Sad news has happened to the so called NES scene again. Once again a person was caught scamming his way to a better collection but also grabbing a chunk of money from various people. A couple of years ago we had a case of resealed games being sold as original unopened games, and now we're here again. It seems that a well known member of the NES community, Hounder, was finally caught in his act of selling games he either didn't own or didn't want to sell anyway, instead he just took the money and ran. I've never had much to do with Hounder but was working on a deal with him, me being the seller, a few weeks before he decided to dissapear.
Collecting NES games has become big business over the past few years, almost to the extent where it's becomming impossible for anyone with a normal income to buy the more rare stuff. This is most likely leads to some of the cases we've seen over the years, people are tempted to pull off a few scams to make a quick buck so they too can pay the insane prices Nintendo goods are fetching these days. I'm not trying to defend anyone who decides to pull a stunt like this, I actually despise people with such a low morale, but I too understand what can happen to one when there's a game, or anything else for that matter, just around the corner that you really want but know you can't afford it. Fact is though, theft is no the solution, it may seem like a cool idea at a specific time, but reality almost always catches up with you and you'll be caught by the skeleons in the closet.
Lately it seems that a lot of people have adobted the idea of pulling off a scam to gain a little extra cash, in the past few months I've been ripped off no less than 3 times, loosing somewhere around $150. The whole video game collecting/selling/trading community is built on trust and this trust is starting to fade away, making it hard for newcomers to enter the world of video game collectors.
In Hounders case I hope justice is made, either he repays the money or ship the goods he owes everyone. If that doesn't happen I hope that someone will take the case a step further and report him for his fraud instead of just letting it go and taking the loss, some have several hundred dollars pending to be returned. If nothing happens and people just let him go, most likely because of his stupid official statement regarding his actions, then it's only a matter of time before we'll see a case just like his.
It's of course horrible to report someone to the authorities, it could ruin their life, but theft is not tolerated and especially not in a small comminity like the one that belongs to the NES collectors. With this letter I hope to catch a few of those who are in the initial stages of planning scams, you will eventually be caught. Hounder hid himself for a few months but he was eventually caught buy the people from who he stole money. However instead of facing his demons he ran off again, but did promise to refund everyone, or did he?, one can only hope that it does happen.
There's not really anything we can do about the insane prices of Nintendo goods these days, the bigger the demand is - the higher prices climb. Unfortunately it seems like NES collecting today is about about getting a full set of games, no matter what the cost is, money and maybe even conscience wise. I do sound old when I say this, but there was a time when collecting also was about finding the story behing the stuff you collect, however most newcomers today have no clue of what they collect, they just know that NES games are cool and that they've got to have them all, the pokemon generation?. It this the way to collect people? I highly doubt it and I hope that things will change for the better again, but I honestly don't see it coming in a near future, and if we start ripping each other off, the whole community will be going to hell, seriously :-)
Below you'll find the apology made by Hounder when he finally was caught in his act. Yes it's sad, and a lot of crap if you ask me...
Ok....first and foremost, I'm sorry. I disappeared after my NYC trip and I shouldn't have. I owe people money and games. My story behind my disappearance wasn't really intentional. I simply didn't come back on because I knew if I did I would end up spending more money and spending money is a problem for me. I have bills to pay out the wazoo and spending bill money on NES has happened to me before and I didn't want it to happen to me again.
Second, I owe all that has bought stuff off me a great deal of apologies. Wizard and Dain, I am so sorry. Your stuff has actually sat in the same place for a while for the most part. But I feel so bad about the whole thing that I'm just going to refund your money to you (probably today or tomorrow). I was lazy and irresponsible. It was intentional to be that way at all. I'm very sorry.
About eBay, I had two accounts. The one I currently have is a legit account. The one I used was halfway legit. I didn't have everything I sold but knew where to obtain it. But then it just got to the point where I didn't care. I have money to refund to people. Believe me guys, I've died a thousand deaths already. Most of you know me and this isn't the way I am. I feel absolutely terrible and am working on refunding all money. I'm sure people are extremely mad at me about all of it and they should be. I honestly don't know what to say but that I'm very sorry and it won't happen again. You can take my word on that. :'(
People in life mess up. We have to accept that. I messed up. Big time. More so than I ever thought I would. I will admit that. That's why I'm making a public apology. Most wouldn't but some of you guys are some of the nicest people I've ever met and I hate to leave you hurt in any way because of my stupid idiotic actions. I can't say sorry enough. I just hope that those waiting for refunds will please give me a few days and not call the authorities on me or anything like that. Mail fraud was not my intention on anything. It was my stupid carelessness that led it to that.
If you have lost all respect for me and don't want anything to do with me, then that's understandable and I hope that maybe someday we can repair that. I would probably be the same way to someone else so I can't point fingers at anybody but myself. As I've disgusted myself the past couple of weeks beyond belief. I can't even tell you how bad I feel. I can't sleep (literally) or do anything without regret. My conscious eats at my mind day and night.
The eBay account I have now is legit. Buy and bid if you like. I have started this basically to help give me a push for the gaming store I want to open here in town. I still have part of my collection and will add to it when needed. Right now I'm focusing on getting this thing off the ground. I hope it's something that works out for me since it's something I really really want to do. So please, don't feel hesitant to bid or buy. I will treat you like a fair man.
One last thing, I'm leaving the NES scene for good here. Too much shame for me to face anybody. I will leave this message for you guys to read and logout never to return. I will not even read your responses as I'm sure some will rip me to shreds and honestly, I don't want to read all that even though they have the right to do so. I will continue to collect like I said. A game here and there. Please do not bombard me with emails on eBay. Please. Let me leave peacefully (if that's what you want to call it).
Again, guys, I can't apologize enough. I have a list of people to refund with #1 and #2 being Dain and the wizard. I would send you the games guys but #1 I can't find your addresses and #2 I'm too ashamed of myself to even send them to you so I will just refund your money. I'm so so sorry. Everybody else that is on my list hopefully gives me a few days for me to refund the money.
So I'm out. It's been nice knowing everybody while it lasted. These are my apologies. I hope that all can forgive me and move on. NGD, thanks for the email on eBay. It's actually what motivated me to post this. I've really been meaning to for awhile but again, the shame part hits me every time. I'm sorry again guys. Peace out.
A couple of days ago this ROM image of Neotoxin, a game by Snowbro of former NES website as well as bombsweeper fame and graphics by a good old IRC friend of
mine EFX. This is the most complete version of Neotoxin which is from early 2004 and it could be the most we'll ever see of Neotoxin as Snowbro seems to have dissapeared
from the face of the earth, there has been no sign of life from him for months sadly.