EGM has an article entitled ‘Child’s Play’ where they have kids age 10 to 13 – the PS2 generation – playing the games that my generation grew up playing. It’s hilarious.

Tim: What? There’s no power-ups in Pong. The concept of a power-up hadn’t been invented yet.

Kirk: I bumped into a dot.

John: But you can get this game on a cell phone. Why would you want to pay for it in an arcade?

I wonder if the comments from the kids would have been different without their peers around. It’s probably difficult to admit that you like something about a game that is outdated. And in the case of Tetris, hey had apparently not even been told what the rules are. Not how you do an objective study on whether these games still hold any attraction – more a way to get the most funny comments from kids trying to be the biggest smart-ass in the group. Makes for a better article, I guess.

On a side note: What’s disturbing to me is that the kids refer to games like Splinter Cell and GTA 3 when they compare the classics to today’s games. Those titles are all rated Mature – why do parents let a 9-year old play those? Peer pressure I guess – but it’s just terrible.

Random cool link I picked up today: Cat and Girl