Preserving the games.

[Xvito]

Some recent discussions about digital distribution got me thinking about preserving our culture.

It's not news that almost everything in today's society has been digitalized. We have digital cameras, digital plays (movies), digital games etc. etc.

But nothing lasts forever, and especially not the digital stuff. If you leave a disc out on the table for too long it's going to crap out on you the next time you try to play it. Our current way of storing information doesn't hold up that well. This is a serious problem, because before you know it we'll have lost an entire century's worth of culture...

This, among other things, is why we shouldn't move away from using CDs, and such, to become fully digitalized. Because then, it's only going to become harder to preserve our generations' finest. When the Steam-servers shut down, all the games... Gone. When your PC breaks down, all your photos... Gone.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is: Dust off you Super Nintendo once in a while, and you might just have prolonged gaming for another generation to enjoy.

Um... Discuss!

 

[Chrono212]

I think about this too, especially when the GameOverThinker pointed out that over 50% of cinema from the early to mid 20th century is lost.

Another thing is all the updates that things get, like the Xbox. Remember the old slide thing for the menu? Who still has that? Can anyone still use it? Will anyone know that it even existed in the future when they look back at the earlier days of gaming?

It?s when things are updated and upgraded are lost, like you said, and only a handful of people are actively trying to preserve them, and people should just try to do their thing by taking screen shots of things before an update.

True, you never know exactly when they will happen, but before the download, take a picture as it may be the only one of the version before it?s wiped from your computer forever

 

[IrirshTerrorist]

I still have A Gameboy Original, Gameboy Pocket and Gameboy Colour. That built those things to last, not like the stuff they produce these days which will break permanently about three months after you buy it.
Also I still have an original PlayStation with many games.

I agree entirely with the authors of this thread's point. Hell I still watch movies I got on VHS like Independence Day. I have the DVD but the VHS feels like its got more personality.

So... "Dust off you Super Nintendo once in a while, and you might just have prolonged gaming for another generation to enjoy."

 

[Crossborder]

There should be some kind of museum or something to store all this stuff in the most reliable way we have. Then people from the next generation can see how much our games sucked in comparison to theirs!

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

I like the way you think, however my SNES and even my NES are in another State, Although I do have a playstation I think (PS1 Model). Good luck with your preservation crusade, I am behind you.

 

[ohgodalex]

I worry about this, too. I didn't want to sell my Gamecube, since I thought of it as a piece of a long-forgotten age, when online console gaming was unheard of.

It's good to hear that other gamers are putting a lot of thought into the legacy that our generations are going to leave behind.

 

[Internet Kraken]

You know, everything stops working at some point. Video games are no exception. Some of my games have stopped functioning due to years of neglect. I can't enjoy them because they don't work.

 

[Proteus214]

Game source code should be etched on stone tablets.

...although that would take a ridiculously long time to accomplish.

 

[Optimus Hagrid]

But nothing lasts forever, and especially not the digital stuff. If you leave a disc out on the table for too long it's going to crap out on you the next time you try to play it.

I read this, then I suddenly realised that I should probably put my friend's Deus Ex CD back in the case... wouldn't want to lose that...

But this is something that I have been thinking about for a while now, and is why I vow never to get rid of anything game-associated.

 

[Optimus Hagrid]

Game source code should be etched on stone tablets.

...although that would take a ridiculously long time to accomplish.

It's bloody worth it!

*tinktinktink...*

 

[Rokar333]

Well personally I think we should stay away from digital distribution,, for at least a little while, for a different reason. Retail stores.

Sure, some are the faces of greedy bastards, but that doesn't mean the employees are soulless. They probably have a family and a livelihood to look after. If all the retail jobs went away, that would probably be a big boost to unemployment, because it's unskilled labor that you don't even need a high school diploma to accomplish. It's also a steady paycheck when someone is between jobs and going through tough times.

So I think, that at least until a viable alternative comes up for these people, that we should continue to slowly move forward with the move to digital distribution. For that reason I happily support retail stores.....I also don't even trust Steam with my credit card number, but that's probably just paranoia on my part.

 

[Tsuillo]

for the longest time back in the day, my family and I would save any computer game box we ever got, we had bookshelves of em, all the old classics, space 1889, ultramechs, Starflight, Privateer, all of the Wing Commander games, the origonal 3 Kings Quest boxes, Ultima 1-7... every SNES game box and manual we ever got... One by one though, they eventually got cut down to turn into game folders to save space, or thrown away entirely. To think, if we kept em to this day they would have made a small fortune on Ebay or the like...

As for the games itself, whatever 3 1/2" floppies are still kicking around are rapidly approaching the end of their life due to deterioration, and even if they're still good, you've got a slim chance of ever seeing a 3 1/2" drive, let alone the 5 1/4.

I know there are a couple places dedicated to preserving old games, you can pick a lot of em up at http://www.gog.com, or even more at abandon-ware sites like the underdogs.

To think, all the old games I used to love fit on a 1G sector of my hard drive....

 

[orangebandguy]

I still play Ps One games and Gameboy Color games. I still find them entertaining. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

That's what eBay is for! When you need physical copies of old stuff.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

But nothing lasts forever, and especially not the digital stuff. If you leave a disc out on the table for too long it's going to crap out on you the next time you try to play it.

I read this, then I suddenly realised that I should probably put my friend's Deus Ex CD back in the case... wouldn't want to lose that...

Don't damage my Deus Ex you heathen clod. I want to play some of its Deus Exy goodness soon.

OT: Sadly, things disappear over time. I can't for the life of me figure out what happened to my PS1; one day it was in a cupboard safe and sound, the next it was nowhere to be found. My Sega Megadrive is still around at least. The same goes with all my PS1 games; they've gradually just gone missing for no reason.

 

[Optimus Hagrid]

But nothing lasts forever, and especially not the digital stuff. If you leave a disc out on the table for too long it's going to crap out on you the next time you try to play it.

I read this, then I suddenly realised that I should probably put my friend's Deus Ex CD back in the case... wouldn't want to lose that...

Don't damage my Deus Ex you heathen clod. I want to play some of its Deus Exy goodness soon.

I'll trade you it for Spyro. And Digimon (it sounds like Pokemon). And I swear you had a James Bond one too. Get searching.

Nah, you can have it back, I'd like to play it but I'm not gonna get round to it anytime soon.

I'd also like to point out I am saving my Game Boy Colour, cuz y'know, it's purple and cool.

 

[khululy]

I still have a NES, Gameboy, SNES, N64, and Gamecube all working in good condition hooked up on my neat CRT TV.
I mean, how else would I play games like Ducktales 2 or Yoshi's Island in the way they were intended?

I even have all the boxes (you know the cartboard ones games used to come in) hangin on my wall as decoration. I never throw away gaming packages it's part of owning the game to me.

Nostalgia is just a part of getting older.
But I really hate modern day kids who say old games suck because of the graphics and sound. That's like saying Rembrandt was a bad painter because he didn't used Photoshop or painbrushes.

 

[Nutcase]

Anything digital can last forever as long as someone periodically makes a virtual machine or emulator. The only thing standing in the way of that is DRM and closed systems like consoles. Thank god for crackers, emulator developers and ROM dumpers.