Collecting the Classics

These days we have the urge to keep all the systems we get, we become so attached to our Gen 1 Xbox or our PS2 and we don't wanna get rid of it or the games. Its come to the point where we are buying classic systems such as the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Atari 2600, why?

Well for one thing we of the internet generation have a guy called the Angry Video Game Nerd who reviews all the classics, and the nostalgia it brings makes us want to get our systems back. It drives me crazy when I try to obtain a NES 2: Top Loader, which retailed for 50 dollars now going for 80 or more! Granted be, there aren't as many but when you consider the amount of Nintendo Wiis being sold...how could the old ones be popular?

How do you rationalize the sudden collection frenzy of systems for gamers, or at least the need to hang on to their last gen systems?

You play the games over and over, you didn't have online capabilities and the graphics compared to today could be beat by your own drawings (except for mine). So whats the rationalization for this frenzy, and am I the one to know the absolute truth?

All I can say is, you learned from the first games you played. You got better through these games, you had to use your imagination with these games with their limits compared to today. Theres such a difference between todays games and games of yesterday, except with yesterday there isn't a never-ending amount of games (except for PS2). Theres a finite collection within that console you can reach if you have the money, and you know enough from impressions throughout the years to know exactly what you want. 

Theres many other reasons involving money and preferences, but the basic feelings of a gamer to make him/her want the old systems is to explore and relive classic moments. Gaming is trial and error, you start anywhere and learn your tastes and your moments of gaming where you struggled. That is the element of gaming, the journey you take.