Cleanse, Tone, Defrag: I used to blow in cartridges

Posted by on Jun 9, 2011 in Cleanse, Tone, Defrag, Columns | 2 comments

This writing out column entires on my iPhone while waiting around is fast becoming more of an occurrence than I care for. Well, I say like, but I guess it’s good really. Means it makes the time go by quicker, plus writing anything, anytime, anywhere is kind of cool. Again with the observations of how technology is an aiding influence in our lives and such.

So this one was born less out of people watching than getting all self-aware like Skynet at my playing Peggle for the umpteenth time on my phone. Then I got all nostalgic and thus inspired, so, you know, awesome.

One of my earliest geeky memories is of me and my cousin playing on the Mega Drive, or the Genesis if you prefer, and finding a really old game at the back of the cupboard. The box was a bit dusty, but then that’s a given. He cracked open the box, unclipped the game cartridge and before he snapped it down in the port with that ever so appealing and satisfying “click”, he blew into the cartridge because “it makes them play better.”

After that, I remembered I used to blow in cartridges, too.

These days, there’s a lot less blowing to do generally (stop it); perhaps the odd time we get something stuck between the keys on a keyboard, or if you’re playing a Nintendo DS game, or if you’re a cool kid with retro consoles.

We’ve already seen external media evolve to leave behind the cartridges, and while I’d imagine that it’d be a fair while before we say goodbye to discs for home consoles, we can already see the burgeoning seeds in the move to cloud, app and downloadable gaming in much the same way as we did when disc based games began to appear towards the end of the bit-generation with the Sega CD.

Cartridges hung around up until the last years of the 20th Century with the Nintendo 64 for home consoles, and did continue for a few more years with the Nintendo DS handhelds. Now, they seem terribly kitch and garner upturned noses from modern gamers with a lack of old school appreciation. For those who do like their bits (again with the “stop it”) and sprites however, they do exude a certain charm and luster and whenever I see one, my lips automatically purse, ready to blow at the exposed piece of golden-laced green board.

And here I am, playing a game with crystal clear visuals thousands, millions of times greater than those found on a cartridge, on a thin, touch-screen device that can power itself without a giant brick and is also a phone.

I remember I used to blow in cartridges.

Great, now I just got a bit of spit on my iPhone screen. Damn you pursed lips and gravity and why the hell am I still waiting here?

About Rob


Rob Kidman is an aspiring writer, have-a-go designer, avid tea drinker and geek from birth. Oh, and he’s British. What he doesn’t know about Doctor Who, isn’t worth knowing. Sends text messages in full, perfect grammar, no matter if it costs an extra 10p, as he believes txtspk to be an affront to the Queens’ English. Partial to cheese and pickle, random gherkins, and a fan of the miniature sombrero.

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  • http://voodoowalrus.com/ Grymm

    Its fascinating to me to look back on the past 20 plus years of my life and realize how far technology as a whole has come like this. From sticky five button controllers to touch screens and motion sensors.

    From huge blocky cinderblock wireless phones with huge industrial antennae, to tiny little cell phones.

    I still find it a bit surreal that stuff that seemed wild and fantastical and bound firmly to awesome sci-fi when I was a kid or teen is now commonplace.

  • http://WWW.geek-life.com Cape Rust

    Sadly I was a blower as well but it was Atari cartridges (yes I’m that old)