The Past is the Way of the Future

There is a current trend in computer gaming that is reflected in the new generation of consoles. Xbox Live Arcade, Nintendo's Wii's expected online services and guesses at the PS3's online content all show a leaning towards retro games. With the recent release of Street Fighter 2 on Xbox Live Arcade and the promise of some classic 2D platform action in the vain of the Playstation classic Castlevania, added to the presence of Gauntlet, Smash TV, Joust and Robotron. The trend has already been set. Nintendo has followed suit, with plans to make available a very extensive back catalogue for download to the Wii. I am unsure what Sony's plans are for the PS3's online content but it would be a safe bet that retro gaming will feature in some form.

What is it about retro gaming that has everyone so excited? Do we really miss the old pixellated and simplistic gameplay that much? I am very interested in playing the old classics. I splashed out on Street Fighter 2 on Live Arcade as soon as I could. More recently I bought a PSP so that I could get my hands on Ultimate Ghosts 'n' Ghouls and the Gradius Collection. I love all that stuff and a lot of other people do too. The thought that I could sit in my house in front of a Wii and play Mario Allstars on a 42" HD LCD TV has got me very excited indeed. Its not just geeks like me thnat are buying the retro classics. A large portion of the market is casual gamers who want something that they can pick up and put down as easy as possible. These older games are perfect for that.

The depths of Cyrodill

Being an adventurer in Oblivion is hard. Today I was searching the Heartlands of Cyrodill for lockpicks. As an honest member of the Fighters Guild I do not have access to merchants that sell lockpicks (only members of the Theives Guild have that and you need to be a convicted criminal to join). The only way for me to get lockpicks, is to search the deepest dungeons for long lost chests and fight every bandit lurking around the countryside and plunder them for lockpicks.

I need the lockpicks in order to get into a couple of chests in a house in the temple district of the Imperial City. The owner of the house is a suspected vampire and has absconded and I have been charged with finding him. I had searched every ruin I can find and scoured the local countryside for bandits and marauders to get the sought-after lockpicks and I had managed to scrape together 5 that I had found in some ruins to the north of the city. I rush back to the city and find the house. I break 2 lockpicks getting into the basement and there was nothing there so I use up 1 more in order to get into his bedroom. Here there are 2 chests that have the most complex locks that you can find in the game. I go to the first chest and... SNAP! There goes my second-last lockpick on the first tumbler. I try again, this time with more patience. I grow in confidence as I slowly pick each tumbler in turn successfully. Now I'm down to the last tumbler when SNAP! @*%$*@^$$^%£@*!!!! There goes hours of questing, gone in one second.

That was the most frustrating thing that has happened to me in Cyrodill. I switched my 360 off in disgust and spent a good hour playing Street Fighter 2 to work off my frustration. Perhaps tomorrow I'll pick those blasted locks...