I wish I could slab some of your posts, just so it could remain sealed and unread forever.
You can hang out in the opened-games ghetto, passing out your “Slabonomics is a Myth” pamphlet all you want. Just don't be heartbroken when no one signs up for your newsletter.
-Sosage
WTF is a Dim-Mac?!?!?
I don't like this idea. I almost puked when I saw a copy of the first Metal Gear sealed in one of those cases. At least there's still plenty of loose copies...
btw.: www.sealedgameheaven.com have a sealed game grading service too and the biggest sealed collector community !
http://www.sealedgameheaven.com - news about upcoming limited and collectors editions.
http://forum.sealedgameheaven.com - your resource for factory sealed games and informations.
http://www.sealedgameauctions.com - 100% free auction platform for video games!
Yeah, good luck with that.Originally Posted by Pascal
here is why grading games is stupid
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ayphotohosting
you have to keep them in these horrible plastic cases.
I can only see the bad here. Once there is big money to be made on graded sealed games, then people will come up with ways to fool the experts. Once there are known fakes out there that fooled the "experts" then all sealed games, legitimate and otherwise, become suspect and will probably lose value.
I remember 2 incidents in the sports collectable world.
1. One was when a bunch of counterfeit Wayne Gretzky rookie were not detected by the grading company and graded mint and near-mint. I believe that company went out of business, since they had lost all credibility.
2. On a show on ESPN (Between the Lines, IIRC) they had 5 Ted Williams autographed baseballs and they were submitted to one of those "forensic authenticators" They declared all 5 were real, when in fact 4 of the 5 were fake.
So grading is bad because it will cause games to gain and lose value?
I heard grading games also kills puppies.
This is a more post of the year material so far.
I buy games both sealed, complete, and loose on ebay. The problems I have with slabbing games are......
1.How do they verify the contents without breaking the seal? Sure, there is tech available that can read the text/show text as present but what company is going to invest in top of the line airport x-ray machines? What company, a start up no less, is going to invest in a multi-million $$ machine just to verify a game for $25? It's going to take atleast 200,000 or more jobs just to pay the damned machine off, let alone pay anyone their wages.
2.What sellers in their right mind would ever think of selling ANY new game non-slabbed if they thought slabbing it would make them alot more? Saying it's only good for the most expensive of games sounds good but knowing it could increase the value 2-3x over a non graded or in some cases have the posibility of going as high as 5x (if not more), what ebay seller wouldnt?
3.What are buyers to do when they pop the seal and find their $300 copy of super mario brothers 3 is in fact a super mario brothers 1 that includes duck hunt for free? Who's to say the seller didnt get it from someone else? Not as if paypal's going to give a rats ass and offer a refund. Neither will ebay.
The whole thing's a bad idea. I could understand grading games that were CIB and I wouldnt like it in the least even then, but atleast it'd make sense that way. It would let people know that at the very least, an attempt was made to verify that everything was included that was soposed to. The grading of the manual, box, and game was eyed over and examined by someone. I'm certain even then they'd have slip ups as games often times include stuff people either forget were included or thought wasnt worth including. Things like maps, posters, registration cards, and such, who's to say the person grading even knows it's soposed to be there? Sure, it would ruin the hobby for anyone getting in who was in it for love of gaming, but, it would atleast make sense for CIB. Sealed, it's just a way for a small group in collecting to justify not opening their sealed stuff to play and enjoy.
Did you actually read my post? Games will gain in value initially, then once fakes happen and they almost always do, they will lose value because no one will able to trust the graded sealed games anymore.
AFA is not a startup company. Perhaps you should read more about the company behind this.
Because 2 or 3 times a non graded price is still going be less than the $20 or $30 it costs for the slab. Same as with coins.2.What sellers in their right mind would ever think of selling ANY new game non-slabbed if they thought slabbing it would make them alot more? Saying it's only good for the most expensive of games sounds good but knowing it could increase the value 2-3x over a non graded or in some cases have the posibility of going as high as 5x (if not more), what ebay seller wouldnt?
What do buyers do when they crack open the shrinkwrap and find their sealed copy they paid big money for has a SMB/DH in it do now? 3rd party grading gives the buyer a sense of security in buying sealed games, unlike buying sealed games now which offers no security at all. Whether that sense of security is well-founded or not, only time will tell.3.What are buyers to do when they pop the seal and find their $300 copy of super mario brothers 3 is in fact a super mario brothers 1 that includes duck hunt for free? Who's to say the seller didnt get it from someone else? Not as if paypal's going to give a rats ass and offer a refund. Neither will ebay.
they're not graded jewel case stuff for now. Somebody sent in a super mario galaxy so they graded that because it came out like last week, but for the most part they starting slow with cardboard boxed items and will make a call on whether or not to even graded sealed PS games and the like at a later date. They may not know everything at this point but they've done a good amount of homework on the nintendo side anyways.
quote from http://www.gamesniped.com/2008/04/09...ames-hit-ebay/
"I’m waiting for someone who thinks that grading is the worst thing to happen to the hobby to make a statement. Take everything they’ve learned, resell some expensive game and then get it graded. it they can get it passed and prove it was resealed, the whole video game grading industry will lose momentum."
somebody PLEASE do this! game grading is BULLSHIT! the last thing that ANY of US need is for the price of false rares like Radiant Silvergun to go up even higher, just because some ASSHAT decided one copy is better than another!
most people here know that I'm both a gamer and a collector... I own 1000's of games that were all bought brand new, way back when, and all are still in PERFECT condition, including 100's of the rarest of rare releases, according to the DP guide... most people here also know that occaisonally I'll overpay bigtime for a factory sealed copy of a game that I missed way back when, just so I can open it and play it, and add it to my collection... because all my games were bought the same way: factory sealed, then opened and played, but always meticulously cared for to preserve their PRISTINE mint quality...
so I stand both the most to gain and the most to lose over this situation... if I ever decided to sell my collection, I could pay $1000's to have it all graded, and no doubt I'd make a fortune in doing so, even factoring in the expense of having it all graded... but why the fuck should I have to do all of that extra shit, when I already know that every single game in my collection would be graded perfect or very near perfect? just so I could certify that I'm not lying about the condition of it all? any SERIOUS buyer could easily verify that in person, and with a collection as large and pristine and valuable as mine under consideration, one would have to be a VERY serious buyer, willing to come see it for themselves in person, before making me any offers on it... cause I sure as hell wouldn't be accepting any less than what it cost me to obtain it all as payment for it all, and I sure as hell wouldn't be trying to estimate the cost of shipping it all either... a potential buyer of my collection would have make their own arrangements for the transfer of it all, cause I don't care how much they paid me for it all, I couldn't be more bothered than to have to deal with shipping it all to their specified location for them myself... so again, why the fuck would I ever want to burden myself with having it all graded, just so I could sell it all for more money? I'd have to be greedy as all hell to go to all that trouble, just to sell it all... and I'd be far more concerned that any new owner of my collection would keep it all intact and pristine, and only add to it, not take away from it by breaking it all up and selling it all individually... I'd want its new owner to be a fellow gamer and collector like myself, who would fully appreciate all the passion and hard work that I put into collecting it all for them... not to mention all my hard work earning the money to buy it all...
so let's say that I'm just not greedy enough to bother going to all the extra trouble of having it all graded before I sell it all, or maybe I'm just too lazy to do it... then I'd be losing $1000's by selling it all off ungraded, just so some ASSHAT posing very convincingly as a serious gamer and collector like myself can practically steal it all from me, pay the extra $1000's in grading fees that I saved him when I sold it all to him ungraded, get the exact same perfect or very near perfect grades that I would've gotten if I had bothered to have it all graded myself, and sell it all off to some investor for a tremendous profit, even after subtracting grading expenses... yeah, that would be great... NOT!
oh, but I wouldn't have to have it ALL graded, just all the rarities in it... yeah, right... as if anyone would ever be willing to pay top dollar for a large collection of rarities in perfect mint condition, that might include an even larger collection of common titles in unresellable condition... anyone with that much money at stake would never be willing to risk losing everything that they were hoping to make in profits to the expense of dumping a ton of JUNK... but let's say they were willing to risk it... would they ever pay me as much for it all, if only half of it was guaranteed, as they would if it was all guaranteed? of course not... so again I'd be both a winner and a loser...
but the biggest reason why grading games SUCKS, as far as I'm concerned, is because my cost to continue collecting in the manner that I've been doing so for the last two decades would go up exponentially because of it... yeah, it would be very profitable for me, if I ever wanted to sell my collection, but until then, it would be nothing but a very prohibitive extra expense... and we all know that this hobby is already more than expensive enough... yeah, you can still enjoy it for dirt cheap, if you don't mind collecting huge amounts of JUNK, but if you're more into collecting for preservational archiving purposes, it already requires tons of money to do it, and it doesn't need to cost more!
I moved your post to this thread.
THANK YOU... you just saved me the trouble of reposting it here myself... I thought that I was posting it in this tread when I posted it in the other one
But if a reseal is identical to an actual factory seal, no one could tell the difference, so the idea that it condemns everything is moot. If I can create an exact replica of something, everyone would assume it was the real deal, unless I came out and said it wasn't. But then, most people would be more impressed by the skill put in the replica than the fact that it was replicated in the first place. I can see the reseal arguement if its a good reseal that you can tell is fake, but from what I've heard from bronty elsewhere, they are doing a ton of research and asking people who have large sealed collections for help on how to detect a fake, so the risk should be minimal.
With that said, I don't collect sealed or even cib for most systems so I have no real stake in this at this point.
In one sense, I have to agree that this is abjectly silly. I have a few comic books, including a big G.I.Joe collection, but you know what? I bought them to read. I like the story. I keep them in sealed bags so that I can continue to enjoy the stories whenever I want to for years to come - not because I plan on selling them to someone else for a profit (although if I became poor, I suppose I would).
In the same way, I think graded games is silly. I buy games to play them and enjoy them. I generally keep them in a dry, safe place so that I can continue to play them for years to come.
But with sealed games: what do people really care if it's sealed or re-sealed? You weren't going to take it out and play it, anyways, I'm guessing. Is it just the idea that you COULD take it out and open it and play it just as if you'd purchased it fresh from the store in 1986 the compelling idea? Is it the notion that you have something that other people want (or might want)? I'm actually curious as to the psychology behind this; I'm not trying to be belligerent or anything.
With baseball cards, I can see the appeal - the end product is sitting right there and you can enjoy it. But with games? That's like buying an unopened pack of baseball cards and then getting that "graded."
The other difference with games is the fact of emulation. Good emulation makes it possible to "re-print" games as many times as we want. As emulation improves, the quality of those "re-prints" will improve. I would rather take the good money I would shell out for a sealed copy for a game and fund an emulation effort that allows people to enjoy the games rather than just hoard them. All the games from a system, I might add - not just the ones that the people who make / made the hardware deem reprint-worthy.
On the same note, I would rather pay money for that new online Marvel comic book library than I would spend a bajillion dollars on a rare holofoil variant cover or something.
But I do agree with those who said that this was probably inevitable. Some people like this, and the market may (or may not) support it. The best thing you can do is refuse to participate - don't send your games in and don't purchase graded games. If you're feeling really radical, don't purchase from collectors whom you know have done so.
You are startled by a grim snarl. Before you, you see 1 Red dragon. Will your stalwart band choose to (F)ight or (R)un?
I'm a late poster here, I can't see any good in it at all. Those games look terrible slabbed, If I collected them that way, which I don't, I wouldn't slab them, I would display them safely on shelves library style so they would look like a honest collection and not just some high price thing that I can brag about. This won't bother me too much until they start slabbing every loose cart they find, this will make me mad as I collect games to play and and I go for complete collections but I like them more for historical value then having them look nice and useless on a slab. I buy games that are sealed if I need it for my collection but I usually open it to play it, if it's a valuable game that I got for cheap and can sell it for a lot then rebuy it cheaply when it's opened then I do it.
I see this over inflating the game collecting market even more then it already is. Every other collectable has ran its course and are now left with the hardcore and smaller collecting communities for each category. I think that eventually every one of these useless speculators will over inflate the hobby and cause it to implode and kill every last ounce of profit they can make and they deserve every bit of it.
Last edited by vintagegamecrazy; 04-13-2008 at 06:29 PM.
If they made a movie out of your top five worst sins, what would it be rated?
Check out my list of trades on GameTZ Link
Please someone stop this silly joke!
Link:
Huh, wha?VGA was formed due to the large amount of over grading that exists in the video game market. This over grading only brings problems and frustration to its collectors.
Buyers, sellers and collectors of video games have no universal standard by which to judge. They all use their own definitions and standards to grade items. One mint c-10 item is completely different from another. Until now!
$400 for Castlevania II: Simon's Quest? I'm speechless.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
