I started writing music on gameboy because hacking into the midi files of old mario games and composing using a gameboy is good fun. Sometimes I wish I had more channels, but I've grown accustomed to using only four. Sometimes I layer shit in post, thereby doing away with my "limitations". The aural aesthetics of 8-bit are pleasing to mine ears, I could care less how many "channels" I'm listening to at once. And unless you know your hardware, you won't recognize how many, and it won't matter.
People within this scene are interested in the hardware and how the music is composed, I would say arguably more than the music itself. I see a fuckload of "what did you use to make this" and comments on anything but the music that is written, this is just about the only scene I'm aware of in which people pay more attention to the discipline rather than the jams. It is fun to learn and to know and keep up with, but it takes the focus away from what you are doing, which is making music. Or in some cases, fucking farting into a gameboy and fishing for compliments.
Also, the chip world is also one of the only times where your performance can be judged on how well you manipulate your source files. You don't see bands bringing their pro-tools rigs on stage to play a show, and if you did, it would be rather silly.
