the future of old consoles

[bacteria]

Consoles will eventually die, as will all of us; however the benefit the retro consoles have is that they formed an evolutionary path to modern gaming; therefore their memory will live on in an historical interest - in the same way for example as the old VHS and Betamax tapes, the first instant cameras, floppy disks. For example, early mobile phones (the bricks in a briefcase type) would have historical interest for a long time to come, however none of the current crop will be remembered past next year.

For example, people play PacMan or Galaga or Pong still; due to historical interest or memory: who will play much of anything in five years time from the Playstation 3 or Wii for that matter - not many. That is the point, and why retro consoles are good.

One of the points of portablizing consoles is to bring them up to date. What is the point after all of a large console, with RF output that modern televisions don't like; better to make their output work on a modern television; and better still, make it into a snazzy handheld portable?

[Oniak]

How long do you guys think the actual console hardware will last? Like nes, genesis ect?
Do you think it will still work when your 70 :O

[bacteria]

In my case, maybe

Seriously, the hardware will last as long as the board doesn't develop dry joints or components stop working.

Some electronics from the '40s '50's etc still works after all.

[Oniak]

In my case, maybe

Seriously, the hardware will last as long as the board doesn't develop dry joints or components stop working.

Some electronics from the '40s '50's etc still works after all.

So Im 13, One day I'll have to throw out my whole collection

[themadhacker]

The hardware will probably last for at least a century. I mean, dead caps, resitors and other faulty parts will be replaced, and the systems will live on. I have an ancient 1940's Crosley radio, and it works fine. And it still has the original tubes.

[Oniak]

The hardware will probably last for at least a century. I mean, dead caps, resitors and other faulty parts will be replaced, and the systems will live on. I have an ancient 1940's Crosley radio, and it works fine. And it still has the original tubes.

Thats good then, If I can manage to keep my genesis and ect working till I'm like 50 ish that would probably be enough, Hell, I may not even have any of my systems by then. Who knows.

[palmertech]

As long as you can replace capacitors and other time sensitive components, I see no reason why fairly simple hardware like the NES or SNES to fail anytime in the next 100-200 years.

And if you keep the temperature well controlled, you could have it last a lot longer than that. The main problem would be the PCB, there are no hundred years tests to know how long they will last, but I have some 20 year olds PCBs that are crumbling apart now. We have schematics for most of them, though, so not even that is a huge problem.

If you REALLY wanted to preserve a console, you should seal the motherboard in a solid block of glass, like you can do for dead people.

[Bibin]

not ALL teenagers want games with good graphics. I'm perfectly happy with my nes, snes, and genesis.

Amen, I'm perfectly happy with my snes,nes, and N64 even when my friend says its sucks because it doesn't have good graphics

This depends on what you call "good graphics". While newer systems may have more complex 3D graphics, that's not what I think of as good. When I hear "good graphics", I think about graphics that look nice, have a good balance of colors, please the eyes, and run at 60 frames per second. The 60 fps is important to me - it seems like everything n64 and onward ran at less than this for 99% of the games, which bothers me a lot. I think the graphics in Yoshi's Island look much more pleasing than the "EVERYTHING IS BROWN" graphics in Halo [x]. This is why I play the SNES more than anything I own.

[Triton]

i see no reason that game consoles and the like will stop working anytime soon with proper care, i have electrical devices and electronics dating from the 1920s to 1950s that still work and most of them have MUCH more sensitive parts in them such as tubes, paper/wax capacitors, no printed circuit boards or integrated circuits! hell its not a prime example but i had a Westinghouse "tank motor" fan that still worked, the most recent patent date on the number plate was 1906! over a century old and it still worked!

[palmertech]

This makes me laugh, as I know you are a big Mario Kart SNES fan, Bibin.

Now, what FPS does that run at?

Now, F-Zero X for N64 is awesome. It runs at a silky smooth 60fps at all times.

[Bibin]

This makes me laugh, as I know you are a big Mario Kart SNES fan, Bibin.

Now, what FPS does that run at?

Now, F-Zero X for N64 is awesome. It runs at a silky smooth 60fps at all times.

Actually, the game runs at 60. The MOde 7 graphics themselves update slower, but the main sprites and such indeed run at 60. Star Fox for SNES, though, that is a mess.

[skeneegee]

...A classic example are other systems - for example TurboGrafx - a great system, but few here have played it, so don't know it (so less interest, so system loses popularity and gets forgotten). In several years time, the same will be true for the NES, SNES and N64. Nostalgia is great whilst nostalgia is relevant, if you think about it. (now there's a quote!).

When I was in high school one of my good friends stepfather worked for NEC. We played NES all the time and his stepfather told us about the Turbografx coming out. Anyway he got one before they were sold in stores and we played the heck out of it. Moto Roader and Blazing Lazers especially. This was before I ever even heard about Genesis. It was a great system but I never bought one, now I'm really interested in getting one, there appears to be very many good looking shoot-em-ups.

Thanks for reminding us how cool this machine was. I'm going to keep my eye out for a deal!

[bacteria]

Yes, the TurboGrafx is a very good system.

The NEC system didn't help itself though by having so many variations. In comparison, as you mention the NES; if you wanted a NES you only had one system to choose; with the NEC you had a few.

People on forums I mention I used a TurboGrafx board say I should have used a CoreGrafx model as they are small so don't need trimming - fine and logical; but they seem to cost about £100 each, whereas the TurboGrafx I bought was £45 - quite a difference.

The TurboGrafx was ahead of its time, just didn't have the might of Nintendo behind it.

[themadhacker]

i see no reason that game consoles and the like will stop working anytime soon with proper care, i have electrical devices and electronics dating from the 1920s to 1950s that still work and most of them have MUCH more sensitive parts in them such as tubes, paper/wax capacitors, no printed circuit boards or integrated circuits! hell its not a prime example but i had a Westinghouse "tank motor" fan that still worked, the most recent patent date on the number plate was 1906! over a century old and it still worked!

Exactly. Just to name some old stuff i have that still works:


2 1950s G.E vacume cleaners. I fixed on e today, but it just needed a new cord and hose.

a 1950s westinghouse refrigerator. The switch that turns on the fridge light is broken off, but other thasn that, the thing works good as new.

a mid 50s record/radio stereo system.

The 1940s radio I mentioned several posts above.

A 1960s motorola portable transistor radio.

A 1960s record player

Plus I have several electric motors lying around that date back to the 1920s

And I bet all that stuff will last for at least a century or two, depending on how well my stuff is kept.

[Oniak]

Eventually though, People will just move to emulation for older consoles, Hell even now I'm debating whether to just use emulation or to actually pull the money out of my ass for the actual carts(Which is so far what I've been doing)