I'm with you, Rob, though for me it's BETTER and even more "WOW" looking at this stuff through older eyes. Now I have the clarity and knowledge to really appreciate these things. If I had plenty of space and some disposable income, I'm sure I'd have a nice collection like Bill's. That said, I've barely touched the various consoles I own now. Even my DS is just collecting dust. Likewise, I hardly ever play any of the thousands of retrogames I have stored on my computer, and my X-Arcade might as well be in the cupboard with the fondue machine (I don't own one, but you get the idea).
When I do get some free time, I find myself either playing WoW or, more likely, responding to comments on forums and such. It's just more fun for me to talk about these old games than to play them! I'm sure it'd be different if I had any friends who lived close by that liked them, but that's just not going to happen, and even if it did--who knows? If we all lived in the same neighborhood, how often do you think we'd all get together to play stuff like Midi Maze or Zaxxon? I bet we'd probably end up playing mostly modern games on our 360s or whatever it was. If we tried to play retro games, we'd end up in retro hell, where you have so many thousands of options that you only play a game for a few minutes before moving on to another one. I mean, damn, how many hours would any of us really be interested in playing Pac-Man or Q*Bert? An hour, maybe?
I'm with you, Rob, though for me it's BETTER and even more "WOW" looking at this stuff through older eyes. Now I have the clarity and knowledge to really appreciate these things. If I had plenty of space and some disposable income, I'm sure I'd have a nice collection like Bill's. That said, I've barely touched the various consoles I own now. Even my DS is just collecting dust. Likewise, I hardly ever play any of the thousands of retrogames I have stored on my computer, and my X-Arcade might as well be in the cupboard with the fondue machine (I don't own one, but you get the idea).
When I do get some free time, I find myself either playing WoW or, more likely, responding to comments on forums and such. It's just more fun for me to talk about these old games than to play them! I'm sure it'd be different if I had any friends who lived close by that liked them, but that's just not going to happen, and even if it did--who knows? If we all lived in the same neighborhood, how often do you think we'd all get together to play stuff like Midi Maze or Zaxxon? I bet we'd probably end up playing mostly modern games on our 360s or whatever it was. If we tried to play retro games, we'd end up in retro hell, where you have so many thousands of options that you only play a game for a few minutes before moving on to another one. I mean, damn, how many hours would any of us really be interested in playing Pac-Man or Q*Bert? An hour, maybe?
Matt Barton, Managing Editor
Location: St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
Email: matt@armchairarcade.com