Grading is for schmucks! All of it is a complete and utter waste of time, money, space, energy and resources; there's no inherent benefit to any of it—it's all hokum. If you want to preserve and protect your sealed copy of Little Samson, then get an
acrylic case for it. Or better yet, get some
box protectors and you'll surely get the same results while spending less time and money.
Like the saying goes for almost everything out there: an item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. If people want to be this gullible and dumb for this type of market, then, in all honesty, fuck 'em; these will be the same people that will cry an ocean when the same capitalistic ways betray them, like when scalpers get stuck with hundreds of items they thought they could flip for triple their MSRP. It's how things work in the world we live in, whether we like them or not—hyperconsumerism has crippled many hobbies before, so it is what it is. While I'm at it, I can, quite frankly, see the point people make for grading other collectibles like comicbooks, trading cards, and even toys/figures, but overall I still consider grading those a waste equally given there are alternatives—cheaper, I might add—that will accomplish the same a cumbersome piece of plastic would. My two cents on the matter, of course.
But hell, there's really no "correct" way when it comes to collecting things, so I digress. To each their own, as they say. Yin and yang, my friends.
Below are a couple of articles and videos for further reference:
NintendoLife - Why getting your retro games graded could be a complete waste of moneySports Collectors Digest - Special Care: Baseball HOF Says No to Slabbed Cards (Concerns sports cards, but it's still an interesting read about slabbing nonetheless.)
Karl Jobst - Exposing FRAUD And DECEPTION In The Retro Video Game MarketKarl Jobst - The Retro Video Game Scam Gets Worse...