Old Tech – Where Are They Now?

It’s a guilty pleasure, but many of us love indulging every now and again in clicking on the “10 Childhood Stars: Where Are They Now?” headline. We all want to see who’s an average Joe and who ended up a rehabilitated train wreck. As much as you might like to read that story, today we bring you retro tech and where are they now, or rather what have they evolved into. Whatever happened to a Commodore 64? Or Yahoo Games?

 

NES: One Of The OG Gaming Consoles

What was your favorite old gaming console? Whether it was a Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, or even the original NES (remember Duck Hunt?), there was something magical about playing video games on an old tube television with pixelated graphics. But whatever happened to all of those old consoles? Let’s review a few of the more popular ones:

Selling over 60 million at its release in 1985, the original Nintendo Entertainment System has been one of the most popular home game consoles to be produced. How much did people shell out for one of these in 1983? It launched at $199.99, which may seem reasonable, but taking inflation into account that comes out just shy of $500 in today’s market. We aren’t even paying that much for the latest Xbox or PlayStation, but we are paying upwards of that for technology like the Oculus Rift which could be the NES of our day in a sense.

Wikipedia_NES_PAL

So where’s the NES now? In a technological sense, the NES obviously paved the way for many of the most popular gaming systems we’ve seen. From the Super Nintendo Entertainment System to the Nintendo 64, this was the first heavy hitter by a large margin. In a more real sense, the NES is all over. If you search eBay for NES Consoles, you could have one on it’s way to you for under $200 and be playing Duck Hunt, Tetris, and more in a week’s time.

Have an NES console in your basement? If you’re done with your video game days, it might be time to make some spending cash selling it. If you want to get retro, there’s a way. Your NES can hook up to your 21st century TV in no time with a few easy steps. Have any games lying around? If you don’t plan on blowing into the cartridge and starting them up, you might consider doing some research on how rare your games might be. Some rare games, if complete (with box and instructions) can go for a few thousand dollars.

Makes you think twice about your old gaming consoles and where they may have ended up.

 

Commodore 64: The Comeback

What was your first computer? For many, it was 33 years ago with the Commodore 64 – an 8-bit home computer made by Commodore International. The Commodore 64 retailed for $595 (roughly about $1400 today) and to this day holds the record for the highest-selling single computer model of all time, having sold between 10-17 million units.

The Commodore 64’s chip was originally designed to be a state-of-the-art video and sound chip meant for video games, but at the last minute a 64 kilobyte home computer was designed and showcased at CES in 1982. More powerful than its competitors and a lot cheaper to boot, the Commodore 64 beat out the Apple II, the IBM PC, and others. Not only was it a steal in comparison, but it also made personal computing possible for folks who previously found it too complicated or confusing.Commodore64

Although the company behind Commodore has since become defunct, the brand had great success with the Commodore 64. But what happened to all those computers from the 80s? Well, eBay, that’s what happened. If you’re feeling particularly nostalgic and want to see what 64KB of RAM drives like, you can buy one of your very own for a couple hundred dollars.

But why settle for the original when you can have a new version? That’s right – a new and improved Commodore 64 with modern hardware, packaged in the same chunky retro case could be available by the end of the year. The campaign is running on Indiegogo to produce a similar but modern 64 as well as a handheld device.

 

Yahoo Games: Still Around?

Before smartphones and Words With Friends, people either played solo games that came on their computers (think Solitaire, Minesweeper, or SkiFree) or if you wanted to have some pseudo social interaction, you could play online with strangers on Yahoo Games.

Yahoo Games 2001

yahoo Games 2016
Yahoo Games circa 2001 (Above), Yahoo Games in 2016 (Below)

You could play anything from board games to card games, and just about any game in between. In it’s prime years, Yahoo Games was a hub – not just for games but for people from far and wide to chat while they played.

Yahoo Games has evolved drastically over the last decade and a half. Today, it looks more like a branded game metropolis – like a Yahoo app store of games, where the possibilities are endless. And yes, Yahoo Games is actually still around, but unfortunately not for long. After a decision to cut many legacy programs and focus on it’s core platforms, Yahoo is discontinuing Yahoo Games on Friday May 13th, 2016.

So get on there and play one more round of Canasta!

 

Technology is moving faster than ever and that only means more and more retired innovations. What will be the Yahoo Games in 2030?