Authenticity of Shenmue II seal

[AntiPasta]

On my holiday in France I bought what was advertised as a NEW copy of Shenmue II, the PAL Dreamcast version. It was sealed, but I have some doubts as to it being the FACTORY seal and not something some nitwit put on using a sealing machine, like they do in Japan. I'll post some pictures to clarify:

This image gave rise to the first doubts: the "spine" part of the case inlay has been bent back. I guess this can happen "by itself", but I'm not sure.

Second, there is this.
A tiny piece of creased cardboard/paper seems to stick out from the inner side of the outer case. Also, this might be a production error, as the surrouding area appears to be undamaged.

Now if I compare the seal on Shenmue II to the one on my sealed copy of Record of Lodoss war, a significant difference becomes apparent: ROLW has the opaque strip on the seal (which you can use to pry off the seal), and Shenmue 2 does not. Some detailed pictures of the seal edges here, here, here , and here.

Can anyone verify if this is an authentic factory seal or something put on later? Did Sega even seal multi-case PAL games?

[Paulo]

I think it should have the same opaque strip on the seal. However thats just from the games ive seen. Also that seal looks pretty tight normaly isnt it more of a plastic seal thats bent on the coners and stuck instead of that melted plastic stuff...

[Tachikoma]

Yeah looks pretty much a guaranteed re-seal. I bough Shenmue on the day of release, and it was sealed, it had the tear strip same as all normal games. I have had plenty of re-"sealed" games, and that looks like one to me.

[Yakumo]

That doesn't even look new. 100% a re-seal.

Yakumo

[AntiPasta]

Goddammit. Well, fortunately it was cheaper than what Shenmue II usually fetches in Holland, but still this is a pretty shystery thing to pull off :die

[sayin999]

well you got lukyer then i did, i imported the game when it first came out in europe, though the copy ncsx sent was brand new had a chiped case at the edge, to add insult to injury the box its housed developed a bit of a fade at the bottom, too bad too the discs are in top shape.

[Fatalist]

I bought Shenmue & Shenmue II PAL the release day here and all of them had the type of seal of Antipasta pics. I still have a unit of each game new sealed (as I bought more than one) and the seal is like that. Shenmue and Shenmue II doesn't have the opaque strip seal.

[AntiPasta]

I bought Shenmue & Shenmue II PAL the release day here and all of them had the type of seal of Antipasta pics. I still have a unit of each game new sealed (as I bought more than one) and the seal is like that. Shenmue and Shenmue II doesn't have the opaque strip seal.

Ah, a spark of hope! Good thing I didn't rip the seal off yesterday, like I wanted.

[DJcrazymonkey]

The http://home.tiscali.nl/~antipasta/shenmue2/p9110008.jpg could just be where the case can be in different languages. My copy of GT4 for the PS2 had a French slip in it outside the case, but inside the wrapping. Still doesn't make it legit, but we get that here in Canada at least, so we don't have to have English and French on the back of the box, like I did with FFX-2. "Player du 1-2? WTF does that mean?"

[HXC]

Um. That is how Shenmue II was sealed in PAL. Can't be sure if its a re-seal though.

[AntiPasta]

ok, thanks. I guess it'll remain a mystery but it still looks blimey in my collection (along with the 2 non-sealed copies :p)

[virtual alan]

I think as like Yakumo it is a re-seal

I am sure that "all" DC games are sealed with the pull strip thing on them.

Don`t know if I `ve got any that are new/sealed at home...but sure this is the case.

That last picture for me confirms a re-seal :-(

[HXC]

That is how Shenmue II was sealed! There is one on ebay right now, ending in about half an hour with the same seal on it. Honest to god, that is how the multi-disc PAL games were sealed.

[Paulo]

So because theres one on ebay right its got to be a original and not a reseal?

[Funk Buddy]

I'll check mine when I get home and let you know. I'm sure you're waiting with baited breath.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I certainly don't recall how mine was sealed, but I can tell you that almost nothing comes from the factory with shrink wrap seal on it anymore. I expect that it's actually more expensive to seal a whole run of discs that way than with crinkly plastic these days.


...word is bondage...

[Paulo]

I see plenty of xbox games sealed around here.

[Fatalist]

As I said I have both Shenmue & Shenmue II PAL new sealed and bought the release day and they have the type of seal of Antipasta pics. That is how both Shenmue games were sealed at Europe. The problem with this kind of seal is to know today surely if the game has been resealed or not.

[Juul]

Yes, exactly. I have a sealed copy of Shenmue (I) too, which has the same kind of seal. However mine has a second, hard plastic seal as well, on top of the 'regular' seal. This seems to be the type of seals that were common in France (someone told me this, I didn't know this myself).

[AntiPasta]

ok, thanks again guys! Things are starting to look up after all :-)