Evolution of games

[Bionicone2093]

Throwing this out there.....

For those with children getting to the age where you want to let them play video games (I do not have any, but have several friends that do), would you start with new games/systems (like PS4,Xbox 1, Nintendo Switxh, etc...) or would you take them back to classic systems like Atari and regular NES?

I kinda like the idea of starting back with the older systems to give them a better appreciation of how the games evolved.

[Longingtobenude]

I probably would start em out on the new stuff.  It requires less dedication than the old games.  I wouldn't want them to put so much of themselves into beating some old NES game when there are probably some really good educational games now days. 

If they really got into it as a hobby anyways, then I could see setting them up with an emulator and some of the old gems.  Metroid or A Link to the Past. 

[Bionicone2093]

See, my thought process on this is that I wouldn't want them to snub the older games just because they are 8 bit and not the awesome graphics they can easily get now. 

Example..... Breath of the Wild is awesome.  But in its own way, the Original Zelda is really fun. 

[tinghou2004]

Extra Credits had an episode on getting people into games and talks about this a little (https://youtu.be/qXQuannq308?t=2m16s)
I imagine that showing kids is gonna be a similar thing - newer stuff is shiny and it's easier to get them interested, and then you can get more into retro/historical stuff once they're already hooked.

I'm not too worried about the graphics thing either - there are enough examples of modern games where the devs just decided to focus more on gameplay and ended up with relatively simple graphics (like Minecraft) that I think kids can recognize that games don't have to "look" super amazing to be amazing. xD

[Loquacious Parrot]

When I was younger,I never noticed graphics that much really.  I was more worried about the gameplay of the game.  Sure graphics are nice, but when I was 8 a ton of stuff that looks blocky and old looked realistic to me. Now when I look back I think, hot damn thats old.

[nakiekitty]

I grew up playing mostly PS3 and 360 games, but I played tons of older games on the PC and emulators. I can appreciate most games, graphics or not, but I definitely find it hard to go back to old games. It's like, they had a different definition of fun back then. Or they hadn't figured out that backtracking and trial-and-error and stuff is boring yet. Or that grinding is boring.

[Mark]

My friend's daughter's been around video games all her life, but her first gaming system was a hand-me-down Game Boy Color and Pokemon Red. From there she went on to a Game Boy Advance, with Fire Red, and now has her own 3DS.