Official SEGA hardware prototype. Only two in existance. Should cost a bit more than a regular Saturn + modem.
To be honest I'm betting it'll go for $15-18,000. If the lid was working I'd bet it'd easily hit $20,000. Of course though when I say those prices I might be kind of low balling it. It's a sellers market now and people are paying more for things than normal so it could potentially be double what I said. I expected the complete copy of Air Raid that showed up to only hit $20k and it ended up selling for $33k so it's hard to say. Just depends how deep the pockets are for people right now.
The lid is likely some little missing or broken piece of plastic that can be easily substituted, maybe even from a production unit. Giving that 5000$ value is inane.
Maybe if there was something in there that is different or new... Looks like a normal Saturn to me. Even if there is only 2, it seems like a lot of money to waste just to say "Look I have this thing no-one else has!"
That's just how these things go. People who have sufficient money and appreciation of the product in question (not, I hope, a desire to sell it for even more) often pay large sums of money for prototypes. You can argue with the validity of the underlying concept, but you can't complain about this specific instance because it's pretty representative of how people react to prototypes, regardless of how different they are in functionality or not. In that sense, such complaints are pretty pointless in a setting like this. Heck, I can be quite a magpie myself, so in a mythical universe where I actually had such an extensive disposable income, I couldn't rule out buying something like this... for something that was a significant hobby of mine at any time, which admittedly the Saturn isn't at the moment. Having said that, personally, I'd prefer to reserve the large sums of money for things with significantly unique properties, like, I dunno, a Yamaha DX1 or something. :v: If I have any point, I think it's that the purchase of such a prototype can't be viewed in the normal terms of functionality-per-pound, or anything else except the ability to have it for your own satisfaction, whatever warm-and-fuzzy feeling it provides, and possibly examining any differences present (however small). But again, that's just how this works. [shrug] A significant number of people think it's a worthwhile pursuit and have the money to indulge in it.
from a serious financial perspective: Historically low interest rates and high inflation means savings accounts will be decimated if you're not careful - a Sega Pluto is unlikely to deteriorate in value, so investing in one could be classed it as a smart financial move One caveat to the plan right now is that it's not on eBay, so isn't getting the attention it might usually receive. I'd almost certainly expect this to be re-auctioned on that basis alone.
Betas mostly have differences and interesting game changes, things we can learn and experience about game development... There has been nothing shown to say there is anything different here but a US Saturn. But people can pay what they like for this, I guess.
But it's different in that it has a built in modem, so that's the draw. The fact it's a prototype and only one of two ever made makes this not just rare- it makes this a twice in a lifetime opportunity. It's a product which has a shrouded history and has been in the hands of SEGA reps directly. It's worth a lot of money for the historical value because of the minor changes it has. The amount of changes is irrelevant, it's what the machine itself stands for that's important. Also, I can't view the images for some reason- does it really say PLUTO 1 on the back? That'll indicate what model number it is.
I believe it doesn't say anything. The only source we have for there only being two Pluto consoles was from the guy who has number 2. (EDIT: Which is numbered as PLUTO #2)
Someone said he may have set the reserve to an absurd amount and is contacting the winner privately to negotiate an exchange of payment without giving any of the money to pay for ebays usual fees. If so, that's pretty damn smart.
$15k for a Saturn with a shit modem. One with a broken disk lid at that. Not that I don't understand it. Just putting this into perspective.
http://segabits.com/blog/2013/05/11/sega-pluto-auction-ends-at-15500-still-not-enough/ The saga continues! The highest bidder backed out, and now he's going down the line to whoever will purchase it.
At this point he'd end up at half the maximum bidders price if you count in ebay and paypal fees. Only 2 of them exist in the world and it may be more than just an inbuilt modem - it's way too big for it to have just a single modem expansion.
Spoiler http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DqiYkQWOI0 To spell it out, I get that it's valuable from a collector's standpoint of being an ultra rare prototype with only two known in existance and even more valuable from a researcher's standpoint of there being a potential for some sort of hardware or firmware upgrade underneath it's exterior. In that sense it's like a mystery box. There may not even be anything noteworthy on the inside. For all we know this really is just a broken Saturn case mod with an ancient modem hardwired into it. If that is the case, it's kinda funny that it is going for so much. Of course, we won't know unless we get to crack er open and see what makes er tick.
