Ben-DutkaEvery time you turn around these days, another retro game gets announced.
I'm just wondering one thing: Why now? What's with the recent explosion of old-school-like productions? All of a sudden, the digital world is loaded with games like Hotline Miami , OlliOlli , Terraria , and others. Some, like Terraria , only look old-fashioned and in fact offer plenty of modern depth. Others, such as Hotline Miami , really aren't much different than the games we had a quarter-century ago.
But maybe I just answered my own question: These are digital offerings, and the digital world has allowed smaller developers to step up and give us lower-budget productions. Low-budget only translated to "crap" in the past, but retro isn't "crap." It's outdated visuals that hold a huge amount of nostalgic value for an ever-aging gaming population. That's probably the other reason: As gamers grow up and start to assume adult responsibilities, they quickly become wistful concerning their lost childhood. Such titles go a long way to bringing back those warm, fuzzy memories.
Lastly, I have to say that games from yesteryear offered entirely different interactive experiences. I'm not saying they were better; I'm merely saying they were different. Nothing that comes out today really feels like Contra , for example. Therefore, there may always be room for the "old" games, simply because they offer a unique form of entertainment that very nearly disappeared.
What do you think?
