Jamcat

I can easily name some top PS1 games, but beyond the retro collections for the PS2, there is NOTHING worth top 10 in my book when it comes to current games. As I see it, great gaming peaked at the 32-bit age. Now gaming has gone to hell. Game makers are just selling the same $#!t in a box over and over. They either change the graphics or slap another number next to the name and call it a "new" game. Yep, if you like re-hashed, me-too, been-there-done-that, cookie cutter clone games, than this is a great time in gaming for you.

Well, that's my opinion of today's console games. I dare say 99.9% of today's games are just the same, been-there-done-that cookie cutter crap, with pretty graphics. What is there to get excited about? GTA: San Andreas? If I want to see a bunch of gang banging minorty thugs run around killing people, I can just as well watch my local news. I don't want to play crap like that. Halo 2? If I want to play a FPS I can just as well play the original Doom. Today's console games are just way too lacking in quality, innovation, and gameplay that they aren't worth wasting the time to play. Heck, I've played shareware games on my PC that have more quality, innovation, and gameplay than these console titles gamers rave about. Sorry, today's games just don't do it for me. I'll just keep on enjoying the old stuff.

Sure I have MAME on the PC for exact arcade versions of my favorite 80's arcade games, and near 300 actual 2600 games. But I buy and play retro collections for a couple of reasons. First, for the arcade games, I like playing the games on a big TV while kickin' back on my futon as opposed to being hunched over on a desk playing them on a small monitor. Next, the retro collections save space. For example, with Activision Anthology, I just have a single disc and don't have to dig out my Activision collection from the closet and litter the floor with carts. Yes, if Midway came out with say Arcade Treasures 3 for the PS3 that had Steel Talons, STUN Runner, Bad Lands, T-Mek, Original Area 51, or whatever, then yes I would buy a PS3 just to play that collection. Heck, as it is now, all the PS2 games I have are retro related. Except for one title, Stuntman, which I only got on a special deal for $5 new. Other than that, I just play my PS1 games on the PS2. Retro Whore? I like that! Or better yet, Gameplay Whore.

On the handheld side, the GBA is cool. But I consider handhelds & consoles 2 different areas. While console games today pretty much suck, there have been a lot of cool games on the handheld side.

Sorry, but for me, today's console games DO suck. Play more? There isn't anything good worth playing! Except for the latest retro collections, which I already have. Never been a better time to be a gamer? Yeah, if you're a graphics whore it's a great time. But not if you're a gamer who wants gameplay over eye candy. Hang up my controllers? Hardly. I'll just keep on enjoying the old stuff.

Hehehe, as the saying goes... The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

I don't know. Buying games today is like going to a street hooker. You pay near $50 for a short cheap thrill. Once it's over, you're left with nothing but a wallet with $50 less dollars. If games today had any replay value it wouldn't be so bad. But it seems games today HAVE to have an ending. Once you beat a game, it now becomes a $50 drink coaster, frisbee, or dust catcher. Never to be played again. That's why I love the classic games like Tetris, Ms Pac-Man, Robotron, Missile Command, Tempest, Asteroids, etc. You CAN'T beat those games. I find it more fun to beat a high score than to beat a game out right. It's too bad they don't make games like this anymore.

No, geekdom is wanting to see somebody make a adapter to play actual Atari 2600 games on a Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance system.

Yep, sequels and very little innovation. Wow, big f--king deal if Master Chief can now fire 2 weapons at once. What next? I guess in Halo 3 you'll be able to shoot 2 weapons AND fart at the same time. Of course then the idiots over at GameSpot would then rave about the ability to fart & fire and call that innovation and worship Halo 3 as "Game Of The Year". It's like those stupid sports games. Oh wow, the helmets shine more than the helments in the last game. Yeah, that's innovation today. Sheesh!

Well, I find myself buying more DVD movies than games. For the money, DVDs offer more value than the games of today. Its funny how DVDs go for $20, yet games are going for $39-$49. People give the lame excuse that games cost so much because they take millions to make by teams of people. So? Movies take millions to make by teams of people, yet DVDs have a reasonable $20 price for what you get. Besides the movie, it's the added extras that I enjoy about DVDs. Sadly games are like CDs in the music industry. Over priced!

"Not only is it the real thing, but it was designed so that you could take it apart and hook up a keyboard and disk drive." Pointless. Why bother when you could just as well get a actual C64 and a disk drive for it off of eBay? It would probably be cheaper than wasting the money to adapt a disk drive and keyboard to a toy.

Nah, gotta say I love the 4 switch model the best. Though that baby is packed away in the closet. Right now I'm looking to get a 2600 Jr to keep my PS2 company on the shelf and to play some games that are not on the Atari/Activision Anthology collections.

" If anything we have more variety now than ever, take for example some of the biggest hits of last year: Halo 2, Fable, Half Life 2, Prince of Persia, Burnout 3 and GTA: San Andreas." Honestly, I wouldn't call that variety. That's all that seems to be on consoles today is 1st/3rd person shooter/action and racing games. That's not variety, that's BORING. That's another thing that sucks about the industry. Nobody wants to take risks anymore and try new things. They just want to play it safe and boring by making the same old 1st/3rd person shooter/action and racing games over and over.

As for the EA thing, I couldn't care less. I'm not into sports games, so EA can do whatever it wants. But I was amused at all the idiot gamers who reacted to the EA/NFL thing like it was the end of the world. Really stupid to see gamers so worked up and getting their pantys all in a bunch because Sega can't make football sports games now. So what. Let Sega use the ESPN football engine and replace the players with characters from Sonic The Hedgehog and it will still sell. Yeah, Sonic Football 2k5. Heheehhe. As for EA buying up companies left and right, I don't care about that either.

"Oh, and it has always been about the graphics. I can't remember a time when it wasn't (and I'm pretty old). Yeah, gameplay is paramount, but you can't show gameplay on a box." Yeah, but the extra eye candy fluff doesn't add anything to the game. Sadly most game makers use fancy visuals to hide or make up for lacking gameplay. For me, I'm happy with say the graphics of Pole Position or Out Run. I don't need fancy effects like seeing the sun gleem off the paint of my car, or seeing the reflection of other cars or the environment on it to enjoy the game. When it comes to 3D, I actually like flat-shaded polygons, as I like the old school VR look that it gives. But the main point is, as long as a game is fun, I don't care about the graphics. Unlike today's gamers who have NO imagination and need every possible detail displayed to them, I can use my imagination to turn that little square in Atari's Adventure into a mighty warrior. Yeah, I bet it would kill gamers today to play a text adventure. Oh no, I can't play this! I don't have the imagination to visualize in my mind what the text is describing. I need high polygon 3D photorealistic graphics.

Well, I think sooner or later people are just going to get tired of buying/playing the same old crap over and over again. Today all the FPS, racing, fighting, and RPG games are all the same. It's just funny. In 10 years when crap like Halo 2 or Grand Thef Auto: San Andreas are long forgotten, I'm sure there will be some still enjoying stuff like Tetris & Ms. Pac-Man. I know I'll be.

Just curious to hear your comments. If the industry crashed again, would you care? I do think the industry is headed for another crash. And if you listen to Shane R. Monroe's Retrogaming Radio show, he thinks it is too. I for one WANT a crash to happen. There is SO MUCH garbage out today, that the industry needs a good shake out. Everything out today is re-hashed sequels and me too clones. And today's games have no gameplay or replay value. Too much focus is on graphics, GRAPHICS, G-R-A-P-H-I-C-S. Sadly, gamers today seem to be nothing but graphics whores with the attention spans of a hamster on crack. So the game makers make games with tons of eye candy and little gameplay. Again, honestly, I would LOVE to see the industry crash, burn, totally die out and never come back again. If the industry were to fold, I would just be happy to go on playing the current games I have. As it is, I don't care for any of today's crap, and mostly play the classic stuff (8-bit, 16-bit, and early arcade games) anyway. There is just no innovation today. I think the last innovation was the original PlayStation, and that was it. The PS2 didn't offer anything new. Just better looking versions of the same $#!t we all played before on the PS1. And the PS3 looks to do the same thing. Just better looking versions of the same $#!t that the PS2 offered. It's the same thing with the Xbox & Nintendo systems. Nintendo is even worse. With each new console they bring out, they bring out the same god damn $#!t Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon games over and over. Call me jaded, but today's games just suck.

The adventure games on the cover disc of issue six are: Beneath A Steel Sky Flight Of The Amazon Queen Out Of Order The Infinite Ocean Zork Trilogy Fiend The Key Photopia

Yeah, I came upon Retro Gamer by chance in a Walden's bookstore. Picked it up for a article on Atari computer & Nolan Bushnell, as well as the cover disc full of adventure games. I love those old point & click graphic adventure games. The only downside to the mag is that it is too expensive, being an import and all. If only they'd make a magazine like that here in the US. Would love to see the old Electronic Games team (Arnie Katz & Bill Kunkel) come back to do a retro mag.

Well, I don't have too many NES or Genesis games, but I'd rather keep my near 300 Atari 2600 games boxed up.

Interesting article there. It's just funny though how emulators like MAME and Z26 can run arcade and 2600 games near flawlessly on a computer, yet consoles have trouble running these games. Makes me wonder why they just don't get the people who made these emulators and make a deal with them to make console versions of their emulators. Digital Eclipse did good work on Atari Anthology, but someone should have QC'd for that annoying glitch in the arcade version of Millipede. Still say though that the PS1 versions of Atari's arcade games emulate better than the PS2 versions. Same goes for the Midway collections as well. Robotron just doesn't seem to play or sound just right in the PS2 version as it does in the PS1 version. My gripe about Midway Arcade Treasures 2 is that Pit Fighter runs too fast that it is totally unplayable. And that the shadows flicker in MK2 and MK3, which is rather distracting. I don't remember the shadows flickering in the actual coin-ops.

The ONLY good thing about EB is that they do take trad-ins on PC games. Most other places only deal in console games and not PC games. When it comes to PC games, I don't care much about the trade-in value for them. Namely because when I buy PC games, I shop the discount/value/clearance section for PC games at places like CompUSA or Micro Center. So if I get $1 for trade-in on a PC game I paid $4.99 to $9.99 for, I'm happy.

Hehehe, my photo would be of a CD-ROM! Mainly because when it comes to classic gaming, I play my 2600, NES, SMS, Genesis, SNES, and arcade games by way of emulator on my computer. Best thing about emualtion is that is saves TONS of space. No system or cartridge clutter around the house. Just a single CD-ROM with a few emulators and 100s of ROMS. This way I can keep my 2600, NES, and Genesis/32X boxed up in the closet. They only console I have out is my PS2. And I only have 6 games for that system which are: Atari Anthology Activision Anthology Midway Arcade Treasures 1 Midway Arcade Treasures 2 Gradius V Stuntman Plus I have a CD wallet of PS1 games I still play such as: William's Arcade's Greatest Hits 1 Midway's Arcade's Greatest Hits 2 Namco Museum 1 Namco Museum 3 Atari Anniversary Edition Redux Tempest X3 Turn About Tall Infinity Roll Away Billiards Pro-Pinball Big Race USA Pro-Pinball Fantastic Journey Die Hard Trilogy Nuclear Strike Test Drive 5 Driver Driver 2 Rollcage Stage II Dino Crisis Parasite Eve 1 Parasite Eve 2 Nanotek Warrior Apocalypse Besides that, I do have a GBA (original classic model) with too many games to list. Basically 17 GBA and 13 GBC games. I love the GBA. Too bad it's the last 2D handheld system to be made.

I wonder how much I'd get for my copy of Snatcher for the Sega CD if I took it to a place like GameStop, EB, or Game Crazy. Probably 25 cents. But I did see Snatcher going for near $50 on eBay. Amazing. Old game and it's still commanding a high price.

I do have Activision Anthology for both the PS2 and GBA. Yes, I am not happy that some of the games like Pitfall or River Raid run 10% slower than then original games. It is crazy that 2600 games run slow on a 32-bit handheld system like the GBA. I mean, if the GBA can emulate near perfect arcade games as shown in the Atari, Namco, and Konami collections, it should damn well run simple 2600 games at normal speed. Hell, I'd even be happy if they made the games run 2 to 3 times faster then normal. But not slower! At least the games I play most often, Robot Tank, Megamania, and Laser Blast seem to run at a decent speed. Rumor has it though that Aspyer didn't give a damn about the game speed. And that the audience for the game wasn't for hardcore classic fans like us, but for the casual gamers who just want to remember their youth and don't care if the game is exact. So Aspyer is targeting those same people who buy those crap Jakks TV games. It's a wonder why Activision didn't make them correct this. Though honestly, Activision SHOULD have went to Digital Eclipse in the first place for the GBA version.