Pixelnauts.net

For those who think the revolution is to play old games, the overwhelming support from virtually every end of the spectrum are evidence of a resounding victory. I once placed myself in that camp, yet even after all these years of geekhood and a computer which can comfortably run Crysis, I still find myself going through the effort to hunt down original systems and games, replace NES cart batteries, and keep my unreasonably large collection of games. Forcing me to realize why I haven't forsaken these pursuits when I could be spending all that time and money doing something a bit more constructive, you know, like creating witty bumper stickers or solving world peace? It's not because of nostalgia, though that certainly plays a part; I've enjoyed some pretty mediocre games simply because I had them as a child.

No, my pursuit acts as the perfect example for why emulation is nowhere near it's promise of solving the problem -- at least as it stands today. While emulators can perfectly process the code, sometimes even better than their original hardware, that doesn't create the experience. To argue that emulation of a game provides a comparable experience to the developer-intended setup is akin to believing that watching 2001: A Space Odyssey on a 5 inch black and white portable TV is just as good as the theatrical release.

While emulation may reproduce the code's data for visual/audio output, it just can't reproduce the experience. Playing with a keyboard or generic controller or on anything other than a CRT television fails to deliver the designer's intended experience.

Original controllers and displays aren't just a preferential problem; some very practical issues can arise when the code is executed on newer hardware. Phosphor glow , scan lines, and independent resolutions/refresh rates are but a few of the CRT quirks and features used by developers to produce effects the systems weren't designed to generate. Without these many common output effects like transparency by 'flickering' the sprite on and off result in an ugly blinking block of pixels. The input can be just as problematic when a game's required button combinations or analog sticks render it unplayable without the original controller layout.

There are many solutions to the controller problem ranging from retro-USB adapters and to in depth hardware mods, but the display side isn't quite so easy. The most obvious solution is to use a CRT screen, but that means either putting a second television in your living room, or usurping the mature console's seniority rights by relegating them to a less central part of the house. As time goes on, it will become increasingly difficult to find an old tube telly at all.  Another option is to use emulators equipped with workarounds to these intentional glitches, but reliability of proper code execution must be sacrificed. Possibly the most promising solution to the death of CRTs can be at Georgia Tech. Students have produced a technology which emulates an older CRT television's imperfections. While this nascent method has a ways to go, such a feature could enable reliable display recreation.

In the end, these purely technical problems can be overcome by those wishing to invest the time and money to do so. But technical issues, while major hurdles right now, aren't the biggest concern. Unlike the technical issues, contextual and value-assignment dilemmas  don't diminish overtime. Quite the opposite, they loom ever larger as we separate ourselves from these games' eras.