Computer games are getting ever more realistic, but that's sometimes a turnoff for gamers who fondly remember the simple graphics of the classics.

But even if you don't have the right hardware to run the old games, special software can help to bring the old games to life on new computers. From there, it's a quick step to enjoying classics like Defender, Asteroids or Monkey Island.

And it doesn't stop there. After all, there's 20 years or more of computer gaming history to explore. Their age and their unbroken popularity have turned these games into classics.

The first step, if you're interested in retrogaming, is to stop worrying about finding an old computer for the classic games and focusing your attention on finding an emulator for the computer you have today.

Emulators are small programs that simulate classic systems like the Commodore 64 (C64) or the Amiga 500 on modern computers. Most emulators are designed for the PC or Mac, but there's already a C64 emulator out there for the iPhone.

However, many of the older, and sometimes more difficult, games are hard to navigate with touchpads.

"The advantage of emulators is that you don't need to get any special hardware," says Hansjoerg Wuethrich, a retrogamer who has written a book on the trend.

An older Pentium-III PC can already emulate a lot of the older systems with no problem. Wuethrich recommends the C64 emulator FRODO or the WinUAE for Amiga fans.

MAME and MESS are two other interesting options. While MAME focuses on old arcade-style games like Pac-Man or Outrun, MESS, which is still in development, would bring together a lot of older system under one interface.

Emulators only simulate the device. The game to be played has to be available in a special format like ROM or ISO.

The games are long gone from store shelves, but it's...

2010-12-28 00:26:04