Hi all,
We're all on this forum because we love games, but it seems that we love them in different ways. I, for one, have no sense of attachment to a physical object which I can pick up, identify as a favorite game, and insert into my console. An illustration: I have all of my PS Vita games (which are surprisingly numerous) downloaded onto a single memory card. The convenience, for me, completely justifies my ownership of less plastic.
I love movies and TV, furthermore, but rarely if ever buy them on DVD or Blu Ray. Instead, I opt to stream them from one of the entertainment services I subscribe to.
When I really get into a game, I spend a lot of time with it. I love the challenge, the audiovisual experience, and the artistry of great games. I never lament not owning a piece of plastic with that game's title inscribed on it, however.
I know this is a very controversial statement to make on a board in large part dedicated to collecting old games.
I don't think one way of approaching games is better than the other, but I do think that sometimes it's easy to waste too much time on the trappings of gaming when you could be spending that time actually playing games. Thoughts?
Games as a commodity
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Rev1
- Posts: 1777
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
Games as a commodity
I don't think this is really a controversial topic, it just means you have different priorities then several of the people on the forum (myself included). Part of the reason I love gaming is the collecting aspect as well as the gaming. I love both equally but I have to admit I have quite a backlog. Collecting games is one of the few types of collections where you actually get interactive with what you're collecting. Compared to baseball cards, stamps, or other items, which you just look at, part of the fun of collecting is knowing you kind of have a library of games which you can play at anytime.
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ptdebate1
- Posts: 909
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
Games as a commodity
Reading your reply, Rev, I just remembered something really important that I'd forgotten to mention: game preservation.
It's in everyone's best interest that gaming history is preserved as well as possible.
Jeremy Parish at USGamer recently wrote an article about this very subject, and it's a very good read:
http://www.usgamer.net/articles/whats-so-secret-about-classic-game-curation
TL;DR: The megacorporations that hold the rights to most of the classic games you know and love don't have much of an incentive to re-release them for subsequent generations to enjoy unless they're part of some big-name franchise like Mario or Final Fantasy. In this regard, Nintendo has shown far more respect to their IPs than most other software publishers. Despite Virtual Console's sparseness these days, it still sets the bar for faithful representation of retro games on modern hardware.
Secondly, while I have no feelings of attachment to physical copies of games, I do prefer original game hardware. I simply cannot stand clone consoles, and I have no tolerance for shoddy emulation. I do frequently use emulation, however, because many games out there that I want to play are simply out of reach. I use the Turing test as my guide.
In conclusion, I think emulation will ultimately be the answer to long-term game preservation. Collectors out there who own some obscure, $10,000 game whose ROM isn't available online should consider doing their part for gaming history and rip it for the rest of the world to experience.
It's in everyone's best interest that gaming history is preserved as well as possible.
Jeremy Parish at USGamer recently wrote an article about this very subject, and it's a very good read:
http://www.usgamer.net/articles/whats-so-secret-about-classic-game-curation
TL;DR: The megacorporations that hold the rights to most of the classic games you know and love don't have much of an incentive to re-release them for subsequent generations to enjoy unless they're part of some big-name franchise like Mario or Final Fantasy. In this regard, Nintendo has shown far more respect to their IPs than most other software publishers. Despite Virtual Console's sparseness these days, it still sets the bar for faithful representation of retro games on modern hardware.
Secondly, while I have no feelings of attachment to physical copies of games, I do prefer original game hardware. I simply cannot stand clone consoles, and I have no tolerance for shoddy emulation. I do frequently use emulation, however, because many games out there that I want to play are simply out of reach. I use the Turing test as my guide.
In conclusion, I think emulation will ultimately be the answer to long-term game preservation. Collectors out there who own some obscure, $10,000 game whose ROM isn't available online should consider doing their part for gaming history and rip it for the rest of the world to experience.
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Vexer1
- Posts: 883
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
Games as a commodity
Personally I don't really care about collecting games as I simply don't have the money, time or space to be able to own and collect for multiple consoles, one console(along with three handhelds and a PC) is more then enough to keep me busy. Also when i'm finished with a game I typically don't hold on to it, I trade it in at Gamestop towards a new release.
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ptdebate1
- Posts: 909
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
Games as a commodity
@scotland17
I actually don't think of games as ephemera, though. Allow me to explain by way of a story.
A few years ago, I lent someone my copy of Persona 4 for the PS2 and never got it back. The game was still about $30 or $40 at retail, so I decided that I would find a way to play it without buying it again. I looked at a guide online to exploit a bug in the game 007: Agent Under Fire which allows you to install custom firmware that will boot games from DVD-Rs. 007: Agent Under Fire was the last PS2 game I ever purchased.
I enjoyed lots of PS2 games, both older and newer, import, and rare--all for free, as burned "backups."
In what sense do I "have" anything digital? As soon as that disk or cart rots and stops working, have you lost the game forever?
Nope. As I stated in my post on game preservation, mass ROM/ISO storage and emulation are the key. I might not have my copy of Star Ocean: The Second Story forever, but I can certainly have the ISO forever. Lost or sold that Dragon Warrior III cart? No problem! It's available in infinite quantity with no cost or restrictions (copyright laws on old games are a grey area and I'm pretty sure the FBI would rather spend resources on prosecuting the guy who torrents child porn than the one who downloads NES games from 1990). Storage HDDs that aren't used for regular IO will last an eternity. Games aren't going anywhere, and anyone who stores ROMs is doing their part to ensure that.
I actually don't think of games as ephemera, though. Allow me to explain by way of a story.
A few years ago, I lent someone my copy of Persona 4 for the PS2 and never got it back. The game was still about $30 or $40 at retail, so I decided that I would find a way to play it without buying it again. I looked at a guide online to exploit a bug in the game 007: Agent Under Fire which allows you to install custom firmware that will boot games from DVD-Rs. 007: Agent Under Fire was the last PS2 game I ever purchased.
I enjoyed lots of PS2 games, both older and newer, import, and rare--all for free, as burned "backups."
In what sense do I "have" anything digital? As soon as that disk or cart rots and stops working, have you lost the game forever?
Nope. As I stated in my post on game preservation, mass ROM/ISO storage and emulation are the key. I might not have my copy of Star Ocean: The Second Story forever, but I can certainly have the ISO forever. Lost or sold that Dragon Warrior III cart? No problem! It's available in infinite quantity with no cost or restrictions (copyright laws on old games are a grey area and I'm pretty sure the FBI would rather spend resources on prosecuting the guy who torrents child porn than the one who downloads NES games from 1990). Storage HDDs that aren't used for regular IO will last an eternity. Games aren't going anywhere, and anyone who stores ROMs is doing their part to ensure that.
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