Friday, April 17, 2009

Financial doom awaits.

As some of you know, I've had a nostalgia kick recently. Harking back to the heady days of, oh I don't know, let's say 1993, my mind has recalled stellar gaming moments from my past. Naturally, as you get older, things like this appear more fun than previously thought. And it seems I'm not the only one. In the last five to ten years, older video games have become more and more popular for collectors and generally awesome people. But not everybody has their heart in the right place when it comes to this ancient hobby. A new kind of video game collector has emerged: the 8-bit musician. The kind of nerd who wants to hook their Game Boy or Commodore Amiga up to a sampler or keyboard and make 'tunes' from it so they can appear on stage in underground clubs and try to appear cool and hip and show off their Mario tattoos. Quite simply, fuck these people.
 

Oh, just die already.

Instead of embracing something wholly spectacular (video games) in its intended form, they leave that concept in the dust only to jump on the nearest fad that outside of a nightclub any sane person would deem reprehensible try-hard wankery. Look at the crowd at these gigs and just try to prove me wrong.

Drunk in a nightclub at 4am: "Man, that dude who's been crouching over that Casio for the past hour and a half is an absolute genius! This music is awesome! I can't feel my face!"

Sober at home at 11am: "What is this shit? I'm supposed to be impressed because he made a dub version of the Tetris music? Fuck that, I'm off to buy some video games."

Anyway, I went off on a tangent there. The point is, I'm looking to get myself some older video games. It ain't going to be easy but, oh boy, it will be worth it.

Now, looking in local shops is always an option. Finding hidden gems that were somehow overlooked and are now priced down is a simple joy unique to this particular universe. But it is also quite rare. More likely I will have to find what I want through Ebay. Damn you Ebay, you foul, tempting creature. You're some kind of succubus, evil and heartless, only presenting yourself to the masses to bring down humanity through your despicable existence. Do you realise just how much misery you have wrought upon unsuspecting innocents?

Picture unrelated.

First on my wishlist is a Sega Megadrive. I owned one years ago but for some unknown reason gave it away to a friend (I do recall my younger self to be a moron in many ways, so this act is unsurprising). I haven't seen that friend since the 20th century so I hope he put it to good use. This was a mind-numbingly good piece of hardware. Great controls, even better games and the best thing - sturdy as fuck. My Xbox 360 has broken several times but I imagine my old Megadrive is still somewhere out there running strong. There's an entire quarry load of them on Ebay, so I'll have to be ruthless in my investigating. Believe me, anything that can play NBA Jam: Tournament Edition is worth chasing after.

Come to Papa.

4 comments:

  1. Actually there are some kick arse remixes of old C64 game music.

    Commando is fucking Ay.... Search for "Remix" "C64"

    And wtf with the unrelated pic???!?

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  2. The pic is related to my description of Ebay. I guess the joke was a bit too facetious. Oh well, live and learn.

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  3. Oh it made me chuckle, the random pic.. but still... :-)

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  4. Is this where I add that I still have my Mega Drive, and yes it is this original version! It was, and still is, an awesome console. I believe I actually have NBA Jam too. Will have to dig it out and hook it up. Boomshakala!

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