https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SVvlLoXQvk

Well....this is interesting and unexpected.

What I want to know how exactly "Classic" are we talking about? I mean right now PC games from at least 2006 are now considered classics. (Example: Medieval 2: Total War)

Or is this purely DOS era/Pre-Windows 1995 PC games?

Probably just a custom Raspberry Pi with DOSBox, looking at the box shown. I really don't get the point of this.

You could say that about all of these plastic junk "retro consoles", yet they seem to be very popular. I don't really get it, either. I guess it's mostly nostalgia? Or convenience? I mean, not everyone has experience with emulators etc.

So basically they are making new old computers. I don't see why not, but I also don't see why.

Here are some things about the retro consoles that are appealing to some people. (I say this as someone who owns both a NES classic and a SNES classic.):
* The games on them are legal. This is important to some people; not everyone is willing to pirate games, and some of those who do pirate games and like them may want to go the legal route. (In my case, I decided that, due to the lack of an internet connection on these devices, they qualify as not having DRM.)
* The controllers resemble the original ones, leading to a more authentic experience in that sense. I, at least, find it more fun to play retro games on retro controllers than using modern controllers (which are much thicker and have unnecessary (for this purpose) features like analog sticks) or a keyboard. (I am thinking of getting an adapter to allow the use of those controllers on my Linux PC.)
* Couch multiplayer is easy on these devices. Unfortunately, the situation isn't ideal, as the NES classic only comes with one controller, and the SNES classic's multiplayer games tend to be competitive (Street Fighter 2), asymmetric (Kirby Super Star), or too long (Secret of Mana). (One thing to note: SNES classic controllers work on the NES classic, so there's that option.)
* It is possible to hack these consoles, which can allow adding more games (though you lose the first advantage I listed), or even allow them to be used for non-gaming purposes (like music or video). Also, this can provide something for people to tinker with.

Now, these might not appeal to everyone (and, in particular, might not appeal to you), but they do appeal to enough people.

Unlike the C64 Mini and the various nostalgia baiting consoles…the flip is the point of this?

These are likely to be games you can run today, on today's hardware, with just at most a little configuration. It isn't like you can play most of these well with a joystick, most games I'd think of would be better with a Keeb and a mouse. And no keyboard worth spit is valued under 20 dollars.

Edit: They don't even have any of the work prepared from the comments on the video Mumbles so kindly linked.

This 'concept' is going to be dead on arrival.

Legal shmegal. The target audience, including myself, has likely already purchased most of these classic games multiple times, across various platforms and versions. That's especially true for Nintendo's retro consoles. As for the DRM, is there an easy way to create back-ups of the games you purchase with these devices? Can you play them in any other way, than the way intended by the manufacturer? And would any of that be "legal"? I'd argue hardware based DRM is actually worse than soft DRM on PC games, as the latter is easier to circumvent. You can already buy all sorts of great, authentic retro controllers for PC devices. Couch multiplayer as well as customization/ added features/ mods etc. are also possible on a custom retro mini PC, which would offer a much wider range of options, without having to hack your way around artificial barriers created by the manufacturer. You also have access to a wider range of hardware and peripherals, and could use it as a true multimedia entertainment center, all in one device.

That leads me to another problem with all of these throw-away mini consoles: Lots of unnecessary electronic junk. Do we really need half a dozen of these things hooked up to our TVs, when a single device could offer the same functionality? And when you buy them for your kids, it is likely to lose its novelty appeal after a few months, and then it is going to be replaced by the next disposable toy.

I still think it comes down primarily to nostalgia ( these probably make fun presents, if, in example, your boyfriend or girlfriend is a "retro gamer" ), and convenience, because not everyone knows how to set up a custom retro station with emulators, suitable controllers etc.

That, and I think many parents buy these for their children, to show them the video games of their own childhoods.

I have a classic pc, it's called a pc. They come in all shapes, colors, powers, can be connected to tv's or monitors, upgraded or downgraded, tweaked etc. This pc classic (and unlike the nes/snes classic) offers absolutely nothing, so it's not going to go anywhere. The console remakes I can see, old connectors can be a pain, want to play those games on new tv with multiplayer, and nostalgia all factor in to those being a success.

Don't really get it either. All of the games of that era shown in the video are trivial to set up with dosbox.

Just for curiosity sake: how the fuck can you Americans eat that much?!? No really, you are the negative example I have fixed in my mind to try to get some more weight (5 kilos should be good) off me. I'm 85 kilos right now and I feel fat, but this... this is unbearable. At least for me. Do yourself a favor and go eat your veggies. No really: you are an unhealthy nation, and your should not be this way.

Oh, and the thing he is talking about is mostly shit :-)

Not so sure about that. There are probably a lot of people who sold their old console games at some point and are now regretting it. As mentioned it's cool looking, convenient, legal. So if you have the money, why bother with setting up emulators and downloading roms?

Oh look, a hardware Dosbox. ... Probably nice for those who have never heard of Dosbox and still want to play old DOS games. I wonder how big that target audience is. Probably not very big.

They show Jill of the Jungle during the video as an example. You know, the game that was added to GOG two weeks ago, permanently free, and that has been configured for running in newer operative systems.

Yes, although there have been some standards in the past. One of them was MPC (Multimedia PC) which meant certain kind of capabilities to run certain kind of programs, such as CD-ROM games at the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_PC

Every PC is a pc, even Commodore 64 had a label that said "personal computer" on it, but not every PC meets requirements for MPC or other similar standards.

1. Never assume the owner already owns all the games they're interested in. For instance, before getting the NES classic, I never owned a Kirby game. (By the way, Kirby Super Star > Kirby's Adventure.)

2. The NES/SNES classic are apparently easy to hack (though the main hacking tool unfortunately requires Windows; does it work on ReactOS, by any change?), so it's easy to get the games off and back them up. The games may technically be encrypted, but the decryption key can be found in the initramfs image (yes, these devices run Linux), making such decryption rather easy (and re-encrypting is pointless when you could just create a new initramfs that doesn't encrypt, or just use an emulator on a PC for the backup).

3. The whole issue of what counts as DRM is an issue here, and I decided, for me, that the NES/SNES classic is acceptable, particularly since there aren't any serious measures to prevent extracting the games (the encryption, as I mentioned, is pointless).