Yesterday I performed the holy ritual of moving to a new apartment, which means that my body is sore and there’s unassembled furniture everywhere. Also, I don’t know what to do with my old video games.
Sad and untouched video games
While unpacking boxes yesterday, I dug up a bag full of PS2 and Wii games that I haven’t touched in at least a decade. They have just been sitting there, unplayed, as I upgraded to bigger and better consoles. Soon enough, the PS3 and 360 games will join them. Such is the cycle of a video game industry that moves in generations, leaving history behind like the vegetables in the back of the freezer that I hope my old landlord doesn’t discover.
Now I have many questions.
Is it worth hoarding this stuff for sentimental reasons? Would it be a sin to throw away Suikoden 5, one of my favourite games of all time? Should I keep all of my old games in case I get the urge to hook up the PS3 one day and revisit Metal Gear Solid 4? What if Super Paper Mario for Wii becomes a $5000 collector’s item?
Or should I just throw them out? Unlike my good buddy and Kotaku features editor Chris Kohler, I’ve never cared much about maintaining an extensive collection of retro games. I’m the type of guy who will rebuy old games on new systems just to avoid the hassle of untangling wires.
Having a huge collection of video games isn’t quite as useful as, say, a library of books (which I obsessively hoard and will never throw out) or other media that can be enjoyed without obsolescent consoles. It would be nice to go back to Xenosaga — I never did finish the second episode — but I don’t even have a PS2 any more. (Plus, PS2 games look awful on modern televisions.)
When storage space is limited, what do you do? I live in Manhattan, so just shoving them all in the basement isn’t an option. Should I feel guilty about throwing away all these games I used to love? Or should I just let go?
Comments
19 responses to “Help, I Don’t Know What To Do With These Damn PS2 And Wii Games”
The movie ‘Frozen’ comes to mind.
Let it go….let it go…
If you’re not attached to the playoff cases from them away. Store the discs in something like this https://www.amazon.com/Case-Logic-DVDW-92-Capacity-Classic/dp/B00005ATMD/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1507407066&sr=8-11&keywords=dvd+holder
I’ve been doing this with my game including current gen stuff and it takes up way less space then payoff cars which are mostly empty space.
Indiana? Indiana?.
*Indy looks up*
Let it go..
Keep, for sure. I at one point in time thought I would never want my old apple lle games and computer, so I didn’t keep track of them. They were lost, given away, thrown out over the years. I would love to be able to look at those game boxes now and fire them up. I don’t know if I would play them for long but just that initial reminder. Maybe PS2 and Wii don’t have that kind of pulling power (like mini SNES, c64, apple 2) or maybe they just need more time ?
I’ve got the same issue. When I upgraded from PS2 to PS3 I traded most of the PS2 games, but held onto the ones I really loved (Ico, SotC, GOW, MGS, Rez etc). I know I’ll never play them again, and some I even have HD remasters of, but I still can’t let them go. Especially Ico and SotC with those beautiful cardboard cases.
I think it’s definitely worth keeping the media for old games you have nostalgic attachment to. It doesn’t matter if you don’t play them; they’re keepsakes, symbols that remind you of good times in your life.
You’d have to own a ton of stuff for things as small as a few game cases to be a space problem. Worst case, take them with you to work and put them on display on your desk/shelf there. That way not only do you still have them, they make a good conversation starter for anyone coming by your desk and may well provide inspiration for new articles to write.
~30 years. That’s how long the media generally lasts before it becomes unreadable in most cases.
if the media (particularly magnetic) is stored in a stable temperature and humidity it will last a lot longer than that.. I have Commodore 64, Amiga and 5.25″IBM PC floppy discs which still work fine and they are over 30 years old. I have 40 year old Atari 2600 and Colecovision cartridges which work fine and I have 30+ year old CDs which also still work fine.
If you really don’t want them. Put them up on ebay. Games like suikoden 5 still retain some value, even being secondhand. You could probably buy a brand new game with both Suikoden games alone.
I really think you should send them to me. Seriously I live in a small town in Texas and I’m so bored that I retrogame A LOT. I’m willing to give you more$$ than gamestop.
emulators work wonderful playing xenosaga right now
I gave my PS2 & games to family – yep, they’re not getting current games and they’re too young to play some of them, but a good game is a good game, regardless of age.
I recently got back into PSX and PS2 era gaming. So many good stories and some of the games have aged extremely well. I think it’s worth holding onto those past games and consoles because you never know when you’ll want to play something you can’t find anymore… or want to educate younger humans on good games.
If space is an issue and you definitely have no interest in selling/trading them in future, or in keeping them as collectors playthings etc then you could always trash/sell the cases (come across collectors who will buy replacement cases) and keep the discs in CD wallets – takes up a much smaller space footprint in your house.
All my old PS3/360 games fit neatly into a small cupboard this way (300+ discs) – it was a bit of a wrench initially throwing the boxes away but I had to really (as relocating overseas) once I realised the attachment was just sentiment It felt free-ing and enabled me to fully embrace digital purchases (which is all I buy now!)
The alternative is to give them to your little bro/sis to look after if you don’t have the space, that’s what I did prior to last gen. If you don’t have a younger sibling yet then either this option is off the table or I guess you have an awkward conversation with your ‘rents to look forward to.
I sold PS2 Yakuza for more than Kiwami cost me. No regrets
sell the PS2 – games like Suikoden get a good price, Wii games not so much at the moment, but give it time and they will also increase in value.
What is your list of games and would you be ok with giving them away?
Just send them to me.
It might be a different version, but I thought original copies of Suikoden were worth something?