Kids these days have it all; HD television, PS4, Xbox One, high-end PC’s and games that are slowly but surely blurring the lines between reality and fantasy.
If you were born after the year 2000 then the chances are that you’ve missed out on some of the greatest games ever created, the titles that redefined what it meant to ‘play’, the games that us older folks will cherish forever. Well, most of them, there’s still a special rung in hell for those who developed and released Superman 64.
One man thought all of this and decided to have himself a little experiment, using his son as the main instrument of the investigation.
Andy Baio’s idea was to have his young child Elliot play through the different generations of gaming in chronological order and see what effects it had on the boys playing habits. It’s not the most scientific undertaking but it’s interesting all the same.
Elliot started out playing some of the earliest games, Pac-Man, Galaxian and Dig-Dug. If you’ve never heard of these then you need to visit Mr Google and ask him some questions, then turn on your parents and tell them they have some explaining to do. What decent parent doesn’t inform their child about Pac-Man?
As Elliot got older his father started to present him new gaming experiences, Super Mario Bros. on the SNES, Zelda, Super Mario 64 – basically the staples of early gaming.
What’s interesting is that once Elliot was old enough to do his own research and actively seek out new game experiences, he ditched the fancy graphics of today’s games and was compelled towards indie titles that reek of the games of yesteryear.
It’s a curios thing indeed, but there’s some merit to it. If you grow up loving something then you naturally feel a pull towards experiences of a similar nature. And that my dears, is the reason men obsess over the chests of women and have dreams of Crash Bandicoot making a return.
You can read the full experiment over here, it’s a good read if you’ve got a few minutes to kill.
What are your earliest gaming experiences? Do you still play old-school games or have they lost their appeal against the likes of today’s uber-realistic offerings? Let us know down in the comments section below.
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