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tay120n64
The Koholint Knight
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tay120n64 Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 4:26 pm Post subject: Restricting Used Games. |
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I just posted this as a status on Facebook, but figured it would be a good discussion point on the forum, so here we go:
So Xbox One and possibly even the PS4 are going to have direct control over the used game market. Why do they think this is okay? Now console gaming, which I have heralded for years as being superior to PC gaming simply for the ease of playing "legacy titles", is now no better. You want to play a PC game from 1994, but there isn't a version on GoG or Steam? You'd damn well better have a 20-year-old PC. I couldn't play King's Quest for years because of that. Thank god it got re-released in 2006 and again on GoG. I still can't play The Pagemaster, which was a really fun PC Point-n-Click from '95. But, hey, I picked up Lufia II for my SNES three years ago, and played it with no hassle. Sure the games are hard to find, but you don't have to worry about compatibility or limited-use activation codes. Except now you do. Let's say we get another game like Beyond Good and Evil. A good game that gets good reviews, but nobody buys and it becomes a budget title. The game stops getting produced, and gets removed from the online store. Years later, how are you going to play it? "Legacy gaming" is already hard enough. Tracking down all the working components can be a hassle, but at least you know it will work if you do. Now it has to be "verified". What happens when support for these consoles goes dark? Will games not work at all because they can't be verified?
To say nothing of these companies not deserving shit for a product that has already been paid for.
Thoughts? Discuss. _________________
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EverPhoenix
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EverPhoenix Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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It's the same thing with old console games as with PC games. If you manage to find a copy, you should be able to run it. I think I've only ever found one old game I couldn't run on a modern machine, and I don't even remember what game it was. Others, no issue.
I do see your point with games like Beyond Good and Evil - if they were made in the age of online registration, and the company went down... the only way I can think of would be to crack the game. Technically illegal, but I don't know the fine print if the company who holds the rights to the game is bankrupt.
The article I read on the XBox One regarding used games seems fair - it's exactly the same in principle as used cartridge games - you can't play without the original disc. I don't see what the issue is there. And I think the 'verification' is hardware-based, not online. Kind of like a CD-key maybe? if it's online, it's an issue you'll have to deal with in ~30 years when the XBox One is old. But by that point the servers will still be up (cloud services are quite cheap and easily maintainable these days - hell, Diablo 1 still has a Battle.net server) _________________
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geekgirl101
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geekgirl101 Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 3:57 pm Post subject: |
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What comes to mind is what a lot of retro gamers are currently doing, which is creating chips that have game roms installed on them to be soldered onto the old system so that you can plug it into a compatible display unit and play them as if you would 20 years ago. Other people have taken a step further into making a replica of the old machines with the roms either already installed directly into it or a USB port or cartridge port for SD cards to play the roms. I'm currently awaiting a guy who's been developing rom chips for the Spectrum 128k +2 to start making rom chips for the Spectrum 128k +2A so I can resurrect my childhood +2A. |
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psychokind
fuck yeah!
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psychokind Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 9:30 am Post subject: |
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first thing: don't buy games, download everything and pray for those f..kers to go bankrupt fast
as a retrogamer the timed are good currently. you can download dvd-sized roms fast, emulaters are working stable and modern tv's need 1 cable to work with pc/laptops. the original-shaped controllers are cheap, you can even play with friends over the internet! _________________
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geekgirl101
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geekgirl101 Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:40 pm Post subject: |
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psychokind wrote: | first thing: don't buy games, download everything and pray for those f..kers to go bankrupt fast
as a retrogamer the timed are good currently. you can download dvd-sized roms fast, emulaters are working stable and modern tv's need 1 cable to work with pc/laptops. the original-shaped controllers are cheap, you can even play with friends over the internet! |
A lot of the old gaming companies did go bankrupt when the gaming revolution moved onto bigger systems that could do real-time graphics. It's a big race to keep on top and to keep producing games that use more advanced technology and pushing them out as fast as they can before the revolution moves onto even more advanced technology. Unfortunately for a lot of the old gaming companies this was too much for them. They were trying to do things on a budget and once it got too expensive to produce the games that was the end of their career. Only companies like Codemasters managed to survive because they had the funding even though they were constantly churning out budget games, they had the manpower, so they got lucky and have pushed their way forward as one of the biggest gaming companies still going to date. _________________
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psychokind
fuck yeah!
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psychokind Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 11:30 am Post subject: |
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geekgirl101 wrote: | psychokind wrote: | first thing: don't buy games, download everything and pray for those f..kers to go bankrupt fast
as a retrogamer the timed are good currently. you can download dvd-sized roms fast, emulaters are working stable and modern tv's need 1 cable to work with pc/laptops. the original-shaped controllers are cheap, you can even play with friends over the internet! |
A lot of the old gaming companies did go bankrupt when the gaming revolution moved onto bigger systems that could do real-time graphics. It's a big race to keep on top and to keep producing games that use more advanced technology and pushing them out as fast as they can before the revolution moves onto even more advanced technology. Unfortunately for a lot of the old gaming companies this was too much for them. They were trying to do things on a budget and once it got too expensive to produce the games that was the end of their career. Only companies like Codemasters managed to survive because they had the funding even though they were constantly churning out budget games, they had the manpower, so they got lucky and have pushed their way forward as one of the biggest gaming companies still going to date. |
maybe i should've said "don't buy one of these restricting companies products".
companies that make good games will be successfull. nowadays graphics and systems are not an issue anymore, since the consoles stalled graphical developement with their old hardware and console ports. and if you look at the successfull games (WoW, SC, LoL, CoD, CS) they are technically bad games even on release. _________________
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geekgirl101
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geekgirl101 Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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Ah, you mean the games that have the online DRM encryption? I'm a big hater of those games. _________________
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Jason Tandro
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