I have been a fan of video games as long as I can remember. Back in 2001 I remember my parents buying a PlayStation 2 game before we even had the console itself! And while my PlayStation 2 collection is rather weak and were encoded in PAL (which also meant that we had inferior versions to the North American & Japanese releases), I still enjoyed what I had and that includes the portable devices like Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS.
Owning a Nintendo Wii also granted me access to the retro catalogue which was also really cool, though we also received the PAL versions which did ruin the experience a lot. But it was getting an Xbox 360 and eventually a PlayStation 3 where I started to keep my games more often. I still kept the games I owned for Wii and others but it was the newer platforms where I took the idea of keeping my eyes more seriously.
So I eventually became a video game collector but not one who tries to buy every single game out there. I want to buy the games that I would love to own even if they are flawed and I always review them before I make my purchase. I also try to avoid paying more than the value of the game itself, and I used to be strict with only buying new/sealed but I have settled on pre-owned versions as long as the disc, manual and artwork is in very good condition (the game cases being damaged is fine as long as there’s stock to replace them).
For this blog I wanted to showcase the list of games that I have managed to pickup over the years, and I won’t go into depth on each one, but if I do manage to play some of them recently I will compile them all into a few posts at the end of each year.
You can view some examples of the games that I had played recently below!
| Video Game Backlog Discussion Posts |
|---|
| Games I Played in 2020 – Games I Played in 2021 Pt. 1 & Pt. 2 – Games I Played in 2022 Pt. 1 & Pt. 2 |
But yeah, enjoy the collection and there will be more to come!
| Video Game Collection Posts |
|---|
| PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4 – PlayStation 5 – PlayStation Vita |
| Nintendo Switch |
If you like to know how I am able to buy specific games, here’s a list of retailers that I recommend if you’re someone who wants to grow your collection, especially if you live in the UK.
| Video Game Retailers | Location | Points System |
|---|---|---|
| 365 Games | UK | Yes |
| Bazaar Bazaar | UK | Yes |
| CeX | UK | No |
| eBay | Worldwide | Yes with Nectar (UK) |
| The Game Collection | UK | Yes |
| Hit (formerly Base) | UK | No |
| Play-Asia | Hong Kong (supports UK pre-paid VAT) | Yes |
| Video Games Plus | Canada (supports UK pre-paid VAT) | Yes |
In recent years I have also been using forwarding services to pickup certain titles from retailers or sellers that wouldn’t ship to the UK or was much cheaper shipping-wise to deliver it in their local region. I have used both services and recommend them if you want to try these methods out.
Both services also offer consolidation (merging multiple packages into one package) and additional packaging protection in case one of them isn’t protective enough for further travel.
| Forwarding Service | Location | Free to use | Tracking | Useful for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buyee | Japan | Yes | Yes | – Amazon Japan – Mercari Japan – Yahoo! Auctions |
| Stackry | United States | Yes | Yes | – Amazon US sellers – Best Buy – eBay US sellers – Rightstuf – Sentai Filmworks |
I should note that every package will be inspected by customs but from previous experiences all of mine have cleared without any issues. It is possible they have changed their methodology to only look at £130+ valued packages instead but it could also be down to luck.
The Normanic Vault 