Back in the day, if a video game didn't work, it was almost always a tangible, physical problem that could be fixed at home: though blowing into a NES cartridge to clear debris remains a dubious point of contention, cleaning kits were available to remove dust and dirt, and if connecting pins were bent out of shape, they could be repaired. Similarly, if a disc wouldn't read, it's probably because you didn't put it back in the case and let it get scratched, as would be visible on the disc, and could be somewhat remedied with a disc repair kit. Nowadays, though, it's all about nebulous error messages which mean absolutely nothing to your average gamer, leading to a Google search of said message, no doubt leading you to a forum of similarly-baffled gamers, none of whom have a satisfactory resolution. A customer service rep might contribute some generic information, advising a re-install of the game or defrag of your system, but an unfortunate by-product of consoles resembling PCs these days is that they're far more prone to random, unexpected errors, whereas old consoles and therefore old games are infinitely more reliable. Which classic features do you miss the most in contemporary gaming? Shout it out in the comments!
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
