Not sure if anyone has posted this yet but I just saw 3 VGA (graded games) on the bay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/CASTLEVANIA-II-2-VGA-85-1988-NINTENDO-NE...

Should be interesting to see what graded games bring.

I hope they tank big time!
~~NGD

So the grading craze will begin soon...

He has 5 up now,I wonder how many he sent in to get graded? And judging from his Star Wars action figure auctions,He is a grade whore.

well we'll see. It won't be a craze at all if these don't get the digits.

And there's nothing 90+, that's what brings the big dollars for comics and cards keep in mind is the stuff in the top 10th percentile. It's new and I think they're leading in with their bad foot, we'll see some higher grade stuff later that will get more money. How much more? We'll let the market decide...but two crazy Zelda collectors fighting over a 9.x copy, and who knows.

Jackal doesn't seem to engender that kind of war though. I don't think we'll see big $ from anything but the SMB and CV. As in, more than you can pick these up for on any given week.

The seller seems to have a lot of info on VGA for no real reason unless it's a person with some interest in the company...

I agree with you dangevin about the 90+ grades. Personally, I would only send a game if I'm sure that it'll notch at least 8.5, hoping that it will get 9.0 or better. When several graded games will be available online, the "mint or better" stuff will probably bring astronomic prices compared to everything else.

But for now let's see how the acrylic case will disturb logical sense of some wacky buyers.

Well in my opinion this really has nothing to do with video games or the collecting of them  its all about money plain and simple. Im sure if it does catch on the games will end up in hands of people that have a lot of money and nothing to spend it on. The whole point of gaming is to play the games.    . So im sure if this would ever catch on 95 percent of the graded ones would end up not in true gamers hands but in the hands of people wanting to make a buck. 

Originally posted by: wrldstrman

Well in my opinion this really has nothing to do with video games or the collecting of them its all about money plain and simple. Im sure if it does catch on the games will end up in hands of people that have a lot of money and nothing to spend it on. The whole point of gaming is to play the games. . So im sure if this would ever catch on 95 percent of the graded ones would end up not in true gamers hands but in the hands of people wanting to make a buck.



I agree with you, however when I said that in another thread I got bashed on the fact that its "collecting them" from people who don't play but just collect them. So there are people out there that just collect them. I personally think its dumb to collect video games if your not playing them. I guess I just think collecting to have something you can't or won't use is dumb...

But on topic. I hope these fail to, I might put some bids on them but can I break that thing open? to get to the game? becasue if I won any of those I would just open them. The only pro I can see is being able to say I have a 100 graded Zelda or something. But even then I think "this is dumb". But im not going to get my panties in a bunch because if these do catch on so what im not interested in them, i'll pay no attention to them and then maybe other NES games that are not graded will drop a good amount in price.

Everyone has their own reasons for collecting something, and they're all legitimate, even if arbitrary. Some look to profit, some have a sentimental attachment. That sentiment can manifest itself in the form of a willingness to pay a high price tag. This effect is known as a form of demand.

There is no doubt that people who seek to profit from the sentiment of some collectors will buy low, add value and sell high. This is the very definition of marketing.

It's no different than buying wheat, baking bread and opening a bakery. You could say that a baker is preying on the hunger of his customers, making his goods delicious and filling his shop with the fresh aroma of cookies each morning. You could say he's taking advantage of his customers.

And you'd be right. That's marketing. We accept it everyday.

But when we find that we're the ones being taken advantage of, we start to think - where's the profit being made, and why am I on the butt end of it...or left out of it? Answer is, you don't have to be. You can be ignorant, you can choose not to participate, you can surrender to your sentiment and pay the "retail" price, or you can move a little further up the food chain if you're vigilant, savvy and lucky enough.

Wrld and Skipper choose to stay on the outside, looking in. Many others share their thoughts. In the meantime, people will be getting what they want to collect, middlemen will be adding value and charging them more, and most collectors will keep on collecting what has always made them happy, VGA, AFA, or not.

sorry forgot my point again. I get caught up.

Point is, it's not wrong, or evil. It's just connecting willing customers with what they want. Even if it's created out of nowhere. This is known as invention. And Americans have been inventing things that other Americans want for centuries.

And when they connect customers with what they DON'T want, this is known as an infomercial.

That 90+ grade is gunna be really tough in NES sealed games. You really can't compare them to comics or cards for grading. Those are flat items and when they come straight out the factory most are pretty close to mint. Boxes are tough. You get dents and tears much easier in a boxed item. Now something like boxed 1980's Transformer is a good comparison. Good luck finding 90+ graded transformers compared with 80's comic books 9.0 and better.

I agree but only partially...it's much more common to find factory-sealed crates of NES games than it is transformers. Recently with Kirbys and Camerica stuff, and a few of these sellers with a seemingly endless supply of mint games. Of course, there's always the perils of shipping and reshipping :/

But yes there is a large majority of games that you'd never uncover a case of, simply because retailers would never order six Cliffhangers, or Conans. They'd get two to stock the shelf with, and just reorder from their middleman when the first one sold. Of course, games like that tended never to get touched anyways lol

I'm a bit surprised by the simplicity of the "variant" line...I was expecting it to be used to identify variants, not simply "Black Nintendo Seal" or "White Nintendo Seal"...makes them come across unprofessional IMO, because that is the 1 thing that can be identified by any normal person looking at these games. I especially find it odd why they did that for Super Mario 3, since the White Nintendo Seal really is no variant -- they all have white seals (correct me if I'm wrong). I'd have expected them to list the "Bros." placement variant (assuming that's on the box, too, but IIRC it is).

^ You are correct, but then again, these folks are complete noobs when it comes to NES variants and, furthermore, they're trying to make their variant lingo understandable to the average speculator. Non-NES freaks will understand "white seal," because they can see the white seal on the box; calling it "non-code, hang tab -1 contest" variant or something along those lines is just going to make the average money hungry speculator go "WTF is that????"

 Mr. Dangevin, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul. lmao jk

but seriously im not saying "I hate you if you collect that way" and im not the type to buy stuff at "market value" I also buy and sale, in fact my collection is prolly worth in the $2500-$3500 range when I have paid no joke about 400-500 dollars (with about 300$ of that coming from selling games) but my point is I don't BUY everything just so I can SELL it later. The Bakery is not even a good example of what I was trying to say or a good comparison to the topic. I just don't like that fact that people are buying video games to just make profit in my eyes it ruins the collecting scene to buy something "sit" on it and then sell it later at a higher price with no love for the games in the first place. Do you get what I am saying.

Lets agree to love each other and agree to disagree

Haha Billy Madison

this game grading is not my cup of tea. lol

I discussed this issue with Tom before he finalized these.   The problem is that the way their system works, if you're going to have that line, you have to have something in it, even when there are only white seals.   

With atari/snes/, etc it will just say "game cartridge" (since all the snes is white seal) in that line.    A control or a system would say "game controller" or "game system" or whatever.   

But with nes due to all the seal variants, etc, they wanted to be able to specify the type of seal so that people would understand the date given.   For example, a graded super mario 1 with a white seal will say 1988 or 1989 or whatever.   They do the same thing with toys... if its a later edition it gets a later date where that date can be ascertained.     So the white/black/gold seal thing is to help people understand why some SMB's will say 1985 and others 1989.

I agree; I think 85s will be very strong.   Tom described that as the "case fresh" standard when it comes to toys so I think 85s will be the highest the average person can probably hope to get.    90s and 95s will be pretty darn hard to get I think.   Looking at the graded 85s so far they look like pretty darn nice copies.    I find it hilarious that we are three seconds into grading and people are already looking at the label instead of the game in the case.  

Yes. My point is there's nothing wrong with it. And it's ruining nothing.

If it's your opinion that it ruins the collecting scene, I wonder upon what evidence you base that assumption. If it's an icky feeling you get, that's understandable. I get the same feeling when I walk through a flea market and see people selling Boyd's Bears for more than they cost over brand new at the Hallmark store. But you're using some alarming rhetoric in the expression of your opinion.

I wonder...you just stated that you have a collection worth thousands that you've only paid hundreds for. You're actually proving that there's enough to go around - that the resellers haven't ruined the marketplace because deals still exist. And I'd also argue, the resellers affecting the marketplace by inflating prices on the turnaround have done nothing but help the value of your set. Five years ago, your same collection may have cost you dozens of dollars, and at the time be worth hundreds.

Your reasoning why my baker analogy didn't fit the situation seems to be because the baker does not "sit" on the ingredients before adding value and reselling them. No, I don't get what you're saying. Does a baker love wheat? Should he or she? Where does your requisite love for the passion fit into stamp collecting? Or numismatics? How many people in those hobbies get a boner for the history of it all?

How about your local retail video game store? Are they ruining the hobby?

So when this idea completely collapses, does the seller include a way to get the game safely out of the package without destroying it? Those plastic packs are hell, I don't think I've opened a controller one in recent memory without slicing my hand.

That's a good question actually. Typically with graded stuff they are sealed in a tamperproof way so that you can get the item out easy enough but doing so invalidates the grade. Not sure what that's like here.

I think you're mistaken though. Its caught on in every other hobby, why would this be any differet

numismatics = coin collectors
stamp collectors = philatelists

Had to translate!

So...
Coin Collector is to Numismatics as NES Collector is to ?