Lord Helmet Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 A valid point except that Nintendo makes their consoles backwards compatible. I'm a bit befuddled by that comment. Other than the Wii, there aren't any natively backward compatible Nintendo consoles (not talking about handhelds here.) What are the other ones I'm forgetting? Point taken, I was considering handhelds when I said that. You mean the DSi is backward compatible? Yes it will be. But DSi software will not be region free like the Ds software is. Huh, I was under the impression that the DSi could not play GBA games... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 According to Atari, my Atari 2600 was supposed to be like a record player that I could keep using for the rest of my life: Was this a fairly common notion in the 80s? Is it still common with kids today? I ask because I had the same mentality about my NES. It never occurred to me that a new system would ever come out, I simply assumed NES development would continue for decades. It might have something to do with the fact that the NES, and earlier systems, were sold as "computer systems" or "entertainment systems", implying that they were designed for long-term use beside that other pinnacle of 80s technology, the VCR. Is my memory faulty, or was the perception of a system's lifespan just different back then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artlover Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 Is my memory faulty, or was the perception of a system's lifespan just different back then? Ever since the 1970's, new consoles were comming out on a somewhat regular basis. Hell, back then it seems like a new Pong clone was every few months. It might be easier to express this this way. Since 1972, according to Wiki the only years a video game console was NOT released were: 1973, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008. (Not accounting for country or handhelds.) If anything, console releases have slowed down in recent years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godslabrat Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Ever since the 1970's, new consoles were comming out on a somewhat regular basis. Hell, back then it seems like a new Pong clone was every few months. It might be easier to express this this way. Since 1972, according to Wiki the only years a video game console was NOT released were: 1973, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1997, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008. (Not accounting for country or handhelds.) That's an interesting point to make, but I'm not sure it totally contradicts what I was saying before. While there were new consoles coming out every year, a company didn't "upgrade" its own hardware nearly as often. The Atari 2600 never became the long-term format that records were, but it did get commercial support for ~15 years, to say nothing of homebrew support afterward. The 5200 and 7800 were released years apart, never taking any spotlight away from it. The NES was similar. Even though new systems came out, the big ones tended to be constant for longer periods of time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad2600 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Well this is pretty stupid. I just bought a 360 not that long ago. I don't even have a fancy TV or LIVE and I can still enjoy my 360 the way I enjoy my PS2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.