Posted
June 29 2011 by Keadin
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There's a lot of really neat people out in the Xbox.ca community, but probably none as tenacious as Syd Bolton, the founder and curator of the Personal Computer Museum. In addition to being a huge technophile, Syd has recently completed a collection of every original Xbox game for his massive archive. With almost 900 titles, it'd take approximately 2.5 years of continuous play to beat them all!
I managed to track down our fanatic collector to talk about some of the most obscure, interesting and important pieces in his set.
How did this whole collection start? What got you interested in trying to find every title?
When it comes to Xbox, I bought my first one pretty early on. It was actually in January 2002 when the system had only been out for a couple of months; this unit is still working today. The first game I played was "Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex". Interestingly enough, I had never played a Crash game. I loved the game and it made me have great feelings toward my Xbox.
My interest in video games and collecting was back on fire after having slowed a bit in the year 2000. I now started collecting for the newer consoles and continued to build my collection over time. Before I knew it, I had amassed thousands of games.
In 2009 I realized that my Xbox collection was getting pretty large and I decided near the end of the year that I was going to start going for a complete. The problem was I wasn't even sure what a complete collection was, so I started working from lists on the internet. However, a majority of the online lists had errors or were missing things. It took a long time to figure out exactly what a complete Xbox collection even looks like.
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What's your favourite Xbox game and why?
Psychonauts is probably my favourite Xbox game; I love platforming / action adventure games. As far as exclusives go, I think Voodoo Vince was very much under-appreciated, as was Dreamfall: The Longest Journey.
How long did it take to complete the collection? What was the hardest game to get?
I started with my first game in 2002 and basically just kept adding titles year after year until completing it in 2011 - so it's been a nine year journey for me. In the retail realm, tracking down Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis was a tough go. I ended up resorting to eBay to get that one.
In your hunt did you ever come across a really obscure title that made you pause for thought?
When I picked up Yourself Fitness I thought, "Wow, this one is going to be hard to find later on." Turns out I was right; it falls between the cracks because it's not really a traditional game and back then most gamers aren't thinking about fitness when they are gaming. It's definitely a hard one to find at retail, although (at the moment) appears fairly easy to find online.
I assume you also collected hardware, got any cool Xbox pieces? Ancient Duke controllers?
I definitely have some Duke controllers. I think the coolest hardware I have is the Steel Batallion controller. I bought it new, so I also have the original box all in good condition. I also have an original Xbox kiosk (the kind they had in stores) so that is rather fun to play on from time to time. I've also taken to collecting the various colours of Xbox and I have the crystal white, translucent green and of course original Xbox. I am still looking for the blue limited edition one.
Do you have any advice for those looking to build their own collections?
My technique for collecting is to conquer and divide. Taking on a huge collection like the original Xbox can be daunting and you can feel discouraged at points so it's better to focus on sub-genres or specific franchises. Work on completing those and reaching your goals along the way. Hitting smaller goals will keep you energized and excited about the overall project as you go.
Something else you might want to do is determine whether you are collecting Platinum Hits or not. Personally, I don't unless it contains something unique or different than the standard release. Keep yourself organized by using tools like my comprehensive checklist (PDF) or some method of knowing what you have and what you need.
Most of all? Have fun along the way. For me, it's all about the hunt of tracking down a title I don't have.