So here we are, Gamespot community. Here we are waist-deep in the seventh generation of video gaming. Insanely realistic graphics, innovative gameplay, and of course, gimmicks to get us to shell out big bucks for a half-working motion controller or a light gun that is terribly inaccurate...ahhhh the seventh generation. But for many of us in the hardcore crowd have aged with gaming, and we've seen the same song and dance over the years. Remember the sixth generation? What did it have? Better graphics, better gameplay, new ways to play! The fifth? Better graphics, better gamplay, new ways to play! And it just goes on, and on, and on, and on, all the way back to good ole' Pong. Hell, even Pong has gone through it's enhancement phase (see Pong consoles). And of course we all know the eigtheth generation is well on it's way, and guess what? It's going to tout the same horn and bang the same drum. But as gaming progresses, we sometimes take a step back. We go back to a time we remember being younger, playing those games. Those games. The ones forever shining in our minds. And when we finally decide to pick up our Atari/NES/SMS/GEN/SNES/N64 controller one more time, we our instantly sent back to those days, and that strange feeling comes back once you hit the start button and you suddenly remember all of the controls. That feeling of nostalgia.

For me, nostalgia can hit me anything that was pre-PS2. I still have a majority of my consoles hooked up to any TV in my home(excluding the Atari 7800 which I need to buy a new cable for, and my Genesis because my girlfriend has it at the moment). No matter how many hours a day I could spend playing Left4Dead or Gears of War or, hell, even newgamesold franchises likeFinal Fantasy or Super Mario, I always have had a soft spot for my older games. Hell, I'd take Final Fantasy IV over XIII anyday, same goes withSuper MetroidandMetroid Primeor Doom 3 and Doom. Maybe I'm speaking biasedly, but in my opinion, the golden ages of gaming were from 1980 to 1998, the Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time being the 'Best for Last' in gaming history (although I'll admit StarCraft Brood War is right beside it but won't count because it is just an expansion to an existing game). And for me, these games will bring back all of the fond memories I had playing video games when I was a child.

So I welcome the eighth generation. I welcome it with an extended hand, but in my left hand I'll be clutching my NES controller, for no matter what the future holds, it will never bring the true nostalgia hardcore gamers relive when we pick up our old, dusty controllers and fire up some Altered Beast. It's sad really, because I know when I continue down the road of life, and eventually have children of my own, they will be born into a house full of ancient video games, but they will not be able to fully appreciate them because they'll have their Halo 10 or have Call of...whoops, sorry, it'll be dead and buried by then...and since gaming doesn't have that same feeling as it did before, it seems like nostalgia will be a thingof the past, something that we'll be bickering about when we're old and greying.