If you read this blog, you know I’m going through an obsession with retro gaming right now. If you’re on the indie web, you’re probably a fan of old tech like RSS. There are plenty of algorithm-driven, much newer, much more high tech alternatives, but RSS is so simple and yet powerful.

I like vinyl. I just received the brand new Turnstile record I pre-ordered in the mail yesterday. The album actually dropped a few days ago on all of the streaming apps, but I purposely waited to listen to it on my good old fashioned turntable for the first time so I could hear it as clearly as possible. Maybe I’m a hipster, but I’m not really that hip.

I just think certain things fucking nailed it, even if they are considered obsolete compared to the bleeding edge tech of the 21st century. Especially when new versions of things are released with planned obsolescence every few months.

I’m typing this on an old Surface Go 2 tablet running Debian. I’ve always liked tinkering with Linux because it can breathe years of new life into antiquated hardware. This thing is shit by today’s standards, but it does everything I need it to do. And it does it better and faster than when it was running Windows 10 and definitely better than when I upgraded to Windows 11.

I don’t listen to records because of nostalgia; CDs were the gold standard in audio by the time I was old enough to have my own taste in music. I didn’t even see an LP up close until I was in my 20’s. Same with retro games–I played plenty of NES and Genesis titles when I was a kid, but it was mostly your standard issue stuff like Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros.

Those kind of games hit me with a massive dose of nostalgia when I was in my late teens, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized there are SO MANY killer titles from the 90’s and 2000’s I had never even heard of until now.

Entire genres like Metroidvanias and JRPGs. I definitely wasn’t going to import stores and buying stuff like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night two years before it launched in the US like the hardcore gamers of the 90’s were doing. And yet, after playing it for the first time a couple weeks ago, it now has a special place in my heart. 20 years from now; that’s when it’ll make me feel nostalgic for the first time I played it–all the way back in 2025.

Everything is getting so complex and hyper-realistic. I feel like we’re on track to what simulation theory hints at, you know? At a certain point, technology will become so advanced that simulations and virtual reality will be indistinguishable from actual reality.

Sometimes it’s nice to know you’re just playing a silly little pixelated toy rather than trying to simulate entire universes with precision.