• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

We're getting old, guys. Do video games keep us young at heart?

teezzy

Banned
I was playing my original Xbox last night. My favorite console from my favorite console gen.

Just dicking around with a few favorites well after midnight. I had fired that bad boy up on my 32" Sony Trinitron CRT. Speakers full blast. Duke in hand. Really taking it all in, and escaping.

Made me feel like a kid again, straight up. It always does. I wasn't even eleven years old yet when this thing came out.

Then, at some point, I raised my hand to head and felt my bald head. I haven't shaved it recently out of apathy, so I really felt the horseshoe yknow. Then I rubbed my salt and pepper beard I've been growing out due to the cold weather this time of year.

It hit me. Here I was, nearly 31. Still delighted by this device underneath the radioactive glow of my CRT screen. From a different era entirely - was 2001 really so long ago? All the changes I've made in my life since. Yet some things remain the same.

I had the biggest smile on my face. It was almost poetic. Beautiful, really.

VmqigEv.png
 

BlackTron

Member
Pretty much this. The new Halo fits a perfect tone of "the more things change, the more they stay the same". Games give you an opportunity to realize you can still feel the same emotions as when you were a kid, and incite genuine fun. In this case, it's proof that it's not you that got stale, it's the franchise that did. As soon as they hit the right formula that creates that fun gameplay loop, we'll be back.
 

Max_Po

Banned
I picked up a CRT for 50 CDN last year.. in very good condition and just a few weeks ago a lady sold me a brand new PS2 Slim for 80 CDN ...

I felt the same energy and excitement as the time I first picked up my ps2 in 2001. ...

I am turning 39 on the first...... Its feels great to look back at the awesome time of our lives....
 
Last edited:

tmlDan

Member
I am completely different from this, im tired of the old games, im tired of arena shooters, im tired of going back to shitty games with shitty controls that are unacceptable in the modern era.

Sure, it feels nice to relive old memories a bit but i want advancement, i want better AI, i want more engaging stories and gameplay.
 

Ebidramon

Banned
I have a feeling that if Mark Twain was my son, I would have punched him in the face every time I saw him.

EDIT: As for games, no, I don't play them because of some youth thing.
 
Last edited:

MrTentakel

Member
I was playing my original Xbox last night. My favorite console from my favorite console gen.

Just dicking around with a few favorites well after midnight. I had fired that bad boy up on my 32" Sony Trinitron CRT. Speakers full blast. Duke in hand. Really taking it all in, and escaping.

Made me feel like a kid again, straight up. It always does.


Yeah :messenger_horns:
Then, at some point, I raised my hand to head and felt my bald head. I haven't shaved it recently out of apathy, so I really felt the horseshoe yknow. Then I rubbed my salt and pepper beard I've been growing out due to the cold weather this time of year.
True :messenger_winking:
It hit me. Here I was, nearly 31.

31, :messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_grinning_sweat::messenger_angry::messenger_loudly_crying::messenger_loudly_crying::messenger_loudly_crying::messenger_loudly_crying::messenger_loudly_crying:
 
Last edited:
I keep my Dreamcast and original Xbox nearby just for days like that. It's mainly nostalgia, but nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

I'm 35 and gaming has and probably will be forever a part of my life. I love seeing new ideas, games, systems, etc. But there are times here and there that playing an Duck Hunt on NES with a zapper, skating around with JetSet Radio on Dreamcast, or playing Halo: Combat Evolved with the Duke, it's just a special feeling.
 

Fredrik

Member
Retro games and nostalgia is a beautiful thing ❤️
No idea if gaming keep us young at heart but if you get happy from playing old games then make sure to treasure those things. I still have original Commodore computers plugged in and ready to go at the press of a button. 🤗
45
 

Ellery

Member
I see video games as an interactive evolving entertainment form. In general I feel like video games will be a thing connected to my life for as long as a I live / it is possible for me to play. Same is true for books, tv shows and movies.

Especially true for great single player games that I can play without relying on other people. When I was younger it was no problem to play Counter Strike 1.6 with mates at set dates (or basically every single day), but I can't really imagine that anymore.

In general we are living very different lives now. Many generations were defined by wars, shorter life spans, worse medicine etc. . We are living in pretty peaceful times and I hope that continues so we can experience more video games (and many other forms of entertainment), because the creative process that some developers go through to bring games to our screens at home is pure magic.
 

TheInfamousKira

Reseterror Resettler
Gaming is weird for me, because it simultaneously makes me feel old and not that bad off.

Example

I just finished another run through of Final Fantasy XIII the other night. I remember going and seeing that shitty Alice in Wonderland remake with Johnny Depp at the movie theater waiting for the midnight release of the game super vividly. Then I realize that was over a decade ago, and this frail shell is finite in it's reach and susceptible to the ravages of time.

But then I think back to when I was a child, and Super NES and NES games seemed like treasures dug up in a desert. Bygone relics of yesteryear that I was only able to play because of NEOGAF DOESN'T SUPPORT PIRACY emulators. But now I realize that the shit I thought was so ancient was relative to my age. Final Fantasy (continuing with the example) storied as it may be, is only four years my senior, and that's invigorating.

Then I come on here, read about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. NFTs, realize I have no clue what they are, look them up, realize I still have no clue what they are, see a Fortnite ad on YouTube, and then call a retirement home.
 
  • LOL
Reactions: Isa

Lokaum D+

Member
Nah, i m 33 and tired of games in general, i can count in one hand the upcoming games that got me hyped,.

I would really like to see capcom do the remake of BoF4 and Square doing Chrno Series Remake, this would awaken my inner child for sure.
 
Last edited:

LordOfChaos

Member
It's hard to get excited like that about something new again, ya know? Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever feel like that about some new development in gaming ever again, or if it's just the passing of age. Two back to back CRTs, Xboxes system linked, pizza, friends, that was the life.
 

tommib

Member
"We're getting old" and he then says he's 31. I feel young at 40. I was 3 years out of high school when the Xbox came out. My hair is thinner but no balding....yet. Staying in shape helps a lot.
Haha. Felt the same. I was like, he at least has to be my age (41). You’re still just a big kid at 31.

Staying fit is the only way forward but fucking covid and we have another lockdown here in the Netherlands and no more gyms or CrossFit.
 
There's a distinct world of difference between retaining nostalgia and being a man-child. Nothing wrong with the former if your priorities are in check
Agreed. I'm talking about the people who make a lifestyle and identity out of it. I'm 40 and still game. It's the guys who push past 12 year old's to be further in line to see a new R rated Joker movie.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
30 here and my games aren't going anywhere, they give me lots of fun and imho they are a much better way to pass my time than watching TV (which is specially atrocious here in Spain) or other kinds of adult entertaiment, like gambling for example.

I guess some people might think it's kinda childish, specially considering I don't have any intereset in forming a family or being the prototype of adult we are expected to be. I don't care, I just want to be happy.
 

teezzy

Banned
Agreed. I'm talking about the people who make a lifestyle and identity out of it. I'm 40 and still game. It's the guys who push past 12 year old's to be further in line to see a new R rated Joker movie.

Yeah, we're on the same page then. I'm not ashamed of my interests, but I certainly don't wear them on my sleeve either. Never understood the adults walking around in Zelda shirts or whatever, but to each their own.
 

reezoo

Member
They have helped me to be open minded about new concepts and things but I have found that talking about games is for some reason still weird. A lot of people still have view that games only do ‘beep blop boop” but in reality they are now as mature and involving as a good novel or a movie, there are pretty much interactive novels now. Folks my age thinks they are for kids and juniors find it odd that senior is talking about gaming 😑.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, we're on the same page then. I'm not ashamed of my interests, but I certainly don't wear them on my sleeve either. Never understood the adults walking around in Zelda shirts or whatever, but to each their own.
For me it hit hard when I had to try and explain to my son why an R rated Joker movie exists. That's when it hit me like a ton of bricks. "Sorry son, but oceans of neck bearded man children exist in strong enough numbers to create a demand for such a product, and you can't see it until I'm able to check it out." Luckily for him there was nothing in it to prevent me from letting him watch hit.
 

DavidGzz

Member
Haha. Felt the same. I was like, he at least has to be my age (41). You’re still just a big kid at 31.

Staying fit is the only way forward but fucking covid and we have another lockdown here in the Netherlands and no more gyms or CrossFit.

When we were locked down, I had to do more cardio(I'm glad is was summer)and got some dumbbells. I also have a pull-up bar in a door frame. I lost so muscle size but was still lean. Glad to have the gym back. Sorry that you have to go through that again.
 

MastAndo

Gold Member
Being 41, my desire to play games comes in waves - currently I've been all in, thanks to the XSX and Game Pass.

If I stick to a particularly fun single player game, I'll feel like a kid again getting lost on a virtual world. Then I'll hop on some multiplayer and some snot-nosed little brat moving and reacting at a clip I can no longer attain will remind me that my best days for such things are behind me.
 

SirTerry-T

Member
I'm 50 in a month's time.
The answer is yes. :)
In particular, the Switch has been great for reminding me why I love videogames. I don't know why it's that machine in particular that does it...maybe it just feels like a "pure" video game console compared to the Xboxs' and Playstations???? Though I can understand why Nintendo's barebones approach to everything people expect from modern gaming hardware and "ecosystem" would frustrate and entertain in equal measure.
 
Yeah, we're on the same page then. I'm not ashamed of my interests, but I certainly don't wear them on my sleeve either. Never understood the adults walking around in Zelda shirts or whatever, but to each their own.

i wear my gaming shirts, and even wrestling shirts, proudly :(
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
I'm 50 in a month's time.
The answer is yes. :)
In particular, the Switch has been great for reminding me why I love videogames. I don't know why it's that machine in particular that does it...maybe it just feels like a "pure" video game console compared to the Xboxs' and Playstations???? Though I can understand why Nintendo's barebones approach to everything people expect from modern gaming hardware and "ecosystem" would frustrate and entertain in equal measure.
I'm a few years younger than you but the Switch has very much been the same for me.

While I like modern touches like achievements / trophies and things like that, sometimes you just want to click on a video game system and start playing without shit popping up all the time trying to distract you. And while patches are a thing, they don't seem like such a big deal on the Switch probably because they're usually small and you can still play if you don't have the latest version downloaded or installed. There's also something satisfying to my personal sensibilities to have a system where I can pop in a cartridge and start playing that game. It's not just some sort of key that unlocks a digital download, in most cases.

Also helps that the catalog has a massive amount of variety and most games being made for it specifically have to get creative to work within the constraints the system has. As opposed to other consoles were games are typically made for PC then paired down to work with the PS5 / Series X or S. A lot of games (especially first party) you can tell that a lot of care went into making a good experience even if it's not as graphically impressive as it's console competitors.
 

JimmyRustler

Gold Member
The times are just different. The older gens are unequal and will never come back. I‘m 35 now and I‘m sure I would have enjoyed the original Xbox just as much with 35 as I did with 15. Everything was so new back then And the leaps from gen to gen were gigantic. Unlike today when the new console feels more like buying a new iphone than a next gen console. Gaming has become stale and with ingame purchases extremely money oriented.
 
Top Bottom