Do you look forward to passing down a classic video game to your children with the same sense of nostalgia as a worn, dog-eared novel?
I hope one day, I will get to see the joy that is Knights of the Old Republic on the faces of my kids.
But video games become obsolete, whilst novels never do. I doubt any of the great old games (thinking Elite, PacMan, MULE) would have much interest these days to anyone who hadn’t played them when they originally came out. MULE was fantastic, but it is hundreds of times worse than civilization games which are themselves getting old. Who would play Elite rather than Knights of the Old Republic?
No. But then I don’t have any plans to pass along books either.
Other than Nethack (low grade addiction going on 13 years), I’ve never found a game that I wanted to play even two years later, let alone a lifetime later. And with Nethack it probably won’t be necessary to hand it down since someone will probably still be maintaining it.
Probably not, for reasons stated above, but I expect that I will instill a love and appreciation of video games in my hypothetical children.
“My son, when you can beat me in PvP combat, then you will be a man…”
Been there, done that. both with actual toys (action figures) and video games.
You’re setting yourself for heartbreak, folks. Tried to get my kids into X-Com UFO Defense…that was a flop. same thing with any of the final fantasies.
Maybe your timing was off, Stonebrow, or your kids just didn’t inherit the “FF addict gene” from you. I don’t have kids, but once I introduced my niece and nephew to the series, they played every single game, including those I finished before they were born. My nephew is particularly obsessive about it–he’s played the first game more than I have. We also collaborated on getting all the endings for Chrono Trigger.
I’d want my kids to see Spider Man 2.
… Then lie and say that was the only movie made when I was a kid to teen…
I plan to teach my son the joys of classic gaming, either via emulation or remakes, when he’s a tad older.
He’s already getting hooked on my cell phone version of Ms. Pac-Man, so there’s hope. 
Some games never become obsolete. I’m gonna pass down the all the early Lucasarts adventures. Monkey Island 1 is still a hoot to play and still looks good despite pixelation.
I’ll be more selective about what early Sierra games to pass down as things I wasted time on when I was a wee lad, but the Quest for Glory series gets and unconditional pass, as does Space Quest.
I’d give my kid my pristine copy of Final Fantasy VII so they can enjoy the wonders of that game. The only problem is once they finish it, they’ll be cussing like drunken sailors…
My daughter is three. There are already games that I would like to play but no longer can because of software/hardware issues (Duke Nukem 3d, Redneck Rampage, etc) so that by the time she reaches videogaming age, I have no doubt that nothing I played will still be playable for her.
Sony consoles and Nintendo handhelds seem to be keeping backwards compatability - and for Nintendo, cross-compatability - as an important feature.
I hope in years to come… Halo will not become obsolete. Or Halo 2, as I have expectations that it will be great.
Some old games have remained to have play value, provided with many patches and updates (i.e., Starcraft, Counter-Strike, Diablo II).
Hopefully some of my favorite games can stand the test of time.
My daughter is turning 5 tomorrow. She adores playing all of the Final Fantasy and other Squaresoft games with my husband. I’m not into video games, but it’s something fun they share together.
They can have my games when they pry them from my cold dead fingers.
Though I don’t have kids, so it doesn’t matter much to me.
I guess there’s always going to be a niche market for retro products and I don’t see why video games are any different. Each year the games introduced contain improvements from those offered previously. After just a few short years the games introduced are light years ahead of what they were 3-4 years earlier. Just take a look at the evolution of first person shooters over the years. I don’t have all these in order of course.
Wolfenstein 3d
Doom
Doom II
Duke Nuke’em
Quake
Half Life
System Shock 2
Unreal
Deus Ex
No One Lives Forever
Medal of Honor
etc…
I recently went back and played System Shock 2 and No One Lives Forever which I remembered as great games. They were great for the time but they have aged quite poorly. I can’t imagine how someone used to playing Medal of Honor could turn around and have a good time playing Doom.
Marc
Older videogames will continue to be recycled. The Gameboy Advance has an entire line of NES games, an Atari complilation, a Midway compilation, and probably one or two others, and a bunch of old Genesis games.
I recently downloaded the first three Sonic games from Real Arcade for $5 each, and damn if they aren’t nearly as much fun to play now as they were 15 years ago.
You’ll also continue to see the majority of games you can find online to be retreads of classics (Breakout, Space Invaders, Defender, vertical scrolling shooters) so even if they’re not still around in their original form, they’re still around in some form.
And ActiVision.