Whippersnappers Bad-Mouth Old Games 699
1up.com has posted the second in an article series called "Child's Play", where they invite youngsters to experience the joys of classic gaming to hilarious effect. From the (sob) article: "Bobby: After you beat the Death Star level, there should be a snow level, then a small speeder bike level. They should make a Matrix game in the theme of Star Wars. So then you take out your sword and run up to a guy and go, "Chiiing!" And after you saw through his head, you fly inside your X-wing."
Like the first one... (Score:5, Insightful)
omfg (Score:3, Insightful)
If it's stupid to like a game that is addictive, what is it to like a game that isn't addictive at all, but still shell out real money to play it?
This kids are HIL-arious! (Score:3, Insightful)
EGM: What do those lasers look like?
Anthony: Stars.
Garret: Fireworks.
Bobby: Fireballs.
Parker: Psychedelic snowflakes.
Dillon: It's snowing up.
Rachel: This looks like a game out of Willy Wonka or something.
Bobby: It's like, "I'm Willy Wonka. I've created a new Star Wars."
Someone give these kids a contact!
Wel (Score:5, Insightful)
Parker: You wasted quarters on this?
EGM: Yeah.
Parker: That's so sad.
He does have a point...
Anyway, it's interesting to read these kids' descriptions of old games. Of course, these games are way retro; these came out before I really got into gaming, so I don't attach quite the level of nostalgia to it as others do. Now if they played doom or wolf3d and said that was crap, then I'd be like "wtf"
Anyway, it's natural if you think about it. Kids today are exposed to graphical feasts with games like Halo 2, going back to the old games when you didn't have the type of computational power to pump out those textures and polygons, is like starving.
But still, games were better back then, when they concentrated more on the gameplay and/or story before the prettiness of the graphics.
Re:Like the first one... (Score:5, Insightful)
The kids made a reference to Gleaming The Cube and a billion other reference.
I've seen 11 year olds... they are not that bright.
They make reference that are just too damned mature.
Too bad I'm at work and I don't have time to pick through every statement that just doesn't fit.
Old fogies bored with new computer games (Score:5, Insightful)
I stopped buying console games after the N64 introduced a new wave of medocrity in gaming. With a few exceptions from Nintento direct, almost all the third-party games were crap. Aside from Wave Race 64 and a few others mostly from Nintendo, I really hadn't seen anything that was even remotely innovative in the gaming world. FPS's have been run into the ground and there's only so many permutations of this genre you can make before they all start to seem the same. There's something pathetic about first-person or reality-based games where the main enjoyment involves wandering around breaking things and torturing people. And the tiresome D&D ripoffs that give you carpal tunnel syndrome.
I'm sure there may actually be some decent games that have been made in the last ten years, but I haven't seen anything that impressed me.
This can't be real (Score:2, Insightful)
Garret: That's the whole point of videogames. "
Do all 11 year olds talk like this? This just screams "Fake"
Re:Perhaps they should have played Wolf3D! (Score:2, Insightful)
Garret: "Mike Tyson" is bad publicity for this game.
Parker: Nothing is bad publicity.
Garret: Maybe Mr. T is Nintendo's marketing director. Mike Tyson was all like, "I'm gonna eat your dogs; I'm gonna eat your kids...."
You're right. There's no way I could make up shit that good either, but no doubt the editors at Ziff Davis can.
Old Skool (Score:5, Insightful)
I got one as a stocking-stuffer, and spent hours playing the old 2600 Adventure, Asteroids, etc. (and the newer console that had Galaxians, and Dig-Dug).
My kids would just look at me, shake their heads, go back to their rooms and go back to playing their xBox.
"Mom? I don't get it. Why does dad play those stupid games?"
Get real (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't get me wrong, I loved Galaga and all that shit but I certainly wouldn't expect kids to like it when they can play things like HL2, WoW, etc. The only thing I *might* hope the kids get out of it is an appreciation of where the current games evolved from and gaming history. That's it.
Re:Like the first one... (Score:5, Insightful)
But it isn't the random generator that is profound, it is the person doing the selection.
Similarly, while the majority of what the kids say may be worthless, a selection process can make the raw material look more intelligent than it is. You are probably reading more into the sentances than the kids actually meant, because you're only getting the sentances that you can read more into.
Not saying it isn't fake, but it doesn't have to be.
Re:Like the first one... (Score:3, Insightful)
Why does a 10 yr old have a cell phone? That's the part I'm stuck on.
Re:Like the first one... (Score:5, Insightful)
i wasn't stupid when i was 11, i was fixing TVs and my friends' game consoles.
don't be so quick to demean children. they're not stupid.
Re:Like the first one... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Like the first one... (Score:5, Insightful)
Technology changes, and skill sets change with it. Cultures change, and people change with it. Every generation thinks the next generation is worthless and will be the downfall of civilization. You know you have become an adult when you start bitching about how retarded the next generation is.
Re:Like the first one... (Score:2, Insightful)
No 10 year old needs a cell phone.
If he's 10, his parent's should be there, not a cell phone.
Re:Old fogies bored with new computer games (Score:3, Insightful)
Two words: Animal Crossing [wikipedia.org]
Re:Nostalgia is overrated. (Score:2, Insightful)
It's not just video games, mind you. The same thing happens with movies, books, games. Hey tried playing 3e Dungeons & Dragons? If you ever played any of the previous editions, you already played this game. It's just packaged differently, but the core of it is the same. And in those games, what really matters isn't the rules used but the skill and imagination of the DM and players.
As for nostalgia, well that serves a purpose. It's a reliving of the wonderful moments of your life, which can help give meaning to it. I treasure those old days and the friends who experienced them with me.
BTW, I'm disapointed they didn't make those kids play Rogue.
Re:Nostalgia is overrated. (Score:2, Insightful)
Do you realize that Hollywood remakes a movie every 20 years (e.g., Logan's Run, Superman, Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory and even the re-edited Star Wars movies)? Did you know that the video game industry considers itself the next Hollywood?
Guess what? All the old video games are going to be re-released, remaded into new versions, or recycled into other video games. If you look into any other creative field (i.e., literature), the same re-release/remade/recycle pattern is visible everywhere.
As for looking forward to the future, the French would say: "The more things change, the more things stay the same."
"Insightful"? Bad mod. BAD! (Score:5, Insightful)
A word to the wise: technology does not great art make.
Unless you're telling me that Charlie Chaplin's "The Circus", being silent and in black and white, is therefore not as good as Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Jingle All The Way", which was of course in glorious multichannel digital sound and full color, then try to think before posting the brilliant argument that "old stuff sucks".
If, on the other hand, that is what you're saying, then...well...go on down to Wal*Mart. I hear they have loads of inexpensive DVDs with high-quality movies on them (which is to say, they have clear sound and color).
Re:what about the best clasic game ever... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:We still had vivid images (Score:3, Insightful)
Every single game that you remember fondly from your youth was just "one title in a sea of... trash". You simply don't remember the trash, for obvious reasons. For every Zork or Marathon, there were a thousand worthless games that nobody can remember today.
Looking back, I have fond memories of about as many games as there are years that I've been playing games. If you think that Half Life 2 is nostalgia-worthy, then you're good for 2004.
Re:Like the first one... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Like the first one... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Like the first one... (Score:5, Insightful)
S'true. Also, while I can't vouch for *every* line, many of them had the feel of "precocious 11 yr old trying to say something funny to make it into the magazine", like this gem from last year:
"Fear my pink line. You have no chance. I am the undisputed lord of virtual tennis. [Misses ball] Whoops."
Kids can have this amazing depth of arcane knowledge, like a ton of 8 year olds who get interested in dinosaurs and suddenly can spout off as experts in paleontology. Basically, young kids are learning machines, and when they mix it with a little focus, their depth of factoids is profound.
The kids have it about right (Score:4, Insightful)
I was expecting them to dismiss the old games based on the dated graphics, but they seem to have actually given each game a fair shot and enjoyed the games or found them annoying just like we did back then.
Re:Like the first one... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Old fogies bored with new computer games (Score:3, Insightful)
From my biased perspective, N64 was a hotbed of innovation relative to the PSX, so don't blame Nintendo.
Re:Like the first one... (Score:5, Insightful)
Those of use who dislike children don't care how intelligent they are, we just think the little monsters are obnoxious.
Re:Nostalgia is overrated. (Score:1, Insightful)
Another thing maybe is that the graphics these days try to be a tad TOO realistic. I prefer my games to leave a little more to the imagination. My brain can fill in the gaps pretty good, but when I see polygonated humans that aren't quite exactly right, it kinda kills it for me. Sort of like if a realist painting had all kinds of flaws in it. But a surrealist painting's supposed to be all wack, so that's cool. Sorry if that doesn't make sense, but it's the best I can describe it.
Re:what about the best clasic game ever... (Score:3, Insightful)
You can't save the world in the original Missile Command. That's why James Cameron had John Connor playing it in Terminator 2.
It's a lesson for humans that machines always win in the end, like most classic arcade games.
Actually, young gamers appreciate retro (Score:0, Insightful)
Re:Perhaps they should have played Wolf3D! (Score:1, Insightful)
They aren't so bad... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Perhaps they should have played Wolf3D! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Too bad you don't know what you're talking abou (Score:2, Insightful)
Older teenagers might be more appreciative. (Score:3, Insightful)
Unfortunately, much of it might be retro-novelty, since they spent a good half hour playing some tedious walking shoot-em-up before they switched to anything good.
The NES seems to represent the dividing line between primitive games and modern games. This is the point where games started to acquire modern features such as continues, save states, fractional health instead of simply dying after each hit. It's where home games started to take on the high-resolution multicolored look of arcade games, not to mention larger worlds and wider varieties of challenges. What's more, many of these games are the prequels to current franchises, like Metroid, Sonic, and Final Fantasy. That may be why NES games are such popular Easter eggs for modern Nintendo games.
"Faux" editing? (Score:3, Insightful)
"Garret: GTA III has all the faux cars based on real ones."
When was the last time you heard a 13-year old use the word "faux?" Just thought that was interesting. The dialogue looked pretty good but I thought this stood out a bit.
Re:One more time, just for fun (Score:1, Insightful)
It's merely an indication that you are practiced in a specific set of rules, and that you're partial to applying them. Anything other conclusion is merely inferred. Am I supposed to think you're an idiot because you didn't properly conjugate the third person plural of the most basic English verb? Of course not. There are other conclusions that can be drawn. The point is already proven, to anyone with a reasonable bone in his body, but why stop there?
| If you won't make an effort to write clearly then I won't waste my time trying
| to decipher your ramblings.
Oh, what irony in your complaining about it! Practically speaking, if you don't comprehend sentences like those you are bitching about, i.e., those with a few minor errors, then your brain isn't working right and you should see a neurologist. More likely you, and others of the same purported mindset, are simply using the "poor communications victim" gag as a way to pimp your own self-perceived "mastery" of the language. It's a method heavily used in the school yard - pick on someone else to make yourself feel better by comparison. Tell me - how many errors are acceptable, before one should no longer be dismissed, eh? Three? Fifteen? What kind of errors? Spelling? Grammar? Logic? Stylistic errors?
| If you write like a 4 year old child then people will naturally assume you
| are an idiot and ignore you.
Are you saying 4 year old children are idiots? You must realize that not everyone has the benefit of a proper edjumacation in English, and that ignorance is not the same as stupidity. Or maybe not, because as surely as that is true, it is also true that knowledge is not the same as wisdom. You might know English, but that doesn't make you smart.
Auf wiederhoeren, smart guy.
We should give 'em other games. (Score:3, Insightful)
OK my choice would be:
a) Project Firestart for the C64 (survival horror)
b) Aliens for the C64 (muahahahahah)
c) Summer games series for the C64
d) Eye of the Beholder I and II for the IBM PC
e) Prince of Persia for the IBM PC
You know, I miss the versatility that videogames had in the past. I'm considered blessed if I can find a copy of "Zone of the Enders" for the PS2 in my hometown.