new forum for collectors of factory sealed games

[Trumpman]

Where does that tulip bulb analogy come from? I know I've read it in a book somewhere...

It's about the Netherlands in the 1600. It was the first speculative bubble in recorded history. People were paid ridiculous amounts for growing and selling tulips. You can find more info here.

[Bojay1997]

Look there could be millions of copies of one particular game out there. Lets say the original Mario Bros for nes. You can buy a cart for less than a buck on Ebay. This is because most of those people who brought it home from the store ripped the box open and threw it out since they couldn't wait to play the game itself.

Lets face it, no one back then thought to themselves, "Hmm, I think I won't play this game, in fact won't even open it. I'm going to give it to my grandson one day when its worth a lot of money." That's the thing with sealed games. Most are kept sealed by accident. Someone forgot to return it to K-Mart or someone got two copies accidentally for Christmas and one was thrown into the attic. That's why these things are so rare and why they go for so much money, because there are very few left.

Not necessarily true in my experience. While some sealed games were gifts stored away and never used, I think most come from warehouses or retailers which lost track of their inventory and then dumped them on the market years later. I think the best example of this and how quickly you can lose out if you treat this as an investment is Circus Lido on the PC Engine. Collectors were paying literally hundreds (I think the average price was $400-$500 in the mid to late 90s) for this allegedly rare game. In early 2001, a website in Japan started selling a previously undiscovered stash of these and dumped literally hundreds of copies on the market. The price collapsed and I'm sure you can still probably find people who got in at the height and now have a game worth about 10-20% of what they paid. The best way to avoid this is to buy what you like and want and not to try and speculate about what will be valuable and what won't. The fact that very common sealed games seem to sell for a premium today (FF VII, Zelda, black box NES stuff), while much rarer sealed games don't is strong support for the argument that this isn't a good investment in that it doesn't follow the traditional rules of investing and therefore you will get burned.

[Nescollector]

Bojay1997 good point.

(rant here) I have a nice collection of sealed games, in fact I'm very very fortunate to have the games that I have, but like everything in life, people have to come and f it up for everyone. I thought it would be cool to get every game I bought 20 years ago sealed (36 games) well I only need 6 more, but the friggin resellers (people who claim to collect games) are buying the games and trying to gouge, get rich overnight, and it's pissing me right off...lol But I guess the crazy thing is a few people (stupid people, or eccentric people like Michael Jackson are buying some of the games at ridiculous prices. Go buy some friggin stamps or something, go f someone else's hobby. Thank god for sellers like Dov........there are thousands of sealed nes games out there. There have been sealed games on eBay for the last ten years, and there will be for the next ten years, so you're nuts if you pay hundreds of dollars for ONE game....rant over...

[Arasoi]

As a fairly big collector of various things (once Rockman, once Castlevania, now video and arcade games in general) I was always puzzled by the fascination with sealed game collecting.

The prices are generally outrageous, and you are unable to use the item without devaluing it immensely.

I guess if I was going to do it, Id go to a shelving outlet and get an authentic looking store shelf and display them all with mock price tags, and have playable copies separate. For what that would cost it wouldn't be worth it to me though.

To each their own, those sealed games look nice on display either way.

$.02

[tubeway]

check out our newest SGH feature where you can present your video game collections like they deserve it ...

http://collections.sealedgameheaven.com

Whenever I read posts by Pascal about SGH, I imagine this:

A cartoonish kid in his mid teens, with pimples, and his eyes and head rolled back and glazed over with a huge smile and drugged out look while he stutters out his fervent claims about how great sealed games are.

Then after he's done typing, he takes his sealed games off his shelf and cleans each one individually by licking off the dust.

[Cobra Commander]

It's one thing to display some really rare sealed NES game Atari games, but to have a collection of sealed PS2 games? How hard is that to get? It seems a little desperate to me. Are you really proud of having a sealed copy of Dark Cloud?

[Nescollector]

As a fairly big collector of various things (once Rockman, once Castlevania, now video and arcade games in general) I was always puzzled by the fascination with sealed game collecting.

The prices are generally outrageous, and you are unable to use the item without devaluing it immensely.

I guess if I was going to do it, Id go to a shelving outlet and get an authentic looking store shelf and display them all with mock price tags, and have playable copies separate. For what that would cost it wouldn't be worth it to me though.

To each their own, those sealed games look nice on display either way.

$.02

That would be very cool. You really had to start buying the games years ago when you could get some killer deals. You could literally get games new for $10 or $20 bucks.


Cobra Commander.......it's taking on a life of it's own, and not always good. Anything after N64 just doesn't make sense imo.

[Pascal]

It's one thing to display some really rare sealed NES game Atari games, but to have a collection of sealed PS2 games? How hard is that to get? It seems a little desperate to me. Are you really proud of having a sealed copy of Dark Cloud?

yeah you definitely have to collect games when they are cheap ... not when you have to spend $500+ for one game ...

[The 1 2 P]

I have a good amount of factory sealed games in my collection but I never go spending hundreds on them. I either just never got around to opening them(like the majority of my PS1 games) or I got them on the cheap at clearance sales. Theres a few I paid 20-50 for on ebay(16 bit era) but I could always get that back.

Alot of people think the whole point of collecting sealed games is pointless. The way I look at it is that if you have two copies of a game(one sealed and one opened) from this gen or any of the previous six generations, 99% of the time you are going to get a premium for the sealed copy. While it may be only an additional $5 for more common titles, you'd still make more money on the sealed versions. So as long as you are getting the sealed games for a cheap price(clearance sales for example) than you are almost guaranteed to make more money off of it in the future.

[Bojay1997]

It's one thing to display some really rare sealed NES game Atari games, but to have a collection of sealed PS2 games? How hard is that to get? It seems a little desperate to me. Are you really proud of having a sealed copy of Dark Cloud?

Actually, there are lots of PS2 games that can go for years without showing up sealed on Ebay or other sites and which haven't been at retail for the last 5-6 years. It's no different than collecting sealed records or action figures or buying and then sealing up baseball cards or comics and it looks like a lot of people agree because some PS2 games sell at a significant premium over full MSRP on Ebay. Games are a piece of art and having a sealed example makes perfect sense to me. I know it doesn't to everyone, but that's ok since it's my collection.

[Nescollector]

Bojay1997 your right, I thought about my comment about after N64. It's all relative to what system or games capture our hearts, so it does make sense if it's what YOU want to collect.

[TRE]

Whenever I read posts by Pascal about SGH, I imagine this:

A cartoonish kid in his mid teens, with pimples, and his eyes and head rolled back and glazed over with a huge smile and drugged out look while he stutters out his fervent claims about how great sealed games are.

Then after he's done typing, he takes his sealed games off his shelf and cleans each one individually by licking off the dust.

What a low-life fuck you are. Pascal tries to promote his site to other collectors and we have to read these kind of hate posts from pathetic assholes like you? Get a life you FUCK

[Sonicwolf]

What a low-life fuck you are. Pascal tries to promote his site to other collectors and we have to read these kind of hate posts from pathetic assholes like you? Get a life you FUCK

Excuse me...

If you registered and your only intention was to flame away at someone using harsh language then I suggest you leave these forums.

Dont call people low-life fucks. Its not nice. The internet doesnt have to be everyones "shit treatment arena". Give to others what you expect for yourself. Dont join a forum just to spaz out at someone for christ sake.

[TRE]

Excuse me...

If you registered and your only intention was to flame away at someone using harsh language then I suggest you leave these forums.

Dont call people low-life fucks. Its not nice. The internet doesnt have to be everyones "shit treatment arena". Give to others what you expect for yourself. Dont join a forum just to spaz out at someone for christ sake.

Did you not read what I quoted?

[TRE]

I find this place and have to read hate posts like this in the first thread? What a nice welcome..

[Sonicwolf]

That post you quoted was a jab and it did not justify your special intervention which, obviously, was great enough to justify a registration for the sake of freaking right out at someone.

Edit your posts instead of posting over and over.

Also, you are not going to be welcome if thats your first post.

[TRE]

Did you tell your friend this as well? I guess not..
I know Pascal and it is very rude how he talked of him.
Who is he to make post like this? He is NOBODY and should shut the hell up.

[Sonicwolf]

Lets see... This "nobody" has almost 500 posts and has been here for almost 4 years - On the other hand, you, have been registered here for a few hours and all of your posts - all FOUR posts - have been attacking someone. Your first post alone contained the insults "Pathetic Fuck, low-life fuck, fuck and asshole" I dont think you have the right to attack somebody who has been here a hell of a lot longer than you have (And also didnt join a forum just to throw insults at someone)... You also dont have to bring out the harsh language right now. There is no question of who should be quieting themselves...


If this person is such a nobody then why dont you drop it and vacate the forum?

[TRE]

All 4 posts attack somebody? Learn how to count first.
What gives him the right to attack Pascal? NOTHING

[Sonicwolf]

What gives you the right to come here, register and attack tubeway? Nothing. All four of your posts were condescending...

Now I ask you nicely. Please... PLEASE... Leave tubeway alone and get on with things. If you joined here for other reasons then pursue them... If not... Sign out and dont come back.