I have been collecting ROMS and emulators for well over 10 years. (For those unversed, a ROM is the raw data from a game cartridge like that of the Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Master System, etc. An Emulator is a software program written for the purpose of reading the raw data from the ROM to make the game playable on your computer.) I tend to stick with older consoles that were popular in the 1980’s and early 90’s like the Atari, Turbo Graphix 16, Sega Genesis, the 8, 16, and 64-bit Nintendo’s, Game Boy, Game Gear and a few others.

My point to this is to discuss the difference in playing the old systems when compared to the new systems. The newest system in my house is the Nintendo GameCube, and that is only here because my son wanted one. I have never owned and hardly even played any system that has come out since 1995 (other than the mentioned GameCube).

I feel that the new systems have lost the innocence and playability of the older systems. I liked when you put in the old games, say soccer for example: you had two buttons, A and B, one for shooting and one for passing. In newer systems you have almost complete control over every aspect of the game, right down to the uniform color, but the playability is gone. My daughter received a copy of FIFA Soccer 2007 for Christmas and it took us 20 minutes to figure out to play a match. You can’t just put in a game and play anymore. You have to learn all the tricks, moves, jumps, passes, etc. It is a pain in the ass.

My goal is to one day write a software program that integrates all of my gaming emulators into one program, buy an old stand-up style arcade box, load the roms and be able to play any game from any system at my hearts content.

So I say, “Screw the PS3 and the Wii!”

Filed under: Tech