Sit down and listen to Grandpa Ducky's tale. Take a seat, right here by the fire.
Are you ready? Imagine: the wonderful world of 2000. It was only 12 years ago, but it seems so far away now, doesn't it? Now, Ducky was a young man around this time--right in his prime, you would say. Gaming was just reaching mainstream appeal and becoming an acceptable pastime along with reading, sports, cinema and wanking. There were many wonderful and bold companies on the gaming scene--Sega, Sony, Nintendo, to name a few--and smaller contenders were dropping out and one giant that we all know today as Microsoft was soon to take the stage.
While most were focusing on innovation in gameplay, storytelling and graphical power, one company, above all else and against all odds, was doing nothing new. Not a single goddamn thing. They were getting away with it, of course, or else they wouldn't do it. But it surprised Grandpa Ducky nonetheless. So on that faithful day of January 1, 2000, Ducky sat upon his clifftop and pondered the state of the gaming industry as he knew it. He stared at Nintendo, the squinty-eyed Japanese monolith that it had been since the 1980s and said, frankly, to himself: "They can't keep this shit up. They can't keep releasing the same bollocks year after year and expect people to keep paying for it."
12 years later and they're still going strong. Grandpa Ducky is unlikely to ever see the end. Maybe you, kids, will live for a better day. A better day for all of us.