and met the guy. His business comprised of an old table and chair in a bare room with a telephone and lots of cardboard boxes, that was it. Lol, went in handed the "cash" over and dissapeared....needless to say so did his business after about 3 months.

[merf]

nice to be amongst like minded souls.

my 'dodgy' contact traded out of a spare room in his council house on the edge of Milton Keynes. then I had a phase of picking things up in motorway service stations or lay-by's off an even dogier guy the first one put me in touch with.

thing was though these guys offered better service than most big businesses now (like hassle free replacing of duff/non working items)

never failed to give you a buzz though walking thru a dodgy area with a bunch of cash or a prized new console/game in your possession.

a fed-ex parcel or the like just isn't the same.

[Mofoman]

Console concepts went bust and ended up in a right mess with tax and stuff, don't know the exact details but Colin Dimond went on to trade by himself and then onto Another World.

I can't remember the exact amounts but I have bought alot of consoles on launch including, Super Famicom, Virtual Boy, Nintendo 64,Nintendo Gamecube,Panasonic Q, all the game boy's,3do ,Sega saturn, and just bought a DS and PSP too.I also buy most games on launch too, but try to find the best deal nowadays unless I am really desperate.