«

[SlowCoder]

Reading through /., I ran into the following article about old games:

With modern console technology making it easy to develop and distribute small games, more and more companies are taking advantage of gamers' nostalgia to re-release decades-old hits, and to create entirely new titles in older styles. Gamasutra takes a look at what the retro game fad has become, and where it can go from here. What old games or series do you think would translate well onto today's consoles? "Many gamers who bought Mega Man 9 did so because of the game's inherent nostalgia, or because they never had a chance to enjoy the older games on the Nintendo Entertainment System when they were younger. Mega Man 9 is very much a product of its context. Its gameplay is fantastic, but it too is a product of the time period in which it reigned supreme. It suggests the question: can neo-retro games stand the test of time? Will games that mimic or lampoon the 8-bit era remain relevant and interesting to the masses long after its original audience has disappeared?"

I think this is a valid question.

There are slews of new games coming out every year. So many, that it's easy to forget about the older ones.

I was around when most of the originals were released. I return to them because of nostalgia, and the experienced knowledge that these games carry excellent game play, despite their relative lack of graphics and sound compared to recent games. But many years down the road, will these originals be forgotten, stashed into some historic technology archive, never to be seen again?

Sad to think about it, but unfortunately this is the reality I foresee for the future after all of us have gotten older, and moved on.

My son periodically sits with me while I play a nice adventure game on the old PC, but generally prefers to hit the PS2 and PS3. I understand that, and I know that he'll feel nostalgia for those PS2/3 games that I have for the old PC games. And he won't think much about the games I played.

What do you think?

[Panthro]

I think the problem with many types of game is that the ideas behind them are constantly re-used.

For example, when I was a bit younger I loved the Alone in the Dark trilogy, following that was the Resident Evil series, and now Alone in the Dark has come back in a different style.

First person shooters are still incredibly reminiscent of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, and have just made small changes in each itineration.

There are only so many iconic games (or films or books) per generation, and those will stand out, given time. The industry is still very young.

[sgtboat]

A true classic will never die. Is the Mona Lisa lost, Is Mozarts music lost, Are the dead sea scrolls lost. NO. Some games will go but they are the fringe games. The truly genre changing games will still be played, Like Civ, SSI strategy games, Etc.. My son (11) has been playing the heck out of the Krynn series. He says he likes the game ( i raised a good son hes into playability). A classic game is a classic game and will always be remembered, if not played, as an example of genre changing Games.:thumbs:

[Quintopotere]

Sometimes I re-play Monkey Island series, Colonization, UFO, settlers II... and other ones: They are still absolutly better than many nowaday gamez with next-gen graphics!
And it's not a question of nostalgy, those games have that "something" that keep you involved for hours and never let you get bored :thumbs:

[Luchsen]

Originally Posted by sgtboat

Is the Mona Lisa lost, Is Mozarts music lost, Are the dead sea scrolls lost. NO.

Those are things that you know. The lost things are lost things because you don't know them. There probably are paintings better than Mona Lisa, composers better than Mozart and scrolls more important than the Qumran ones, but you don't know them because they are lost. Your deductions is not, erm, ...coherent? (I even can't come up with the German word...)

[Sebatianos]

Heh... I guess you are al forgeting one very simple fact...

The original machines on which the old games are played are not used any more...
It's like with old music or old films...
There aren't any old records in use anymore... I mean, how many of you guys still cranck up the old Victrolla and put on a wax disc in order to listen to a scratchy old tune... But the same song can be bought and listened to digitalised and on a CD.
Same with the old movies... Do you have an old style projector at home to watch a century old film? But you can get everything from Brothers Lumiere on a DVD and watch it on the latest new gadgets you own...

And that's why these old games are moved on new machines and clones are off course made in the process (like many sit-coms using scenes from classic movies - yet they will never push those movies into oblivion).

So don't worry. The only thing that might happen is that the sheer number of fans will drop - but the games will not be forgotten.

Has Murnau's Nosferatu been forgotten after tons of other Dracula/Vamipre movies were made? NO.
But today you'll have to watch it on a DVD with comentaries, recorded sound etc. You can't go to a movie theatre and see it on celluloid and hear a guy playing a church organ live in the background.

[SlowCoder]

The problem with recurring themes is that, while recurring, are going to be new to the younger generations that never experienced the previous games. So, in a sense, the games are new. And, with limited exception, the younger generations will only want to play the newest games that push their hardware to the limits. Otherwise the games are not worth their time. Right?

[Panthro]

The problem I would have with old games being used as a base for new games is this: They change too much!

Comparing "Bioshock" to "System Shock 2" is not comparable to listening to the difference between vinyl and CD, or VHS and DVD, the changes are quite marked, and while some people find this better, it makes me feel like I'm viewing the world in a completely different way to eveyone else, when I find it worse. (not to say that Bioshock was a bad game, just what they added graphically, they removed in complexity.)

And I wouldn't even say SS2 was an "old" game, and it had been simplified from the original to quite an extent.