Generation 8-bit

Some call it Retro Chic or even something as simple as Old School, but I prefer the term Nostalgia Culture. At a time when the technology moves faster than we can consume it, our generation has longings for a simpler time. I'm not going to go into a luddite diatribe here, but it seems that nowadays before we can really begin to enjoy a piece of new technology, the next newer, better thing is available. The iPhone gave away to a new model a year later, having those who shelled out their hard earned money, do the same again for a couple of new features and an open SDK, which in a few months will be overshadowed by the introduction of the Google Android phones and SDK, offering the same gizmo and applications much cheaper. Just as XBOX and Playstation 2 were beginning to push the boundaries of their capabilities, the XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 were available, making those consoles obsolete, and I have no doubt that as soon as the Playstation 3 becomes affordable for the average American, Playstation 4 will be ready to ship. Not to say that there is a rage against this particular trend. In fact, we are consuming these things now more than ever. But, there is also a trend towards Nostalgia Culture for the modern 25-35 year old. Wedged in the crux between Generation X and Generation Y, we are a generation without a home. Generation X encompasses all those individuals born between 1965 and 1981 and Generation Y is supposed to span the birth dates 1982 to 1994. Now, I'm sorry sociologists, but given the way the world works now, a generation is not fifteen or ten years, as it may have been for the Baby Boomers or Greatest Generation. At most, it is five years. In a decade or so, it might even be three years. Are you telling me that someone born in 1982 has the same world view as someone born in 1994? Someone born in 1994 doesn't remember the world without an internet or cell phones. They wouldn't know what to do if they got into a car with roll down windows. Someone born in the late sixties came to the peak of their Generation X ennui in the early nineties, embodying the slacker, grunge world their parents had handed them, but I wasn't old enough to enjoy what Woodstock '94 represented.

So now, in an effort to explain why I am different from the 40 year old that is still in my 'Generation', I introduce a middle ground, Generation 8-bit.

In the early '80s, there were a handful of kids that had an Atari, or were still enjoying the number pad basics of Intellivision. These were the kids whose houses everyone wanted to be at. But in 1985, everything changed. With the introduction of the Nintendo Entertainment System, video games became an integral part of everyone's life. Almost everybody got a Nintendo over the course of the next 5 years and in the time between 1985 and 1994, there were over 750 games released by major developers alone! That includes the three years that Super Nintendo was in production and making games. 750+ games in an almost 10 year period, and for those of us in Generation 8-bit, that time period was at the peak of our playing time, after we had emerged from the sandbox and before we peaked into adolescence and found other distractions like the opposite sex. This was also a time when Video Stores had become commonplace and had started to carry Nintendo games to rent. So, at my optimum playing, I probably owned about 25 Nintendo games, but via rental, I had played hundreds.

Now, loyal readers, I have not busted into this little rant to show how the kids today don't appreciate what they have, but to revel in the fact that I have something that they don't. In fact, a whole generation of people has this nostalgic love for the world of 8-bit. For the past four years, there has been an art show in Los Angeles that celebrates the Nostalgia Culture of the 8-bit generation. Artists creating a world that reinvigorates our love for Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, and Mega Man. It is a show called I Am 8-bit. I was lucky enough to see this show in the few short weeks that it was installed in a storefront gallery on Hollywood Boulevard and I can tell you my friends, I didn't stop smiling the entire time I was in there. It wasn't just seeing my favorite characters from Street Fighter II or Donkey Kong depicted in paint and sculpture for the world to enjoy forever, it was the combination of that nostalgic feeling and the production of some of the flat out most impressive artwork I have ever seen. It was a reminder that these characters were not just something that helped us escape our lives or keep us entertained, but that they were part of us. Part of who we are now. For Generation 8-bit, the Konami Code is not just a secret password for Contra, but a secret password for generational camaraderie. Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start, my friends. Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start, indeed.

These are the pieces at this year's show. Each and every one of them I would love to have hanging on my wall right now. But, like all great art, these pieces were priced appropriately, and those prices were appropriately out of my price range.

Of course, I couldn't leave empty handed and managed to pick up something to my liking, and I think Little Mac and Soda Popinski will look great on my wall.

I am proud to be part of Generation 8-bit. I am 8-bit and so are you.