Sealed games and game stores!

[mnbren05]

Just venting here about some of the bone heads that I've encountered at game stores. Went in to Game Crazy last week and noticed they had some sales going on. (Mostly old NES/SEGA stuff) but behold they had all PSX titles at 5-$7. I'm thinking pretty decent considering the stock they usually get. Well I'm looking through the games and I find a copy of FF7 first release. I immediately snatched this up and took it to the counter with a few other titles. Before check out though I opened it up and noticed a disc was missing. I asked the clerk if I could have another copy or get this one reduced and he said, "No it should be here. Heck that disc should have been in there. It was sealed last week." I looked at him like a cow looks at an oncoming train. I asked him to please tell me more and he says its, "Company policy to open all games they get on used/reduced price stock that are not priority one" (i.e. 360,ps3, wii right now).

It saddens me to think I could have had a complete sealed copy of FF7! I've had problems with this before. Last year they received 3 copies of Conker's Bad Fur Day one of them was CIB. Needless to say they threw away the pesky paper box and the instructions. (Clearly to enhance the value) I know it may be policy, but I've begged the employees to give me a call if they should get in anymore sealed/CIB stuff.

[otaku]

wow, just wow.

[zektor]

You know, it's places like this (Funcoland..etc) that you can place blame for a good percentage of the freakin' loose no box/no manual game carts out there. Thank them the next time you talk to them for pushing vintage gaming extinction right along....

[Blitzwing256]

The average buyer just wants the meat, you iknow the game, boxes and manuals are completely useless to someone who just wants to play super mario bros for 20 minutes before they go back to madden 0X.

from a store point of view all the boxes and crap take up way too much space for that one collector (out of a potential 100 customers) who would desire it with the box and other useless trinkets.

[mnbren05]

Well I happened to talk with one "genius" that owns a local video game/paintball/i'll pay for cds/dvd store. He has every system you can imagine, but just jerks you around with his prices. All Sega CD/Saturn games are atleast $10 most are $15-$30. NES games are $5-$20, Genesis $5-$15, Atari (he claims their is no difference in 2600, 5200, or 7800) all around $3, PSX $5 and up all for just common s**t. He also practices the box/plastic removal of certain games. He claims that it drives up the collection prices. A.K.A. he sells privately on ebay and will purposely open/seperate games to help drive up the prices later. He opened 10 Legend of Zelda ALTTP and parted them out. He says his price has doubled on the two sealed ones he kept after he parted so many out. (Like he does with many rares).

It's just mind boggling to think how much lower the prices would actually be without these people like this. It's times like these that I just get sick of collecting and having to watch people ruin something I like to do just to turn a buck.

[walrusmonger]

boo hoo, you weren't able to get a steal because some stupid employee followed policy instead of buying the sealed game themself. if you want to get steals, you should have gotten a job at gamecrazy or eb/gamestop a few years back when they took in all the older stuff. you could have had your pickings of whatever came in. now there's mostly crap that comes in since eb/gamestop don't take classic stuff, and gamecrazy stopped unless it's something worth $$$.

[Blitzwing256]

The best answer is to not shop there anymore, theres always going to be misb copies of stuff available elsewhere if thats your thing. and I've always said the hunt is half the fun anyways :-)

[mnbren05]

boo hoo, you weren't able to get a steal because some stupid employee followed policy instead of buying the sealed game themself. if you want to get steals, you should have gotten a job at gamecrazy or eb/gamestop a few years back when they took in all the older stuff. you could have had your pickings of whatever came in. now there's mostly crap that comes in since eb/gamestop don't take classic stuff, and gamecrazy stopped unless it's something worth $$$.

If you paid attention I was not whining because I missed out on a deal at some game store; however, I'm flustered over the fact that these stores are indirectly/directly inflating the prices of classic games through their "policies". (And I am employed by the parent company of Game Crazy thank you, and I was not old enough to work for them a few years back.) I also know that the clerks do not take the games apart themselves. The store director is directly responsible for dismantling cataloging the games as they come in and no other employee has access to them. Game Crazy also will still take classic games unlike EB/GameStop, but they will offer you next to nothing for them.

[walrusmonger]

chances of him finding a sealed ff7 original release in the wild are very slim to none, especially when finding a copy of ff7 in the wild is pretty damn hard in the first place.

and you're right, the hunt is the fun- it's a hell of a lot more fun searching for the gold than just plunking down cash on ebay. of course you need to devote time to this, and probably wont have time to play the games you find, unless you work at home or are disabled.

[walrusmonger]

mnbren05- i worked for hollywood video for a year before switching over to gamecrazy for 4 more years of work, so i know a hell of a lot more about the crappy company than you would even want to know. that is, unless you work for movie gallery, then the policy might be different, but i do know that any employee can gut whatever comes in. any shift leader can do the delivery, and when i got the delivery i would snatch anything worth buying up (if the other employee vultures weren't there).

your best bet is to switch over to gamecrazy.

and you were complaining, "It saddens me to think I could have had a complete sealed copy of FF7! I've had problems with this before. Last year they received 3 copies of Conker's Bad Fur Day one of them was CIB. Needless to say they threw away the pesky paper box and the instructions. (Clearly to enhance the value) I know it may be policy, but I've begged the employees to give me a call if they should get in anymore sealed/CIB stuff."

if you want steals, since you live in an area with unknowledgeable staff, switch over asap- you'll make a a killing on ebay if you can buy up the right stuff.

and they're not inflating the value of stuff, people willing to pay tons of money for old games that had millions of copies printed are the reason why prices are going up on classic stuff. gamecrazy just needs more room. and at gamecrazy, when they give .01 for stuff, that means they don't want it. values either get turned to .00 or .01. again, the store may be different, but i doubt it can be much different.

[neogamer]

You know, it's places like this (Funcoland..etc) that you can place blame for a good percentage of the freakin' loose no box/no manual game carts out there. Thank them the next time you talk to them for pushing vintage gaming extinction right along....

You said it best...

companies care about two things:

maximizing profits and reducing space.

boxes and the like take up too much space.

Not to mention the fact that Game Crazy is trying to get rid of all their "classic plastic" inventory at 2 for $5.00!

They don't care about the individual gamer I am sorry to say! I used to spend about $1,000 a month in their stores and I have defended the company numerous times, but I also cut my spending drastically at their stores. It is a sad situation.

[Family Computer]

I think this is good because as a collector you want as few boxed/complete copies available. If they were trash compacting actual discs and cartridges then it would be a problem, but this can only help a guy who takes care of his complete games.

[neogamer]

I think this is good because as a collector you want as few boxed/complete copies available. If they were trash compacting actual discs and boxes then it would be a problem, but this can only help a guy who takes care of his complete games.

You take an interesting view on ths situation. I don't know whether I agree or not, but it is interesting....

I have a friend who literally buys PS1 games at flea markets (for only about $1-$3 each) and throws all the inserts away, keeping only the manual and the actual game disc.

As a collector, I think he is nuts and have told him several times that he is "killing" the value of his collection!

To each their own I guess!

[Family Computer]

well, it sucks for games that are rare to begin with kind of, because if you don't own one it is going to be super expensive later

If stuff like this doesn't happen though, games of the current generation will not easily reach the value of some older games. Remember that most people didn't even think to save the box of NES or SNES games.

It is kind of like sports cards, the old ones are often worth a ton because no one kept them in good condition. Now, people open the pack and transfer their mint card to a 2 inch thick hard plastic container with professional PSA grading.

[Moo Cow]

I think this is good because as a collector you want as few boxed/complete copies available. If they were trash compacting actual discs and cartridges then it would be a problem, but this can only help a guy who takes care of his complete games.

Ummm....No. I want as much as possible. That makes them more affordable. I don't care how valuable it is. In fact, the less valuable it is, the better chance I'm going to be able to get it. I'm all for cheap games.

[Family Computer]

Well if you want cheap then buy a loose or non mint copy...that's my point

if you arent collecting then you dont need mint complete

if you are then what's the point of collecting something that every has?

[neogamer]

Well if you want cheap then buy a loose or non mint copy...that's my point

if you arent collecting then you dont need mint complete

if you are then what's the point of collecting something that every has?

I think this has become more of discussion between collectors and non-collectors.

I, as a collector, want my collection to grow in value. If I just want games to play, I could care less about condition.

Just remember one thing, in any collectible(s) field, condition is linked to value.

It is interesting that someone brought up baseball cards, as baseball cards made today are mass-produced and will never be worth anything. There is an excellent point on this in the current issue of SMART MONEY magazine! Read the article and you'll see what I mean. (Unfortunately, I just tossed the issue).

At least with video games, some still have low print runs, even games made today.

[smokehouse]

Aaaarg…that damn policy makes me mad as hell! They even open new titles and put their stickers on the packaging. What really pisses me off is their used games come out looking like this:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/smokehouse/Video%20gaming/Midway.jpg

Try to remove the stickers and you’ll just leave yourself with a mess. Basically, I’m just going to have to find a crap GC title and do a case swap…


Listen to this though…now it gets worse.

I was looking for a copy of Resident Evil 4 on the GC so I went to a few local game stores. I went to one and the manager said he didn’t have on but would be happy to call other stores. I said I was hoping they would have a new old stock copy and he informed me that any clearance games get opened up and placed on the clearance rack with the used titles….

WTF?!?!?

Why in the hell would you open up new titles?

Anyway, while he called some other stores I noticed a guy behind the counter taking the paper inserts out of the boxes and putting the damn stickers right on the artwork. I made mention of this to the manager and he said it is now company policy to do so. So, now they do not put the stickers on the case…they actually ruin the cover insert permanently.

So I asked him: “Let me get this straight…IF a local Game Stop has a copy of RE4, it will be opened and have stickers actually on the paper insert?”.

“Yup.”

I told him thanks but no thanks and left. This policy coupled with the high amounts of games traded in will ruin the resale of these items in the future…what a crock of shit.

[zektor]

Taking out the insert and applying stickers directly to it?

It sounds to me like they are TRYING to ruin the value of the games. Or maybe, trying to permanently place their name on as many games as possible. It'll be a sad state of affairs if a future collector has to try to find a "non-EB-stickerized" copy of a game. It is this and many other cheezeball factors that keep me away from establishments like this.

[smokehouse]

Taking out the insert and applying stickers directly to it?

It sounds to me like they are TRYING to ruin the value of the games. Or maybe, trying to permanently place their name on as many games as possible. It'll be a sad state of affairs if a future collector has to try to find a "non-EB-stickerized" copy of a game. It is this and many other cheezeball factors that keep me away from establishments like this.

It’s this reason why I probably won’t be going back…unless I can get a NEW, SEALED game form them.

Like stated above, putting stickers on the game case is a pain to fix but it is doable through the purchase of crap games and doing a case swap.

Putting stickers on the actual paper cover is another…there is no fixing this and the game is permanently scarred and worth a fraction of what it might have been over time. This is my main gripe.

[PentiumMMX]

Taking out the insert and applying stickers directly to it?

It sounds to me like they are TRYING to ruin the value of the games. Or maybe, trying to permanently place their name on as many games as possible. It'll be a sad state of affairs if a future collector has to try to find a "non-EB-stickerized" copy of a game. It is this and many other cheezeball factors that keep me away from establishments like this.

Ok...Putting the sticker directly on the artwork is way too damn far. Good thing my games are obtained elsewhere...(My collection will be worth 2k monies for not having the EB sticker!)

[neogamer]

This is why I never shop at Game Stop or EB Games and I only buy NEW FACTORY SEALED games.

I'm telling you, in the future, the value of my collection will thank me!

[Moo Cow]

Well if you want cheap then buy a loose or non mint copy...that's my point

if you arent collecting then you dont need mint complete

if you are then what's the point of collecting something that every has?

The thing is, is that I only get things complete and in good condition. Collecting something everyone has? I don't care, I'm merely trying to collect good games, complete, in good condition. I play a lot of the games I get. I haven't gotten around to all of them, but who cares? I think lowered prices are great. I don't care if things go down in value, since I buy thinks as cheap as they get anyways.

[zektor]

Well, for new games (that is, games of today), I purchase new, sealed at places like TRU, Target, Walmart and so on.

As for generations past games, I purchase from private collectors that (for the most part) purchased these games new themselves back in the day. I always completely avoid online game shops on ebay. You are almost guaranteed a craptastic previous rental/stickered up game when purchasing from those guys.

[joshnickerson]

I looked at him like a cow looks at an oncoming train.

+100 Geek Points for the Weird Al reference.

And I have noticed the disturbing trend with Gamestop slapping the price tags directly onto the insert. I have found however, that if you find a title that had just recently come in, the sticker comes off easily enough.

Still stupid though. The next step most likely is doing away with the manual and insert altogether and using those damn "generic" inserts with horrible, shitty artwork and the game title scrawled across it in sharpie.

[mnbren05]

Anyway, while he called some other stores I noticed a guy behind the counter taking the paper inserts out of the boxes and putting the damn stickers right on the artwork. I made mention of this to the manager and he said it is now company policy to do so. So, now they do not put the stickers on the case…they actually ruin the cover insert permanently.



That is messed up. I have never experienced the label directly on the insert. (Just all over the plastic cover resulting in the sticky residue all over) I hate the fact that they do this because they are ruining the artwork which is important to many people. (Although I'm sure a multitude of people don't give a rat ass because they are mindless consumer sheep) I've heard from people at Funco that they started doing this because, "Kids come in and switch the stickers to get a better price." While this may seem plausible I say that its unlikely. Who can remove their pain in the ass stickers while in the store to get a better price. First the stickers leave the residue and rip easily and secondly the stickers still should read out what title is scanned.


+100 Geek Points for the Weird Al reference.

lol I wondered if anyone would notice that

[kaedesdisciple]

I was gonna say, thank the cheap bastards that would come in and switch the inserts in order to get the game $5 cheaper. Why wouldn't they just keep an extra price sticker on the cheap, dirty sleeve they keep the actual game in behind the counter? Oh that's right, it would require a rational thought. I am so reminded of NGF with their whole sticker policy at the moment.

This is why I try to keep my used purchases outside of that hole. I may find the game a buck or two cheaper than the bay, but I have to spend an hour cleaning/repairing the box and disc.

[Blitzwing256]

its simple, they just buy a shit game, and take the tag off outside the store, come back later or to a differnt store and stick it on when the counter jokey is flirting with the fat chick at the counter.

[Family Computer]

That is messed up. I have never experienced the label directly on the insert. (Just all over the plastic cover resulting in the sticky residue all over) I hate the fact that they do this because they are ruining the artwork which is important to many people. (Although I'm sure a multitude of people don't give a rat ass because they are mindless consumer sheep)

Come on now. No offense but how is a kid or any other person who buys a game just to play and not for the packaging a "mindless consumer sheep". Not only is that a left wing cliché but pretty inaccurate. I would go as far as saying someone that obsesses over the condition of video game packaging is far more of a mindless consumer.

I am one of those "mindless consumers", but I just don't think your point was either truthful or fair. Collector's are some of the biggest die hard materialistic people around.

[smokehouse]

Come on now. No offense but how is a kid or any other person who buys a game just to play and not for the packaging a "mindless consumer sheep". Not only is that a left wing cliché but pretty inaccurate. I would go as far as saying someone that obsesses over the condition of video game packaging is far more of a mindless consumer.

I am one of those "mindless consumers", but I just don't think your point was either truthful or fair. Collector's are some of the biggest die hard materialistic people around.

You’re right, it has little to do with intelligence. What it does involve though is the fact that they are ruining games for no reason. A place like Gamestop used to be a good outlet for getting an occasional used game, all I had to do is get a new case…now, they’re actually ruining the game. I will never buy one with stickers on the artwork.

I’ve had this problem with pawnshops in the past…they put their damn stickers on the game art (some can be removed, others can’t).

It’s really frustrating.






As for a collector being materialistic, I just want something I buy to be in good shape. If I buy a TV, I don’t want it beat to hell, if I buy a used car, I don’t want it dented and scratched up…games are no different. Destroyed case/insert = me passing up.

[mnbren05]

Come on now. No offense but how is a kid or any other person who buys a game just to play and not for the packaging a "mindless consumer sheep". Not only is that a left wing cliché but pretty inaccurate. I would go as far as saying someone that obsesses over the condition of video game packaging is far more of a mindless consumer.

I am one of those "mindless consumers", but I just don't think your point was either truthful or fair. Collector's are some of the biggest die hard materialistic people around.

I would doubt to say that mindless consumer sheep is an inaccurate statement. Any person that buys a game without thought to condition could be considered one. Now classifying someone that does obsess over the condition as M.C.S. is quite inaccurate by definition. They do in fact care about the condition and have a set or preferences. I've never addressed the intelligence of what the consumer does I just addressed the fact that many people do not care as to what a game store chain does to their video games.


A place like Gamestop used to be a good outlet for getting an occasional used game, all I had to do is get a new case…now, they’re actually ruining the game. I will never buy one with stickers on the artwork.

I’ve had this problem with pawnshops in the past…they put their damn stickers on the game art (some can be removed, others can’t).

It’s really frustrating.

As for a collector being materialistic, I just want something I buy to be in good shape. If I buy a TV, I don’t want it beat to hell, if I buy a used car, I don’t want it dented and scratched up…games are no different. Destroyed case/insert = me passing up.

Agreed. The GameStop actually used to feel worthwhile when you went in and bought stuff. I noticed a decline in quality product as well. Is it just me or does every disc have a number or scratches and very rarely has a manual. The only GameStop I still go into is at least nice enough to hold all manuals behind the counter and asks you if you would like one when you check out. I wish more were that customer service oriented.

[neogamer]

That is messed up. I have never experienced the label directly on the insert. (Just all over the plastic cover resulting in the sticky residue all over) I hate the fact that they do this because they are ruining the artwork which is important to many people. (Although I'm sure a multitude of people don't give a rat ass because they are mindless consumer sheep) I've heard from people at Funco that they started doing this because, "Kids come in and switch the stickers to get a better price." While this may seem plausible I say that its unlikely. Who can remove their pain in the ass stickers while in the store to get a better price. First the stickers leave the residue and rip easily and secondly the stickers still should read out what title is scanned.



lol I wondered if anyone would notice that

If they are in fact putting the price sticker on the insert, I cannot figure out the BUSINESS resoning behind it, let alone any other reason to do it.

I will have to see this first hand and try to understand why on earth they would "ruin" the game they are trying to sell.

I remember when EB Games (electronics Boutique back then) first started to sell "preowned" games. they had the employees cross out the UPC code with a black magic marker on the insert of any game or box. This was done so you could not return a used game and say you bought it as new. They also wrote a big "P" (or at least were supposed to) on the cartridge or game you were buying.

This is interesting though...