Posted on 08/14/2004 12:47:49 PM PDT by qam1
The video game industry is on alert. A challenger is gobbling up players -- and her name is "Ms. Pac-Man."
Yes, the classic games of the 1980s are making a comeback, from the beribboned pink Ms. to those "Super Mario Bros." and the one-and-only "Donkey Kong." Vintage and reissued video games are the hottest trend in the usually forward-thinking $7 billion-per-year gaming industry. Gamers are expected to spend an estimated $250 million to $300 million on retro games this year.
"They're huge," says Lee Eisenberg, owner of game hub Fun City in Parma, Ohio, and a retro gamer himself. "Our older stuff is outselling our new stuff. I've never seen anything like this."
Eisenberg carries both vintage and reissued games and systems, but says the old ones outsell the new products. He has a hard time keeping those big, clunky two-decade-old Nintendo, Atari and Intellivision systems ($40) and games ($3 to $10) in stock. Fortunately, he has a warehouse supply of no-longer-manufactured consoles and cartridges acquired from trade-ins, garage sales, Web sites and other sources.
The flashback started with nostalgic thirtysomethings, says Eisenberg, 39. But "younger kids are really getting into them now, and not just with their parents."
He says the appeal is simple.
"The newer games are really really violent and expensive. A lot of people want to go back to their childhood. They want younger, simpler games."
The nostalgia factor was one reason behind game giant Nintendo's June relaunch of eight '80s classics, including "Super Mario Bros." and "Donkey Kong," all for Game Boy Advance.
"Many of us grew up playing Nintendo and have a fondness for some of the great games from our original console, the Nintendo Entertainment System," says Beth Llewelyn, public relations director for Nintendo of America.
"With the 15th anniversary of Game Boy this year ... we thought it would be fun to go back to our '80s roots and release some of the classic NES games."
Sales have been very strong, she says, already hitting the 500,000 mark. The company is also selling a Classic NES Limited Edition Game Boy Advance SP ($100) that re-creates the look of the original NES.
Nintendo's not the only company thinking retro. Toy maker Jakks Pacific recently launched a series of plug-and-play hand-held systems called TV Games, featuring classics such as "Ms. Pac-Man," "Galaga," "Pong," "Centipede" and "Asteroids" from Atari, Namco, Capcom and Activision. The $20 battery-powered system looks like a joystick and plugs into your television.
Radica Games Ltd. will release its own classic system this fall. The $30 console, dubbed Arcade Games, also plugs into your TV and features reissued Sega-Genesis games such as "Sonic the Hedgehog."
And the revival isn't limited to the home-tech world. "Pac-Man" bleeps and blurps are sampled in new songs by hip-hoppers Lil' Flip and Beanie Sigel, and game sounds and images have been used in ads for Hummer and Saturn autos. T-shirts with "Space Invaders," "Pac-Man," Atari joysticks and classic logos are a trendy urban retro-kitsch look.
Namco has even launched a "Class of '81" series of arcade machines.
Many fans aren't content with reissues, however. Vintage Intellivision, Sega-Genesis, Nintendo and Atari games and consoles are hot commodities at the eBay online auction site. A recent search on Intellivision turned up 492 games and systems. A "classic Atari" search yielded 219.
There's even an annual get-together for retro game fans. The seventh Classic Gaming Expo is set for Aug. 21 and 22 at the San Jose Convention Center in California. Last year's expo in Las Vegas attracted 1,500 people and caused organizers to move to a bigger venue, where they expect even more attendees this year, says expo spokesman Jayson Hill.
"There's a huge nostalgia factor to classic-game appeal," Hill explains. But he says the interest has grown beyond sentimental Generation X-ers. He was "shocked" by the number of kids and teens at last year's event.
But are these kids shocked by the primitive graphics and sounds of 8-bit classics, compared with today's 256-bit games?
Hill doesn't think so.
"Sometimes people don't want everything served to them," he says. "If you give a person everything, they get nothing from their imagination. It's not as much fun as if you have to fill in the blanks."
I never played those. I ended up going from no graphics like Adventure to graphic based games. (Did play the vector ones, but other than the Vectrex, those were only in arcades).
Emphasis was on replayability (if that's even a word) not flash.
We are finally reaching the point where the physics engines, graphics, and AI are being combined into some really kick games. Unfortunately, you need a top of the line PC to play em.
You might like FFX then. Well done and pretty linear. It had just enough side quests (that were not required) to give you the illusion of non linearity.
When I got Zelda for the original Nintendo system, my then-ten-year-old son wasn't impressed. It hooked me, though. So, he would go into his room and I would stay in the living room playing Zelda until I came upon a monster that I just couldn't beat. Then I'd call him out, and, of course, he would defeat it easily.
I've been a Zelda fan ever since, and I'm anxiously looking forward to the new one.
http://www.romnation.net/
or
http://www.rom-world.com/
Though Warning, They both have porn ads on their sites and they make you vote for their site as a top gaming site before they let you download any ROMS
I have a good platform I built myself. What do you recommend?
That's 'cause it's illegal. This one site had all the ROMs, but they made the wrong people mad, and they got turned in and their ROMs were pulled. I haven't looked for MAME ROMs in a long, long time, but I am quite sure the ROMs are out there if you know where to look. There was a burners club--Tombstone was in the name, I believe--where you could send people blank CD-Rs, and they would return them to you with all the ROMs (never would trust that, myself). And, there are ROM groups in Usenet.
Anyway, my game playing goes back to the '70s, but I don't limit myself to old games. One game I really responded to, for some reason, was a Western shooter called Sunset Riders. I loved it in the arcade, and I played it constantly on MAME. It's basically Contra in the Old West, if you know the reference.
Other incredible shooters are the Metal Slug games. Except for the PC's Duke Nukem: Manhattan Missions, which I adore, the Metal Slugs are probably my favorite shooters of all time. Another SNK game I really took to was called Mark of the Wolves. And, I don't usually like fighters.
I like Zelda games in all flavors--2D and 3D--so I'm also desperately looking forward to the new Gameboy Zelda--the Minish Cap. Looks terrific.
Thanks for the recommendation. I'll look into it.
It's Qix. It's available for MAME, and may be available in some legal, off-the-shelf compilations. I'm not sure if it is, though.
Way cool! I never liked the "Cell Look" of Wind Walker.
I just got my stepson 4swords for the gamecube. He and my youngest have been playing with it--I haven't had a chance to check it out, what with preparing for the hurricane.
I haven't seen those, but I'll take a look. Thanks.
Me either, but if it had played more like the classic Zeldas, I would not have been as disappointed.
Pong ping. :-)
Hard to say anymore. The industry is in a transition as we speak to PCI express and a new MoBo footprint. However, that will take some time to get off the ground.
What I have (and it works very well) is:
Asus P4c-800E Ultra MoBo
4 Gigs 3200 DDR (however 1 gig is enough)
A 3.4EE processor. Any 2.5 and up would do just fine)
Audigy2 Sound Card (There is a good sound chip on the MoBo but the 7.1 is just fantastic on the Audigy)
I have an EVGA Geforce 6800 Ultra, but an Fx5700 or 5950 Ultra will do great. The Radeon X800 series or 9800 is also a kick card. :-)
I am running dual 19" flat screens (but most games only use one screen. A 20-21" CRT would work great and they are not that expensive
As for the rest of the hardware, I have had good luck with Maxtor or WD drives. I used rounded cables just for the airflow and my case is a Lian-Li Pc-82 aluminum. (doesnt way a ton. LOL. There are lots of cases out there now that are aluminum.
No kidding. Sigh. Glad they are going back to the old format. :-)
ping
"doesnt way" = Doesn't Weigh
Sigh!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.