The player

Don't throw out your old consoles, urges JOE GRIFFIN– retro games and machines deserve a seat at the table

A FEW DAYS ago my mother asked me if it was worth her while buying a Nintendo Wii. I initially warned her against. The beloved machine has been arguably surpassed

by the Xbox Kinect and PlayStation Move, I said, and, Nintendo’s next-generation console will be out next year.

But over the next few days it occurred to me that I was dead wrong. Overlooking the fact that the Wii is now far less than its original cost (often 50 per cent cheaper, depending on where you shop), there are other factors. Just as the CD player didn’t kill vinyl, so I believe that old consoles don’t die.

It may sound contradictory, but gaming is one of the only areas of electronics where machines don’t instantly devalue with age. Instant antiques, if you will.

Comb through ebay or read something like Retro Gamer(or the retro game sections of games magazines for that matter) and you'll see a voracious desire for old games and consoles. Some of this is nostalgia, yes, and I'll never understand those willing to pay through the nose for an original Pac Man arcade machine. But old consoles are also popular because many of these games have aged like fine wine.

And don’t forget that Nintendo’s GameCube, now a decade old, has almost the same horsepower as the Wii, a console which is still selling healthily. The regular high-def reissues of classic games reflects the demand.

I'm not too big to admit that I squealed in delight when certain Dreamcast games became downloadable on the PlayStation Network, and the re-releases of classic games often outshine recent titles, not least the recent PS2 gems that made up the ICO/Shadow of Colossuspack.

We have been conditioned to believe that the moment an electronic device is released it’s just months away from being outdated. But new-generation consoles are often not backwards compatible. After a console has existed for as little as three years it can accumulate dozens if not hundreds of classic games. Can you imagine the world of possibility a PlayStation 2 promises to someone who hasn’t played on one?

So, please, don’t turn your nose up at yesterday’s consoles, and for the love of god, don’t junk your old ones. I guarantee you’ll regret it.

theplayer@irishtimes.com