Heroes of Time: Meet Matteo Berera

Hello, I’m Matteo, I’m 33 years old and in life I manage a flooring store. 

I was about ten years old when the first IBM computer arrived at home, and later a friend gave me a CD to install Age of Empire II: I was captivated by its ability to build a civilization, manage resources and conflicts; the strategic aspect led me to spend truly many hours in front of the PC, despite my mother’s scoldings. 

Today, with Age of empire IV, the same thing is happening, but my wife is the one scolding me! 

Another cornerstone game of my preadolescence was Doom and Doom II: I remember entire afternoons at friends' houses, intent on clearing level after level instead of studying. 

From that moment on, the passion for video games grew, becoming a bond for friendships and an interest to share. 

In the following years, I explored other platforms, encouraged by my wife (a big fan of consoles and couch gaming), I explored the titles available on Sony and Nintendo platforms, discovering a broad catalog of games and my passion for titles in genres very different from those I had played up to that point. 

Collecting means maintaining a deep connection with our past and the games we have loved. What are your all-time favorite titles? In your own words, let us “see” your shelves and the collection, or collections, that represent you. 

The Elder scrolls V: Skyrim various editions of the base game, plus limited and Collector’s editions for different gaming platforms. 

The Fallout series has recovered practically all the Collector’s editions from various releases, from the first PC exclusives to the Anthology, recently reissued as well, which collected them all. 

Cyberpunk 2077, the God of War series and many others …. Generally, if I like a title, sooner or later I get the Collector’s or Limited Edition 

⁠By grading your game, you made an important choice and from now on it has become something more, not just in terms of collectible value. How did you get to know the grading world? Have you already had similar experiences with other collections of yours, even ones different from video games?

At various fairs like Comicon or Lucca Comics (my absolute favorite fair) I would find graded boxes and it made me curious, but that was a long time ago and I didn’t think too much of it because I never felt the need for it… moreover, there was no one in the area offering this service and shipping boxes by mail, even rare, sometimes numbered and expensive ones, never gave me confidence… so no, I had never graded anything before getting to know you 

What were the main reasons why you wanted to grade the title you brought us? Beyond the nostalgic aspects tied to the game, were there other motivations behind your decision to entrust yourself to TGM's grading procedure?

The most important motivation is to make sure that items recovered with effort and money do not deteriorate over time. I am terrified of losing certain pieces, maybe because of an accidental fall or due to dirt or dust, also because unfortunately I have had bad experiences… while removing glue that had accidentally fallen from the Mass Effect 3 Collector's Edition, I stripped the box of its paint…  

⁠Every game has its own story, just like its owner; the bond that is formed goes far beyond the simple owner-object relationship. When the title was finally returned to you, graded, what did you feel?

A sense of tranquility… I know that what is closed in the display case stays there and does not deteriorate 

To conclude, we can only ask you the classic question: which aspects of our service did you like the most? Thank you not only for giving us your time, but also for choosing to place your trust in us!

Basically the service…. Absolutely excellent both for the delivery of the material to be graded and for the pickup of the graded item … transparency is another plus point; any data shown on the label is explained through a legend and makes it easy to understand what a copy excels at and where it falls short… Another plus point is that the payment system is very streamlined … everything is done through the TGM portal!