Game Heritage

Shoseki

Shoseki

Shoseki

Soldato
Joined
12 Jan 2004
Posts
3,172
Location
Brighton
In twenty years time, all the games we are playing at the moment will be long forgotten (except the really famous ones), but even the famous ones will have problems running on the new systems unless specifically designed emulators are developed.

The fate of games developed over the last twenty years is even more stark. We have emulators for lots of games, but access to them is getting slimmer and slimmer, the hardware supporting them is becoming rarer, documentation around those old systems is getting worse.

In closing, there doesn't seem to be any kind of provision by companies that make games to be able to maintain their intellectual investment, despite the fact that the game is no longer "in distribution".

So my prediction is, many, many games are going to be lost / destroyed in the next few years, and unless we do something soon, you will never play those games again that you played as a kid. Because even if you have the original source material (which may be unlikely), you might not have the hardware to be able to play it, and distribution will be extremely limited.

Will I still be able to play streetfighter in 50 years time? What about the less famous games, the ones that ran on Win16 systems, Dreamcast, etc etc?

When will companies realise that even though the graphics date, the game play doesn't, and start spending some money on preserving gaming heritage?

Or is all they are really interested in, is the quick buck?
 
They will just get released every Wednesday (or not in some cases!) as Xbox 1080 Live Arcade games, and we will moan at MS for releasing old crap ;)
 
Up until recently, I've tended to think along the same lines. I've spent quite a fortune building up a library of PC games but I realised the other day that I haven't touched games in that library at all after I've played through them once.

There is always something to play on the new systems that are out.

Some of my best gaming memories lie upon my shelves in boxes gathering dust. Will they ever be played again? Highly unlikely. It's the first time you play through a game that generates those memories and even if you had the chance to play them in 20 years, they won't really mean anything because they'll be so dated and "boring" compared to the modern games of the time.
 
I can't see many people wanting to play 50 year old games.
I recall playing "pong" in black and white on an Atari back in 79-80.
That was only 27 years ago and I have no desire to replay it now.

I would also have thought that emulators will exist on new hardware if the demand or enthusiasm for old games is there.

A more recent example perhaps is DOOM. This was a genre defining game, yet to be frank I have no wish to play it anymore, I tried it recently on the 360 and it looked pants and was pants. In some ways I'd rather have these fuzzy fond memories of how great these early games were than actually see them again and realise how shoddy they now seem.
 
VIRII said:
A more recent example perhaps is DOOM. This was a genre defining game, yet to be frank I have no wish to play it anymore, I tried it recently on the 360 and it looked pants and was pants. In some ways I'd rather have these fuzzy fond memories of how great these early games were than actually see them again and realise how shoddy they now seem.
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Sums it up perfectly for me too. I spent a small fortune getting hold of an old game I used to adore as a kid. In fact the whole family used to play and love it on the Commodore+4. What a huge dissapointment it was when I got it.

Games I used to play for hours and hours regardless of saves. Die, start the whole thing again.

Continental circus used to eat my 10p's. Got the taito legends, loaded it unloaded it in about 5 minutes.

The games can die and I will keep my blinkered fuzzy memories :)
 
This is one of the aims of the MAME project. So people will still be able to play old arcade games even when the hardware is long gone. Of course there's the problem that actually downloading the roms is illegal.
 
Games I loved, I stick them on now, And i find it hard to keep myself playing, The old marios are okay, They can keep me entertained for a fair while.

But i tried to play ghouls and ghosts, Strider and the original Shinobi. And it's just boring!! :p Unfortunately. I think it's best to try and keep child hood classics in your child hood.
 
CliffyG said:
What exactly are you suggesting they do?
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I dont know, take some responsibility for the intellectual investment they have made and develop software that is easy to maintain and / or recompile / reuse in the future.

Games are seen as so transient, its pathetic... Old black and white "talkies" from the beginning of the genre of movies still have great value, and this is pretty much where we are with gaming today, albeit in a more technically advanced form.
 
I think it's just that the games advance so quickly. I have a feeling in x number of years when holographic or virtual movies are the norm, no-one will want to watch the 2D movies of today.
 
Well, the vast *majority* of people won't want to, but they are an important part of our culture and background.

Otherwise, why do people even bother restoring old movies in black and white when they aren't even "great" ? Because the general public don't care about old movies or their own heritage, but individuals do.

If it were left to the dumb greater public, they'd only play the latest thing ever. But we have to take a stand, because at the moment, the games industry is based on corporations, who only care about money, and there is no need for them to keep these things, they will simply get lost in time.

And believe me, we will regret it. Other mediums do very well to keep records, movies, music industry, print industry keeps thousands of "storage" copies for libraries etc etc. But games will simply rot.
 
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