The wii is finally hacked, and the ps3 has linix support built in, but what about the 360? I havent heard any news about 360 developments in a long time. Have we just givin up? i would like to play nes, sega, and user created games on my 360, and play leagal backups without a mod chip. the wii will get this the psp and ds have this and the ps3 is getting there but nothing at all for the 360? just a very complicated linix that i havent heard about in at least a year. come on guys get on it.

I'm sure that anyone with a DS or PSP (or even a PS2, for that matter) can't fail to recognise just how many Retro compilation packs there are in the market all supposedly "filled with classics you remember from your childhood". Yet, as I'm sure many of you who have succumbed to temptation and actually bought one of these compilations will know, although you do remember these games from your childhood, they seem to have gotten worse due to extra features that don't complement the original game, but in fact, they ruin the experience of playing the game.

For example, The latest remake of Rainbow Islands (Rainbow Islands Revolution for Nintendo DS), seems to have touch screen elements (using the touch screen to create rainbows) which were tacked on at the very last minute, in order to make a remake of a game over 15 years old seem "revolutionary", yet, it manages to take the game I knew and loved from my childhood (playing the game when I was 5 years-old at a seaside arcade in the mid 1990s), and totally destroy all the fun I had, replacing it with monotony and boredom.

Although there are other arcade remakes and compilations which are much better than that atrocity, please take this as a cautionary tale from me. Although there are some good old school/ retro compilations (Sega MegaDrive Collection ,aka Sega Genesis collection for you USA people, comes to mind here) NEVER buy one that messes around with the original formula, you'll just be disappointed, as I found out.

I end this cautionary tale on a lighter note- a list of retro compilations I recomend-
NES Classics range (GBA)
Sega MegaDrive/Genesis Collection (PSP/PS2)
and Taito Legends- Power Up (PSP)

Ever wanted to have a glimpse of the development hardware used by game developers of the last generation? Well, today is your lucky day to set your eyes upon these rare gems! Above is the Microsoft XBOX Alpha Development Kit, followed by the Sony Playstation 2 TOOL Development Kit, the Nintendo GameCube Dolphin Development Kit, and last but not least the Sega Dreamcast 'Katana' Development Box. Some of these could sure have one wishing they could not only "look" but also "touch" at the same time.

You can check out more video gaming obscurities here:
http://oldengineer.com

First of all: my goal in this post is to be 100% neutral and bias-free.  My preferences may come out subconsciously, but this is not a psychology class, so I won't go into that.  Just trust me when I say that I am not trying to push my console preferences.

It happens every time new consoles come out: the console wars heat up and gamers take their choices in consoles very seriously.  It leads to insults (look at the comments of any console wars-related post on QJ), stress, and distraction from the entertainment of gaming.  We are all guilty of it.  You, me; even the people who repeatedly state the same kind of thing I'm saying right now are soldiers in the console wars.  But as a gamer since the 16 bit days, I can tell you that I never first picked the console that would eventually win until the DS (and that war isn't technically over yet), but I've still loved every console I ever had.  The console wars mentality is a problem, and as I hope to explain in this post, meaningless.

Reasoning and explanation after the jump.