Different generations talking about gaming

[Hoopz]

Some of you know that I work for a youth group and I recently had a two hour card ride with a 19 year old young man and we spent the majority of it talking about video games.  He knew my first console was an Intellivision, we talked about his family buying a N64, current consoles, his taking on social gaming, my arcade cabinet, etc. 

He pulled up this site and I showed him wp34's thread for his Tron themed cabinet.  He had seen the new Tron movie but not the original so I busted his chops about that.  He was shocked and commented how amazing wp34's cabinet looked.  He asked if mine looked like that so I changed the subject right away.

He thinks it's pretty cool that I'm 43 and still play video games.  I'm not sure I took that the right way.... 

I do think that video games transcend age generations.  I know Chad's boys and their friends, and a lot of other members here and their families really embrace all generations of gaming.  I explained emulator's to this guy and he about stroked out when he realized that he could play all of the SNES and N64 games from his "youth".

[wp34]

Thanks for the props Hoopz.   

That's cool that you turned him on to emulation.  My mom is in her 70's and still plays.  Bioshock Infinite is her most recent game.  Your friend has a lot of years of gaming left ahead of him if he stays interested. 

[Mikezilla]

Dude your grandma plays Bioshock Infinite?! Hell, I havent even played that yet! 

I think this is awesome Hoopz, I dont have kids, or know anybody that young, but all my friends and I still play games in some form or another.

I do think though that Im going to stay out of this next generation of console gaming. Im pretty content with my PS3 and 360. I recently bought a new computer, and I have been playing a lot of DOTA2 with an old friend I dont get to see very often since he got married etc. 

[stinkyrob]

Introducing video games to my 6-year old daughter has been really, really enjoyable.  I agree, video games definitely transcend generations!

[Rick]

Dude your grandma plays Bioshock Infinite?! Hell, I havent even played that yet! 

We can no longer be friends.



My six-year-old can't wait for me to finish a cabinet, so that he can play - wait for it - Elevator Action. We played it at The Playdium Store a few months ago, and he loved it.

[wp34]

Dude your grandma plays Bioshock Infinite?! Hell, I havent even played that yet! 

I've watched her and my oldest play it but I've not played it either. Sometimes when I'm over there I help her with "platform" levels on games like Drake and Tomb Raider.  She does all the shooting though.  She has a subscription to Gamefly as well.

[EightBySix]

It was a special moment at home when my 3 yr old figured out that moving the controller made the little man on the screen (little big planet) move

[knave]

I have had some great moments playing games with my kids.

Part of me still has a hard time grasping the fact that when my kids get stuck on a level they ask me for help.
I would have never, NEVER! even thought of asking my folks anything about games.
In my day I had to replay that part where I was stuck 1000+ times until I stumbled on the solution. There wasn't even help from the interwebz. 

But that's the way it goes...now I get to grab the controller every once and a while and take over with their blessing.

[Louis Tully]

.

[knave]

Old games are brutal.

That is the truth...

[Hoopz]

My older daughters started out playing Golden Tee and World Class Bowling on my cabinet because the trackball games were easiest.  Playing with them on the cabinet was always a blast.  I've played a couple of games with the oldest one on the 360 too. 

[SavannahLion]

Thanks for the props Hoopz.   

That's cool that you turned him on to emulation.  My mom is in her 70's and still plays.  Bioshock Infinite is her most recent game.  Your friend has a lot of years of gaming left ahead of him if he stays interested.

my mother is in her early sixties and had no interest in video games until I brought over my PS2 for some family gaming with the sibling. For some reason, stealing cars and being a general nuisance  in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City tickles her pink. I guess she is reliving the days with her Mustang. I dunno. She texted me not too long ago asking for a new console and some more racing games.

All three of my kids have drastically different tastes in games. So much so, it's almost impossible to get them to play nicely together on the same game. My eldest has the attention span of a gold fish so anything more sophisticated than Wii stuff stumps her (she desperately wants to learn MTG but can't ever remember even the most trimmed down of rules). She's 13 so her tastes fall into the simplified Pokemon genre (think Barbie fashion) and short order games like Wii Sports.

My six yr old likes violent games (Half-Life tops his list) but we've, or rather, I've cut back on them. His dominate favorite is Minecraft and Super Scribblenauts. I'm rather impressed how quickly he picks up the rules for particular games (he loves MTG but suffers from frustrating inability to read the complex card texts). I can't say howimpressed I am at his knight in Castle Crashers or his ability to plow through the first six or so levels in Megaman.

my four year is pretty slick. She's worked out our tablets and happily navigates through the Android interface for her games. She told me that joysticks are for old people. DOH!

[matt4949]

I have a bunch of the 7th and 8th graders always hanging out when I work in the garage. Always asking about what I'm building or how the controls work or playing on the cab. It's hard to keep a teenagers interest in anything but playing video games. Hopefully they can learn something about what goes into making them.

[CalixPapi]

I am only 21 and always get bs for not knowing somethings from the 80s (not born yet) but I try to pick up the gaming from before my time (case in point MAME) My parents were big gamers growing up but they are still considered young and now I have two kids of my own , 4 and 1. I am in the process of builiding a bartop and my 4 year old loves the temorary control panel I have (joystick, buttons, and ZD encoder in a TOMS shoe box) and is getting better at Ms.Pacman, her favorite. My 1 year old just sees a box to throw, but once I start playing games like Sinistar and Galaga they both get quite and slowly end up on my lap to watch.

[Monkeyvoodoo]

My father started me off with an Atari and a coleco adapter ( or was it the other way around?). He enjoyed the earlier games but had no interest in anything 8bit and up. I had to fight to get a modern system in the house. I missed out on the nes and master system but I did have a c64. After that I was on my own for supplying a gaming platform.

I've been a gamer since and now I'm passing it on to my son. At 3 and a half he's learning that gaming on the big tv is more enjoyable than on the iPad. Not that angry birds isn't fun.

I really look forward to getting my cabinet done so I can share my memories of my childhood with my boy and maybe get my father back into it.

[wp34]

my mother is in her early sixties and had no interest in video games until I brought over my PS2 for some family gaming with the sibling. For some reason, stealing cars and being a general nuisance  in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City tickles her pink. I guess she is reliving the days with her Mustang. I dunno. She texted me not too long ago asking for a new console and some more racing games.

That's cool. My mom would love to have a friend her age that is a gamer.  She had no interest in games when I was a kid.  We got her an NES for Christmas around the time she turned 50 and she has been hooked ever since.

[Mikezilla]

Dude your grandma plays Bioshock Infinite?! Hell, I havent even played that yet! 

We can no longer be friends.



My six-year-old can't wait for me to finish a cabinet, so that he can play - wait for it - Elevator Action. We played it at The Playdium Store a few months ago, and he loved it.

Dude Im in such game debt its ridiculous. I have uncharted 3, and god of war 3 still in the plastic. IN THE PLASTIC, RICK. 

[Vigo]

  I'm in the same boat. I do rip my games out of the plastic, even if I don't play em. It makes me feel slightly better about myself.

Uncharted 3 is Awesome, but I liked Uncharted 2 a bit more. Even if the game gives me vertigo. God of War 3....well, no surprises to what it is. The game always reminds me of the time I was out with a buddy of mine who drank a bit too much, and went around telling people that he was Kratos, a simple bread maker from Nepal.

 

[Mikezilla]

Haha nice.

I know, I feel bad about not playing Uncharted 3, my mom got that for me for Christmas last year. I always feel bad when someone gets me a present and I dont use it. Idont care though when I buy stuff. 

[mcseforsale]

It's funny...I tried to play some of the new PS3 titles (My daughter got one for X-mas) and I just can't roam around and around killing stuff with no immediate satisfaction.  It seems to me that the new generation of games is just better graphics when you kill stuff, but dragging and dragging through giant levels with very little skill/puzzle solving.  I prefer the Zelda series up to the gamecube since the levels weren't repetitious with the same tasks over and over again (like killing stuff) and the puzzles/dungeons were fun to solve.

I'm bringing up a new generation of gamer that will remember the classics.  The arcade is IN THEIR FACES when they're in the rec room. 

The little man likes a lot of the arcade classics.  He loves playing Golden Tee (and fuzzy jammies with trucks on them):



I love this one.  It's the only time the little ---daisies--- weren't fighting like cats



I'll find my 15 year old's friends on the arcade, too.  It's funny how they find games on there that I've never seen or played.

AJ

[leapinlew]

My kids, niece and nephews are done playing with my 5 arcade cabinets after about 1/2 hour. They play a game for like 15-20 seconds. That's all the time they give a game. Maybe the issue is they have way too many choices. When I was a kid (crap, can't believe I started a sentence like that), anyhow when I was a kid I was forced to play some games. One of my favorites games on Atari, Adventure, was one of those games. I carefully selected the game, based on how cool the art on the box was was. I was disappointed in the actual game, but because it was my only new game I played it off and on for a month before I learned to love it.

[ark_ader]

I have a bunch of the 7th and 8th graders always hanging out when I work in the garage. Always asking about what I'm building or how the controls work or playing on the cab. It's hard to keep a teenagers interest in anything but playing video games. Hopefully they can learn something about what goes into making them.

Organise a club for the weekends.

[ChadTower]

I do think that video games transcend age generations.  I know Chad's boys and their friends, and a lot of other members here and their families really embrace all generations of gaming.  I explained emulator's to this guy and he about stroked out when he realized that he could play all of the SNES and N64 games from his "youth".

I have found that it's very hit or miss with my boys' friends.  Some of them take to the older systems as if it's a whole new awesome world.  Some of them only show interest in playing the real version of the stuff they know from the Wii VC.  Some of them only care about the origins of their favorite game series.  Some of them look at a monochrome Gameboy like it's lame and beneath them.  (cue Eurythmics song here)

I think it's about what the kids have access to on a regular basis.  You can't expect a kid that only has a current gen console to come over to your house, see NES/SNES/Genesis/MAME and love it, then go home and love it a week later.  They move on too quickly.  I have given some NES and common carts to a couple of my kids' friends and those kids do play them at home.  Once they have a more solid experience with a system they come back over and want to explore the rest of the library.  It's not that surprising if you think about it.  It takes time to really get into something 'new' like an old console. 

I have tried to get some kids into pinball the same way but it's a lot harder.  There are no games on location in our area.  They'll love the games at our house (and always want to know how much they cost) but they can't play pinball anyplace else. 

Heh, my younger son could barely tell you anything about today's NFL rosters but can rattle off the QB/RB from any team in NES Tecmo Bowl.