When it comes to video games, most people consider the 16-bit era the "Golden Age" of video games. Classic Nintendo franchises such as Super Mario Bros., Zelda, Metroid etc. arguably reached their peak on the SNES while Sonic was doing his thing on Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis. Not to mention the Neo Geo and the TurboGrafx-16.

As we approach the end of the decade talk has already begun on next-gen consoles. Will Microsoft and Sony follow Nintendo's lead? Already we've seen them play catch-up with Project Natal and ball-on-a-stick respectively. Will Nintendo simply release Wii HD? Or will newcomer OnLive change gaming as we know it? Who knows? All we can do is speculate, but some things are certain. Namely, price. Gaming will continue to remain expensive and consumers will respond accordingly, opting for the cheaper alternative such as the Wii. Where am I going with this?

Well, I have a dream.

Wouldn't it be cool if one of the big three, say, Nintendo, turned back the clock and released a 8 or 16-bit console? It would be:

1. Affordable

   Cheap to produce, cheap to develop for and most importantly, cheap to buy.
   

2. Easy

   Developers are no doubt familiar with the existing technology, so surely devoloping games for it wouldn't prove to be that difficult, right? Perhaps they could even make it open platform and let us develop games?
   

3. Reliable

   How many of you have a working Nintendo 64? On the other hand, how many of you have sent in your 360 to be repaired? Since the introduction of the CD, it seems consoles have become less reliable.