Hi there,
I'm raising this issue as it's happened to me so many times in the last few months, and I've come to realise this is a fairly regular occurrence.
I buy pretty much all my games new. I'll pay premium prices for a game in new and sealed condition. However, the amount of fraudulent/ fake 'new & sealed' games being sold on sites such as Amazon.co.uk, ebay.co.uk and play.com is becoming very worrying.
Goes without saying, the information is mainly based on games in the UK and Europe, but I suspect this occurs in other countries as well.
Basically, people are buying used, but in very good condition, videogames and resealing them to look like new. This is a very regular occurrence with games for older systems like the gamecube, ps2, classic xbox, psp, etc.
HOW CAN YOU TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GENUINE NEW GAME AND A FAKE?
Well, to easily find a fake, firstly, many of them are resealed with cheap cellophane. It's similar to that you get in supermarkets, where they wrap the cellophane around the product and use something hot to seal the ends. Sadly, I haven't got a photo, you should be able to figure it out because it looks different from the pics you see below.
Another way to check is to look at the disc and manuals. Manuals a good way of figuring out. For instance, with a gamecube game, know those black manuals you always get with their games? I recently had a new game with several finger prints all over the back. Dirty, bends, etc, or, of course, marks on the disc.
Replaced boxes is another clue. Sometimes you'll see DVD cases that don't look like typical cases for the type of game. For instance, I bought Resident Evil for the GC. The game has 2 discs. Someone replaced it with a 1-disc box, hence one of the discs rattled around. An xbox game that isn't green?
Now, I'm only referring to European games here, but I'm sure it's similar with other countries outside. All the major companies (Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft) have something on the seal proving it's genuine. First, and most easily, the xbox and xbox 360.
XBOX AND 360
These will always have a seal on the side, with the barcode and xbox/ microsoft logo. IF IT DOES NOT HAVE THIS, IT IS A FAKE. Even 3rd party games have this seal. If it's not on the side, it's not new. I had a guy recently trying to sell a sealed copy of Virtua Fighter 5 on 360 for £45.00. I pointed out it was not new and he took the item off 2 hours later.
PLAYSTATION 2
Sorry, I don't own a PS3, but I'm assuming it's similar. These will have the PLASTATION 2 written on the peelable seal towards the bottom. I'm not certain if it's just official Sony products, or if 3rd party games are included though.
GAMECUBE AND WII
As far as I can see, it's only official 1st party games that have the similar 'NINTENDO' peelable seal towards the bottom, however I've noticed several third party games that have it too.
Sorry if people here think I'm being pedantic, but I must stress it's also recently released games too. I I've bought a fair few 360 titles and had clearly used copies sold to me. All I can recommend is that, if you buy a game new, especially if it's a game that's been out for several months/ years, to play close a attention when opening it for the first time.
Peace guys.
I'm raising this issue as it's happened to me so many times in the last few months, and I've come to realise this is a fairly regular occurrence.
I buy pretty much all my games new. I'll pay premium prices for a game in new and sealed condition. However, the amount of fraudulent/ fake 'new & sealed' games being sold on sites such as Amazon.co.uk, ebay.co.uk and play.com is becoming very worrying.
Goes without saying, the information is mainly based on games in the UK and Europe, but I suspect this occurs in other countries as well.
Basically, people are buying used, but in very good condition, videogames and resealing them to look like new. This is a very regular occurrence with games for older systems like the gamecube, ps2, classic xbox, psp, etc.
HOW CAN YOU TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GENUINE NEW GAME AND A FAKE?
Well, to easily find a fake, firstly, many of them are resealed with cheap cellophane. It's similar to that you get in supermarkets, where they wrap the cellophane around the product and use something hot to seal the ends. Sadly, I haven't got a photo, you should be able to figure it out because it looks different from the pics you see below.
Another way to check is to look at the disc and manuals. Manuals a good way of figuring out. For instance, with a gamecube game, know those black manuals you always get with their games? I recently had a new game with several finger prints all over the back. Dirty, bends, etc, or, of course, marks on the disc.
Replaced boxes is another clue. Sometimes you'll see DVD cases that don't look like typical cases for the type of game. For instance, I bought Resident Evil for the GC. The game has 2 discs. Someone replaced it with a 1-disc box, hence one of the discs rattled around. An xbox game that isn't green?
Now, I'm only referring to European games here, but I'm sure it's similar with other countries outside. All the major companies (Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft) have something on the seal proving it's genuine. First, and most easily, the xbox and xbox 360.
XBOX AND 360
These will always have a seal on the side, with the barcode and xbox/ microsoft logo. IF IT DOES NOT HAVE THIS, IT IS A FAKE. Even 3rd party games have this seal. If it's not on the side, it's not new. I had a guy recently trying to sell a sealed copy of Virtua Fighter 5 on 360 for £45.00. I pointed out it was not new and he took the item off 2 hours later.
PLAYSTATION 2
Sorry, I don't own a PS3, but I'm assuming it's similar. These will have the PLASTATION 2 written on the peelable seal towards the bottom. I'm not certain if it's just official Sony products, or if 3rd party games are included though.
GAMECUBE AND WII
As far as I can see, it's only official 1st party games that have the similar 'NINTENDO' peelable seal towards the bottom, however I've noticed several third party games that have it too.
Sorry if people here think I'm being pedantic, but I must stress it's also recently released games too. I I've bought a fair few 360 titles and had clearly used copies sold to me. All I can recommend is that, if you buy a game new, especially if it's a game that's been out for several months/ years, to play close a attention when opening it for the first time.
Peace guys.
