Retro gaming is just regular gaming to a sick, twisted mind like mine (and that of everyone I know, since we spend all our time playing old crap). But what makes something retro in the first place? Is it bits? Console generation? The size and contents of the box it came in, assuming it came in one at all? Whatever it is, it seems like the Wii and PS3 are being grandfathered into the definition—at least on Game Center CX, a Japanese retro gaming TV show.
According to an article from Automaton Media, the show—which is essentially a let’s play variety show starring comedian Shinya Arino—recently held a vote as to whether Wii and PS3 games should be awarded the “retro” moniker and considered for inclusion. The poll reportedly got over 14,000 responses with 71% voting in favor, and when a second round followed, that percentage rose to 80% among nearly 17,000 voters. Arino declared that games from both consoles will indeed be considered for the show moving forward.
So what does this have to do with PC gaming? Well, we have a retro gaming scene too, and if we agree for the sake of argument that those consoles are retro on the basis that they’re turning 20 this year, that would mean the following PC games are also retro: Medieval II: Total War, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Dawn of War – Dark Crusade, Neverwinter Nights 2, the first season of Telltale’s Sam & Max reboot, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and perhaps most upsettingly, Company of Heroes.
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Personally, I think it’d be a lot more fruitful to split our medium’s history into distinct eras—something like console generations, but maybe less arbitrary than those divisions are—but it’s also fun to have a label that gets thrown around once we’ve all agreed something is for old fuddy-duddies.
In that sense, I think the Wii and PS3 completely fit, even it’s hard to swallow the notion of The Last of Us as being a game that debuted on “retro” hardware. Still, it’s hard to imagine that definition will be useful for very long (if it is even of any use now). In 2046 are we going to say GTA 6 is a retro game, as if it has much of anything in common with games we hold as undeniably retro now, like Excitebike or DuckTales?
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