Realization about why I enjoyed older systems

[ASSEMbler]

I was thinking back to the old days, and I suddenly realized I
enjoyed the games more when I understood the hardware LESS.

Games seemed more like magic, especially things like an
unexpected voice sample, or real music from early cd-roms...

Now that I understand the hardware more, it seems I nitpick too
much. Worry too much about how my video card might cope or
frames per second, etc.

I tend to think ignorance is bliss as far as hardware goes.
Or perhaps instead of ignorance it was innocence.

[mdmx]

Well I think I enjoyed games back in the old days more because I hadn't the money to buy several games or even several systems. I had to save my pocket money for a long time to buy a new game. Therefore I think I enjoyed the game more. And probably because it was a new hobby and a new experience for me.

[GodofHardcore]

I like the old school more because there were concepts like Level design and things like that.

Nothing like a shmup either where you just blast the fuck out of everything that comes at you.

[randyrandall]

very true.

Back in the day oit was a console, wired controller, RF, TV. Now its resolutions, frame rates, regions, wireless, hard drive size, installing.. and I also know about the tech behind it.

also, I think gaming was about beauty, art, and producing creations within huge limitations.. there basically are no true limitations any more.

[Night_Sky]

When you dont understand technology fully,every feature entertains you. When you understand how the console works and what should be expected of agame you get nitpicky

[alphagamer]

Well I think I enjoyed games back in the old days more because I hadn't the money to buy several games or even several systems. I had to save my pocket money for a long time to buy a new game. Therefore I think I enjoyed the game more. And probably because it was a new hobby and a new experience for me.

Imagine this worst case scenario: You spent your hard "earned" pocket money on a game nowadays reviewed by the AVGN.

Massive disappointment!

------

I enjoyed games more in the old days because I had seen LESS than I now have! Everything was NEW and WOW.

[Taucias]

I think I enjoyed them more because I had less, it forced me to really learn the game inside out. Now adays I might even buy games and not play them. Back then, I only got a handful a year.

[GodofHardcore]

Now there are so many genres but back in the day it was more or less 1 Genre PLATFORMERS. At best maybe 5 genres You have Platformers, Beat em ups (IE Double Dragon) Shoot em Ups (before they were called Shmups) Light Gun Games and Sports Then every now and then an RPG and Puzzle game would come out

So at the lest 5 genres at the most 8 (I didn't include racing/driving)

When we were confined to a 2d Plane There wasn't much room to innovate When Mega man 2 hit everyone was shitting themselves that we could finally choose where we start without having to input a code. That was HUGE then. Now we don't even get Codes to choose where we start out let alone that novel idea of a password since everything is backed up.

I remember back in the day getting a game and wiating months for Nintendo power to publish passwords for that paticular game as there was no internet.

All that's gone now. And that's a shame becasue it made gaming something far bigger and grander and larger than life than what it is now.

I remember one day Mucking around with Shinobi on the Master System and some screen with numbers comes up I'm like WHAT then I realized it was a Stage select and I was all like Stage select FUCK YEAH STAGE SELECT!!!!

How about the Maze in some Early run Master Systems? My Cousin showed me that.

Oh and the rumors like if you cut off that exp bay on the bottom of the NES it could play Master system games. And how Sega was flooding the NES market with Pirate Carts and Nintendo tried to brainwash it's fans to report anyone that sold them.

Those were the days man.

[f2bnp]

Nah, I always loved playing games ,old or new, as long as they were good.
Same happens now, just because I learned how they worked didn't make them worse games, quite the opposite actually , it made me appreciate the work and effort put in those games! It's just that in the past , companies used to spurn a lot more crap than nowdays. But alongside with the crap came many really really great games. Nowdays there a lot less bad games, but a lot which are mediocre to just good.
And that's the problem! The games just aren't as memorable and rarely leave you with this wow expression on your face.

[DeckardBR]

What I'm noticing is that with all the cross platform titles, we're getting less console exclusives. The exclusives gave the console a particular feel to it, for instance genesis had more of the "mature" games. It used to be you'd buy a console to have that one must have exclusive title, but thats getting pretty rare nowadays.

[Tachikoma]

Learning proper situational programming ruined most games for me, now when I play a game I just see a myriad of IF statements.

[WarHampster]

Knowing what is going on behind the scenes only takes some of the enjoyment out of PC games for me... I'm always worrying that there's something I should be doing to get better performance or make the graphics look better.

[Vosse]

I was thinking back to the old days, and I suddenly realized I
enjoyed the games more when I understood the hardware LESS.

Games seemed more like magic, especially things like an
unexpected voice sample, or real music from early cd-roms...

Now that I understand the hardware more, it seems I nitpick too
much. Worry too much about how my video card might cope or
frames per second, etc.

I tend to think ignorance is bliss as far as hardware goes.
Or perhaps instead of ignorance it was innocence.

sadly, I think I suffer the same fate. Sometimes in my life I envy the ignorant folk.

[Barc0de]

I was thinking back to the old days, and I suddenly realized I
enjoyed the games more when I understood the hardware LESS.

Games seemed more like magic, especially things like an
unexpected voice sample, or real music from early cd-roms...

Now that I understand the hardware more, it seems I nitpick too
much. Worry too much about how my video card might cope or
frames per second, etc.

I tend to think ignorance is bliss as far as hardware goes.
Or perhaps instead of ignorance it was innocence.

Learning proper situational programming ruined most games for me, now when I play a game I just see a myriad of IF statements.

spot on.

The other day I was thinking to myself that the more I know how stuff works the more the magic wore off.. When I see 3D games now I can almost see the triggers, the wireframes - I look at it structurally instead of "enjoying" the scenery.. :banghead:

That's why I can't get submerged in "epic" games anymore. They mostly feel like empty spaces with "stuff I have to do".

..and I don't like being told what to do. Not in real life, and certainly not in games. I fucking hate tutorials for example. It used to be a case of "press start to play" and wham! - gaming in a second! It didn't matter that I didn't know the controls. I had to figure them out eventually and that's half the fun!

[3do]

I remember back in the 90's when i was still young wanting a PS1 but i never new why back then and i never really thought of it as a 32bit machine taking over from the 16 bit SNES/Megadrive. I also never ever had the thought of it being a rival to Sega saturn or Nintendo and the N64 but rather looking at it as just another console.

When i think back now i actually realize that i never thought (good or bad)about the fact that i needed memory cards to save or the fact that i was using RF instead of scart to get a signal and i actually only cared about the games which the system had unlike now where i wasn't wanting an Xbox360 unless i got one with at least the 20GB hdd or the fact that since i bought a psp i was needing no less than a 1GB ms-duo card to go with it.

[MottZilla]

When I was a kid playing video games I always wondered how the "magic" worked. After learning how it all works, I can't say that it has taken away anything from my enjoyment of games. Afterall, you learn the rules of the game to play the game. So understanding what is going on at a hardware level doesn't really bother me at all. Infact it helps to understand there is a logical reason behind the game's actions rather than what the average person thinks which is that the "computer" is alive and torturing you. ;)

I think the main reason people like older systems better is probably just memory of how exciting and new and shiney gaming was when you were a kid. By now you've seen so much, you know what to expect, there is little magic or surprise to be had.

[Johnny]

When I was a kid playing video games I always wondered how the "magic" worked. After learning how it all works, I can't say that it has taken away anything from my enjoyment of games. Afterall, you learn the rules of the game to play the game. So understanding what is going on at a hardware level doesn't really bother me at all. Infact it helps to understand there is a logical reason behind the game's actions rather than what the average person thinks which is that the "computer" is alive and torturing you. ;)

I think the main reason people like older systems better is probably just memory of how exciting and new and shiney gaming was when you were a kid. By now you've seen so much, you know what to expect, there is little magic or surprise to be had.

MottZilla, i totally agree with you. I couldn't have said it any better.

But i think the magic still exists. It's lacking most of the time,yes, but the problem is that games are getting so complicated to be made, publishers are pushing release dates, great gaming studios (like Studio Liverpool) are getting closed and so on, that i think the creativity is getting smashed by marketing, rushed releases (release it buggy - patch later = hate that) and some other stuff. Publishers also likes to cash in on what's cool at the moment. Some years ago, there were TONS of RPG's being released. For some time GTA clones, First-person-shooters, Racing games with "Fast and the Furios / Street Racing" style, and so on, were the business...

Also home consoles now want to be a multimedia set-top box. Movies, Music, Internet, Social Networks, and also games. It's cool to have all these features, but GAMES should be the most important thing.

Also, the situation of the arcade business doesn't help it either. I think that most people were just like me, that used to go to the arcades and dream of conversions of those games to my home console. I'm stil like that, since i was hoping for an After Burner Climax conversion and thankfully it will be done (shame that not in disc).

But yes, anything from our kid / teenage years won't be forgotten. Those were the days!

[sayin999]

I think complication is a big factor. I mean half the games I play now the menus are complicated or you got do a tutorial first to figure out what you are suppose to do. Back then most games you could pick up and figure out how to play fully in about 5 min. Though I must say back then some ways you got around games was questionable.

[XxHennersXx]

waaaaaaaaaait...games aren't magic?

You mean Mario does NOT live inside my Wii??

[karsten]

as i stated in one of my articles, the modern games take off imagination by being overdetailed. this make them less fascinating. IMHO.

also the game's quality too is going down and down, fresh ideas are a dream, as is good storytelling :(