GAMEYE: Made for Gamers, by Gamers

In my last article, I outline the Discogs website, built on user generated data, it allows you to catalog and value your collection of vinyl records, CDs, and Cassettes. This week my focus will be on a similar tool for the video game collector called GAMEYE.

Can you name all the iconic controllers and cartridges in this image?

GAMEYE is an app that is available for both iOS and Android. It boasts 87,252 game titles, 140,000 active users and an average rating of 4.8 stars with 2500 reviews in the App Store. GAMEYE allows you to use your phone to quickly and easily scan your video game cartridges (for the retro titles), barcodes (for the newer consoles), or search to enter the titles manually (everything). Once you enter your collection the app pulls pricing from pricecharting.com to assign a value, a helpful feature if you want to send items to wündervault for storage.

I found the app to be intuitive and refreshing. I took my four video game consoles that are currently hooked up along with the games that I have in physical format to add them all to my collection. In about 10 minutes time, I added all 38 games and 4 systems. So fast, that there was no time to enjoy my coffee, but also, it was still warm.

Pro-tips

Tip #1: After uploading your collection you can create a restore point on your phone or export a spreadsheet.

Tip #2: Game data is pulled from TheGamesDB.net so if you are missing a game you can add it to that database and it will be available instantly in GAMEYE.

"Video game DNA" Which 4 consoles do I have hooked up?

Metascore data to validate your feelings, or remind you of your bad taste.

To learn more about GAMEYE I connected with Harrison on his official GAMEYE discord. Below are some excerpts from our conversation:

Q: What Inspired you to make this app?

A: I started to amass a pretty decent sized collection and was looking for ways to keep track of it. I knew there had to be apps out there with barcode scanners but I also had a pretty sizeable "loose" collection. One day I was redeeming a gift card for xbox 360 and it let me scan the card with the kinect. I figured that meant that real time image recognition had come a long way, so I knew a cart scanner was possible. I began looking to see what was available and I was pretty disappointed. They all cost too much, the methods for getting the games into the apps were agonizingly slow and they didn't track the detail I wanted and didn't have pricing (though they all added that after GAMEYE came out). I began experimenting with cart scanning first and as soon as I got that to work (after about a month's work) I knew I had something going. The rest is history!

Q: Can you tell me more about your own collection? Any particular console or genre that you are focused on?

A: I really focus on the retro stuff. The things I love the most are my OG NES, SNES, Genesis, Game boy, Game Gear and my meager Neo Geo AES/MVS collection. The box art really speaks to me and takes me back to the times when you would browse them at Walmart/KB Toy Stores! I was lucky enough to get a gameboy around launch too. It wasn't even my birthday or anything, my dad was just super into tech and surprised me with it. I carried around the manual for Mario Land for days and I REALLY thought the future can't get much better than this!

Just some of the enemies from Mario Land on Gameboy. Why don't new games have manuals?

Q: Does GAMEYE attend any collecting conventions or game related conventions?

A: Only where we get invited cause we don't really have an operating budget. We most recently showed off the progress of the website at the Pittsburgh Retro Gaming convention. Because they just straight up invited us out there, gave us a free booth etc... It was a lot of fun and I definitely hope we get invited to some more!

Q: Do you hope to monetize the platform at some point or is that not really your goal?

A: While I hope one day it can be a full time job, the goal is never to charge a user for just wanting the things that should come naturally. GAMEYE itself will never cost money, but we are trying to figure out ways that people that want something above and beyond what we offer to be able to "subscribe" to something. But what you get in app now, and many more features we are currently planning will always remain free!

Q: Do you have any thoughts on supporting the next generation of creatives in gaming?

A: A few months ago we added a new landing page that has a scrolling section of curated news/links that is our answer to "ads". We never want to have something like a bottom ad banner that just exploits the user data to sell them lawnmowers or whatever. So in this section we can link to exciting news about the app, events we might be attending, and show off things like an indie developers new game they are working. I've already reached out to several indie developers and let them know when they have something, we can throw up an article to help them get the word out. This is all part of our more community oriented, good willed strategy instead of just being after $$$. We don't track our users at all.

GAMEYE is a quick and easy solution for the tedious process of cataloging, evaluating and valuing your video game collection. It's made for gamers, by gamers and from the looks of it, this wouldn't be my last post about GAMEYE. Harrison excitedly informs me that they big plans for the future of the GAMEYE app.

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At wündervault, we offer premium storage with true replacement cost insurance to our subscribers. GAMEYE is an easy solution to value your collection and provide that information on sign-up for wündervault. Collectible insurance coverage is not the same as the coverage from homeowners or rental insurance. We carry a specialized policy specifically for collectibles so that you can rest assured that your items will retain their condition and value over time. For more information on collector's insurance, check out article The Need-to-Knows on Insurance and Collectibles.

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