This may look like a busted up Nintendo Entertainment System, but its seller says it's actually an NES development kit, recovered about 10 years ago from the warehouse of a defunct Las Vegas-area developer. It's up for bid on eBay, currently topping out at $305.

The seller is, evidentely, not a video gamer, saying his experience with games "starts and stops" at the NES. Yet when he was cleaning out the warehouse of Westwood Studios - a games maker evetually bought out by Electronic Arts - something told him to hang onto this. "I knew it was odd, so I asked if I could have it," he writes. "My supervisor said help yourself to anything that's being tossed out."

The unit has been in his garage for the past 10 years, "where I have regarded it as a curiosity but also as a possible piece of video game history."

Currently its bid is $305; the seller says he's set a high reserve, content to let it sit in his garage another 10 years "before I get a good price" if necessary. It evidently isn't operational - "the screen blinks off and on with a white background" when connected. "I have no idea if there is a game on it or not." Still "The bottom portion of the kit works because I was able to run another game cartridge on it." I guess that means the NES itself functions but the SDK motherboard is toast. Sitting exposed in a garage for 10 years may do that.

Loads of pictures available at the link; judge for yourself if it's authentic.

Original Nintendo NES Development Kit - One of a Kind [eBay]