Have you converted (yet)?

[Jin]

what's a Pandora

It's as simple as Wikipedia.

Although I consider myself someone who appreciates old school gaming, I see no reason not to upgrade to the current generation of consoles other than perhaps reasons of finance. To deliberately stick only to consoles that were created before a certain date is rather insular and shallow in my opinion. Appreciating or prefering the games of old and continuing to enjoy them is certainly admirable (hell, I still have my Dreamcast, Saturn, N64 and Genesis/Sega CD hooked up, with an aftermarket NES just a few feet away), but to completely write off the current generation because it's "not as good" is petty. There are dozens of fantastic games that have come out this generation.

he graphics aren't really different either, people went crazy over the HD / Blu-Ray thing, but really, does it matter?

I'm hardly a graphics whore, but yes, to a certain degree, it does matter. What you're focusing on when you dismiss graphics is an insular, mechanistic definition of gaming. You're treating the game as if it's just a game and should be nothing more (after all, they're called games). But, language aside, games have another dimension you're ignoring, that of artistry. Whether you're using graphics to make a world believable or to add a sense of stylistic flair a la Windwaker or Okami, their refinement is an intricate part of the game creating process.

This post has been rather disjointed and poorly written. I apologize; I'm horribly tired.