Andru Edwards of Gear Live on the GeekWire radio show and podcast this week.
Andru Edwards of Gear Live, left, on the GeekWire radio show and podcast this week.

Gamers were frustrated Friday when Nintendo’s cute little NES Classic Edition console sold out almost instantly on its first day. The $59.99 device comes with with 30 original NES games built in, including classics from the Zelda, Mario, Metroid and Donkey Kong franchises, plus an HDMI cable for use with modern displays.

For people of a certain age, it looks like a lot of fun (if you can cope with its super-short controller cord). But our kids might be less impressed.

At least, that was the case for Andru Edwards of Gear Live, who reviewed the device in advance of its release and talked about it on the GeekWire radio show and podcast, recorded in front of an audience at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

“My 12-year-old son was only entertained by it for about 15 minutes, and then very quickly wanted to go back to the Xbox,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s not the audio-visual overload experience that games today are. It’s not high-definition 4K with surround sound. It really is very simple. … For lack of a better term, it’s not as cool.”

Of course, the gaming market is much more than kids. “If you were gaming in 1985, then you are now middle-aged more than likely. Today, gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry. A lot of people love nostalgia. … This is a way to allow you to pay just $60 and get 30 classic games to play.”

GeekWire’s John Cook asked if he should buy it, noting that he was an Atari fan.

“Oh, this is better than Atari,” replied Andru. “This is 8-bit. This is 8-bit!”

Listen to the segment above and check out more from this week’s GeekWire radio show and podcast. Watch Andru Edwards’ full video review of the NES Classic Edition below.

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