The same mom who doesn't even know the capital of Nebraska offers this nugget:

You can learn how to type, or even learn how to run a nuclear power plant. Or how not to run a nuclear power plant. It's a science lesson you'll never forget.

I just pulled my old Atari 800 out of storage. It works beautifully after all these years, which is more than I can say about most of the hardware produced today. I even have software on 5 1/4" floppy diskettes from 1984 and earlier that still loads up without a hiccup.

This movie from giappino's link featuring Star Raiders brings back some memories. That game was revolutionary for its time, bringing a 3D space onto a controllable, interactive 2D screen. It took a little more imagination to make the games of the era actually fun to play, but that brings me to my point.

The vast majority of today's games lack any substance worth using your imagination to explore. Hopefully one day soon the demand for more intriguing, creative, and insightful games will drive the industry to produce them. As of now, I see the majority of today's video games reflecting what the majority of people seem to value and desire: glitz and glamour with no underpinnings or structure. There are exceptions, but by and large the gems are pushed to the fringe of the market by an overabundance of "fight this, shoot this" and with ever more realistic and/or detailed graphics and special effects and ever less substantial value. For me from this perspective, it has nothing to do with the violence factor or moral values but instead the idea of taking something away from a game like you can get from a good book or movie. Not necessarily that you've learned something, but that a dialogue is created and synthesis occurs.

Fuck Tron 2.0 (this will get a rise from giappino). Bring some real shit to the table!

From the Geekville Chamber of Commerce:

I totally disagree with you wseay. Video games are more complex and exciting today than ever before. Today's video games have so much more to offer than games of yore: incredible graphics, realistic environments, and, most importantly, online multiplayer capability. All of these elements and many others are brought together by a video game industry that's bigger than the movie industry to do what video games do best-- pump inordinate quantities of mindnumbing dopamine into the brains of gamers with a ravenous addiction. Can't find a game you like? Then play more, because there are plenty out there that will fill your need for substance. Unless of course your married. With kids. Then forget playing the damn things. Or get a divorce.

the only atari i ever owned was a 5200, and i loved it with all of my heart...i am still a gaming fanatic, and the best way to play the oldies these dys is with the MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator). however, the ROMS are very hard to find these days, but if any of you are interested, i can burn my library for you.

I have to agree with Mims. I have always enjoyed computer games, but have never really achieved true addiction until recently. I purchased one of these, and started playing this, this, this, and this. These new games are phenomenaly addictive and entertaining. I sit at work all day and obsess over getting home and picking up where I left off. My roommate and I stay up 'till 4 most nights pitting the Delaware Fighting Blue Hens against the University of Akron Zips, or clearing ultra-nationalist militants out of Tbilisi. OK, so you don't have to suspend disbelief quite as much as you did in 1984, but I don't feel that the enhanced graphics and more realistic animation overpower the experience of playing the game. They certainly haven't dramatically altered the basic themes of the games themselves. The majority of computer games have always been oriented to the masses who like shoot-em-up action. Now is no different. However, the level of detail and thought that goes into these newer games is amazing. In my limited experience, although the theme of many newer games may seem to be, "shoot this, fight this" on a superficial level, there are many more layers to delve into as you dig into the meat of the games. For example, in the, "Splinter Cell" game I linked above your objective is not to shoot anyone if possible. It's all about stealth and subtlety, with the use of deadly force as a last resort. The NCAA football game is like a freakin' tutorial on the game. Don't understand the playbooks? You're screwed. No more running Thurman Thomas up the middle every down like in Techmo Super Bowl (which was a kick ass game despite its relative simplicity). So I guess what I'm saying is, leave my crack cocaine alone! I like it! You don't have to use it if you don't want to....

rneff's got an X-box? Oh, hell. We gotta play. Especially when Halo 2 comes out. I haven't got the new Splinter Cell yet, because I've been to busy trying to kill Darth Malak. That dude can swing a saber. I'm also catching up on the whole GTA craze that I missed out on about two years ago.

By the way-- my three-year-old's favorite game? Pac-Man. He can already point and click and may one day soon be a regular blog contributor (though for now memphilter is strictly on the prohibited site list). It's intersesting to think that we are the first generation that cut its teeth on computers and are now raising a new bunch of geeks that are playing the same stuff we did when we were eight. I only hope my kids play computer games a little less than I did and go outside more.

I would just like to state, for the record, that wseay's wife is never angry with him about playing video games, even if he does it for hours at a time. His wife does, however, tease him about being a geek - but that's to be expected.

I don't feel very strongly one way or another about new video games versus old video games. Yeah, I prefer the old ones but probably just because I am nostalgic that way. In my opinion, I have yet to find a game that I enjoy playing as much as good old fashioned Galaga. Now that game is fun!

I'd love to do the xbox live thing, but I don't have broadband at the house. I expect to in the next few months (probably after I move) since I finally broke down and picked up a cellular plan (won't need a landline anymore). As soon as I do Mims, you'll be the first one I call. I haven't played Halo yet, but everyone raves about it so much I'll probably pick up a copy soon. Particularly if it allows split screen multiplayer play. I've played GTA and I'm nonplussed. I haven't played the Knights of the old republic yet either, but I may rent it soon.

As for the children self-regulating...good freakin' luck dude. I can't even regulate myself.

By the way, it didn't make the home systems (as far as I know) but I always liked Altered Beast.

Don't buy Halo. I'll send it to you. e-mail me.

Wseay, if you had picked any modern video game besides Tron 2.0 I would have agreed with you about the mind-numbingness of the majority of games out there. I think only a small 1% percent of the games out there are worth a damn. Tron 2.0 happens to be the arc of that 1% in my opinion. Reasons why: its based on an icon of science fiction movie history--
Tron; much of the artwork in the video game is done by artists who did the original artwork in the movie; much of the voices in the game are the voices of the original characters--Bruce Boxleitner and Cindy Morgan included; the game is built around fighting a corrupt virus that threatens the stability of the "System", i.e. the Internet. This involves destroying viruses, reprogramming corrupted files, traveling through mainframes like a Fantastic Voyage, and fighting some big-ass super computer monster-freaks (I like to pretend these are spammers). The violence centers around shooting or emanating power surges that "disable" the enemies, so the violence is much more downplayed and is in no way whatsoever a bloodbath. The story is not altogether unrealistic, apart from the fact that people cannot be inserted physically into an electronic grid, the action centers around realistic themes: internet, programming, defragmentation, networking, etc etc and uses that platform to actually make us feel like we are inside the internet! I love it! And if you still don't like, it I will attack you with my serialized Tron Disc of death.
And also, I will kick anybody's ass in Galaga! Bring it!

Glad to see some good ole game discussion. I posted partially as a devil's advocate to see what might happen (still waiting for a giappino response).

Star Raiders really was fairly innovative and enjoyable, but there are certainly many games out today that are much better. And with the recent XBox drop to $149 it's getting harder not to add one to my ever growing collection of platforms.

Online multiplayer gaming has undoubtedly brought a completely new dimension to gaming, one never possible before. Despite plauges of cheaters, campers, llamas, l33t snobs, and the like, it's almost always more fun to play against other people than lifeless AI.

Modern video and sound cards achieve incredible feats of realistic gameplay and effects, and also some nowhere near realistic but fantasic in their own way. If I weren't broke I'd be upgrading that shit about every 3 months.

I do, however, stand behind my actual point, as convoluted as it may have been. I admittedly spend too much time gaming, and get great enjoyment out of a variety of them. But they are the same games we've had for years. The same sports games, same shooters, same fighters, same RPG, etc. They keep getting better and what they do, but there are rarely games today that strike new ground. We've hit a bit of a plateau lately. Some of the best exceptions to the rule, in my opinion, have already been mentioned here. The GTA3 games by Rockstar are popular partially because of the gore, but they provide a new level of open-endedness that is hard to find anywhere. The Tom Clancy line does push the FPS genre into more challenging and innovative directions. The other examples are also good and there are many more. When Half-Life 2 finally comes out, we'll hopefully see a good synthesis of high-dollar funding coupled with rich story line, actual character development, creative problem-solving, and plenty of the flash and glitz we've come to expect to appease most anyone.

But by and large I believe the gaming industry is, despite its relatively recent burgeoning fundage, still quite immature and fairly limited in scope. I do think it's getting better, but I guess my main point is that it has a long way yet to go and it should only get better from here.

Now, excuse me while I fire up a little Prince of Persia...

Hahaha... you must have hit Post before I finished typing! We got the Galaga, if that was a challenge I heard, and I finally beat it into saving the high scores. So the next time we say we're going bowling and end up hanging at the crib instead, get your joystick warmed up.

Well, that's some homoeroticism if I've ever heard it.

Was it too over-the-top and obvious to be a good joystick joke? In any case, challenge accepted, but only on the gaming screen. Keep your stick of joy to yourself. Even my astute wife could whip your ass in Galaga. Too bad they don't have multiplayer online Galaga. Wow, Galaga galore!

defender is my oldie of choice; i still play a couple of games a week, but most of my gaming is online, particularly Battlefield 1942 Desert Combat. fly apache helicopters against real online opponents is the most intense gaming i have ever experienced

The story is not altogether unrealistic, apart from the fact that people cannot be inserted physically into an electronic grid
Couldn't have said it better myself. That's the thing that freaked me out about Lawnmower Man: the realism. Kind of like that other movie..what's it called?

I kid, of course.

This thread has given me a new idea for a subtitle for the site.
Memphilter: Getting our joysticks warmed up since 2002.

My old 800 mHz Dell won't even run GTA worth shit, and that's a good thing. Every time I'm in Target or the mall, I end up in front of a rack of video games lusting after Tron 2.0 or some other glorious time sink. "Get a grip," I say to myself. "You've got a fucking movie to make!"

Still, my latest game-I-can't-have obsession is City of Heroes.

Here are the Seven Generations of Video Games that is a good overview of console evolution. One of my old favorites: Galaxian 2. I still have this game and once gave it to a ten-year-old to play with. The kid curled his lip, looked at me like I just told him to have fun with a calculator, then ran off to find his Gameboy. When I was his age, my mom had to search the entire Memphis area and stand in line for 5 hours to get the thing. I was the coollest kid in my class for about ten minutes when I first brought the game to school because nobody else's parents could get it. But then another kid named William brought in Pacman 2 and my game was over. William always was an asshole.

I am the GorfMeister!

Nothing cools down a warm joystick faster than a piss-poor game. I think most veteran gamers will agree when it comes to lists of the worst | video | games | ever - E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is the reigning champion. Falling into pits for no reason,unable to get out? Endless candy collecting with no rewards? Pitiful graphics, and senseless objectives (where there any objectives?) Unfortunately, not one of Atari's better releases.

Votes for other entries? There are certainly many contenders for the crown!

OH MY GOD! I had forgotten about the E.T. game until now. I hated that game, I got it for Christmas one year and got so pissed off because it was unplayable that I destroyed it some way or another. I probably burned it. That game SUCKED!

Tron. Deadly. Discs.

another cool emulator

Worst game I never played: Custer's Revenge, which is responsible for stirring up the first major controversy about sex and violence in video games in the early eighties. Worst game I actually owned: Pac Man for the Atari 2600. That's not Pac Man! That's square-eating block man and his nearly invisible ghosts. What a rip off.

Screw you Atari freaks! I'm an Intellivision gal. Check out why Intellivision is "Still Blocky after all these years". When I was a kid I especially loved playing this, this,this, this and this. And if I wanted to settle in on a rainy day with one of my friends we could easily spend hours playing this. This and this undoubtedly prepared me for my adult life. Come to think of it, I think that Intellivision must have belonged to my father and he just let us play with it so that my mom would think he was buying games for the kids - although it should have been obvious that he was buying the games he wanted. Is that how it goes, jimoto?
Intellivision claims to be "the only retrogaming company run by the developers who were there at the beginning: The Blue Sky Rangers." Gotta love that.

Yeah! My cousins had intellivision. Their baseball game was sweet!

There is no pretending in my house-- the games belong to DADDY, so keep your sticky little disc-smudging paws off!

jimoto, if Atari 2600 Pac-Man seems a little too small scale for you, try Pac-Manhattan.

Also of note is the NES belt buckle. Unfortunately, mel, those Intellivision controllers with that cheapo disk thingy are not available as belt buckles. My guess is that they just don't have the wearability required of a buckle.

triko, Tron should have been called "Deadly Pixels".

Four words: Pac Man Christmas Album.

Bubba, my next door neighbor, had Pac Man Fever by Buckner & Garcia. Unfortunatley, I stil remember how that song goes.

I got a pocket full of quarters, and I'm headed to the arcade..."

We've done the Pac-Man thing before. I must say that, in addition to my neighbor owning a copy of the nafarious album, I also owned a tape of Pac-Man Fever. Hell, not only do I remember the lyrics to "Pac-Man Fever," I can even vaguely recall "Do the Donkey Kong" and "Frogger's Lament."

Even more ridiculous is the fact that when I first heard the song on the radio, I thought the DJ said the artistes where called Homer and Garcia. The only thing dorkier than going to K-Mart and looking for an album comprised of songs about video games, is asking the clerk why there aren't any Homer and Garcia tapes around. I mean, like how in the fuck can you not have Homer and Garcia. Don't you know? They are all the rage, man.

I mean, people could overlook calling Hall and Oates Paul and Oakes? But flubbing Buckner and Garcia? That, my friend, is the lowest rung on the lame ladder.

As an equally embarrassing adendum to my previous incriminating monologue, I went back to the Amazon product detail page of Pac-Man Fever and in one of those "Customers who bought this crap also forked over for this shit" windows was this beauty. I added it to my wishlist.

On an impulse (and likely due to this thread) I picked up one of these babies for $18 at Wal-Mart. The game console (although it is really rediculous to call anything that fits in the palm of your hand a console) plugs straight into the TV and--bamm!--you've got games. And these are not weaker facsimiles of the real deal a la Atari 2600 Pac-Man, these are the indeed the real deal. The game controller has a poorly situated reset button which will likely cause the game to be shattered in an unwatchable fit of rage, but other than that, it's perfect. Well, you can't save high scores either.

Really, Pac-Man alone is worth the ticket price, but they include 4 other games: the venerable DigDug, the Galaga-wannabe Galaxian (melissa, take heart!), the impossible Rally X, and the straight-to-the-arcade's-dusty-corner cross between Defender and Asteroids that you know as...Bosconian. Ok, I didn't know Bosconian either, but have I now been to Bosconia several times.

Well worth the $18. My review: One joystick way up!

And if you get one, you might want to check out these patterns. Just thought I'd save you the google time.

Here's a NY Times article (use memphilter/memphilter) about the recent surge of interest in old video games.