@bmanva: You know what they say, "if it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage."

@Aljosa23: would be hilarious if someone called him out on his campaign spending during the debates.

@n64dd: That's kind of nice. They have a few on eBay from the same seller, but they've been opened, with the UPC sticker torn off, and the manuals and demo discs removed, and the person is still charging between $150 and $250. Now that's ridiculous.

I was thinking of getting my roomie one of those mission belts, (the largest one they have, since he is a giant monkey). Family I usually try and hide from this time of year cause they tend to crawl out of the woodwork and start eating everything, like termites.

I tend to stay far far away from anything anime related.

I'm sure some of you have seen those sellers on eBay, charging premiums for sealed retro games that have been "graded" by an arbitrary third party, then encased in a clear bag, before finally being firmly closed in an acrylic case. Apparently the act of bagging, sealing, tagging and labeling games is somehow supposedly raising the value of said games, sometimes by as much as 800%. Want a graded copy of Chrono Trigger (SNES)? Expect to shell out anywhere from $1000 to $6000, depending on grade. How about a more recent PS2 game? You're still looking at prices anywhere from $300 to $900, varying by game and grade. Even consoles are fair game, with an original sealed in the box Playstation 2 going for $1800. A graded Gameboy system currently trends for $1000, while a graded Sega Saturn will set you back $2000.

My big question is, are these games and systems worth such a premium? Sure, they don't make them anymore and you could argue that there is an element of collectability to them, in the same way that graded comic books appreciate in value, but does that justify such outrageous markups? At least comic book price guides exist to help buyers with purchasing decisions, while the price of graded games and systems, seems to fluctuate from seller to seller and day to day.

Do you guys see these games and systems as an investment or a cash grab?

I was an AOL junkie, from version 1.0, up until they stopped sending those little floppy disks in the mail and started sending CD's. AOL chatrooms at that time were a lot like the early days of OT, lots of flame wars, cursing, people spamming a/s/l, etc. (I also dabbled a bit on CompuServe and Prodigy). I had one of those generic Packard Bell comps and probably the slowest 33.6k modem ever, which all my friends were jealous of, as they had 28.8's. Anyway, I used to be a regular on the play.net website, as they hosted (and still host) a number of text based MUDs, that were and are super immersive. Back then, you didn't need graphics to have fun! True story.

@GreySeal9: That may be part of it. One of the funny things is that I remember before the campaigning started and it was almost a sure bet he'd run, people were commenting on how Jeb was/is, "the smartest of the Bush family." I don't know about that, but he clearly isn't the most likable, given the public's reaction, (or it could just be an over saturation of Bush family members in the political arena.)

@a-new-guardian: finals week for me too.

@elpresador-911: not sure how this would make anyone happy.