Technology is changing at a rate so fast, it makes the quick-talking Micromachines spokesman look geriatric; and people all over the world can’t seem to get enough. This need to own the latest and greatest in tech-toys also applies to the gaming subculture.

“I think in general, people want graphics more than game-play, which is the only reason these [newer] systems exist,” says Matt Ryan, manager of Software Etc, North Grand Mall. “But there are definitely those people who are disappointed that the newer game systems don’t have as much game-play.”

This may explain why, even though many gamers are lining up all over the country at Wal-Mart and Target, waiting to get their hands on the newest and coolest console such as the Nintendo GameCube, some have grown nostalgic for what once was, and have dug out and dusted off their old Nintendo and Atari systems.

“The games are classic,” Ryan says. “They were done very well for the time.”

“They’re just good games. It doesn’t really matter what the graphics are like.” Tyler Anderson, undecided freshman, says. “I play the older [NES] systems as much as the I play the newer ones. There are always a few games that people always remember and always enjoy playing.” His personal favorites include “Punch-Out” and “Wrestle Mania.”

Ryan adds that in addition to the nostalgia, people are resorting back to the older consoles because they offer better game-play.

“[The gaming companies] concentrate so much on graphics these days that they have to skip over the game-play some times,” he says.

In fact, Ryan says, the old NES would probably out-sell any of the other systems that Software Etc. offers, including the newer ones such as the PlayStation 2.

“We’ve had many more requests for the NES than we’ve been able to [get in the store].” This has gone on for years, Ryan added.

However, game-play for the newer consoles do seem to be improving, and, according to Ryan, Sega is probably the best at doing this.

“[PS-2’s] `Ring of Red’ is excellent, and curiously has 16-bit style graphics.”

To help feed the craving for these more vintage systems is the fact that the games are often much less expensive. Prices for the NES games can cost anywhere from nine cents to $40, depending on their rarity.

“Mostly they’re like $10 [at Software Etc.], as opposed to $40 or $50 for a Dreamcast or N64 game,” Ryan says.

Yet nostalgia and game-play aren’t the only reasons why some people are hanging on to their old systems.

“It’s kind of a conversation starter,” Erin Randolph, sophomore in pre-journalism and mass communication, says. “People come over and laugh that we still have an Atari.”

Randolph says that while she doesn’t really consider herself to be much of a gamer, the older systems are a part of her generation’s past. “It’s fun to have an Atari,” she says.

Because some Atari and NES games, such as “Frogger” and “Asteroids,” are so hard to find and are still very popular, some companies have tried to satisfy the demand for these vintage games by repackaging them onto CD-ROMs for PCs, called emulators. As a result of this re-marketing, emulators have become very popular with the gaming culture.

With the ever-improving technological industry, games that are now considered cutting edge are sure to take on a vintage and classic quality themselves.

“I think probably in 10 years, you’ll have some emulator that runs PlayStation 2 games,” Ryan says. “And people will say, `Hey, I played that game when I was 15.'”

And so it goes.