It really is about how old you are in the end. Whatever games and systems you grew up with always be the best in your mind, no matter what! Nothing overcomes nostalgia...

Me, Christmas 1989 I was 8 years old. Got my first system, the NES. I distinctly remember begging my parents NOT to get me a "Sega or Atari" system because the NES was simply a phenomenom by the late 80's. Even old people were buying NES'. My aunt and uncle had one, but they never played it. That was my first experience with the NES, playing Mario and Duck Hunt at their house during the holidays.

So I went from NES, to GameBoy, to Genesis, to 32X, to Jaguar, to Playstation, to N64, to Playstation 2, to Dreamcast, to Saturn, to Neo Geo, to Virtual Boy, to 2600 etc. etc.. I've tried nearly all of them. 8-bit games to 128 bit games all have their good points. 8-bit games, you fire them up and right away can play. Nothing confusing, no storyline, just gaming. That's fine, and I totally understand you "older" guys *snicker* who die by the VCS because you grew up with it. I'm the same way with the NES and all of its classics. I never even got a 2600 until the early 2000's. I thought some of the games were pretty fun. Still, I hate the joystick and such simple games can only hold my attention for so long.

Another thing that I believe makes a person LOVE a system, is if they were an early adapter. If you pre-ordered a system or bought it soon after launch, you loved it and are a die-hard fan, am I right? For the most part anyway, I think this is the way of things. Systems I bought out of curiousity on ebay much passed their prime, such as the 2600, Dreamcast, Saturn & Neo Geo; There are great games on these systems, and I did have *some* fun with them. Yet something was missing, I didn't have a special feeling towards any of them. Almost like... They were, step-children!

So that's it then. Systems you buy at or very close to their release feel like children to you, whereas systems you buy only for the novelty or curiosity factor feel like a distant friend or relative at best. Hard to become emotionally involved with.

When it comes down to it though, in my mind, you aren't a true blue hardcore gamer unless you like some 2600 games and PS3 games and everything in between! I just love videogames period.