The Video Game Critic

It is completely dependant on the genre being discussed.  Old school for real time strat titles is different to that for platformers.  It's impossible to decide without looking at the context.

[/QUOTE]Agreed.  I'd have trouble trying to come up with a single line in the sand, when some genres (especially 3D heavy ones) have had recent games that made big impacts, and some (like fighters) haven't changed dramatically in decades.

"Old School" fps: pre-Quake, raycasting, 2d aiming, scaling sprites

"Old School" arcade game: pre-crash, bright graphics, deep gameplay, little story, few levels

Old school is 1977-1994. I also consider the N64 to be old school, because it uses cartridges.

I consider any game released before Super Mario Bros(1985) to be old school.    Super Mario Bros introduced a new style of gaming, that games still follow for the most part.   Before that, most games were arcade style get the highest score (Space invaders, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong) or long boring convoluted RPGs with little to no graphics (Ultima, Zork)  There were a few games that broke the mold (Pitfall, Adventure) but none came close to matching the quality of Super Mario Bros or the awesomeness that followed.   As a rule, I'm not a big fan of pre NES games.   Maybe because I was born in 1986, so I have no nostalgia to them, but I just don't think they are as high of quality.   I cant play a pac man or space invader game for much longer than 10 minutes without getting bored.   I just don't understand the appeal of these games today.   Anybody who claims that pre-Nes games are the best are just old cranky grampas.     But maybe someone could change my mind if they could tell me some awesome games from that time period I might of missed.

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Ultima and Zork were not boring.  While not on the same level as the Everquest and WoW series, they were entertaining as hell for the era they were released.  I used to dream Zork and Ultima.