What happens when this generation is finished?

[madhatter667]

Uh-oh...I hope I don't get to eat that irony sandwich!

[Skylark68]

I'll be dead when this happens, but i think it would be awesome to see someone bring in a VCS and a tube TV to Antiques Roadshow. It would be funny to see the person bring it in and say that they received this stuff from a relative and didn't know exactly what it is. The appraiser says well, let's see here and then plugs in an Adventure cartridge and turns the VCS and TV on. Then he says, "If you had the joysticks you could manipulate the square and maneuver around the green and yellow duck characters..."

[Rik]

Atari memorabilia and todays modern consoles as well,will end up in museums or antique shows where folks will ask about it."What is that crude looking stuff?" they'll ask,with a response like"thats what gaming was like back then,with the very limited technology they had,while they're playing their games projected by Holograms

Edited August 7, 2008 by Rik

[Bountybob]

Uh-oh...I hope I don't get to eat that irony sandwich!

 

Dang I was going to do an Antiques Roadshow joke You beat me to it

[Bountybob]

Eventually all computer games as we know them will be consigned to the museum.With 300 year lifespans People will be too busy with holidays to the Moon, Mars, VR entertainment and other new wonderous technologies to bother with them.Like the Golden age of Arcade Games that once existed in the early 80's They will just be considered as a brief fad in the history of humankind.

[JustJeff2]

I am 36 and plan to live at least 30 more years if I stay away from the highway.... that's 30 more years the rest of you hacks will be around too. So let's collect and be merry!

 

Cheers,

-JustJeff

 

Post to future JustJeff: If you are 76 now and reading this, SELL SELL SELL!

[TunnelRunner]

"Most people that grew up with Atari are in their 30's to 50's right now and Atari will hang on still for quite a while. But by the time the Atari reaches 100 years old, the interest in the console would be quite diminished indeed and may be relished by the die hard gamer that has to play everything, or those who keep, play the game for historical significance.

 

Anyway, that is just my 2 cents on the subject.

 

Geo

 

Well, from another Geo (hello fellow G) I have to agree that the interest 100 years AB (After Bushnell) will be minimal at best, relegated to those who find an old working system in their great grandparent's storage. I grew up on board games and bike riding, years before Atari even existed. But once I got hooked that was it. That, however, is just me. Classic video games, for me, represent a very good time in my adult life. Later, when eBay became a force in bringing these old games back into the light, I got back into the hobby with a vengeance. It made me happy to hold onto these old toys because they were a happy relic of my past that I could share with others.

But once this latest generation gives up their old Ataris and Intellivisions and Colecovisions, etc. then that will be it. I see many of my fellow collectors liquidating their collections to pay bills. A sad commentary on the world today, to be sure. The day may yet come for me when I will pass along my collection to others who are a couple decades younger (the VCS came out when I was 20). The torch will be passed to the last generation. So bask in the glow of Pac Man and Robot Tank and Pitfall Harry and Q*bert while you can. Take care of those old carts, my young padawans. Many hours of joy invested.

 

G

[iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin]

(the VCS came out when I was 20).

 

 

A kingdom for a look on your collection...........

[Rik]

Might as well have your game stuff buried/cremated with you when when you croak,no one else will appreciate the stuff like you did,especially 99% of the newer gamers out there,just end up in the trash. ;)Thats of course true when"THIS"collecting, interested generation die off.Hardly doubt wii,playstation,etc owners later on in like 10-20 years will be fighting over Atari 2600,5200,7800,INTV,cv.etc,stuff at flea markets,they'll be looking for "THEIR gaming era stuff"

Edited August 9, 2008 by Rik

[marcfrick2112]

Well, my .02 worth, I think if the Atari hardware itself survives, even in dusty attics, etc, there will be at least a few fans, even many, many years from now. Only because I have seen a 67-year old man, and 8- or 9-year olds (who have yet to see an XBOX spend quite some time with a VCS... (The 67-year old is my dad, BTW ... Rather beaten up Sears Tele-Games with 2 extension cables for the yoysticks so he can play games from the comfort of his bed...

[Mirage]

Yes, there will always be some fans and collectors, always. Just like there are still fans and collectors of antique cars like Model A's and Model T's etc. Hardly anyone still alive today remembers them from when they were new, so it's not purely nostalgia, but history and just liking them. There will be far far fewer Atari fans in 100 years than there are today though, and they will collect for different reasons.

 

Either way, I'll be long gone. I'll just try to pass the hobby on to my hypothetical future children, but letting them like their own stuff too, and let the chips fall where they may.

[Joe Cool]

Yes, there will always be some fans and collectors, always. Just like there are still fans and collectors of antique cars like Model A's and Model T's etc. Hardly anyone still alive today remembers them from when they were new, so it's not purely nostalgia, but history and just liking them. There will be far far fewer Atari fans in 100 years than there are today though, and they will collect for different reasons.

 

Either way, I'll be long gone. I'll just try to pass the hobby on to my hypothetical future children, but letting them like their own stuff too, and let the chips fall where they may.

 

 

SMART

[pmpddytim]

How old would you say the average 2600 collector is? I'm 27 and while I remember playing Pac-man on a Sears unit I don't really have any fond memories of it.

 

I got into 2600 when my wife, then girlfriend, got me one about 5 years ago (joined Atari Age right after!) and have been hooked since. I can't explain why I dig it. Simplicity, relaxation......hell I don't really know I'm just drawn to it.

 

I think there will always be people like me. I may have grown up on Nintendo but I love Atari.

 

-T

Edited August 10, 2008 by pmpddytim

[Foxsolo2000]

Life will go on and the remaining, working 2600's will be mere curious to those that follow after we are dust

[Rik]

After you close your eyes,or sometimes stay open...YIIIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,for the LAST time and you cease to exist,after your life force leaves at the base of your skull,it wont really matter will it!

[AtariLeaf]

How old would you say the average 2600 collector is? I'm 27 and while I remember playing Pac-man on a Sears unit I don't really have any fond memories of it.

 

I got into 2600 when my wife, then girlfriend, got me one about 5 years ago (joined Atari Age right after!) and have been hooked since. I can't explain why I dig it. Simplicity, relaxation......hell I don't really know I'm just drawn to it.

 

I think there will always be people like me. I may have grown up on Nintendo but I love Atari.

 

-T

 

I'm 38. My cousins got one in 77 and I was playing theirs all the time. About a year later I got my own. Played it for years as did everyone at the time but by the crash it was relegated to the attic and probably eventually sold in a yard sale. When I married my wife in '92, she had a junior with centipede and frostbite and I wasn't really interested but one day we hit a yard sale and picked up about 30 games for a few bucks and I started playing them, mostly common classics but they were the ones I played as a kids - Asteroids, Circus Atari, Missle Command, Space Invaders, etc. Got hooked and started hitting thrifts and yard sales like crazy coming home with garbage bags and big boxes of games and systems.

 

I got out of collecting a few years ago and sold everything, only recently getting some more, again, in a yard sale. Now I can feel it starting all over again.

Edited August 10, 2008 by AtariLeaf

[slosu]

Who cares......did you have fun with your atari while you were alive?

 

My collection will end up with my daughter when I go. She can do whatever she wants with it. Chances are she'll hold onto to it and hopefuly she'll think of me when she plays it.

[TunnelRunner]

(the VCS came out when I was 20).

 

 

A kingdom for a look on your collection...........

 

Thanks for the compliment. It's not Marco Kerstens huge, but still sizable (just over 1500). No room to walk about! Much of it original owner.

[famicommander]

I think a good game is a good game no matter when or where it came from. As long as there are collectors, there will be interest in Atari's systems.

 

Hell, I'm only 17 years old. Take a look at my signature and all the systems I own. And all of those are MY systems, not ones that my parents or brothers own.

[guyjin]

As time goes on, there will be fewer and fewer people who care, or even know about Atari. Think back to previous generations' past-times. What about extremely popular radio programs of the 30's and 40's. Some of those shows are really entertaining (Lum & Abner, Abbott and Costello, Burns & Allen), but I bet hardly anybody under 50 even knows what they are, yet alone has been listening to them on their MP3 player this month.

 

Because so few people had recording equipment back then, I'm sure many are lost forever, never to be heard again (except maybe by aliens, and they might not understand what they're hearing.) I know the same thing happened to many early TV shows.

 

But, thanks to piracy and emulation, most Videogames will be preserved as long as global thermonucelar war doesn't break out. (or interplanetary thermonuclear war, if we colonize other planets.)

[opeygon]

whats going to happen? you'll see a bunch of overgrown emo kids in their forties digging through piles and piles of wii and 360 shitware searching for a decent find

[fiddlepaddle]

As time goes on, there will be fewer and fewer people who care, or even know about Atari. Think back to previous generations' past-times. What about extremely popular radio programs of the 30's and 40's. Some of those shows are really entertaining (Lum & Abner, Abbott and Costello, Burns & Allen), but I bet hardly anybody under 50 even knows what they are, yet alone has been listening to them on their MP3 player this month.

 

Because so few people had recording equipment back then, I'm sure many are lost forever, never to be heard again (except maybe by aliens, and they might not understand what they're hearing.) I know the same thing happened to many early TV shows.

 

But, thanks to piracy and emulation, most Videogames will be preserved as long as global thermonucelar war doesn't break out. (or interplanetary thermonuclear war, if we colonize other planets.)

 

Fortunately, video games are not the only thing people preserve:

 

http://www.archive.org/details/oldtimeradio