Longterm Effects of Shrinkwrap on Games

[tubeway]

So, what effect will shrinkwrap have on games over the long run? I've seen plenty of old plastic products, such as "soft" comic book sleeves, plasticware and so forth get sort of yellowed over time as the oil in it breaks down.

Has anyone noticed anything similar happening with video game shrinkwrap? Predictions on when it might start occurring?

Just wanted to give the sealedgameheaven people something to worry about.

"NO! SHRINKWRAP WILL NEVER GO BAD! ALSO ROCK AND ROLL WILL NEVER DIE!"

[jcalder8]

I had a 2600 game that was sealed, I never noticed anything. I'm not a collector of sealed games though so hopefully someone with more knowledge than I will chime in.

[gokugohandave]

The amount of sun, water, heat, etc will also break them down faster, unless its uv filter plastic.

[TheRedEye]

I had a few sealed 2600 games that were getting crushed by their own shrinkwrap tightening up, I don't know if it was just the specific type of wrap or what.

[Bojay1997]

I have some sealed records from the mid-1960s and some sealed 8-tracks from the early to mid-70s and although the wrap gets softer and weaker over time, I have not seen further shrinkage or yellowing like I have seen with other plastic products like comic book bags or something like that. I believe if you keep shrinked items in a cool, dark, dry environment, they should be ok, at least for several decades. The biggest potential risk is that the acids in the wrap will start to degrade the boxes just like acidic plastic sleeves can do to comics.

[gokugohandave]

Thats becuase stuff was never meant to be kept sealed, and while sealed shit is cool, id prefer having unsealed. Though my jimmy conners tennis for nes and the other bits i have will stay sealed.

[GameBoyGeek]

I have a spot the 7 up game factory sealed for the game boy that set in the stores in my nearest walmart from the time it was released until 2003. I honestly don't think they ever sold a copy until the store closed and they lowered the price to 5.00 a pop. Anyway no the plastic on it is good and I haven't seen any kind of extra weathering on it myself.

[Flippy8490]

It really has to do with exposure to elements such as UV rays (like a previous poster said). That, paired with the chemicals in the plastic can react to wreak havok such as yellowing, shrink, etc.

[ryborg]

I had some old PC games whose original shrinkwrap started to yellow and wrinkle enough to where it was noticeable. However, the quality of the plastic was rubbish compared to the nice stuff we have today. Anything remotely modern (as in, NES and onward) should be fine for many years to come (unless you leave your games out in the sun or something absurd like that).

[darkslime]

The fact of shrink wrap being damaged is very worrying of my extensive sealed game collection. That's why get them sent to me in a temperature controlled truck straight from the factory, and keep them in mom's wine cooler in VGA graded plastic containers. I buy one copy of the game to play also which I carefully open, read the manual with tweezers until it gets completed, bagged, boarded, and alphabetized on my shelf.

[The 1 2 P]

The fact of shrink wrap being damaged is very worrying of my extensive sealed game collection. That's why get them sent to me in a temperature controlled truck straight from the factory, and keep them in mom's wine cooler in VGA graded plastic containers. I buy one copy of the game to play also which I carefully open, read the manual with tweezers until it gets completed, bagged, boarded, and alphabetized on my shelf.

I LOL at that.

[ryborg]

I buy one copy of the game to play also which I carefully open, read the manual with tweezers until it gets completed, bagged, boarded, and alphabetized on my shelf.

alphabetized? such a newb move. everyone knows serious collectors organize their games in order of release date. also you buy one to play and one to keep sealed forever

[GarrettCRW]

What's the official opinion of VAG?

[darkslime]

alphabetized? such a newb move. everyone knows serious collectors organize their games in order of release date. also you buy one to play and one to keep sealed foreverIf you would have read carefully you would know that I keep one SEALED copy in mom's temperature cooled wine cooler. I don't organize by release date because you would have to stand up longer than my 600 pound girth can handle to do that. Maybe one day if I find a woman they can organize it by release date for me, onaholes just can't do that.

[tubeway]

The fact of shrink wrap being damaged is very worrying of my extensive sealed game collection. That's why get them sent to me in a temperature controlled truck straight from the factory, and keep them in mom's wine cooler in VGA graded plastic containers. I buy one copy of the game to play also which I carefully open, read the manual with tweezers until it gets completed, bagged, boarded, and alphabetized on my shelf.

LOL. Post of the week.

[stargate]

I don't think that sealing anything in a completely air tight wrap/package is a great idea. I mean, I would be worried what would happen when you finally decide to unwrap it. Would the introduction of air after a long period of something being air tight be bad? I am not sure, but I think so.

[darkslime]

What would Pascal do if the major game companies decided that it was a waste of money to seal games and started selling them unsealed?