Another new video for you all! This was an idea all of last month, but then my family and I were sick for a solid two weeks. The pile of games on my desk kept growing and I desperately wanted to film this so I could put them all away in their proper place. Feels good.

I wanted to make this pickups video as a follow-up to my collection and office tour. The response to that has been great! This seemed like a logical next video. I may make these throughout the year. We’ll see!

I experimented with a few things in the production. I’ve removed the shotgun mic above my iMac. I wasn’t a fan of the overall live quality. It’s great for raw audio and syncing, but unedited wasn’t up to my standards. So instead, I clipped a Rode wireless Go to my hat and used that for capture.¹ Then I cleaned up the audio in iZotope and was much happier. It keeps the Shure Beta 87A out of my face and sounds good to my ears.

The thumbnail maybe clickbait-y (I am still having fun making them), but it is true that some of these I bought have been dream games to chase. I have been on a serious Nintendo DS kick lately and I don’t really want to stop.

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1. This idea was totally taken from Alex Van Aken and his Mina the Hollower documentary.

The prototypes in Ed Semrad’s basement by Frank Cifaldi for Video Game History Foundation

Ed’s obsessive personality made EGM a valuable resource. If a game existed and could be seen by his eyes, he had to have screenshots in the magazine. Ed was careful to catalog every game he saw at every trade show he attended. If it was playable, he snapped photographs while another editor played, with the “cone of silence” he invented and was well known for.

If there was a video loop showing footage of a game he couldn’t get his hands on, Ed patiently stood with his camera at the ready to make sure he captured it. If photography wasn’t allowed, Ed would find a hiding spot to sneak shots with a zoom lens. His office walls were adorned with photographs he’d taken of the “no photography allowed” signs he’d encountered on the job. At least once, when no one was looking, Ed re-routed a demo station’s video cables into a camcorder and back out to the TV, quietly recording an entire game demo that turned into a multi-page spread that the magazine was not supposed to have.

I remember sitting in my dark bedroom with my Dad’s digital camera recording my first game review.¹ Ed was on another level with his capture. A great find for preservation and future education.

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1. I went with [*Mario Kart Wii*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-nPWg091EY). This was back when you had to split up videos longer than 10~ minutes into chunks.

E8: Memory by Robert Ashley for A Life Well Wasted

Robert Ashley finds out what it takes to speedrun games in a blindfold, visits a museum in Moscow dedicated to Soviet-era arcade machines, and talks to a group of friends about a childhood summer spent dreaming up a game of their own.

This immediately jumped to the top of my podcast queue. I haven’t listened to A Life Well Wasted since I worked at K-Mart. Thrilled to have a new episode in my feed. Robert knows how to make a captivating show. The magic of podcasting strikes again.

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Does Fortnite Exploit Your FOMO? by Mark Brown for Game Maker’s Toolkit on YouTube

I made a video.

I know the title and thumbnail are in the clickbait vein of YouTube. I feel a twinge of cringe at it.

But, I also sort of had fun making it that way. 😬

I made this tour video for a slew of reasons. I suppose the first is because I wanted to make it. I haven’t made a game collection video since December 13, 2008—near 15 years ago! You could say I was on the cutting edge of game collection videos; and all I made those videos with was my cell phone.

Well, I also made this new one with my cell phone. From 480p on a sliding keyboard phone to 4K60 on an iPhone 14 Pro Max; the leap in quality in just 15 years astounds me. I mounted the iPhone in a phone grip from Elgato and onto a handheld tripod I have lying around. I even wrapped my Apple Watch around the side to try and use as a view finder. I wish I had the thought to not point the camera up my nose. I’ll fix that next time.

I have all these cameras and microphones around. I want to use them more and more. I’ve spent a bit of the year doing live streams on YouTube and have had a ton of fun doing so. I recently bought some upgrade to make streams a bit better, once I find a good time to regularly stream again. Having a one month old has made time fly by lately. This video was a way to utilize some of those tools, while Abby and Eloise were out of the house.

This project was also meant to help push my editing technique. I tried to implement cuts and have some sort of pace. At 28 minutes, the pace could be much better. I threw in some jokes and sound effects, hopefully in a manner that elevates the content.

I was nervous to edit this video. I knew I wanted it to be more “modern” (i.e. clickbaity) and I’ve often refrained more presenting my work that way. I do the work and let it speak for itself. I left the files on my computer for a few days after shooting, wondering if I’d go through with producing and publishing it. Since I’ve run out of podcasts to edit at the moment, I decided to give it a go.

It didn’t take long into the edit to realize I had nothing to be nervous about. I was having fun in post-production too. The creative process has been instrumental to my life this year as a consistent outlet for me. I find myself pushing my own boundaries and trying mew ideas.

I enjoy seeing other folks’ collections and talking about them. I have a gear page here on Max Frequency (which is due for another update). It’s much easier to show these off in video rather than in writing. If you check out the video, I hope you enjoy!

My Indie Game Publishing Company by videogamedunkey

Dunkey is branching out of YouTube and into video game publishing. His video is very hype—very Dunkey. He invokes indie titans like Celeste, Enter the Gungeon, and Hollow Knight. There are plenty of games I’ve never heard of or seen.

I am a smidge surprised at the criticism of this venture in the just 12 or so hours since its announcement. I generally lean on a half-full perspective, but I’ve seen the devs, publishers, and press share a range of feedback. Takes from “I have opinions on games, so now I can publish the best” to “get lots of money upfront incase it fails.” All of these come off as valid criticisms to me, if leaning to the pessimist/realist perspective. That’s probably a safer approach in business.

Here’s what Dunkey’s company Bigmode is looking for:

Here’s what excites us in a game!
Fun
Substance
Originality
Passion & artistry
Devs with a clear, strong vision
Devs with deep gaming experience & understanding

Aren’t we all?

And here is what Bigmode is offering devs:

We believe quality & originality should be supported— Bigmode is a unique & powerful way for great indie games to stand out in a crowded space, and our publishing contracts are designed to be the most developer-friendly possible!
We can get involved at any stage from pitch to near-completion. We can also assist with any standard publishing needs you may have:
Funding
Development support
PR & community management
QA, porting & localization
Merchandising

To me, Bigmode comes off as dunkey’s Official Seal of Quality. His videos do have sway and power. I would think his financial backing would alleviate sides of development and publishing so that the devs can focus on making the game. It’s not just exposure. I am curious how it will all play out. I hope for the best for all involved.

No matter success or failure, the mascot is divine.

Exposing FRAUD And DECEPTION In The Retro Video Game Market by Karl Jobst on YouTube

You may have seen last month a copy of Super Mario 64 sell for $1.5 million. I even joked how my mostly sealed copy of Ocarina of Time could make me a millionaire. Well, Karl Jobst has dug into how the market has spiked so dramatically in the past couple of years all thanks to WATA Games and Heritage Auctions.

Karl’s research and reporting is thorough and damning. This video is well worth your time.

This helps explain (along with a spike in collecting due to people staying home during COVID-19) why game prices, even for loose games, has skyrocketed.

Since March 2021, I’ve been on a Pokémon game collecting kick. I know it is poor timing given the franchise’s 25th anniversary is this year, but some of the prices I have seen just don’t make sense. In March 2019, Pokémon Emerald was roughly $40~ loose, $100~ Complete-in-Box (CiB). Two and a half years later, it is $90~ and $400~. Pokémon Diamond was $15~ loose, $20~ CiB. Now it is going for $30~ and $60~, with a peak of nearly $100~ earlier in the year.

GameCube games have blown up. Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes has doubled. Billy Hatcher too. I understand those aren’t super popular GameCube games, but these spikes have never happened before.

This upward trend is clearly influenced by WATA Games grading and these extremely high, anonymous sales at Heritage Auctions. These auctions and grades are inflating the market until it will, eventually, burst.

Just the other day, I snagged a copy of Pokémon Silver at my favorite local shop. The owner shared with me how the prices have shot up and that even they have to pay heftier prices to get the trade-ins for their business. He talked about how just a couple years ago the Pokémon games were $20 maybe $30 a pop, now much more in the $70-100 range.

This also appears to solely be impacting the North American market. The same games for Japanese or European consoles have kept reasonable prices. Pokémon Diamond from Japan is selling for $35~ CiB. Emerald is $76~. That same store I shop at has all of Gen 1 and 2 cartridges for Pokémon at or below $30. If the game’s were for the North American market, the prices would double or triple.

Excellent reporting and research from Karl. I hope this bubble bursts sooner rather than later.