Cognition Dissemination: No Retro Consoles from War Profiteers – Damage Control Blog

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Plenty of choices exist for retro gaming hardware from a variety of manufacturers. Their quality varies between the companies responsible, whether they’re from the official publishers themselves or reliable producers to those which tend to put out subpar hardware like AtGames at their worst. But we now live in a brave, new world, a time when retro consoles have only increased in popularity. They’re so popular now, in fact, that one manufacturer is also known for selling weapons of war to the United States government to kill people overseas, and shouldn’t be supported on moral grounds.

Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus VR and creator of the Oculus Rift VR device for Facebook (now Meta), has gotten into the retro hardware world. They established a retro game console division known as ModRetro, starting their adventure with the Chromatic, a device that’s nearly a dead ringer for the original Game Boy that includes modern upgrades like a color screen and USB-C support while still requiring 3 AA batteries. It sure looks great from the outset, through playing Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and special ModRetro cartridges. But that prettiness hides internal ugliness, with the hardware being made with the same medal used to make attack drones sold to the military industrial complex as part of Luckey’s other company: Anduril Industries.

The hardware looks good through coming in various colors and having a nice color screen, and assuredly feel good thanks to the expensive material they’re made with. It’s among the selling points when they’re heavily advertised on Meta’s platforms. The ads hammer home how the devices recall more halcyon days from the aging audience that tends to use platforms like Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Threads, and particularly focus on the ModRetro version of Tetris . I know I see quite a few of them thanks to following several gaming accounts on Facebook, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they appear for those who don’t. Facebook/Meta creator Mark Zuckerberg and Palmer Luckey remain close, after all.

People should know how these are coming from a company that also sells weaponry to kill people and render lands inhospitable around the world when they buy them, and shame on anyone who doesn’t include that as a disclaimer. They should also know that Luckey himself has been an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump since he first ran for the presidency in 2016. Luckey initially apologized after it was discovered that he supported Trump, after several fans of his in the gaming and technology worlds considered it a betrayal. But like any mainstream conservative these days, the most successful among whom lack any and all shame, he’s since leaned in. He hosted at least one fundraiser for Trump during his 2020 and 2024 campaigns, with the latter, unfortunately, being a successful run. This is who you’re giving money to if you buy a Chromatic.

Well, more than a Chromatic now. ModRetro has since also released the M64, their equivalent to the Nintendo 64. The system resembles an actual N64 enough, through even featuring a translucent hardware design reminiscent of 1990s gaming platforms, in colors reminiscent of Nintendo’s “Play it Loud” era. The same applies to the relatively weird controllers the N64 used. It’s not quite as impressive as the Chromatic thanks to the system seriously not being compatible with some N64 games, including Donkey Kong 64 . But I’m sure that won’t be the case for long, and the same surrounding morality issues that the Game Boy-like device has apply here too.

There are fortunately alternatives to indirectly supporting war crimes. Analogue is one of the best retro gaming hardware manufacturers around, for a good example. The Analogue Pocket, the design for which is reminiscent of the Game Boy Pocket, plays Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games, making it better than the Chromatic. It also supports adapters to play Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color, TurboGrafx-16, and Atari Lynx titles. There’s also the Analogue 3D, which plays Nintendo 64 games. The controller looks different, but it is compatible with the old N64 controllers and the new wireless ones Nintendo has released. The Analogue Pocket is currently out of stock, but the Analogue 3D is available for sale as of this writing.

You should know where your money is going, and it shouldn’t go towards a guy who’s manufacturing weapons that kill overseas and suppress dissent at home, while also supporting fascism on the same homeland. This goes double when clear alternative hardware exists.

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Tags:Analogue, Analogue 3D, Analogue Pocket, Cognition Dissemination, Meta, ModRetro, Palmer Luckey, video games

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