VGA Game Grading
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Somewhere I have the book that came with Legend of Zelda, Super Mario 2 and 3. I kept most of the books, but never the boxes. The Zelda book was great. I had a map of to up the lower 1/3 of the Overworld and marked the location of the first four dungeons. Needless to say, it was not in good shape after playing the shit out of that game
oh well.
What's VGA, you ask? No, it's not Spike's Video Game Awards. It's the Video Game Authority, a group that issues grades based on the condition of old video games, in a manner similar to action figures and trading cards. After paying a fee, gamers send in their beloved collectibles, which are graded and sealed in tamper-evident acrylic cases, marked with the official hologram of the organization. The first of these VGA-graded items are currently up for auction on eBay.
Currently available are near-mint copies of Super Mario Bros. 3, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear and others, all in the 75-85 grade range. Final Fantasy is notably already up over $200, and Super Mario Bros. 3 isn't far behind. If nothing else, those NES games look damn sexy in those plastic cases.
nostalgia
6 comments:
So it's the thing they do with MTG cards...only for game cartridges...
That seems...odd.
If you put a Magic: The Gathering card in a hard acrylic case and seal it off from the world one can still "use" the card by creating a proxy and simply carrying the card around with them. If a person has a Black Lotus in a hard case they can just write "black lotus" on another card and use it because, really, that functions.
Game cartridges do not function in that same way. Unless we want to argue that by owning one of these encased games one has a justified option of using a ROM.
I do not think MTG is an apt comparison because many organizers allow for the use of proxies. The use value of a sealed card does not change because it is sealed.
A better example would be people who collect Sets. What value does a set have other than its value of completeness? or a still-in-box toy? These only have value in that they are given value by collectors.
a sealed game does give one a legal right (kinda) to download an play a ROM, but how many people have working NES system? without a working NES a
game cartridges has no use value EXCEPT for collectors.
there does not have to a use value in a collection inasmuch as collecting and keeping things mint IS the point of collecting. It does not have to be useful; in fact it seems that its lack of use value is what makes it a collectable. A room full of in box star wars toys is better than a room full of open star wars toys because the open star wars toys have been played with.
I can understand keeping toys in the box. Usually toys are displayed within the box in a manner that allows for the entire unit to be seen. Displaying toys in box and toys outside of the box has the same sort of effect.
The same can be said of MTG cards. A MTG card on a shelf and a MTG card on a shelf in a hard case have the same aesthetic appeal.
The problem with games is that the cartridge itself is not the focus. What the cartridge contains is the focus.
I like collecting things. But game cartridges are apparently not the sort of thing I want to collect. The game is not the cartridge. The game is the code stored on the cartridge.
Unlike toys and MTG cards where the thing is the thing. Well, arguably, errata always complicates the discussion of what a MTG card is.
in this case it IS about the box and cartridge. The game itself lacks value to collectors. the code exists in a form to be played either through ROMS, Downloadable content (wii's VC) or via reprints (the GBA/DS games)
collecting is about a fetishized object, no matter what use it has or whether it is the code or the cartridge.
Ah.
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