That is what I did originally. Yes you can play and yes it is still fun. When I switched it over to my HDTV the change is just... an all new deal. I had it on a REALLY crappy TV, and I could barely read the text on some games. Dont know if that was a setting I was missing or just my crappy TV, but when I moved it over to my HDTV it was almost unreal.
In short, yes you can play, but your mileage may vary on how games look