A copy of 'Super Mario 64' sold for over $1.5 million, the most ever paid for a video game:
A copy of "Super Mario 64" has sold for more than $1.5 million, smashing the record for the most expensive sale ever of a video game at auction.
The sealed copy of the classic Nintendo 64 video game fetched $1.56 million including fees on Sunday.
Dallas-based auction house Heritage said it was the first time a game had gone for more than $1 million. The sale topped a record set just two days ago, when another Nintendo game, "The Legend of Zelda," was sold for $870,000, the auctioneers said.
[...] "After the record-breaking sale of the first game in the Zelda series on Friday, the possibility of surpassing $1 million on a single video game seemed like a goal that would need to wait for another auction," Heritage Auctions video games specialist Valarie McLeckie said in a statement.
"We were shocked to see that it turned out to be in the same one! We are proud to have been a part of this historic event," she added.
Previously:
"Legend of Zelda" Auction Sets Bar for the Most Expensive Video Game at $870,000
Unopened Super Mario Bros. Game from 1986 Sells for $660,000
Related Stories
Unopened Super Mario Bros. game from 1986 sells for $660,000:
DALLAS (AP) — An unopened copy of Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. that was bought in 1986 and then forgotten about in a desk drawer has sold at auction for $660,000.
[...] The auction house said the video game was bought as a Christmas gift but ended up being placed in a desk drawer, where it remained sealed in plastic and with its hang tab intact until it was found earlier this year.
[...] Heritage said it is the finest copy known to have been professionally graded for auction. Its selling price far exceeded the $114,000 that another unopened copy that was produced in 1987 fetched in a Heritage auction last summer.
Ars Technica elaborates in Sealed Super Mario Bros. shatters record with $660,000 auction sale:
A pristine-condition sealed early copy of Super Mario Bros. sold for a record-shattering $660,000 in an online auction today.
That includes $550,000 to the seller and a $110,000 "Buyers' Premium" paid to Heritage Auctions. The final gavel came after 13 bidders placed 36 distinct bids, including heavy proxy bidding before the live auction commenced Friday afternoon.
The sale obliterates the $156,000 Heritage Auction record for a video game, set by a rare variant of Super Mario Bros. 3 sold last November. Crowdsourced collectibles platform Rally paid $140,000 for a sealed Super Mario Bros. last year, the previous record for that game.
The seller of this sealed copy, who asked to remain anonymous publicly, told Heritage that the game was purchased as a Christmas gift in 1985 and sat untouched at the bottom of a desk drawer for 35 years before being discovered [Update: A representative for Heritage Auctions tells Ars the 1985 date was "an error on our part" and that "The owner must have purchased this game in late 1986"]. "It stayed in the bottom of my office desk this whole time since the day I bought it," the seller told Heritage. "I never thought anything about it."
'Legend of Zelda' auction sets bar for the most expensive video game at $870,000:
Just a few months after a record-setting auction turned a sealed copy of Nintendo's original Super Mario Bros. into the most expensive video game — at an eye-popping price of $660,000 — that record has fallen. Another NES classic, The Legend of Zelda, is now the title-holder.
In a Heritage Auctions sale that ended Friday, a sealed copy of the very first Zelda game sold for $870,000. Even though this particular copy scored a (slightly) lower quality rating than Mario, the rarity of the item boosted its value significantly.
[...] The distinction here is a major difference-maker for serious collectors. There are little clues on every NES package that indicate which production run the release comes from. This copy of Zelda is from a run dubbed "NES R" (for the ® that appears next to the "Nintendo Entertainment System" logo on the box).
That "NES R" production run dates back to late 1987, and it was preceded by only one other run (dubbed "NES TM").
Also at Toms Hardware, GameSpot, and The Washington Post.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @01:45PM (12 children)
Paying that much dough for a copy of a video game is completely nuts.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @01:51PM (2 children)
Unless your goal is not to own a video game but to launder money.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @02:20PM (1 child)
not sure a single transaction qualifies as laundering.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Monday July 12 2021, @04:13PM
It's the other side of the transaction that happens behind the scenes that makes it money laundering, assuming it involves an illegal act, which likely includes dodging taxes unless you have enough money to pay enough lawyers to argue that it doesn't.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @02:31PM
The purchaser just wants something to play during his space tourism ten minute suborbital flight that he's going to buy.
(Score: 2) by EJ on Monday July 12 2021, @02:37PM (4 children)
If you only have $1000 to your name, is paying $1 for a candy bar completely nuts?
To a billionaire, this is pocket change.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @03:18PM (2 children)
Yes, actually. Is that the answer you were looking for?
Perhaps you are the kind of person who's dependent on others to bail you out if bad stuff happens. If you actually want to be a responsible adult, however, you should have at least 6 months of expenses in savings for an emergency fund before ever considering spending money on frivolous expenses (e.g., an entire dollar for a candy bar). If you only have $1000 to your name, either you're terrible at money management and vulnerable to a serious problem if you ever have a financial emergency... or, you're poor and can buy a whole lot of flour or rice or whatever to feed yourself better rather than a candy bar for that $1.
I get the metaphor here, but it doesn't make it any less nuts. You seem to think that a price should become more reasonable just because a buyer has more money? Would you appreciate it if a restaurant profiled you, looked at your income, and adjusted things accordingly? "So, a Big Mac and french fries -- that will be $2500. What's that? Sounds like a lot? But you're a multimillionaire... thought you wanted lunch? Isn't that pocket change to you?"
No, there's nothing rational about paying over a million dollars for a shrink wrapped video game. I suppose if there were more of an established market for old video games at such prices, maybe you could have an argument about it potentially being a good investment. Right now, though, it's still a lottery -- and I'd wager this payment was just some sort of "I want to have the most toys!" thing.
Which is a large part of what being rich seems to be about for a lot of people. Accumulate more and better shit to have bragging rights over your neighbor. Which is, frankly, nuts. As in, it's likely a symptom of some sort of psychological complex -- inferiority, narcissism, could be lots of things. But likely nuts.
And before you accuse me of being some sort of snob or whatever who hates on other people's interests, I'm not. If the buyer here had a lifelong dream to own a shrink wrapped copy of this specific game, and he's going to put it on his shelf and he'll stare at it every day and it will make him happy, more power to him. Some people like to spend money on expensive cars or luxury vacations or luxury meals or whatever. It makes their life more fulfilled. Okay, you have your interest that makes you happy.
But if you'd ask me to wager, as I said, I bet the buyer here is just looking for bragging rights. Just a quest for getting one-up on the other guy... "Oooh... look the shrink wrap on this is graded A++, the highest rating possible from blah-blah rater... and the box condition is... bet that beats your copy of Pitfall with the ding on the corner, George. And that crappy Space Invaders copy you have Jim, where there's a flaw in the shrink wrap on the bottom. Ha! I've finally beat you all..."
Whatever, dude.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by EJ on Monday July 12 2021, @05:59PM (1 child)
You're talking like a poor person. Once you make more than six figures (not living in a stupid place like California), any additional money is just meaningless fluff.
My house is paid for. I intend for it to be my forever home. My car is paid for. I'll replace it when it starts to fail. I have more than two years worth of salary in liquid assets.
I still wouldn't pay $150 for a burger, nor should a billionaire. The issue is that you're looking at things from the perspective of someone like you or me, who doesn't have a billion dollars. Once you have the capability of looking past the financial struggles of people who need to make sure they can pay their bills, you will be able to comprehend that spending $2 million on a car, a video game cartridge, or anything else isn't nuts when you have over a billion dollars.
Did you know that a private jet (ignoring the purchase price of the jet itself) can cost around $50k PER FLIGHT? So, while you're scouring websites to find a discount sub-$100 economy ticket, billionaires are paying $50k just for the privilege of taking a trip in their own plane that they already paid millions for. They don't care, though. That money doesn't mean anything to them because they have billions.
So...whatever, dude.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @10:21PM
Or like a rational person. Just because you can mod me troll and therefore effectively make me invisible to others doesn't mean I don't have a point.
Actually, it is kinda nuts unless they also have replacement income to keep up what they're throwing away. You ever look at what happens to lottery winners who suddenly get $100 million or whatever? Lots of those stories don't end well. If you spend $2 million on various things with a billion dollars, you get 500 things. Then you're done. Game over. Now try to keep all your expensive toys unless you've planned for it.
Yes, I'm not a moron.
You think that's what I'm doing? I have a decent amount of money in the bank too. I don't waste my time skimping and saving all the time. Go back and read my post. I say IF you only have $1000 (the scenario YOU presented), it's irrational to spend money, even a dollar, without thinking a bit about it. If you have $10,000 in the bank, it gets easier. If you have $100,000 in the bank, maybe it's not worth your time to spend an hour searching flights to save an extra $20. Maybe your time is worth more than that. AND, I went on to say that some people like to have joy in their lives, so spending a bit more on an occasional luxury item that makes them happy makes sense.
I was addressing your specific scenario of a guy with $1000 net worth.
Or, you know, they could act like reasonable people and actually use that money for something useful, something that benefits others or society as a whole, like charitable endeavors. To me, it's not only "nuts" to spend millions on a video game, but borderline immoral. If I had a billion dollars, ~$10 million would go in my personal account, which would allow me to live off the interest for the rest of my days (and probably have a LOT to spare each year...). The other $990 million would gradually get distributed in ways to try to do some good in the world.
I have a friend who is a multimillionaire. More like an acquaintance these days, but I've spent a week at one of his five houses. I know what the lifestyle can be like. But the thing is, he owned a private jet for a while, then sold it. He doesn't travel as much these days, and if he wants to, he could charter a flight for a fraction of just owning (let alone using) the jet. He owned a max of five houses at one time, but got rid of three of them now. And while the remainder are on the larger side of "normal," they're not "mansions."
He collected "toys" for a while, after being a self-made guy. Then he figured out having all the toys isn't really worth it. He doesn't give a shit what other people think of him or whether they have some luxury BS. He sold his Tesla because he wanted a back-up camera and lane-changing things for his wife, and they didn't offer it at the time. Tesla, according to him, was apparently focused on people who want toys and stuff to drive fast, not practical options for an older couple. So he bitched and complained to them and then gave them their car back. He doesn't need "status symbols" to be important, though admittedly it took him a few years to figure that out, I think...
I'm not saying this is the only way to live, but he's not the only rich person who does this. There are billionaires with reasonable size houses and who don't waste $50,000 at the drop of a hat when it costs them three minutes to save $49,000.
You do realize my valediction in my previous post was not addressed to you but to the imagined guy spending lots of money on a video game, right? If I didn't make that clear, sorry. But I wasn't really being flippant to you, rather to a guy with a "gotta get the most toys" mentality.
(Score: 3, Funny) by shortscreen on Monday July 12 2021, @04:04PM
Completely nuts? That depends on whether it's a Payday bar.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Tork on Monday July 12 2021, @03:15PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @10:28PM
I agree. It would be more reasonable to sell it for $870,000.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday July 13 2021, @05:15PM
This wasn't just someone paying $1.5 Million dollars for a video game. This was a collector paying for a mint copy of a well played classic video game. That video game will not be getting played.
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/super-mario-auction-video-game-record-scli-intl/index.html [cnn.com]
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 12 2021, @02:00PM (24 children)
That old homily will never change.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by fakefuck39 on Monday July 12 2021, @03:56PM (23 children)
Very likely the sense here produced the dollars. People start companies they own, with a specific purpose. For example, when a builder buys a house to fix up and sell, they'll spin up an LLC specifically for that project. I had some software I wrote to sell to GE, I spun up a company specifically for that sale.
A guy who wants the game spins up a company that collects and resells things. He makes lots of money from selling stuff, that money is profit he's taxed on. Now he spends 1.6mil on a game, that's an expense, that profit is now gone. Now he has the game, and saves 37% of that amount on the taxes. That game actually cost him $1mil. He sells that game later for 1.6mil in a few years. His cost basis is the same as his selling price - no gains taxes. He just made $600k.
Is that the sense you're talking about? Or is it the sense to not assume you know money better than a guy who's clearly succeeded in making gobles of money, unlike you? Because yeah, someone is missing some basic sense here.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 12 2021, @04:10PM (17 children)
Maybe. Then again, the guy could have made millions because he's a freaking genius at $skill or $talent, but he's a freaking idiot with money.
(Score: 2) by fakefuck39 on Monday July 12 2021, @04:21PM
Yes, if your base assumption is that this fake scenario you've made up is true, then your point is true. Then again, he could have been a spaceman whose alien spaceship is powered by old nintendo games, and he needs it to get home to his planet, where the dollars are useless anywise. Both yours and the alien invasion scenarios are equally plausible, just like the scenario where this rich guy doesn't use business and financial advisors and takes care of all the money and investments himself.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by EJ on Monday July 12 2021, @06:03PM (15 children)
An idiot in what respect? What is someone will billions of dollars "allowed" to do with their money to not be considered foolish by you?
Are they supposed to put it all in a giant Scrooge McDuck style pool to swim around in?
What is the point of having billions of dollars if you can't spend it on stuff you want without giving a shit what other people think?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @06:49PM (2 children)
Maybe leave the earth a better place than they found it? At least that backstabbing Bill Gates is making some kind of misguided attempt to do so, very late in life.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @10:25PM
Ah, I see I wasn't the only one GP is going around modding posts troll for simply making the point that rich people can do something other than spend it all on toys.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @10:37PM
https://archive.is/FUHTM [archive.is]
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday July 12 2021, @09:17PM (11 children)
Money is useless if it isn't moving. Floating, fiat currency is a lot like electrical potential in that it's only useful when it's moving and therefore doing work. Money is an abstraction to the barter system; it's used to enable more convenient tracking of value--products, goods, and services--than would be the case if every transaction were a customized one-off.
With the wealthy hoarding money, goods, services, and capital, the end result is exactly like what happens when a disposable battery is out of juice: all the charge has been moved to the anode, nothing flows, and no work can be done. By definition, the degenerate case of capitalism is feudalism. A proper redistribution framework is like a rechargeable battery, in this analogy.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by fakefuck39 on Tuesday July 13 2021, @01:58AM (10 children)
Your entire second paragraph is wrong, and the words of a crazy person who has strong opinions that make him pissed off, based on facts you made up, which you made up so you have something at which to be pissed off.
First, the wealthy are not hoarding money. The wealthy, more than the poor, invest that money, usually in economic growth. The wealthy, unlike the narrative Bernie and friends spin, are rich because of their holdings - they don't hold cash. But if they did, like you pulled out of your ass, it would be absolutely awesome for the poor man, while bad for the economy. Taking large sums of cash out of circulation causes deflation, so now your milk costs less, and your salary is the same. The rich hoarding money increases the buying power of the poor. Econ 101.
Now, as far as the rest... The wealthy are hoarding Services? How, pray tell, does one do that? They use up all the services? That's called creating jobs sherlock.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 13 2021, @03:02AM (2 children)
I don't know about that. I've heard the claim that they ARE hoarding money a number of times. How credible are those claims? I can't really say - but the claims are easy to find.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rich-americans-hoarding-cash_n_3720941 [huffpost.com]
https://www.financialsamurai.com/why-the-rich-hoard-so-much-cash/ [financialsamurai.com]
https://www.alternet.org/2014/06/5-reasons-rich-are-ruining-economy-hoarding-their-money/ [alternet.org]
https://www.rt.com/business/476400-worlds-super-rich-hoarding-gold/ [rt.com]
Whether they are actually hoarding or not, I don't see a lot of investment in things that stimulate the economy. The economy is contracting. The super wealthy have an ever increasing percentage of the wealth, and the rest of us share an ever shrinking percentage. Wages go down, automation increases, jobs are offshored, money disappears into offshore accounts - and the economy grows less healthy.
Yes, of course I understand that virtually all economists agree that stagnant money is wasted money. It's got to be invested, it's got to be in circulation, or the guy who owns it is losing money. I understand that. So, where's the money?
(Score: 2) by fakefuck39 on Tuesday July 13 2021, @04:57PM (1 child)
You don't know what "economy" means. It does not mean wages and how much cash the poor have. It means the GDP and stock prices. Which have both been steadily increasing.
You are also confused about what "rich" means. Your NBC study sites "half the millionaires" are holding cash. It's the huffpost - a shitty headline grabber site that calls them "rich." A house on my block in Chicago goes for about $2mil. People close to retirement have over $2mil in their 401k+IRA. Those are not rich people. Those are middle class people, close to retirement, who own their house, and as they get close to retirement they move more and more assets into cash and bonds. They might have $3mil in assets total, $2mil is their house, then 500k in stocks, and half in cash and bonds. This is a standard investment plan for fidelity and schwab.
Then you site a site with sentences like "The rich are bullish on the economy just like the investing middle class," and Moscow Times - a Russian propaganda network. Are you freaking kidding me?
The investment in the economy comes all from rich people. The poor have nothing to invest. You know how Bezos has wealth? It's amazon stock. You can pretend that it's cash, but that just makes you mentally handicapped. With their money, the rich invest in companies, buy up land, and don't put any cash in their mattress. Thinking they do just shows you have the mind of an angry 15yo.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 13 2021, @06:32PM
Oh, that's nice to know. So, all those people who hover under and above the poverty line contribute nothing to the economy. Interesting. Obviously, there isn't much point in investing in businesses that might tap into all that labor potential. Just as obviously, it wouldn't benefit the economy to help them out of poverty.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday July 13 2021, @05:48PM (6 children)
You don't read so good, do ya boy?
Listen, pal, you're not a winner in life. I know, you're doing better than most of those around you, but you ain't "in the club." The big boys don't even know you exist, and wouldn't give two shits if they did. Compared to someone like Bezos, you are on the same level as the poor homeless heroin addict, and they will treat you accordingly.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Troll) by fakefuck39 on Tuesday July 13 2021, @06:53PM (5 children)
Correct, I am not in "the club." Glad you understand. I am upper middle class, I know how to invest, I know how taxes work, and I have accountants and financial advisors. Compared to me, you are at the same level as a street nigger, and I treat you accordingly. Yet people like you want to feel important, so you go online and try to "correct" people on a topic you know zero about, making yourselves look look like clowns. And that's why I'm on this site, while having real discussions with people "on my level" on nh. I'm here to laugh at you.
When a retard like yourself thinks people like bezos hide billions of cash under their pillow, and that causes inflation, all I can do is be very entertained by the retard-shit you say. I'm not here to teach you anything, I am not here to convince you of anything. When you play chess with a pigeon, he'll knock over the pieces, shit on the board, then strut around like he's won. We're not playing chess. The chess board is here so you knock over the pieces and shit on it, while I watch and laugh.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday July 14 2021, @12:31AM (1 child)
You don't seem to have understood a damn thing I said. It's amazing. You'd think all that money and all those brains and those financial advisors of yours could buy you a working cerebral cortex. Too bad no amount of money will ever, ever buy your soul out of the flame it's kindling for itself though...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by fakefuck39 on Wednesday July 14 2021, @02:03AM
> You don't seem to have understood a damn thing I said
who cares. I'm not here to understand the ways of a pigeon shitting on the board. I'm here to laugh at the pigeon shitting on the board. surprise, I don't even bother reading half the mindless drivel you write before replying.
>buy your soul out of the flame it's kindling
case in point.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 14 2021, @04:41AM (2 children)
LOL. Project much? Yeah, you wish you were upper class and had money. You wish you needed an accountant and financial manager. But no, you apparently have nothing better to do that sit around and troll SoylentNews, pretending like you're important, and that you know things that you don't and that you're hot shit and all that. And when you inevitably get called out on it, the only response you have is to start calling people retards and autistic, because flinging insults is the only thing your pathetic tiny little lizard brain can come up with to defend the crap you say. You're engaged in the internet equivalent of smearing your feces on the walls of the toilet stall, because you think it's outright hilarious that someone else will have to literally clean up your shit. Something only an asshole and a retard might do. Except that the retard might have an excuse, whereas you do not.
Why don't you just fuck off and die, you pathetic waste of of a human being.
(Score: 2) by fakefuck39 on Wednesday July 14 2021, @04:56AM
me: I'm not upper class.
you: yeah you wish you were upper class.
your definition of "called out:" a guy tells me that hoarding money causes inflation, the standard of living for the poor is how the economy is measured, and that an LLC pays income tax.
again, the chess board is here for you to shit on and dance on while. I'd never play chess with a pigeon.
>you apparently have nothing better to do that sit around and troll SoylentNews
yes, I have nothing better to do for the 5 minutes a day it takes me to type comments calling you an autistic hyperfocused retard who didn't take his medication. usually while I'm taking a shit, or sitting down to piss, because that's what us upper class people do - piss sitting down. flush.
>Why don't you just fuck off and die
have your wishes of your bully dying ever come true, or do you just end up the same autistic loser, but now with a black eye? I'm gonna live a nice long happy life. Mostly because I don't have a disease requiring medication with negative side effects, like you do. and because while not upper class, i have a much higher standard of living, medical care, and less worries in life than you do. one of the reasons I have less worries, is that while this thread is entertaining and lowers my blood pressure, it raises yours.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 14 2021, @08:26AM
The guy repeatedly for endless months tells you the only reason he bothers replying to your AC posts is he enjoys pointing out that you have autism. Given that, you can't figure out why "the only response you have is to start calling people retards and autistic"? I guess this explains why you also keep getting called a retard. Have you ever come out of a bakery angry and confused that you couldn't order a rack of lamb with mint jelly?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @10:58PM (2 children)
so.. lets carry this out.
- Receives money, taxes due on received money
- buys came with received money, net 0
- owes no taxes.
- inventory: 1.6mil (you said business collector/buyer/seller -- this becomes inventory, or it's not a valid expense.)
Ok. Then, at the end of the year, the buyer pays inventory taxes on his business. Well crap.
Next year (or this year), the buyer sells the game, originally purchased for $1.6mm. Now the collector has to pay either sales tax or income tax (if it wasn't billed as inventory). Sales tax, 7%. Income tax, 40%. Net return: probably $1mm, the same amount as you're saying he would have originally gotten.
Am I missing anything? (Tax fraud?)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @11:24PM (1 child)
Oops, I said it wrong:
pays sales tax *AND* income tax. The whole sale is a profit (you already paid the expense, last year), so you'll be paying 7% sales tax and 40% tax on $1.6mm, possibly with inventory tax if you hold it through the year's end.
So, net, if you pull in $1.6mm, it doesn't matter how, tax is due.
(Score: 2) by fakefuck39 on Tuesday July 13 2021, @12:07AM
I'm not here t explain tax law to you if you think an llc pays income tax and don't know what a cost basis is. Indeed, you did 'say it wrong.' Because you have no dea what you're talking about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 13 2021, @01:29AM (1 child)
A business can't buy something, write it off on their taxes as a business expense, then turn around and sell it at full price and pocket the difference. Well, I suppose not unless they are planning to commit tax fraud.
How does something like this so completely wrong get modded up?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 13 2021, @09:40PM
Isn't that basically what Trump has done over the last 40 years?
(Score: 3, Informative) by MIRV888 on Monday July 12 2021, @02:37PM (7 children)
The wealth disparity on this planet appears to be pretty bad.
In addition to retirement level video games, private citizens are running their own space programs.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @02:47PM (1 child)
You can't retire on $1.5MM... that wouldn't even cover two video games.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @03:13PM
retirees now may have played pong, that game is much cheaper.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by epitaxial on Monday July 12 2021, @03:51PM (2 children)
I'm confused. Wealthy people spending money is a good thing or a bad thing?
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Monday July 12 2021, @05:08PM
Let them eat cake.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 13 2021, @09:52PM
It becomes less confusing when you think about what the money is being spent on. Like all of those platitudes of cutting corporate taxes will open up all of this capital for investing in capital project expenditures and employee development. Then you find out that basically all of it was used to buy back stock. (The best part is now that there is talk of raising it only partially back to where it was, now there are cries of "OMG, if you do that, companies won't be able to do all of those capital project expenditures and employee development they were TOTALLY planning on doing this time!")
(Score: 2) by EJ on Monday July 12 2021, @06:09PM (1 child)
There are too many people on the planet. The value of any individual person is practically nil. The only real way to reduce wealth disparity is to stop making more people. Then, the wealthy will have to grow their own food, do their own laundry, etc.
We are never going to have a "just" society. Communism is always corrupt at the top.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 13 2021, @04:03PM
If there is no top, there can't be any corruption. Totally flat hierarchy is the only social organization conducive to human liberty.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12 2021, @02:59PM (1 child)
Back in 1996, a supercomputer cost over $1.5 million and a videogame cost $70.
Today, videogames cost $1.5 million and they give away supercomputers when you subscribe to phone plans.
You win some and you lose some.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday July 12 2021, @05:21PM
Those supercomputers can apparently play images of these games, soooo...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday July 12 2021, @09:14PM (5 children)
...where the money's made up and its value doesn't matter!
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 13 2021, @03:05AM (4 children)
That real communism sounds awesome and it is sure to arive here any day now.
Just ignore all the other fake versions of communism that have been tried so far.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday July 13 2021, @05:45PM (3 children)
Who wants communism? It can't work, because it doesn't scale past Dunbar's Number. No, what I want is Nordic-style social democracy, with a heavy focus on sustainable power, water, and housing. We have the technology and have for a while now.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 14 2021, @08:04AM (2 children)
And yet you keep repeating their silly "late stage capitalism" talking point.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday July 16 2021, @01:14AM (1 child)
It's not wrong, and just because capitalism in the late stage is a failure doesn't mean communism is the solution.
Where are you pulling this weird false dichotomy out of? Capitalism just needs proper regulation and a renewable base to succeed, that's all.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 16 2021, @04:53AM
Fair enough. But in my experience the overwhelming majority of those who use the phrase are communist LARPers who have never had to live a day of their lives under that system.
I will admit to having a bias on the topic as I have direct family and close friends who have experienced communism firsthand. Through either living in the USSR or escaping from the cultural revolution in China.
(Score: 2) by JustNiz on Tuesday July 13 2021, @03:37AM
Seriously fucking stupid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 13 2021, @09:15AM (1 child)
At least in my country, there is something wrong in retrocomputing auctions. I still can buy old stuff from all these contacts in different dismantling plants, or in flea markets. It is still OK in classified ads. However, internet auctions and only internet auctions went nuts.
Generally, the prices are 20-50 times higher than typical price from classified ad, not telling about flea market. And people seem to buy it, but there is always the same scenario with 4 accounts in it. One is always bidding 2-3 times of initial price. Always. The second one gives a small bump, then the third one goes in with an enormous bump and finally, the last one buys. While it was still possible to discover the bidder's nicknames, these roles were always with the same bidders.
To compare prices and hardware, an old, untested AT power supply went the price of 2-4 new laptops.
For me, it looks more like some complex money laundering scheme.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 13 2021, @04:08PM
Probably a money laundering scheme, could be gaming the auction system somehow too.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 14 2021, @08:06AM
as whites and coloured people alike all starve to death.