Classic games economics and ethics

[chuckster]

I am very hopeful for Retro AVS and Nt Mini style FPGA options to relieve the failing hardware problem. CRTs seem to have a much more limited lifespan than most of these consoles. That'll be a sad day.


As for repros and Everdrives, they are a natural result of the market and it's trajectory. Games are getting so expensive to be out of reach for most people, and so repros cater to those who don't care, or in some cases, prey on those who aren't well informed/paranoid. Caveat Emptor applies whether we like it or not, and it's a risk that's not going away.

As an experience, an Everdrive is just as far off as a repro (which is to say anywhere from 99%-zilch, depending on implementation), but is a perfect solution for many who realize that having a collection of more than 10 games is a major investment and could mean half of the next month's rent (or more). Of course, facsimile repros are just plain shady.

If I got a killer deal on a game, and found it to be a repro, I wouldn't be too mad. If I threw $100 at a copy of Demon's Crest with the assumption it was real, then I could understand. I would never go for that unless I saw the board though.

[marlowe221]

I could see demand for something like a random SNES game going down as the age bracket shifts and people's "childhood" console becomes something newer, but I think the supply is just going to keep dwindling (as people get a game for their collection or toss out something they don't need anymore without reselling), so I don't see the prices ever going back to the "good old days".

Exactly. I like to buy Atari 2600/7800/800XL games. The prices are nowhere NEAR what SNES games often go for these days. Atari games are dirt cheap and I love it!

Part of that is the fact that there are no Atari franchises that have the same cultural cache as Mario/Zelda/etc.

But part of it is also chronological. Most people who were fans of Atari during its heyday are in their 40s and 50s now. Most people who were kids when SNES was current gen are in their 30s.

It just so happens that I am a lot younger than the usual Atari fan (I'm 35). But we were poor when I was a kid and my mom couldn't afford the NES that I wanted when I was 8 years old. Instead she found me a Vader model 2600 with 40 games at a yard sale for my birthday (she later told me she got it all for $20). I got a SNES later, but I came up an Atari kid - just on a 15 year delay...

No kidding. I've got several consoles that I need to repair. My childhood NES has started to exhibit issues on the composite output, probably needs a recap. My 3DO has the same issue with audio and needs a recap. My Sega CD blew a fuse long ago that I needed to replace, and the same one occasionally exhibits issues with the CD drive, doing a gear grind on seeks. I've got a Genesis with an audio crackle that a recap didn't fix, so I'm suspecting issues with the sound chip or amplifier, and the beat goes on. This stuff is going to start failing, and it's going to take folks that know what they're doing to get them running again... assuming an owner doesn't just throw it out. I sure hope not.

Unless it's, like, on my doorstep. Then that could work.

It's sad, but it's inevitable that the hardware will fail. That's why I love me some emulation.

[Sarge]

I need to add to my Atari collection. I do think some of the low pricing is the lack of cultural cachet at this point, but I also think the simplicity of most of the games also impacts it. I know folks still love these games, but they're just a touch too simple for me to enjoy outside of a quick 10-20 minute blast. And score-attack games have never really been my thing.

That being said, I still have fond memories of quite a few, like that Defender port, and I still need to reobtain an Intellivision, there were some really cool games on there. Sea Battle and the airplane part of Triple Action were two of my favorites.

[marlowe221]

I need to add to my Atari collection. I do think some of the low pricing is the lack of cultural cachet at this point, but I also think the simplicity of most of the games also impacts it. I know folks still love these games, but they're just a touch too simple for me to enjoy outside of a quick 10-20 minute blast. And score-attack games have never really been my thing.

That being said, I still have fond memories of quite a few, like that Defender port, and I still need to reobtain an Intellivision, there were some really cool games on there. Sea Battle and the airplane part of Triple Action were two of my favorites.

10-20 minute blasts is the best way to play Atari games, IMHO. What I typically do is pull out a handful of my favorite games, pop one in, and play my preferred game variation until I die. Sometimes I might try it again. But a lot of times, I pull out the cart and pop in the next game. Before I know it, a couple of hours have gone by in blink. Often, I have played 10 different games in that time and had a lot of fun doing it. For whatever reason, the basic graphics have never bothered me (then again, I play ASCII roguelikes, so...).

And I am also a big fan of the 2600 port of Defender. The game has a lot of detractors - mostly people who were familiar with the original arcade machine, which is very different. But if you're not comparing the two, the 2600 version is a great game in its own right. Others that frequently end up in my rotation are Berzerk, Asteroids, and Enduro.

[Sarge]

I was really good at that port, too. I remember basically playing until I got tired of it and turned it off. At least an hour one time, and I could have kept going ad infinitum, such was the groove I was in.

I didn't have access to Asteroids, but the port looks really good. I was pretty solid at Missile Command, too. One of the more ambitious games was Pitfall II, so I made sure to pick it up when I finally got a 2600 a few years back. (All my Atari time was at friends' houses.)

[BoneSnapDeez]

I like Atari.

[Xeogred]

I tend to forget Pac-Man is actually Namco and they're separate from Atari.

[marlowe221]

I tend to forget Pac-Man is actually Namco and they're separate from Atari.

We should all forget that the 2600 port of Pac-Man exists!

The Ms. Pac-Man port, however, is excellent.

[Sarge]

Sure is. I put a lot of time into that version when I visited my cousins.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Has anyone else here watched the video of the Microsoft learning AI program that learned how to beat the 2600 version of Ms. Pac-Man? It is pretty awesome.