Are people oblivious to the fact that we exist?

[RCBH928]

I have been a long time member here, but I won't lie

I never thought older consoles are still around and if they were they won't work, and even if they worked, you won't find games for the system.

I still find it hard to believe psx consoles are still around and working, i know that is a recent console to some of you, but if you think about it, its one of the first consoles to use CD and I am pretty sure it wasn't built to last. Mine died within 2-3 years.

I did play older games, I did enjoy Zelda on NES(and I find it hard to enjoy games pre-snes era due to lack of decent graphics) and on Snes and genesis. Some of the games I play , on emulation, I know but never played as a kid so its not so much nostalgia , but they are just as fan as ever.

I am guessing that games of the SNES era and on reached the acceptable level of gameplay and graphics, and anything after that will always be good. Like a toy that was invented in the 1900, it was good then and it is good now.

But using older systems to play is hard. Its like telling someone you watch Gone With the Wind on VHS. Its hard to believe people will still watch movies on those system, especially when you have the movie on DVD and online.

to me, its perfectly ok to play Sonic and Johnny Bazooka tone , on emulation or ports or psn . But to play them on Genesis and 3DO, its just like using a VCR I guess.

[Shabba]

I have been a long time member here, but I won't lie

I never thought older consoles are still around and if they were they won't work, and even if they worked, you won't find games for the system.

I still find it hard to believe psx consoles are still around and working, i know that is a recent console to some of you, but if you think about it, its one of the first consoles to use CD and I am pretty sure it wasn't built to last. Mine died within 2-3 years.

I did play older games, I did enjoy Zelda on NES(and I find it hard to enjoy games pre-snes era due to lack of decent graphics) and on Snes and genesis. Some of the games I play , on emulation, I know but never played as a kid so its not so much nostalgia , but they are just as fan as ever.

I am guessing that games of the SNES era and on reached the acceptable level of gameplay and graphics, and anything after that will always be good. Like a toy that was invented in the 1900, it was good then and it is good now.

But using older systems to play is hard. Its like telling someone you watch Gone With the Wind on VHS. Its hard to believe people will still watch movies on those system, especially when you have the movie on DVD and online.

to me, its perfectly ok to play Sonic and Johnny Bazooka tone , on emulation or ports or psn . But to play them on Genesis and 3DO, its just like using a VCR I guess.

You have to remember something. The guys who still play their old games on their old systems don't just do it because the game is fun. We do it because it takes us back in time. This retro craze that is, honestly, just at it's beginning can be credited to the guys my age and a little older who were there from the beginning. I'm 35 and most of the guys around my age all the way to their mid 40's were there when video gaming really got it's start. My father bought me a 2600 when they were still fairly new, around 1979. I was 4 and he enjoyed watching me learn to play it. My point is I play my old NES and even my 2600 not necessarily because the game is fun but because for a short time, I feel 10 again. 35 isn't old, but it isn't young anymore and at this age, life is really shitty in a lot of ways. Going back in time for 30 minutes is almost better than sex (almost). I can play several games on my kids Wii and use that controller, but why? It just isn't the same.

[Flake]

You have to remember something. The guys who still play their old games on their old systems don't just do it because the game is fun. We do it because it takes us back in time.

That is exactly what mainstream gaming doesn't get about us. Mainstream gaming doesn't have an appreciation for what came out six months ago, much less six or sixteen years ago.

This is also why I feel like there won't be many classics coming out of this age of gaming.

[Limewater]

You have to remember something. The guys who still play their old games on their old systems don't just do it because the game is fun. We do it because it takes us back in time. This retro craze that is, honestly, just at it's beginning can be credited to the guys my age and a little older who were there from the beginning. I'm 35 and most of the guys around my age all the way to their mid 40's were there when video gaming really got it's start. My father bought me a 2600 when they were still fairly new, around 1979. I was 4 and he enjoyed watching me learn to play it. My point is I play my old NES and even my 2600 not necessarily because the game is fun but because for a short time, I feel 10 again. 35 isn't old, but it isn't young anymore and at this age, life is really shitty in a lot of ways. Going back in time for 30 minutes is almost better than sex (almost). I can play several games on my kids Wii and use that controller, but why? It just isn't the same.

I think there's more to it than just nostalgia. Part of it is technical as well. Emulated games played on a computer screen don't look right. Older systems were designed to be played on a screen with a forced aspect ratio. Played on a computer, they will appear horizontally squished. The Atari VCS/2600 didn't even use pixels, and it counted on slow response of the CRT to use flicker to display more than two sprites on screen. These things don't emulate well.

I think that the Gone with the Wind on DVD versus VHS argument is kind of misleading. Watching a remastered version of the film on DVD will be a superior experience to the blurrier and duller VHS. Playing an NES game on an emulator is usually a slightly inferior experience due to the technical issues I mentioned as well as others.

[dsheinem]

Mainstream gaming doesn't have an appreciation for what came out six months ago, much less six or sixteen years ago.

This is also why I feel like there won't be many classics coming out of this age of gaming.

What are you talking about?! All the retro stuff that we enjoy was once "mainstream" and subject to the same fast turnover market/environment as new games face today. If anything, I'd argue that games have longer lives today because of fansites, forums, DLC, etc. that can keep interest in a game going well past a release date. To argue that we won't have as many classics is just nostalgia talking. Kids of today will get nostalgic about the games they played in their youth just as you do now - not much has really changed.

[Flake]

What are you talking about?! All the retro stuff that we enjoy was once "mainstream" and subject to the same fast turnover market/environment as new games face today.

I remember when Batman: Arkham asylum came out. The local gamestop did one of those midnight releases. College kids and townies were lined up around the block to get in, which was pretty impressive for such a small town.

I went to gamestop to browse Gamecube games yesterday. They had a bargain bin with at least 20 copies of that same game, all used. This modern generation of gamers races frothing at the mouth for a new, overly hyped game. Two weeks later they dump it at gamestop to pick up the next 'big' thing.

I wouldn't call that pump and dump mentality conducive to making games become classics. Especially when every successful title is almost instantly granted a near-identical sequel, diminishing the relevance of the original game.

Lastly, online multi-player is single handedly destroying the legacies of many games released on consoles today. You think Halo 3 or whatever Army man game is going to be relevant when the servers are gone?

Mainstream of today isn't like mainstream of yesterday.

[AppleQueso]

I still find it hard to believe psx consoles are still around and working, i know that is a recent console to some of you, but if you think about it, its one of the first consoles to use CD and I am pretty sure it wasn't built to last. Mine died within 2-3 years.

Or for that matter, the sheer number of Sega CDs and 3DOs that still run fine.

[GamerMON]

That really brings my piss to a boil. I've been like, oh cool, you play the NES? You ever played so-and-so game?
And they just stare at me like I'm crazy or suddenly grew a second head.

Why is is edgy and cool to like old games

hey think of it this way, at least we aren't the posers.
that must mean we are the edgiest out of them all! so take that emo kids( 'kicks one in the face')!

That reminds me - a few weeks ago I was on a night out with friends, was pretty drunk, and the barman was wearing a 'Nintendo Rehabilitation Clinic' t-shirt. I was like "man, love the shirt. What's your favourite N64 game", and he just looked at me like I was some sort of moron. I think during all this I'd managed to order a drink before realising I had no money left, but anyway, if he didn't know shit about the N64 then I'm glad I was 'the asshole who orders drinks but can't pay'. He deserved it!

Maybe he was trying to do his job when a drunk asshole who wasn't going to pay let alone tip was bothering him. Maybe he was even more retro than you was like "Polygon counts are for graphics whores, I am NES all the way douche bag" You were too drunk to know how much money you had and being obnoxious. I have that shirt and the drunk dicks who come into the restaurant I work at do the same shit. Not making conversation with you doesn't not justify acting like a bum.

[Flake]

I'm glad I was 'the asshole who orders drinks but can't pay'. He deserved it!

The price of the drink was probably deducted from his take-home but it's justice because he didn't answer a drunk guy's question?

[noiseredux]

I have a NES controller belt buckle.