Startyde

This is all fair, I still view things from a VGA lens where the wrap is more heavily weighted, hense my initial concerns with Q grades.

It's definitely a factor in some cases. Ppl can see damaged wrap as a flaw, so why have a mediocre 6.5 sealed game when you could have a gem 9.0 CIB. The madness of the Wata sales will likely exaserbate this. I have nothing against collecting naturally CIB games (except as others have said, there is no universal knowledge of all contents) but there is only one tried and true way to get pristine CIB and that is to destroy sealed, so eliminating CIB grading would hinder this mindset.

Wouldn't you have the same satisfaction of knowing you had the right inserts if you kept it sealed? While not the same exact case, this pseudo scenario is the reason I hate CIB grading, because it encourages the destruction of sealed games if the owner thinks they can eek out a better CIB grade. They're basically reducing the amount sealed product, and helping erase history over a number. It's the reason UKG and I believe even VGA have done away with loose figure grading, because people were destroying vintage carded figures with wear to get a better MINT loose grade.

Like all things it depends on the games. I've had PSVR since launch. I don't play it too often, ONLY because I have a toddler and I play at night, so it's hard for me to dampen all my senses if she wakes up. Sounds like the ppl here who dabbled in PSVR haven't played any of the more recent games which is a shame. Astrobot, Moss, Blood and Truth, Rez, Teris Effect, all incredible. As a technology it has plenty of room to grow, and PSVR is on the lower end of tech compared to the competition, but it's plug and play nature makes it a perfect fit for casuals, which is the strength of consoles on general. Also Sony has stated that PS5 will fully support all PS4 PSVR equipment, so no need to worry about their commitment into the next gen.

It depends on what you're playing. There's nothing last gen that can produce a game like Uncharted 4, God of War 2018 or Red Dead Redemption 2. There's also the reality that there is an upper limit...reality. Eventually, and soon, gaming will be photo realistic, so the only path forward will be in the hands of the artists in making things not seen in real life look real.

Only graded sealed copy of Way of the Warrior for 3DO. Not easy to come by today, but why care about some random MK clone? This game was the dev's final chance to stay solvent as they were on the brink of bankruptcy. Most of the cast are friends of the devs and the costumes pieced together from whatever they could find. It's rough, jenky and not many ppl played it, but it impressed Universal Interactive enough to hire them to make their next game in a new CA studio. The dev called themselves Naughty Dog, and their next game would be Crash Bandicoot.

Very nice analysis Jone. About a 10 percentage inflation like many sumised. Cardboard will likely differ from jewelcase but it looks like VGA 85+ and 90 top out at Wata 9.6 and 9.8, which means it would make no sense to crossover VGA 90+ or higher as they will likely be normalized to Wata 9.8, with a slim to no chance of Wata 100. VGA appears to literally go beyond the Wata scale for granularity, which I personally dig. TLDR: Interesting to see the numbers.

Excellent. Next up, get rid of CIB entirely

My fav part of that game is deep within it's gem mint, untouched interior, is a little tiny hint guide, sealed with a golden triforce circular stick, that helped 10 year old me outta many a jam. Who needed the internet, am I rite?

Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga are obvious contenders, and Gradius V probably has the most hype intro level ever. It's close tie with Einhander, but I genuinely think Raystorm is my favorite. There's just something "fresh" about it I can't quite describe.

So sexy

When you bought games at Toys R Us and they retrieved them from the back there were no stickers. Go to a Target, GameStop or Walmart today and the copy they give you from inside a case or drawer has no stickers, so I don't think your point is valid. Art and games (another form of art) are largely created for one reason only: to be sold. What happens after that is largely irrelevant. That doesn't change the fact that altering it from it's original condition in a negative way is unfortunate, especially for preservationists. TLDR: If you wanna collect games with stickers for that nostalgic feel, go for it. As a graded collectable however, they look awful and altered.

Uggg, that looks hideous. No offense to the owner. Would be like plastering dirty handprints all over the Mona Lisa.

Personal calls go a long way, again from services perspective. That was a class act move to try and make amends, kudos.

I don't mind when the ignorant rich lose money to the more savy pleebs, it's like a modern day Robin Hood. To your point, many don't even know VGA existed for the last decade and if they do, certainly don't understand the grade curve as you described. The X factor of gaming is noone truly knows how much is out there. It's not like obscure "funny books" that were read and tossed in the 60s. Collectable gaming is primarily from the 80s on, all within many of our lifetimes. Even when an infant hobby, Atari was producing so many carts they had to bury them. I'm sure test market stuff will be rare but most of everything else, who honestly knows. TLDR: It's all good.

What happens when Ultra-rich Russian Baron, Vodka Someguyski, buys a bunch of Carolina Collection, Big Apple Collection, Salt Lake City collection, and now his collection is the biggest collection; when he goes to sell, are old collections retconned into a new collection? Mind explodes at how dumb this system is.

RoyalT, I'm sorry man.

Ooooph, all things are as they were always meant to be my friend. No regrets, and the memories live forever.

Those wild west days were amazing. You didn't even have to be an eBay member to message a seller. I remember using my Juno email in the mid 90's to ask people to sell me the things they listed, outside of ebay. I got a near complete boxed G1 Jetfire for $60, and spent the next year looking for the damn gun clip! When I eventually stop caring about games, I'll probably just retire and work on AFA G1 again.

Like you, I have no issues with cleaning a sealed game because all of the defects you mentioned are removing things added after it left the factory, even dust / grime. If anything, you're restoring it to the way it was as best as possible. A far cry from physical manipulation on the contents to reflect a state hat was never achieved, ie comic and card cutting.

I feel like I woke up in a different universe, are Punch Outs expected to be 15k these days?

Fun fact, controllers like Xbox only use off centered sticks because Sony has a patent on the side by side symmetry. They didn't do it for any ergonomic reasons. I candidly hate the Xbone controller because the bumpers right next to triggers feels so off, esp how they're smooth and roll into each other. I'm not sure if the elite corrected this.

Definitely Vita. Having a portable, console quality system in 2012 was incredible. To this day has some exclusive titles that are definitive, like P4 and nearly all Vanillaware games. Even the OLED makes it stand apart from contemporaries. Sony definitely dropped the ball on card implementation and overall support which is a shame, as Switch has proven there is a market for a high end handheld.

You must understand VGA 95 does not mean near mint. It essentially means pristine which is virtually unattainable unless straight from a case. VGA grades minor imperfections in wrap, something largely out of control of a human, esp on older games. In fact their scale for near mint begins at low 80s, so I would realign you expectation to get at least Gold level of detail each game (85+) as even that will be a true hurculean task. Wata grants a little more wiggle room as the wrap doesn't factor into the numeric grade so it may be easier, but their NM starts at 90 which translates to about VGA 80, so bear this all in mind TLDR: Adjust your expectations otherwise you'll burn out before you started.