Today I was having lunch with a few friends, and the topic of games (in particular, games from yester-year) inevitably came up. We reminisced about favourites such as Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario Kart (The Nintendo 64 version). There was less chat about newer, more advanced games, as they didn’t have the emotional connection or the fun that we remembered from these older games.
‘Old- School’ game popularity is continuing to rise rapidly. Whether we feel it connects us to our past, we feel it makes us part of a culture, or we genuinely miss these games, the popularity of 80s/90s video games is soaring. I know personally that when I returned to my family home for a holiday I was devastated to find my mother had given away my Sega Mega drive to a young child who probably dismissed it with a claim of ‘where’s my Playstation/Wii/Xbox?’. Kids these days.
An interesting point was raised in the conversation about all the hype surrounding today’s children who spend all their time indoors with their video console instead of playing outside. Technology has been blamed for this, but as the speaker pointed out, as children we had the equivalent technology and we were still active young whippersnappers. I guess this leads me to the point that perhaps video games are not at all to blame for the problem, but it’s a family/society issue that needs to be resolved. Parents tend to use a video console as a babysitter for younger children, with the idea that it’s a lot easier to pop them in front of the computer/television and they will be entertained for a few hours. The other problem may stem from the lack of trust within a community. Observing a neighbourhood today is very different from what we could see years ago. There is a lack of trust between neighbours, where it seems safer to keep children indoors and be suspicious of the outside world. However, the view from the inside may be destroying not only the idea of a community, but also of a childhood. However, I am making a lot of extreme claims so please feel free to jump in with your thoughts.
But back to my original point, the games we played as children (which for the point of this article will refer to as old-school games) are still very, if not more so, popular today. The Escapist is a really good source that discusses “fringe cults” whose ‘fanatical dedication to the games they love has bloomed into a huge niche mod scene’. These gamers thrive on the games of yester-year, the games most of society have said goodbye to. They are keeping them alive with active participation in message boards and blogs, by posting game tips and creating mods. When quizzed about why they have such an affiliation with these games, the answers were unanimous. The games resonated on a nostalgic level, the older games have a staying power that newer games lack and it envelops them in a happy niche culture. However, not all fans of old-school games are fanatical on this level.
The main point I wanted to make is the effect of media convergence on these games. It was revealed to me in the aforementioned conversation that these games can be downloaded on the Internet and be played via computer. However, an emulator must be downloaded first which works as the console. I.e. you would need to download a Nintendo 64 emulator to play Nintendo games (at least this is to my understanding) and then from there separate games can be downloaded and played. In theory, this works similarly with the purchase of the actual console, but the physical constraints of the real world do not apply. Imagine if we had known 10-15 years ago that we could access our favourite video games in such a fashion!
I am interested to see what others think of this old-school video game trend. Why are we so fascinated by technology that is considered out-dated and by games that don’t challenge us?
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3 comments:
Dear Blogsauce
Ahhh… good old Sega Mega Drives, with the built in Alex the Kid Adventure game. Gone are the days when children can really appreciate the simplicity of a game and enjoy it for mere entertainment purposes. Now, youth are so caught up in having the new playstation/xbox/wii console that they cannot really appreciate the technology that they have come a looooong way from!
In all honesty, I know that the reason that I go to Rics Café so often and play the old Atari Space Invaders for hours on end, or duck over to my mate’s house to play Super Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64 every Sunday is because of the nostalgia that I feel towards the past and my childhood. It’s scary to think now that children are going to look back at their wiis and think “wow, how old-school are they!” but, like everything else, technology takes over and soon the past is forgotten. I can only imagine how ancient I am going to feel when that day eventually comes. Oh dear.
Kate.
I can definitely empathize with these situations i.e. Sitting around reminiscing about how badly you used to turtle shell your mates in Mario kart etc.
I do however have some constructive criticisms about this entry. Perhaps instead of negating new consoles as electronic babysitters you could have explored their inclusions of retro gaming i.e. the ability to buy the game online and play it on newer consoles. Both the X-box and Nintendo Wii have these functions where gamers are able to download the "old-school" games (for minimal cost in comparison to the old cartridges / disks) and play them using backwards computability software.
I'd agree that old-school games have been / are popular and you have a very good point about the addiction the younger generation has with gaming -perhaps specifically higher ended graphic / interactive games-
As an answer to your proposed question in regard to retro gaming I think the fact that the games were designed to have high replay value tempts us even decades later to pick up the old controller. And I definitely think that multi-player ability -although restrictive by todays standards- made a game, and the experiences memorable and i our minds at times better than their current replacements.
All in all a great entry and your personal opinions definitely shone through.
I too, am a fan of the games of what I would consider yesteryear. I still have Commander Keen, Micro Machines and the Original Super Mario Brothers on my computer. While the rest of the world has been going crazy over the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, I've been downloading GTA I again to relive the memories. The graphics may not be the best, but since I don't play any new games, I guess I don't really know what I'm missing out on. I'm happy in my ignorance!
I had thought that my nostalgia was perhaps due to the fact that these games remind me of being younger and playing them with older siblings who I no longer live with. However it seems I'm not the only one excited by these old school games.
While I agree that anti-socialism and parental neglect are valid issues on the topic of gaming, I think it can be easy to over-generalise. Although there have been cases reported of neglectful parenting, or addiction to gaming, there are positives as well.
So many of the newer games that children or young people will be growing up with today allow players to connect with others through the game. This can be a desirable social outlet for many.
I think the important thing is to make sure children are educated on the potential dangers of the internet, rather than to blame technology for human errors and failings.
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