Please no, enough already. No, not Big Brother, although clearly that too. I'm talking about that scourge of modern day gaming, the retro compilation. I got a copy of Sega Classics for PS2 in the post yesterday. Perhaps I'll file it next to Taito Legends or the forthcoming Namco Arcade Collection in my modern life is rubbish gaming pile (current occupants include a Capcom compilation and a scratched Midway disc).
This regurgitating of gaming history has got to stop, really it has. You may think you are getting a welcome chance to, I dunno, relive that frenzied 1942 session on Bournemouth pier in the mid-80s. But you're not. You're actually donating hard earned cash to lazy publishers and making them think that you'll buy any old tat with "Classic" on the box. Even the games included are haphazard. For every Defender there'll be a Pitfighter to pad out the package.
Of course, a small minority of "classic" games still stand up today, but far too often the memory clouds the reality. I recently downloaded the Gauntlet demo from the 360 marketplace. The graphics, the music, the pixellated Elf - it was great for 45 seconds until I realised that the action was tedious in the extreme. Gauntlet was a revelation in 1986 but then so were the Blow Monkeys and no-one is digging their scene anymore. Play retro games on your phone if you have to, at least they make some sort of sense there, but let your console work for a living.
.png?w=600)
