The Video Game Critic

I hate to admit it, but about three years ago I got rid of all my videogame systems. A couple I actually threw in the trash, along with various games. I was in the process of moving after buying my current house, and I made some stupid decisions. I sold a Nintendo 64 for $50 to a coworker. I gave my younger sister my Saturn and Dreamcast, along with what games I had lying around. And during my move, I actually tossed a Genesis and a Playstation in the trash. The Playstation was one of the old ones, purchased right after its release. Along with those, I tossed several games as well, games that I now wish I had. I even had a Sega Saturn NetLink that I used to use for the internet and I guess I tossed that too. Damn, I wish I stil had that thing!

I had gotten out of gaming and was more into home theater and projectors and collecting DVDs. But this was just plain stupid! I guess I thought I'd never get into gaming again, that I had outgrown it. Now, at the age of 38, I'm getting back into it.

My wife bought a PS2 early last year so that she could play Dance Dance Revolution after hearing what great exercise it is. She got bored of that after a couple of months, so she bought an Eye Toy for our daughter to play. She played it for a short while, but then got bored with it. So the PS2 sat there collecting dust for months. We set up a home theater in my guest house complete with a "lobby" room that has the projector and equipment along with a candy counter etc. My wife found one of the Konami home arcade machines, which is like a slightly smaller than normal arcade machine with several games on it. I thought it would be cool to house all my home theater equipment (DVD player, receiver etc) inthe bottom part of the cabinet, plus it would go along with theater lobby theme. But I got hooked on the games -- Frogger, Contra, Time Pilot, etc.

Next thing I know I hooked up the PS2 inside the house, and started buying old school compliations like the Midway collections, both Sega collections, and the Capcoms, the Activision and the Atari collection. And I bought an NES to hook up as well along with one of the gaming rockers. I'm now converting an upstairs closet into a game room (the closet is the size of a small bedroom). The point is, NEVER GET RID OF OLD GAMES AND SYSTEMS. Now I miss all those old game systems and will probably start buying some of them again for the second time. I also can't stop reading reviews here!

I don't really care about getting a PS3, Wii or Xbox360, I just want to relive the old games I used to enjoy. I can't believe how STUPID I was!

Anyone else here ever do anything so stupid??

Thanks for reading this.

Chris

My dad gave away my atari vcs. That sucked. I have sold the ps one but have a ps2 so its no big deal. Also sold my gameboy color for a snes which was worth it.

Well, I sold MOST of my original 'old school" systems, only to buy them again, but it wasn't stupidity but necessity. I wanted to upgrade to the NEXT gen, and being poor usually means selling your lastgen+games for whatever you can get to go towards buying a new system. Like I sold my 2600 and 40 games for $100 to be able to get a colecovision (the system and one game cost nearly $200 in 1982). But It's ok, because I eventually found and bought about 80% of my old games for FAR less than I got for them! (single exception:Vectrex)
I do have some advice though:NEVER LOAN YOUR GAMES OR SYSTEMS, ESPECIALLY TO A GIRLFREIND/WIFE! I did and lost them when they dumped/divorced me. If you MUST loan to a guy freind make sure there is an understanding that he is responsible for the game/ system! If he gets mad at you, he STILL must give it back!
(And not peed on and covered in dog crap, either!)

[QUOTE=ChrisD]I don't really care about getting a PS3, Wii or Xbox360, I just want to relive the old games I used to enjoy. I can't believe how STUPID I was![/QUOTE]

The best way to relive old school games is to get a Wii. I'm in the process of buying Virtual Console games of the old school games I have and throwing out my old school consoles since they are obesolete. The old school consoles (especially the NES and 16 bit systems) were designed for entirely different TVs. Hooking up Super Mario Brothers through the NES to your modern TV is going to be far inferior to the VC version. VC also doesn't have wires for the controllers! Many of the compilation games for the Gamecube covers any major holes in the VC library.

The Wii has given reason for me to finally bury my NES, Genesis, SNES, etc.

lol

I don't know how to put this and have it be nice, but that's stupid.

[QUOTE=Cataclysm]The Wii has given reason for me to finally bury my NES, Genesis, SNES, etc.[/QUOTE]

Well I guess it depends on what it is you are doing, and how long you intend to keep them.  The Wii itself won't last forever, and once it's gone and Nintendo stops supporting them, the VC games you own are gone too.  It will just be another classic game console you are getting rid of by that theory.  So if you expect to keep playing them for 20 or more years, or if you are a collector, the Wii certainly doesn't give you a reason to bury or get rid of anything.

Having said that, the Wii is definitely an excellent way to enjoy those games.  It improves the visuals, especially on modern HDTVs, and the gameplay feels fresh in a lot of ways without modifications to the games themselves.  This is especially true of the N64 games, which are astounding on the Wii/EDTV/HDTV combination.  I just don't know if I'd go as far as saying it's a good reason to bury your old consoles.  It really depends on what you are looking for and what kind of longevity you hope for.

The VC is a great option if you haven't collected the consoles to begin with.

I actually have a NES and SNES, but that's more luck than actual collecting: it was my wife's "dowry" (that's a joke, of course!) when I married her last year!

Yet I definitely try to live by the maxim of "do you love it, or is it making you money?" when it comes to non-essential stuff, so the VC allows me to enjoy a classic gaming collection without the inevitable piles of carts/systems that don't get significant play time. That I actually bought Urban Champions (I actually kinda like having those "pre Super Mario Bros." Nintendo games just for historical purposes) and played it for 10 minutes isn't so bad if a cart/box isn't cluttering our small house.

But the VC is no reason to trash the gear if you already have it. All you get with VC is one's and zero's, no box, no manual, no cart. My parents made their fortune in the collectables business, so I can attest to the power of having something tangible to hold in your hands (perhaps not that surprisingly, being raised in a business that caters to 'pack rattery' makes me not so keen on it myself....)

-Rob

[QUOTE=m0zart]So if you expect to keep playing them for 20 or more years, or if you are a collector, the Wii certainly doesn't give you a reason to bury or get rid of anything.[/QUOTE]

I expect to be playing the VC games for 30 years. I have been playing my NES for 20 years so why not? I don't see why a Wii could not last that long especially considering its harddrive is flash memory. And, even if something did go wrong, there is always the helpful Nintendo Customer Service who helps even with obsolete products like Virtual Boy. Considering that these 'classics' I am downloading are $5-$10, the risk is extremely minimal.

It is my belief that a console SHOULD last twenty years (I give a pass to the NES and its connector issue but still...) This is why I like systems like the Dreamcast. And it is why I would never buy a system like the Xbox 360 since it appears not a question of whether the system will fail, only a matter of when. PS3 I don't know enough about.

With moving parts of cds and DVDs make these systems more prone to fall apart but that can be overcome! The charm of the old school systems is that they can last so long. I think gamers should demand the same of the new systems.

[QUOTE=Cataclysm]I expect to be playing the VC games for 30 years. I have been playing my NES for 20 years so why not? I don't see why a Wii could not last that long especially considering its harddrive is flash memory. And, even if something did go wrong, there is always the helpful Nintendo Customer Service who helps even with obsolete products like Virtual Boy. Considering that these 'classics' I am downloading are $5-$10, the risk is extremely minimal.[/QUOTE]

You are getting customer support for the Virtual Boy?  The last time I contacted them about the Virtual Boy, Nintendo made sure to tell me that the N64, Virtual Boy, SNES, and NES were no longer supported, and they could offer no assistance on the matter.

So, is this something you have recently experienced?  Or are you just hoping for support?  The two are very different.

[QUOTE=Cataclysm]It is my belief that a console SHOULD last twenty years (I give a pass to the NES and its connector issue but still...) This is why I like systems like the Dreamcast. And it is why I would never buy a system like the Xbox 360 since it appears not a question of whether the system will fail, only a matter of when. PS3 I don't know enough about.[/QUOTE]

Are you saying you never bought a PS2?  Those systems certainly don't last.  If you didn't, then you really missed out.

I am unsure of how the Dreamcast can be used in this comparison.  It isn't even ten years old yet.

I think we all *believe* that a console should last at least 20 years, maybe more... but again, there's a difference between what we believe should happen and what the reality is.

[QUOTE=Cataclysm]With moving parts of cds and DVDs make these systems more prone to fall apart but that can be overcome! The charm of the old school systems is that they can last so long. I think gamers should demand the same of the new systems.[/QUOTE]

But, the Wii is made like a new system, not an old one.  And regardless of how much we might like them to, there WILL come a point when Nintendo will no longer support the Wii.  Have they promised that the VC will continue on future platforms and that we can transfer our games to them?  Hardly.

I think you hit the nail on the head -- old consoles last, while new ones -- not so much.  So why get rid of older consoles that last when you have a Wii?  It makes no sense.

[QUOTE=a]

m0zart, if Nintendo gets read of the Virtual Console wouldn't you still have all of the games downloaded onto your system?

[/QUOTE]

I am not arguing that Nintendo will get rid of the VC.  I am simply pointing out that the VC games are tied to your Wii. The only way to transfer them is to have Nintendo do it, which would be a matter of support.  And finally, there will be a time when Nintendo will no longer support the Wii.

Do you get the effect of the causal chain here?  VC game copies are ephemeral.  At least if I own a copy of a game from 20 or more years ago, all I need to do is find a working console to play it on.  It doesn't matter how many copies of a Wii VC game I have, they will only play on the console I bought them on or which was licensed over again by Nintendo when they performed support on your console.  And that service will not last forever.

I am not hitting against the VC at all.  I've probably bought more of these games than many of you.  I love the VC and the Wii.  But I do keep the reality in my head that this too shall not last.