Should you open a valuable sealed game?

[an-cat-max]

i sort of agree with the "buy a powerpak and keep games nice and in good condition"

i suppose if i ever got a boxed and sealed game i'd keep it like that. i wouldn't buy a sealed game just to rip it apart, that seems kind of sad!

[nintendodork]

I agree with ACM.  Spending much more money on a game just to rip off the seal yourself is stupid and a complete waste of money.  If you have intentions of opening and playing the game, but still want the box, just find a good condition CIB copy.

[tankexmortis]

HEY GUYS LOOK WHAT I MADE:

http://www.youtube.com/v/7zdjcbLNTP

(I cannot figure out how to embed this thing, sorry)

[ericj]

The video link you posted doesn't work.

[nintendodork]

and you can't embed videos on FW.

[tankexmortis]

The video link you posted doesn't work.

Yeah, because I'm an idiot (as you will see as soon as you watch the video). Here's the correct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zdjcbLNTPI

[ericj]

How will we ever respect ourselves in the morning?! 

[an-cat-max]

that disk kun sticker is BAD ASS!

[Marlon]

If it a rare famicom game like Gold Punch out no to others like metal gear yes

[Nightstar699]

IIRC Famicom games were never sealed.

[Marlon]

Ok then never mind only FDS games

[senseiman]

I'm late to reply, but I agree with Mobius.

In the late 80s/early 90s I used to collect baseball cards and people were having this exact same debate.  Manufacturers released sets of cards sealed in plastic and loads of people went out and bought them specifically intending to never open them.  So they just sat on people's shelves and nobody ever looked at the cards or anything.  Probably people are still doing this.

I would never spend extra money on something just because it is still wrapped in plastic (mind you I only collect Famicom games so it isn't an issue for me anyway).  I mean, what is the point?

It also reminds me of this funny line from "Iron Man" where Robert Downey Jr. is talking to Gwyneth Paltrow about buying a Jackson Pollock painting for this huge amount of money.  In the course of the conversation it is revealed that he doesn't actually know anything about art, but nonetheless he ends the conversation by saying:

"I need it.  Buy it.  Store it."

He doesn't even want to see it, just to have it.  Its kind of like a vanity project for him or something.  I think its pretty much the same thing driving up the prices of all these collectible sealed games that nobody will ever play or have any use for but which people just MUST have! 

[jackhandy566]

yeah cart based japanese games dont hav a plastic seal. u just gotta trust the seller. and even when they prove on ebay that it's brand new. they will open it to show u everything it 10/ 10 condition.

[X]

well... if i'm crazy about to play that game well then sorry.. i'll open it up 

[Epic_Lotus]

Hope this isn't too much of a thread bump, but wanted to throw in my own two cents, as I've collected both CIB games and sealed games (and I've had a couple 3-4 figure sealed games at one point or another).  Sealed games, at least for me and the few other fairly hardcore sealed guys I've talked to, have a certain appeal to them.  They are truly a "collectible", by which I mean they are bought solely just to have and look at; they serve no useful function.  The same thing goes for many hobbies - graded comics aren't meant to be read, coins aren't meant to be spent, stamps aren't meant to be mailed.  In video games, the only way you really get this "true" collectibility is through sealed games. 

Which is why I quit collecting sealed games.  I got into this hobby for the love of the games.  As I drifted further down the sealed rabbit-hole, I realized that my sealed games were so much more forgettable than my unsealed ones.  A sealed game is either: a) an investment; b) eye-candy.  If it's an investment, cool.  Hope it pays out for you down the road.  If it's eye-candy, I'm just not interested anymore.  I remember when I scored my first awesome sealed game (1 of only 2 known copies!) I found the high of acquiring it didn't last very long.  The law of diminishing returns really hits when your only attachment to a game is its outward appearance.  If you haven't experienced the content of the game, it really isn't being appreciated.

That said, I have hung on to a few of my sealed games as momentos of games that I've enjoyed over the years, and I'll probably still pick up a sealed game here or there for similar reasons in the future.  However, unless a sealed game has little increase in value over a CIB, I'll either skip over it or just open the game myself.  I recently took advantage of hit-japan's sale on ebay and nabbed a bunch of brand-new sealed FDS games for about $10 each shipped.  I'll probably open every one of them to give them a go in my Disk System.  As somebody else mentioned, it is actually pretty fun to be the first person to open a game and use it.  There's a sense of ownership there that I personally find increases my experience of a game (which is why I rarely buy current gen games used).