Kids React to...Game Boy

[Pixelboy]

I pride myself on not owning a cellphone, and not being part of Facebook, Twitter and other means of social media (aside from AtariAge, of course). I think it's easier for me to disconnect (I can just turn my PC off) than most other people with cellphones practically attached to some part of their body, but on the other hand, do we really think that being disconnected is bliss? Life before e-mail, texting and social media was actually pretty bland, but we didn't know any better back then, and yet we found ways to keep ourselves busy.

 

I think many people feel this small sense of bliss when they disconnect voluntarily to take a breather of sorts, but the "blandness" of their immediate environment soon catches up with them, and then they reconnect.

[+Random Terrain]

I pride myself on not owning a cellphone, and not being part of Facebook, Twitter and other means of social media (aside from AtariAge, of course). I think it's easier for me to disconnect (I can just turn my PC off) than most other people with cellphones practically attached to some part of their body, but on the other hand, do we really think that being disconnected is bliss? Life before e-mail, texting and social media was actually pretty bland, but we didn't know any better back then, and yet we found ways to keep ourselves busy.

 

I think many people feel this small sense of bliss when they disconnect voluntarily to take a breather of sorts, but the "blandness" of their immediate environment soon catches up with them, and then they reconnect.

My mother and my sister have their phones beeping and dinging all day, even while they're trying to sleep. If people want to stay sane, they better learn to turn off all those notification sound effects and check their texts and e-mails only a few times a day. The constant interruptions of a smart phone can't be good for the human brain.

[+save2600]

My mother and my sister have their phones beeping and dinging all day, even while they're trying to sleep. If people want to stay sane, they better learn to turn off all those notification sound effects and check their texts and e-mails only a few times a day. The constant interruptions of a smart phone can't be good for the human brain.

 

It's not. Just look at society today. Little more than mindless worker ants taking up more than their fair share of space and getting in your way. Case in point: a middle-aged woman and_her_mother nearly ran into me as she was exiting the entrance at a Worst Buy. What was she doing? Staring down, screwing around on her phone while trying to walk. Good thing I was watching where she was going!

 

People are now starting to walk as poorly as they drive!

[Zenimus]

These videos are kind of annoying. The kids know they're being subjected to something that they probably won't like, so they already have a torturous attitude from the start. They know they're being filmed for reactions, which means they're gonna "play to the cameras".

 

A couple months ago, I brought an Atari 2600 with Kaboom over to a friends for his kid's birthday party. You might be surprised how excited and entertained kids in the modern age can still be with these old games. We set it up, played for 5 minutes with them watching, and then before you know it they're having fun and boasting about beating each other's high scores.

 

A positive environment makes a big difference in how they'll perceive something. Remember the excitement from the arcades when we were kids? We could see other people having so much fun, and it was something we wanted to experience too. Instead these videos present older tech as a sort of impending boogeyman, focusing almost entirely on the outdated aspects.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Zenimus

[Rhomaios]

People are now starting to walk as poorly as they drive!

 

This is when you plow people down. There's an art to it, especially in crowded cities where a well-placed shoulder will knock someone down who's rudely not looking where they are going.

[cybercylon]

Digital addictions for generation ADD. It's no wonder those kids struggled to play Tetris, the proliferation of "smart" devices and the subsequent information saturation they've caused is leading to a generation of people who can't focus on a single thing for longer than a few minutes, or experience something without a camera phone between them and whats going on, or hold a meaningful conversation outside a text message.

As I read more of this thread... I kept thinking more about the opening song to Persona 4.

 

Look it up and replace "remote" with "phone", and that sums things up.

 

All that information overload....

 

"......Loading loading loading, quickly reaching maximum capacity

Warning warning warning, gonna short-circuit my identity....."

Edited July 8, 2014 by cybercylon

[godslabrat]

I know people my own age who go "Yuck" at the thought of playing a Game Boy. You can't really narrow down that attitude to just kids.

[mipaol]

I know people my own age who go "Yuck" at the thought of playing a Game Boy. You can't really narrow down that attitude to just kids.

 

To be honest I was always more a fan of the Game Gear myself, nice sleek black portable Master System.

[Rex Dart]

Meh, you can't expect the kids to actually know the history behind handhelds, much less that a culturally important piece like the Game Boy was technologically inferior to its competitors.

 

And I don't. I was talking about lynx fanatics on this site.

[jmetal88]

I forgot how horrible the screens were. Even the original GBA was horrid. Thank goodness for my GB Boy backlit clone

 

Just looked up the GB Boy 'cause I've never heard of it before. I noticed they're selling three versions. The most expensive seems to be around $50, and uses the GBC form factor with a color screen. The least expensive seems to be around $15 and is a monochrome version of the same. Then at around $20 you have a GBA SP type form factor with a color screen, but it only plays GBC cartridges. I kinda wonder what makes the GBC form factor with the color screen so much pricier than the GBA SP form factor with the color screen?

[+Gemintronic]

 

Just looked up the GB Boy 'cause I've never heard of it before. I noticed they're selling three versions. The most expensive seems to be around $50, and uses the GBC form factor with a color screen. The least expensive seems to be around $15 and is a monochrome version of the same. Then at around $20 you have a GBA SP type form factor with a color screen, but it only plays GBC cartridges. I kinda wonder what makes the GBC form factor with the color screen so much pricier than the GBA SP form factor with the color screen?

 

I'd be interested in seeing links for the GBA SP-like version. The monochrome units seem to be without backight so I sold mine. The GB Boy Color with backlight is my precious. I don't care if I'm seen in public with a bright banana yellow gameboy!!

[jmetal88]

 

I'd be interested in seeing links for the GBA SP-like version. The monochrome units seem to be without backight so I sold mine. The GB Boy Color with backlight is my precious. I don't care if I'm seen in public with a bright banana yellow gameboy!!

 

Here you go. Looks like they're $2 off currently, so you could get one for $18.

 

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/GS-Game-console-with-backlit-handheld-game-player-16bit-games-classical-games-for-children-KONG-FENG/1169271210.html

[+Gemintronic]

 

Here you go. Looks like they're $2 off currently, so you could get one for $18.

 

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/GS-Game-console-with-backlit-handheld-game-player-16bit-games-classical-games-for-children-KONG-FENG/1169271210.html

 

Looks like the difference is the GB Boy Color uses normal AA batteries. When the Zombie Apocalypse happens I'll still be playing Tetris, methinks.

[jmetal88]

 

Looks like the difference is the GB Boy Color uses normal AA batteries. When the Zombie Apocalypse happens I'll still be playing Tetris, methinks.

 

 

Yeah, that's something to consider.

 

Oh, I just noticed one seller on that site still has a few of the solid color GBC form factor versions for only $26. That's actually cheap enough for me to consider. The more expensive one seems to be more expensive because it uses translucent plastic.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I just found a translucent blue one for $24. That's really, really tempting.

Edited July 9, 2014 by jmetal88

[+madman]

These videos are kind of annoying. The kids know they're being subjected to something that they probably won't like, so they already have a torturous attitude from the start. They know they're being filmed for reactions, which means they're gonna "play to the cameras".

I've only watched a few of these (the Walkman one comes to mind), but this is the first one where I felt like it was setup or staged. The kids not knowing how the cartridge goes in or that they need to turn it on? Really? Even the DS and 3DS have cartridges that need to be inserted, just smaller ones. And of course they also need to be turned on, they don't just magically work once a game is inserted. The "I thought this was a phone cover" or whatever the comment was also seems scripted. How would a kid that young have a visual memory of a Gameboy iphone case?

Edited July 10, 2014 by madman

[Zap!]

I don't hold anything against these kids for one reason. I can only imagine the things I would have said if someone interviewed me in 1984 about 1959 culture.

[dashv]

They should have given them a copy of Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening or Kirby's Dreamland to play.

 

I love me some Tetris but it really doesn't do justice to what the system is capable of.

 

A few months ago I pulled my GB out of the garage and popped in Zelda just to see if it still worked then set it down.

 

Since that time my wife picked it up. Played it. Beat it.

 

And my 11 year old is on dungeon 6.

 

A pea green Zelda game from last century pulled my son away from Mine Craft and Little Big Planet.

Edited July 14, 2014 by dashv

[roland p]

They should have given them a copy of Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening or Kirby's Dreamland to play.

I was playing Links Awakening on the gameboy player (gamecube). My son's (knows the ipad from inside out) response:"I like this one more than the other Zelda's".

The others were wind waker and four swords.

 

So the good news is that good old games can still be appreciated by a new generation.

[omegadot]

I'm of an age where the Game Boy was around and relevant to me growing up. It was cool, in fact. I played friend's GBs at school. I own one myself. It now sits quietly on a shelf because man do I hate that screen.

 

Many of the comments for videos like this tend to remind me of this comic...

 

http://xkcd.com/610/

[bkrownd]

My expensive handheld gaming system was Mattel Electronics Ice Hockey. 12 pixels!