Has it been that long?

[Flack]

Tonight was my mother-in-law's birthday. We all went out to dinner, and the way the seating arrangements ended up, I was on the end of the table with my wife, my 2 neices (13/14), my son (2), and my nephew, Dylan (age 8). All the adults (of which even at 30, I don't consider myself one) were at the other end of the table. The neices ended playing with my son and talking to my wife the whole time, which left me and Dylan alone to chat for like an hour.

I remembered that article a while back where EGM (?) quizzed kids about old video games. So, here's what my 8 year old nephew knew about vintage video games.

He had never heard of Space Invaders or Asteroids before.

When I asked him what Pac-Man was, he said, "is that a fighting game?"

When I asked him what his favorite game was, he said "Tony Hawk 3." When I asked him what the oldest game he could think of, he said, "Tony Hawk 2."

I also asked him if he could name any of the three games that are at the restaurant we go to every Wednesday night. He was able to describe them but did not know their names. They are Metal Slug, Great 1000 Miles Rally, and Galaga.

I got a feeling we're going to have to have a video game crash course summer camp over here very soon.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I probably couldn't name more than 15-20 pinball tables that were out during my youth. These things happen, and will continue to happen, in cycles.

[Queen Of The Felines]

While I was in England, Mayhem, myself, and his brother and brother's girlfriend all sat around and played Pac-Man Vs. I was stunned that the girlfriend had to be taught how to play the Pac-Man part of the game since she'd never played it before. (She's in her twenties, btw.)

I just assumed that EVERYONE knew how to play Pac-Man! It never occured to me that younger people probably WOULDN'T! LOL

Kristine

[GaijinPunch]

"Video Game" is a swear word in my house, but my wife still knows WTF Pacman is/was. She tried to play Sonic Adventure once. It just wasn't happening.

Video games are so maisntream now, it's going to be the same as music, tv, and all that stuff. "Back in my day, we didn't have 3-D! It was 1-D and we liked it!"

Did anyone read that "Back in 1987" spam mail that floated around not too long ago? Hysterical. Great for Generation-X'ers such as muyself.

[punkoffgirl]

While I was in England, Mayhem, myself, and his brother and brother's girlfriend all sat around and played Pac-Man Vs. I was stunned that the girlfriend had to be taught how to play the Pac-Man part of the game since she'd never played it before. (She's in her twenties, btw.)

I just assumed that EVERYONE knew how to play Pac-Man! It never occured to me that younger people probably WOULDN'T! LOL

Kristine

I'm one of those "younger people" in my twenties, and have a younger brother who's 22, and we all know what/who Pac-Man is! There's no excuse for that kind of ignorance! *lol* Mat, your brother has HORRIBLE taste in girls :P j/k

[LazingBlazers]

Great 1000 Miles Rally RULES!!! @_@

[rbudrick]

Pimp slap her 'an dump her!

-Rob

[digitalpress]

Remember that thread about bringing consoles with them to holiday gatherings? I make a point of sharing some history with the family at about this time of year already. It's not in great depth but it does focus in on an era or important historical root. This year I'm giving them the history of Namco and its characters, should be fun. I'd encourage everyone to spread the word! I don't want to be some old-timer who "remembers" these games, the kids today can enjoy them just as much as we did but they may need an "assist".

[Flack]

If by assist you mean tie them down, pry their eyeballs open like Clockwork Orange and play Atari 2600 games until they can recognize them by sound, then oh yes ... I will be assisting them this Christmas.

[hu6800]

Even funnier..

When my sons mother was pregneant with him, we played alot of games.
I don't know what it is but whenever i play something nowadays that
i played alot when he was in the womb, he claims he recognizes it.
Like if i put in Lords of thunder or some certain SNES games he swears he has played it before or something.

[QBert]

Its just a matter of introducing them to the retro games. What I did with my kids is brought MAME into their lucky little lives! They play alot of the old classics, PacMan, Frogger, Galaga, Wonderboy Oh man, I could go on and on.
But anyways, when they get a little older, and even now, I ve been teaching them like, "This system came out when I was your age" and " this came out first, then this one did, and then..."
And that's how we can teach the new generation about our past keep the love alive!

They love playing Xbox, but I got the Genesis a few weeks ago, and they have been playing the Genesis and Intellivision just as much, if not more than the Xbox.(Dont get me wrong, Tony Hawk 2, 3 and 4 are their favs!)
Plus they are only 4 and 6, and have been playing for over 2 years at least!


QBert

[Mayhem]

I'm one of those "younger people" in my twenties, and have a younger brother who's 22, and we all know what/who Pac-Man is! There's no excuse for that kind of ignorance! *lol* Mat, your brother has HORRIBLE taste in girls :P j/k

Oh she'd HEARD of Pacman yes, definitely knew what the munching yellow blob was. Just she'd never played Pacman before or knew how the game worked.

She does play quite a few games, has a Cube of her own and normally tries sports or puzzle titles. Hell we introduced her to Mario Golf months back and now she's addicted to it. Pity she has to wait months still for the PAL release...