[eshwaaz]

My basement flooded last night, and a box with over 40 Xbox games in it got completely soaked. The DVDs seem okay, but the box art inserts and instruction manuals are trashed. I've always been a very anal-retentive collector of games, so having this happen was pretty crushing.

I'd like to replace as many as possible, but even if I manage to find every game for $10, I'm looking at $400 to essentially replace a bunch of empty boxes and manuals, which amounts to a shameful waste of money. So, my question is this: are there any of you out there that only care about your actual game discs, don't give a damn about the boxes/manuals, and would be willing to sell them to me for cheap? Just so no one thinks I'm just trying to get box art for a bunch of pirated games:








Here's a partial list of the boxes/manuals I'm looking for. Thanks in advance for any help.

Knights of the Old Republic
Fable
Fight Night 2004
Fight Night Round 2
Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
Hitman 2
Hitman: Contracts
Beyond Good and Evil
Dead to Rights
Ghost Recon 2
Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30
Metal Arms
Halo
Halo 2
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Deus Ex: Invisible War
Freedom Fighters
Kill.switch
Everything or Nothing
Splinter Cell
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
The Punisher
Ninja Gaiden
Mech Assault
SSX 3
Call of Duty: Finest Hour
Medal of Honor: Rising Sun
Burnout 3
Crimson Skies
Jade Empire
Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath

[robut]

Gamestops don't usually care if you take manuals from used games, btw. They're gonna stop taking them in a couple weeks though.

[Notorious_Roy]

Wow, that sucks man! I hope you can find some people to help you!

[UFRA]

Awww man! I'm exactly the same way. I love to keep my stuff in perfect condition, so I can see how this would suck.

Good luck, I hope you find something that works out.

[Gomu Gomu]

sucks for you mate :(
This is why we need DD.

[Rez]

awwwww, dude.

damn.

[Cocopjojo]

Gamestops don't usually care if you take manuals from used games, btw. They're gonna stop taking them in a couple weeks though.

Yeah, if they have them, they are usually willing to let you take them. If the folks working there are nice.

[Drkirby]

Yah, your best bet is to raid a gamestop for the manuals, and just print out the inserts.

[Awntawn]

I feel for you. I bought Halo 1 used from Gamestop, there was no manual and the box looks like someone jizzed all over the cover then tried to remove it with steel wool.

[JoeFenix]

My friends house just burned down last Saturday.

His collection was incredible, he had over a 1000 games, alot of it rare ps1 stuff. All gone.

So sad, the guy is the most hardcore gamer I know. All his saves are gone, everything...

[Awntawn]

My friends house just burned down last Saturday. His collection was incredible, he had over a 1000 games, alot of it rare ps1 stuff. All gone. So sad, the guy is the most hardcore gamer I know. All his saves are gone, everything...

His house burned down and he went "NOOOOOO, MY GAME SAVES!"...?

[Struct09]

As a fellow anal retentive collector, I feel for you :( Hopefully you can recover your collection.

[Surfheart]

Wow, that's bad luck. Can't provide anything but my moral support man.

[Shadowlink]

Wow that sucks. I think there is a site where you can print box art covers, but I don't know where you are going to get the manuals.

[tahrikmili]

His house burned down and he went "NOOOOOO, MY GAME SAVES!"...?

My thoughts exactly.

[Caj814]

I remember when my basement got flooded for the first time.I was very lucky that my PS2 stuff (which was still very new) wasn't touched,but my Saturn system and most of my games were ruined =(

[JoeFenix]

His house burned down and he went "NOOOOOO, MY GAME SAVES!"...?

Of course not but this thread is about video games. Why did you even bother posting that?

[Guy Legend]

sucks for you mate :( This is why we need DD.

With DD you wouldn't have nice covers and instruction manuals in the first place.

[marvelharvey]

Use the towel trick.

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

You got Halo 2, Floods to be expected!!!!!!!!!!

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

[Alts]

His house burned down and he went "NOOOOOO, MY GAME SAVES!"...?

My house was burglarized and I lost a ton of games, among other things. Thing is, losing a memory card, especially when you play a lot of RPGs like I do, means you lose a thousand hours of progress. Sure, if you never plan on revisiting the games, not an issue. But I do.

[Hunter D]

You could curse god like dracula did in coppola's version of the movie.

[x3n05]

You don't have contents insurance in the US?

[MvmntInGrn]

Wow. Hope you find replacements.

If that happened to me I would have a panic attack.

[KR3W]

Digital Downloads FTW.

Sorry about your situation, though. goddam.

[Whimsical Phil]

sucks for you mate :( This is why we need DD.

Digital Downloads FTW. Sorry about your situation, though. goddam.

You guys are missing the point of this thread.

Digital downloads have nothing to do with this. Like the OP said, his games are fine. Dry the water off the discs, and they should play perfectly. If he was simply worried about losing the actual games, there would be no problem. Well, except for the extensive water damage that his basement no doubt suffered.

He's one of those people (and yeah, I'm one too) that likes to have a nice collection of physical boxes and manuals to go along with those games. Digital downloads aren't going to replace those.

Anyhoo, eshwaaz, you have my sympathies. I wish you luck in your quest.

Edit: Err, like Guy Legend said.

[ZealousD]

You don't have contents insurance in the US?

Flood insurance is separate from normal homeowner's insurance.

[x3n05]

Flood insurance is separate from normal homeowner's insurance.

Ah, well I do hope you find all the manuals/covers OP, if I can dig anything up for you I will post back.

[Keyser Soze]

You should just sell the discs on their own (on ebay or something similar) and in s a separate auction sell the cases on their own as "spare cases". Then dump the manuals as they are unsalavageable. That should make a bit of cash, and then you can try and buy the ones you really need back.

I personally lost about 30 gaming mags to a similar situation once. I actually tired for about 3 days to dry them out, separate the pages, and save them, but gave up a dumped them :(

[Iced_Eagle]

Ah damn, if I was at home in Wisconsin I could have sent you Halo 1 and Halo 2.

I don't own any of the other games though from what I can tell or I'd help you out. I don't care about boxes/manuals really for older games (but like hell is anyone taking my GoW2 box anytime within the next year!).

No, but seriously I'm sorry, that sucks.

[Augemitbutter]

i remember when my mega drive + CD got struck by a flood, i was very sad. insurance paid everything tho, so it wasnt that bad in the end.

good luck to you.

[Working_Stiff]

You should just sell the discs on their own (on ebay or something similar) and in s a separate auction sell the cases on their own as "spare cases". Then dump the manuals as they are unsalavageable. That should make a bit of cash, and then you can try and buy the ones you really need back. I personally lost about 30 gaming mags to a similar situation once. I actually tired for about 3 days to dry them out, separate the pages, and save them, but gave up a dumped them :(

I think this is the best idea so far (I do not support taking instructions from GS since that means when someone else goes to by that copy of the game, they then don't have the book). What I would do is buy an "edge card", if you don't already have one, wait until GS has one of the buy2, get1 free deals, stock up on all of the games you can get at reasonable prices. You would next compare the discs and boxes (since you could put the new insert in your current boxes if they are in better condition) you currently have to the ones you just bought, keep the one in the best condition, and THEN sell the rest as described above on ebay. If you don't have the cash up front to follow through with this course, you could sell the stuff on ebay first, but the way above gives you the chance to possibly upgrade some of your discs and boxes to better quality copies.

[Draft]

Haha, that sucks man. I can get you at least KOTOR, SC PT, Crimson Skies and maybe the Halos. Some of my boxes have Gamestop used stickers on them though.

You can have them. Just pay shipping.

[Threi]

your furniture is okay right?

[Snaku]

Wow, that's awful. :(

[diss]

that sucks and i totally feel for you

but i say just roll with it. think of it as giving your collection character. when people come over and go why are all your xbox games wrinkled? you can say ahh, twas the great flood of 2009. sit down kiddo and i shall tell you a tale

[Gryphter]

aww dude, sorry to hear about what happened. I'm the same way, I won't buy a game unless it has the case, insert, and manual all in good condition. I've done it before though and it drives me crazy knowing that I have them like that.

There's a guy on ebay who sells just manuals, cases, and inserts. For your whole collection it could get costly, but in case you're interested:

http://stores.ebay.com/video-game-bo...s-instructions

[Mareg]

That really sucks man. Hope you can get back those game at fair prices.

Honestly, thats got to be my second worst nightmare next to losing my baby girl. I honestly don't think I would ever go back to gaming if I was to loose my whole stash of game. I would be mindfucked for the rest of my life probably. Maybe I would keep my sanity and redirect all my gaming to MMO. That would be terrible anyway.

[Mohonky]

Flood insurance is separate from normal homeowner's insurance.

So get flood insurance too?

[Torquill]

So get flood insurance too?

This, mine's dirt cheap and I live in South Louisiana.

[EricDiesel]

At least the games still work. It sucks, but when you get right down to it it makes no difference. For me games are about the experiences, not being able to say "look at all this stuff I have!"

[Ranger X]

His house burned down and he went "NOOOOOO, MY GAME SAVES!"...?

I personally have some bed sheet folded in my shelve somewhere at all times. If ever there's a fire and I can save my games, I drop them on the sheet, bag them and throw this out the window.

Yes I am THAT serious about videogames.

[TheDayday]

Wow dude, that sucks. :( I feel for yah. Before I moved out of my parent's house 3 years ago I had lived in the basement since like 7th grade. Around Junior year high school for some reason the house was just getting old and the basement got flooded. I had a box of Dreamcast controllers and games... that was the first casualty.

It would continue to flood whenever there was snow or rain so it became a very hostile environment for tech in general. The final straw came when my XBox, PS2, GC, and DC started getting mold along with my computer and TV desk. It's one of the main reasons I moved out. That and the rents were just a pain in the ass... and I was getting too old to still be living there and didn't want to be the stereotypical "basement loser nerd."

Worse comes to worse, get the games on eBay and resell the ones with flooded covers/manuals and make mention of your situation. I'm sure you'd probably get more bids because of it too. :p

[eshwaaz]

Sincere thanks to everyone for the sympathy and suggestions – that alone really does help.

You should just sell the discs on their own (on ebay or something similar) and in s a separate auction sell the cases on their own as "spare cases". Then dump the manuals as they are unsalavageable. That should make a bit of cash, and then you can try and buy the ones you really need back.

That hadn’t even occurred to me, and is a great idea. I’ll definitely consider it.

Haha, that sucks man. I can get you at least KOTOR, SC PT, CrimsonSkies and maybe the Halos. Some of my boxes have Gamestop used stickers on them though. You can have them. Just pay shipping.

Wow - many, many thanks, Draft. I’ll PM you when I get home from work tonight and work out the details.

aww dude, sorry to hear about what happened. I'm the same way, I won't buy a game unless it has the case, insert, and manual all in good condition. I've done it before though and it drives me crazy knowing that I have them like that. There's a guy on ebay who sells just manuals, cases, and inserts. For your whole collection it could get costly, but in case you're interested: http://stores.ebay.com/video-game-bo...s-instructions

I was looking for just that kind of resource – thanks much for the link.

And thanks once again to everyone for all of the support in this thread.

[Sword Familiar]

Sprinkle some water on them, get a towel on top and iron them out again. Could work satisfactory with at least some of them. Manuals might be a bitch, though.

[Fularu]

That really sucks man. Hope you can get back those game at fair prices. Honestly, thats got to be my second worst nightmare next to losing my baby girl. I honestly don't think I would ever go back to gaming if I was to loose my whole stash of game. I would be mindfucked for the rest of my life probably. Maybe I would keep my sanity and redirect all my gaming to MMO. That would be terrible anyway.

You don't play your games

[PolyGone]

man, that sucks

on the bright side, I'm guessing your copy of Panzer Dragoon Orta was safe, right?

[PTCoakley]

I've not kept boxes/manuals in years. I've moved to DVD binders simply because of space and convenience. Manuals/boxes just use up a lot of space that could otherwise be used for something more useful, and once you get a high volume of games/movies/music it can be very troublesome to keep things organized and manageable.

Also: sorry about your stuff.

[Gryphter]

I've not kept boxes/manuals in years. I've moved to DVD binders simply because of space and convenience. Manuals/boxes just use up a lot of space that could otherwise be used for something more useful, and once you get a high volume of games/movies/music it can be very troublesome to keep things organized and manageable. Also: sorry about your stuff.

what do you do with your cases and manuals then? throw them out? :O

[comedy bomb]

Maybe you can iron out all of the wrinkles?