Which one should go first? (LONG)

[topper]

Now I'm getting my life back post-break-up, I'm getting back into my music, and I've decided that I'd like to invest in a drum kit (typical guitarist that I am!).

At the same time, in these credit-crunched times, I can't justify keeping all my consoles, cherished as they are. So it would seem like a good idea to consider selling gaming stuff until I have the 250-300 quid or so that I need.

Here's a list of what I have, with some comments on my Trials and Tribulations. What I want to know is - what would /you/ do, and why? Feel free to comment from any perspective, collectability, replayability, I'm interested in all views.

Admittedly I'll probably never do anything about it, as I'm so attached to the stuff I've built up over the years, but who knows, I read lots of stories of people who've sold cherished stuff and not regretted it. (And lots who have bought it back for more!)

Assume that for each console listed, I have a good selection of the best games.


Consoles / PC:
It has occurred to me that it would be better just to keep the handhelds as music is such a home-based activity, so keeping my handhelds would let me continue to enjoy some gaming.

NES - actual console is broken, have about 30 games. Rarely gets used, and only for Punch Out - this one is really for nostalgia value. SMB1-3 available on SNES. I suppose I see it as a retro thing, the value going up in the future, but they were as common as Ford Escorts - might be a while before this lot becomes truly desirable. Oh yeah, and I'm a Nintendo fanboy, so it's harder to sell.

SNES - so many good games - this would be a toughie to let go of. Yes, it can be emulated, but I refuse to emulate stuff that I don't have sitting in a box somewhere.

N64 - like the Wii, not a massive library of great games, but oh the wonderful quality of the good ones. Also possible retro investment potential - they aren't as common as some other consoles on the list. Admittedly, rarely gets actual use. (But the grandchildren will love it, yeah right!)

Gamecube - no real excuse for keeping the console as the games are playable on the Wii. But let's ignore the console which is worth about a fiver, barely enough to pay for decent drumsticks. Bongos take up ridiculous amounts of space. Can I let that superb library of games go? I'm not sure I can.

Wii - the casual wagglebox does have a few superb titles, and Gamecube backwards compatibility. It's also the only console the old gits in my family join in on. On the other hand, being modern, I could probably raise the money I need by selling this alone, with all the games. But I don't really want to - I haven't completed enough of them yet.

Dreamcast - weird one this. A wonderful library, but such an oddball, and probably worth a reasonable amount second-hand. As much as I love it, it's more for what it represents that actually using it in practice - I prefer slower burning games to arcadey stuff.

Xbox - having spent ages fartarsing about with softmodding mine, and loving the results, it seems silly to consider selling it, although I don't actually have a great number of games for it - mostly the exclusives, which weren't that numerous. Upgraded hard drive makes for delightful convenience when it is used though, keeping the media in storage FTW. As nice as XBMC is, I have a MythTV box sitting here as well. XBMC might become useful when I move out and have a LAN in the new place.

PS2 - like the Xbox, I have mostly exclusives, and an upgraded hard drive. There are certainly a lot more of them, and as we all know, it's a legendary console (as much as I dislike what it represents).

PC - difficult one, this. Certainly the best versions of a large number of games (hence my Xbox collection being relatively small). To most people, it's a no-brainer, they have a PC in the house anyway, why not use it for games? But my main PC runs Linux, and I'm not going to dual-boot - I use it for Real Work and it's always on. Furthermore, I spend all day working on one so it's probably best not to use one for leisure.

Also, my gaming PC has recently been dismantled - I sold it to a customer as a firewall and all I have is the hard disk, video card, and joypad. I think it might be time to say goodbye to my PC games. Most games that I /have/ to have could be re-bought for the Xbox or PS2 including the essential Outrun 2006. I would miss Football Manager, but only in theory, as I'm ****ed if I'm ever installing that time-sink on my machine ever again. (Just one more match...) Same goes for many PC games which by virtue of incredible depth, will never get any gameplay as I just don't have the time. Baldur's Gate, Warhammer 40000 Dawn of War, Rome: Total War, Supreme Commander, I'm looking at you. Ah, Falcon 4.0 Allied Force. I had promised myself to learn that one day.

Maybe I should keep the PC and ditch the consoles! Not bad from a clutter point of view - financially it would be excellent, and even with the 20 or so PC games I have, I think I'd never run out of games to play, there's phenomenal depth there...


Handhelds:

It's the obvious thing to do as I said above - sell some home stuff so that I can spend more time on music. But... is the experience ever as good? Very interested to hear if anyone here has moved to just handhelds.

GBA - like the Gamecube, I have no excuse other than hoarding^W^W^Wcollecting, for keeping the console, as my DS can play the games. But that little Micro is so cute! Like the Gamecube, so many great games...

DS - my favourite handheld, simply because of the great library. I've enjoyed more games on this than any console for a long time. Very unlikely to ditch this.

PSP - not such a great library, very few great exclusives, but so very useful as a media player. But my commutes around London are too short to watch films on it, and for longer journeys, it does nothing my laptops can't do.

If you have read this far, I salute you. I hope this post hasn't been /that/ boring - I'm assuming that some or all of you lot have grappled with these sorts of issues at some point. My head is spinning - current thinking is ditch the PSP stuff, followed by the NES and / or PC.

I'd better write a song about this.

[Mr Ono]

I'd dump the PSP then the NES.

[kernow]

Just sell whatever you don't play. simple.

[topper]

kernow, because I am not playing a game now, doesn't mean I won't be playing it next week. Unfortunately I don't have a crystal ball. And if I sell stuff, I'm not rebuying it. Ever.

[cavalcade]

The problem is the stuff you want to sell is essentially worthless, apart from the Wii (and even then, second hand prices have tailed badly). You'd have to shift almost that entire list to end up with £300 for a drum kit. So my suggestion would be to find the money for the drumkit via other means, but package everything up that you don't think you use a lot, and perhaps send it to a friends or relatives and tell them to put it in the loft. In 6 months, if you miss it, go and get it back. If after 6 months you've forgot you even had it, then sell it.

Another option (if you have neighbours/have never drummed before) might be to invest in a 360 and RB2 or GH:WT. All joking aside, as a learning tool, at least initially for drumming they have a lot of merit. You'll probably get more out of them that you would playing by yourself, or paying for a tutor. On expert modes, GH:WT in particular is going to test you like real drumming would.

In fact, assuming you could get a 360 arcade and a GH:WT for about £200 you could save yourself £100 in the short term. If you like drumming, and want to go for a real kit you could sell the pair and upgrade to a full kit later! if you don't, at least you've got a tradable game and console...

EDIT: I should also say the GH:WT kit can be interfaced with a PC, so if you got some sequencing software you could write music with it. I wouldn't go on stage with it... unless you wanted to be laughed at...

EDIT2: Of course you could perhaps buy Rock Band or Guitar Hero for the Wii, I forgot it had versions.

[topper]

cavalcade, some good advice there, thanks. I should have made it clear - I wouldn't just be selling the consoles, I'd be selling each console's games as well. If I couldn't raise £300 from that lot including games, then please, don't tell me, just let me live in my own little fantasy world...

Also, I have drummed for real a little, I'm probably a little better than most guitarist drummer-wannabees, I'm probably basic pub standard, but I can only get so far with a practice pad, and rare excursions to a practice studio. And this is a means to an end - I do write music, so the RB/GH thing is kind of not really where I want to go with this...

[cavalcade]

cavalcade, some good advice there, thanks. I should have made it clear - I wouldn't just be selling the consoles, I'd be selling each console's games as well. If I couldn't raise ?300 from that lot including games, then please, don't tell me, just let me live in my own little fantasy world...

Also, I have drummed for real a little, I'm probably a little better than most guitarist drummer-wannabees, I'm probably basic pub standard, but I can only get so far with a practice pad, and rare excursions to a practice studio. And this is a means to an end - I do write music, so the RB/GH thing is kind of not really where I want to go with this...

Fair enough. I thought you were a dabbler. If you've played before, then a real kit is clearly the way to go. Pads just aren't the same. Hope you have a nice practice space somewhere!

The value of any games, beyond the very latest, are usually a lot less than you think. For example - you may have hundreds of GC and Xbox games, but they are essentially worthless. If you have a few rarities in there, then perhaps you'll make the hundreds you desire, but the problem is (for me, one of the reasons why I've held on to most of my stuff, even if I never play some of it), is you're letting stuff go so cheaply, that it's almost not worth it when you factor in the hassle of packing it and posting it. Even local delivery is time consuming, unless you get a huge block shifted in one go. I just asked myself how long it would take me to manage the sale of big chunks of my own large collection, and worked out I could make more money than I'd get back if I did a day or two of weekend overtime for the same period. It rarely adds up (unless you have a big pile of rare games).

I don't think selling it for the money is really worthwhile. If you're selling it to cut loose, then that's a different matter, but I'd still store it for a while. For every person I've seen post here and on other forums with a "I'm giving up gaming!/I'm cutting back to a single console!" style thread, at least 50% have ended up buying most of it back again within a year.

[Welrain]

Personally I would sell software rather the consoles. Any NES, SNES, N64 stuff that if I ever fancy playing again I could get from the Virtual Console would go. Also perhaps cherry pick some of the GC software, as some if it does go for decent prices - Zelda and the like. Judging from your comments though - the DC would have to go.

[topper]

Well, I wouldn't re-buy anything on VC or elsewhere - that's a slippery slope. I know what you mean about the DC - it's a real enigma to me. There are a few games on it that I'd really like to complete.

You make an interesting point which is that all the really cool stuff is worth the most, which would help me to my goal, but I want to sell it the least. The more average a game is, the more I'd be willing to sell it, and the more likely it is to fetch <some low amount>.

Perhaps I'll have a trawl through the average stuff - sports games, generic FPSs etc. Even though they are low value, there are /quite a lot of them/, creating clutter, and gameplay-wise, they're the things that I'm least likely to get around to when there's Shenmue 1/2 and any number of classics sitting on the shelf unfinished. (NB Snide remarks about gameplay to be ignored. )

I'm trying to find a balance.

[Salsa Party Animal]

I would sell all consoles apart from your favourite Portable, N64 (Depending if you need it or not), DC, PS2, XBOX 360, Wii and PS3 and reduce amount of games.

[Extra Terrestrial]

I'm trying to find a balance.

Sell all your Nintendo consoles except from the Wii.

You can play GameCube games on the Wii, purchase and download your favourite games on the Virtual Console - at a cost though - and your family will still be able to join in the fun. The Wii seems to be getting some decent games in the next few months too.

Keep one of your preferred handheld - it sounds like you don't enjoy your PSP very much - and finally, hold onto the PS2; it is probably the best console ever with the widest range of games that are of very high quality.

As for the rest, do what you like mate.

[topper]

As part of my "real music FTW strategy", I checked out prices for DC Samba and maracas.

Holy crap. When did that become rare? I'd better go and play it just to convince myself that I don't like it, it's not fun, and I'd be better off without it. I wish Nintendo bongos went for that sort of money.

I've been sorting through stuff, and so far, I could bear to part with NFS Carbon on DS.

[DeathAdder]

Before getting rid of any consoles, I'd look at any games you don't play, whatever the console, first of all. If you have a change of heart, finding old consoles in nice condition can be a pain.

[captain binman]

I think you should sell:

Nes: You could probably sell the broken console to consolepassion or somewhere else that might take in broken stuff. There isn't much you want to play on it either.

Xbox: You have Myth Tv anyway and you can always use the pc for any other apps you have on the xbox. Plus the modded console might be worth a bit.

Pc: Sell the parts you have left for the gaming computer and just use one computer. Keep the games.

GBA: The games work on DS anyway and you can get rid of any gba games you don't want.

Psp: No need for it and you will get a bit of money for it.

I would also consider selling the dreamcast if you feel you don't mind letting it go. The gamecube isn't worth jack and the rest of the stuff you should keep. I'd say try and sell everything in bundles if you can.