the future of retro

[scoobydoo]

Will Pandora be able to reach the average user? Is true retro gaming to be a largely accepted format? Has retro gaming already reached it's peek and worn itself out? How many QUALITY retro capable devices are out there now and how many will appear in the near future? Will the new machine, eventually to come, dwarf the current market?


When will the retro gaming library run it's course? Will the next batch of retro gaming include PS2, Dreamcast and XBOX games because everything prior has been repeated too many times now? Should developers continue on a retro develop mode for consumers or create modernized games that push the systems limits? Is that possible given the Pandora's hardware specs or any other systems specs currently out now?Will everything look retro no matter how newly developed? Is the Pandora a landmark pioneer device or just a gussied up big sister that is sure to be surpassed technologically in the near future? How soon ,if ever, will the Pandora be antiquated? What is the future of retro gaming? What is the estimated shelf life of the Pandora? Is 'shelf life' ,thus far, an oxymoron in regards to the current state of affairs with current emulator machines ? Are your shelves intact? :unsure:


Is there any need to be concerned about these questions?


Do you really care?


I love my Pandoras. They are my favorite gizmos by far.


Paranoia will destroy yah!!


Time for Skylanders.


Cheers,


Scooby Doooooooo.

 

[bismuthdrummer]

No, no, no, no, no.


No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.


EDIT: No, no.

 

[scoobydoo]

No, no, no, no, no.


No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Please explain.

 

[Mr Rob]

Ha, I have to agree with bismuthdrummer.


'Retro gaming' is certainly a good market, but it will never be the biggest market. Same with the Pandora. The device will have some pretty good sales figures, and (hopefully) make the companies behind it a tidy profit, but there will never be a day where most of the people I know have a Pandora. It's a small niche.


The biggest market that has emerged in the last five years are the casual gamers, brought about mostly by Facebook games (mock them as much as you want, they still are insanely profitable for the companies behind them, and used by a huge market) and smartphone applications. And on top of that there'll still be console games of all forms, alongside Indie and other markets that we can't imagine at the moment.

 

[bismuthdrummer]

Retro gaming itself will never diminish, but the Open Pandora will also never arm wrestle with iAnything.


I like to imagine myself using it ten years from now, and that perhaps being self-fulfilling, who knows? Maybe nothing will come around to replace it. The current system is powerful enough to suit my gaming/hobby needs, I don't need to stick with the mainstream with everything. If it means anything to you, I still play 2nd Edition AD&D and Magic: the Gathering from no later than Odyssey. That was where they hit the sweet spot and I am more than happy to stay there, as those games analagously provide plenty to do. Same goes with the Open Pandora, although I would certainly upgrade to the Open Pandora 2 provided those sweet sweet buttons, D-pad, and nubs are all still there.


I want to push this device as Not-Just-Retro,so could we try to focus on the capabilities as a whole? Take out the retro gaming, and I am still happy. That's how we should envision the future of Open Pandora: not entirely without retro but not entirely dependent upon it. Emulation is here and will develop with the coming waves of tech.


EDIT: I agree, scoobydoo, shelf life is a bit of a contradiction in terms when it comes to emulation. A bit since the gap between generations of emulation is large (e.g. PS1 > PS2 > PS3), but not total contradiction since eventually devices deprecate. My hope like Mr Rob is that the OP becomes its own franchise so I don't have to worry about the needs of the masses swallowing up my needs ("needs"); so the Open Pandora becomes competitively awesome with the scientific advances in hardware. I'll pay for it, and I believe others will too. Just imagine: Gen II Open Pandora. Gives me cold sweats just picturing it. But we gotta get there.

 

[sebt3]

Well you have to see it in the other side of a mirror....


Retro is becoming hyped. Retro looking game have a realy growing market. If you dont trust me then think about minecraft, ForgetMeNot and all these games that popup lately. Not only for pandora, but for android, iOS...


I'm pretty sure "neo-retro" is becoming mainstream.


The question now become, are we ready for that ? (for those knowing the goth movement, think how the old guard have received the new stream of emo-goths coming from these vampires romances).


For sure I now feel out of touch of these neo-geek (you know these iDevices fan that clain themself geek to be hyped but have no idea what a mutex is)


ahhh getting older

 

[Hoodoo]

> For sure I now feel out of touch of these neo-geek (you know these iDevices fan that clain themself geek to be hyped but have no idea what a mutex is)


These are probably too hardcore to write code which will run more than one thread, so maybe they are uebertrue geeks. In fact they might be retrogeeky enough to use GOTO a lot.

 

[Mr Rob]

Well if they are using GOTOs, those should port well to the Pandora; go go Fortran Compiler!

 

[skeezix]

Well you have to see it in the other side of a mirror....


Retro is becoming hyped. Retro looking game have a realy growing market. If you dont trust me then think about minecraft, ForgetMeNot and all these games that popup lately. Not only for pandora, but for android, iOS...


I'm pretty sure "neo-retro" is becoming mainstream.


The question now become, are we ready for that ? (for those knowing the goth movement, think how the old guard have received the new stream of emo-goths coming from these vampires romances).


For sure I now feel out of touch of these neo-geek (you know these iDevices fan that clain themself geek to be hyped but have no idea what a mutex is)


ahhh getting older

Wow, theres a lot packed into this post I agree, and now I'm sad and old feeling


Neo retro .. Lady Gaga and The Killers and so on, the 80s styled music .. retro is back big.


jeff

 

[fusion_power]

The good thing is, Pandora is much more than just retro gaming. I see a huge potential in Indie games for example, only the Devs have to be convinced to take a look at the Pandora.

 

[Gruntfuggly]

It's a good question - IMHO a lot of the retro 'scenes' are on the way down now. My other interests - vintage radio controlled cars (anybody have a Sand Scorcher 30 years ago?) and arcade machines have both been big over the last 10 years, but seem to have peaked. UKVAC was pretty lively when it was just a email list, but it's dead now. All the old arcade machines have been bought up and either stuffed into somebody's collection or converted to MAME...

 

[Miner49er]

Please correct me if I'm missing the point but I think that there will be an interest in retro-gaming for a while yet. It seems to me that people who are younger than me and did not grow up in the Arcade Gaming Golden Era (the 80's basically) are still interested in those games, so it's not purely a nostalga thing it's a genuine interest in the classics of the past. Also, I think with ace games like Voxatron that take the retro-look and extend it show there is an interest in teh retro-style (somebody else coined the term neo-retro - reminds me of Tricky, "Brand new, you're retro")


I don't think the younger retro-gaming fans 'do it' right though. There's an early-twenties guy here at work that has built himself a cab and used an LCD monitor!! Sorry but if you have an arcade cab - you REQUIRE a proper CRT in order to fully appreciate the much older games that look possitively awfull on a crisp, up to date display (perhaps on a tiny Pandora screen they are acceptable...)


So, yeah I think there will be an interest in retro-games for a while yet but it will die eventually, probably when the 80's generation end up in old-folks homes. Though, I imagine myself still trying to beat my Bombjack hi-score whilst sitting in a rocking chair with a tartan blanket over my knees (on a Pandora obviously...possibly with a neural-link-up or something due to the arthritis in my fingers! - feature request!)

 

[Coldbird]

Yes eventually it will reach the average user, but not to the extend a commercial console could...


Retro sure isnt the way to please the average user... it will never be...


But eventually some commercial titles will find its way onto the Pandora... with proper advertisement and maybe getting some Pandora units to Humble Bundle developers those titles might be able to get a Pandora release...


This way it might be able to appeal to more mainstream users aswell, I for one, want to believe in this and will do my best to achieve this result.