Post by db on Dec 20, 2014 20:20:35 GMT
Hey, everyone. I've noticed a trend in the last few years of people talking about revered old video games but qualifying their statements by always saying, "By today's standards the game hasn't aged well." To everyone who feels the need to add this caveat I say, in the politest way possible, up your nose with a rubber hose! Do we really have to do that?! Aren't we just stating the obvious.? I mean, isn't it a given that as time goes on technology advances and more complexity is possible? Why hold the technological standard of one era up to a future one and point out the obvious shortcomings? A Tesla is very different than an old Corvette but I bet I have lots of fun driving both! I think we're capable of acknowledging the differences while still loving the thing that's more technologically limited for itself.
If games are aging so badly how does one explain the current rise in interest in retro gaming, game collecting and the popularity of youtube shows about such things? Could it be that the games were great in spite of, maybe even sometimes because of their technological limitations? A big part of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper album's legend is that, hey man, they did all that with only 4 tracks available to them and it still rivals a lot of stuff recorded in recent times with unlimited tracks. Honestly, for all it's simplicity, the first time I saw a Pong machine at our local pizzeria when I was about 8 or 9 I felt like the monkey men in Kubrick's 2001, seeing the monolith for the first time...and then my dad and I actually played it. That game will never not be great because of anything that came after.
If games are aging so badly how does one explain the current rise in interest in retro gaming, game collecting and the popularity of youtube shows about such things? Could it be that the games were great in spite of, maybe even sometimes because of their technological limitations? A big part of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper album's legend is that, hey man, they did all that with only 4 tracks available to them and it still rivals a lot of stuff recorded in recent times with unlimited tracks. Honestly, for all it's simplicity, the first time I saw a Pong machine at our local pizzeria when I was about 8 or 9 I felt like the monkey men in Kubrick's 2001, seeing the monolith for the first time...and then my dad and I actually played it. That game will never not be great because of anything that came after.