[game_preservation] Authenticating factory sealed games

[Devin Monnens]

I was just kabitzing around e-bay looking up some factory sealed games I had
and was pretty amazed at some of the prices there. Unfortunately, when I
went to verify, I was not convinced that they were authentic. One of my
games (Link to the Past Player's Choice) has the 'H-Seal'. The other two,
7th Saga and Super Castlevania 4, look doubtful, particularly 7th Saga.
Here's an example of an 'h-seal':

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=380177972686&Category=139973&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26its%3DI%26otn%3D2

I picked these up from Gamestop/Funcoland back in 2001/2002-ish. They have
plastic seals on them, but they aren't the h-seal. I've become convinced now
that 7th Saga is not sealed because there is actually wear on the box. I
don't know why the retailer would have gone through the trouble of resealing
it, but I highly doubt a factory copy would have wear (and it's quite a
bit). Has anyone here heard of this happening? Makes me pretty bummed that
this isn't authentic! Thankfully my Super Mario Land GB is original :)

Then there's Video Game Authority:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Super-Turrican-2-SNES-Super-NES-NEW-SEALED-VGA-80_W0QQitemZ380183166693QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVideo_Games_Games?hash=item5884aebee5

The VGA cases look pretty neat, but it seems like an easy way of making
money off of people (i.e. ripping them off). Check their pricings - it's
like $80 plus shipping to get something authenticated:

http://www.vggrader.com/default.aspx

They're located in Georgia. Yeah, mine are going to remain in my closet.

-DM

-- 
Devin Monnens
www.deserthat.com

The sleep of Reason produces monsters.
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