Retro Gaming; yay or nay?

[FaceAche]

So all this talk of Pinball machines, Elite, Tie Fighter etc got me thinking about retro gaming.

Like i was saying in Captain X's Elite/Oolite thread, i totally loved Elite back in the day. Kept a detailed log of prices paid for goods so i could get the best price when i sold it ..... i'd draw pictures of all the ships, technical spec style, along with action dog-fighting ones ..... even played with a motorcycle helmet on just so i could pretend i was piloting an awesome space-ship .....

And we also recently talked about Tie Fighter in another thread, which i also loved back in the day. It compelled me to install a copy of DosBox and get it working, which i did.

But after playing these games for a while, it's all kind of left me feeling empty inside, to be honest. Was it childhood wonder? Was i just more easily pleased back then, all those years ago? These are not games that have aged particularly well, in my opinion - are my expectations too high?

As a blast from the past, they have been great, but i can't see me spending much more time with this little diversion. I mean, i'd much rather fire up Mass Effect 3 or Syndicate, or hell, Duke Nukem Forever ......

Nothing is as good as i remember it, and whilst they were arguably ground-breaking in their day, they just don't really grab me anymore.

Is it just me? Am i being overly harsh? Is there a legitimate place for retro gaming in todays world?

Or as i've mentioned elsewhere lately, is it just nostalgia-induced rose-coloured glasses?

What do you guys think?

What about this penchant for HD-ing everything? Games, movies, TV shows - lots of old stuff seems to be getting "HD'd" recently. Is it a legitimate practice, or just a cheap money grab because the businesses releasing these types of revamped oldies are too lazy to come up with new IP? Does the argument that the technology is now available today to properly do the story/game/whatever justice, actually hold water?