Emulated games are free, polished, complete
Modern games are $80+ steaming incomplete pile of shit
This mystery will never be solved.
this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2025
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I assume they're referring to actual hardware. I'd imagine the percentage of gamers playing emulated games is much higher than 14%.
Edit: Found the article
It appears I am correct.
Modern games: requires $300+ game console or a $300+ GPU to get 30 FPS
Retro games: runs on your grandma's Dell Pavilion still running Windows XP that she refuses to stop using, gets 50/60 depending on region
Almost all of my modern games are indies. Most cost between $5 and $30. I love retro too but if we're going to only include modern "AAA" titles in the comparison...
Does emulation count?
It should! It's allowed me to play so many games that are hard to find or expensive these days.
The survey question seems to make it seem like it's referring to original hardware, but I imagine a lot of respondents didn't limit it that way.
With emulation being common even officially these days (NSO, emulated games on Steam, etc), I think it's fair to factor that in as well.
I still own my real SNES from circa-1995, but I'd rather play on an emulator than put wear and tear on it, so yes.
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Given that nowhere in the article does it say that 14% of people exclusively play on pre-2000 hardware I don't find this that surprising.
I'm more shocked by the last statistic, 11% of American households still use fax. Fax? Fuckin' why? That's like saying people still listen to music on Edison cylinders.
Signatures as a form of authorization I think held up the facsimile tech way past it's best by date
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"Still" is really not the way to phrase it.
A good chunk of the people playing on retro systems never even owned half the systems back in the day which they have collected now. Or they might be new people getting into the hobby who perhaps weren't even born when those systems were current.
People can't "still" be doing something that they were NOT doing before!
It's such a strange way of looking at a hobby which is more popular now than it ever was.
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I care more about the backups of my ROM collection than I do about my tax returns or resume or other "important" crap.
If I can't just decide to replay Mario 2 or Simon's Quest or Chrono Trigger or Symphony of the Night when I'm in my 70s, then what is all this fancy technology we've invented really good for?
I hate this >:( Let me exaplain myself. What I hate is that way that people see videogames, like, if you play something old you are stuck in the past, but hey! If you read a book that is 100yo or watch a movie that is 40yo it is okay! but if you play in atari, what are you? a caveman?
That stigma seems to be getting slightly better, but it's always bothered me.
"OMG you've been playing that game for hours! Why don't you go DO something! You're rotting your brain!!" -Someone who's about to sit in front of the TV until they fall asleep.
I just openly laughed right at them when I was told that, especially because my dad was no longer able to keep up with my math homework by the seventh grade.
These days I'm out on my own, with a house and a fiancée, still play video games as a primary hobby, and he's a Trump voter in a shitty apartment that doesn't talk about anything except crying about all the n[REDACTED]s and transes. One of us sure rotted his brain and I'm pretty confident saying it probably wasn't me.
For a second I thought "he" was your fiancée. The trump voter. I was like "why would you marry a...... Oh, he means his dad."
What I hate is that way that people see videogames, like, if you play something old you are stuck in the past
I must not operate in those circles. I've never heard that before, but I'm also old and playing old games and fewer newer ones.
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Red Alert 2 on a 4090
I do. I don't want or need top notch graphics. My ps5 collects dust.
Gameplay is always king.
Graphics can contribute a lot - some games are fucking gorgeous, and I'll stop and appreciate good scenery in digital environment the same as IRL.
But jaw-droppingly incredible graphics can never compensate for bad or even mediocre gameplay.
And shit graphics will never kill a game with good gameplay. Done right, shit graphics can even be charming in a nostalgic kind of way.
SNES, Genesis and TG16 do have top notch graphics for those who can't do without them.
Just because a game is old doesn't mean it's not fun. How old are the board and card games again?
Hell, chess is huge right now, and it's over 1500 years old.
Don't forget Backgammon. World's oldest board game!
Is it older than the Royal Game of Ur?
I’ve been playing Zombies Ate My Neighbors on original hardware today haha. On my old Apple color monitor.
I mostly game on old systems or my steam deck.
Oh man such a great game. Great couch co-op.
Yeah I tormented my poor daughter with it when she was younger. I did not have the patience to get her through it lol.
Now that she’s older we do great.
I don't think I ever made it past the werewolf castle level without cheats.
Famicom owner checking in.
The PS1, N64, Saturn, and the Dreamcast are pre 2000 systems.
Without piracy and the industry wanting to move digital only we are doomed.
Keyword: "without".
And some people play poker, or even chess. What can you do, people like old stuff.
🫡
GBC almost exclusively these days, I just can't devote the time to things like Morrowind anymore as much as I want to. I do want to hack my OG Xbox and run Voodoo Vince, Psychonauts, and Gauntlet: Dark Legacy again, but then that only brings me up to like 2003.
Come on, Call of Duty is not that old! /s
The problem is people keep buying new versions of the same games released around 2000.
References this site: https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/media-formats/holding-on-to-physical-media-a3747629925/
Actual data here: https://article.images.consumerreports.org/image/upload/v1718112414/prod/content/dam/surveys/Consumer_Reports_AES_May_2024.pdf
Actual question references "Classic videogame systems that came out before 2000, like the NES or GameBoy" and "used at home in the past year" of which 14% responded yes out of a group of 2022 surveyed in North America (demographic details available in link).
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I like old and new. I love my retro emulators (which I put a lot of effort into setting up just right; and I'd love some original hardware if I could afford it). I also love my PS5.
My wireless snes controllers just came in yesterday. Love em.
I mean you OWNED the games after purchase back then, now the publishers and game studios can revoke your "purchased" license anytime...
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I really need to get around to buying a SNES. I have an NES as well but it’s dead. eBay the best spot to get either of these consoles?
My brother and I have opposing views on this.
He likes to collect hardware. He loves buying old systems and cartridges.
I like to collect software. Very few games are worth much to me individually, but I love the ability to fire up any old game when it pops in my head.
I ended up buying an SNES Mini on eBay that was jacked and loaded with ROMs from EVERY system it was capable of running. I understand wanting the original hardware, but for me, getting EVERYTHING preloaded for about $200 just made more sense for me.
I have bought two of those hacked systems from the same seller. I can check if they still offer them, and share a link to the product, but only if someone asks for the info. I'm not trying to promote anyone, but I feel like this is a market that could be prone to fakes, and I personally would appreciate someone suggesting a trustworthy seller.
Do that, but get a Raspberry Pi and put ROMs on it yourself instead of buying shady, possibly backdoored stuff.
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I'm still trying to find a place that can resurrect my Atari 7800.
I have so many games for it.
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