Next Gen Im going Retro

[Wools]

Yeah, it's ridiculous that when a game is retailing for ?40-50 anyone should expect it to have, you know, the FULL game. Unreasonable gits.

But what about games where the full game is shipped complete, but the developer creates actual new content for people to purchase if they wish?

[nakamura]

Edit: I do worry about people recording their lives in digital form, with all photos/correspondence dumped into iCloud and Facebook, etc. What happens when these empires fold? All the memory is gone. When I'm 85 and dribbling into my soup, at least I'll be able to dig out photos of old girlfriends, fire up a few dusty old synapses, and attempt a crafty wank - if my gamer's arthritis permits it - while the carers aren't looking. Who's going to wank over the old games when the servers are turned off? That's what I want to know!

We store photos on SD card and do a mass print out every 6 months or so. Hardware is so prone to failure, photos are just prone to house fires.

[dataDave]

I remember various gaming podcasts stating this as a concern when it first happened. Well, it happened and now it's normal and it's bull****. Mind you, it's not like there's a shortage of games to choose from so it's easy to just boycott these tactics and buy the games that don't do this.

Exactly. That's what I'm on with.

[Golgo]

@ nakamura: Yeah, us too. Lots of people don't though. They think THE CLOUD will be there forever.

[sj33]

Put simply, download-only content is perishable. Once it becomes impossible to download for whatever reason, that is it.

We're already seeing this realisation start to sink in with people questioning how long Sony and Microsoft will be supporting the current online infrastructures after the new consoles are released. Only the most short-sighted of people think the problem does not exist.

[originalbadboy]

@ nakamura: Yeah, us too. Lots of people don't though. They think THE CLOUD will be there forever.

You think the Earth or our species is going to be here forever? At some point everything we know, our collective history will end one way or the other.

You are arguing over stuff, that is pretty pointless in the great scheme of things.

[originalbadboy]

Put simply, download-only content is perishable.

And physical items are not then?

[Golgo]

You think the Earth or our species is going to be here forever? At some point everything we know, our collective history will end one way or the other.

You are arguing over stuff, that is pretty pointless in the great scheme of things.

So that is the basis of your argument for embracing collective amnesia in the present? No need for memory/history at all, then, because the sun is going to blow up in a few billion years? I'm sorry, but that is absurd.

[sj33]

And physical items are not then?

Not simply by Sony or Microsoft choosing to disable the servers, no.

[dataDave]

At least we arrived at the eminent destruction of the sun and not the second coming of Adolf Hitler.

[originalbadboy]

Not simply by Sony or Microsoft choosing to disable the servers, no.

Ah right, but the normal passage of time, making things break is fine? I fail to see the distinction myself. You are more likely to preserve stuff in the digital realm than the physical one, in the long term (centuries).

[originalbadboy]

So that is the basis of your argument for embracing collective amnesia in the present? No need for memory/history at all, then, because the sun is going to blow up in a few billion years? I'm sorry, but that is absurd.

Of course not, I never said that, the point is that we are all arguing here over the preservation of video games ... VIDEO GAMES, not literature from a thousand years ago, or the dead sea scrolls. In reality in the collective history of the human race, I don't think video games are somehow going to define out existence, that was the point.

[sj33]

I do see what you're getting at there, I generally have sympathy for the idea that mass digital distribution of content is a good way to ensure that it will still be obtainable in decades to come. We see this argument used with other media.

However, that only really applies when the content is distributed en masse in the public domain. We're talking about a closed network here, content that is only available from a specific set of servers run by a specific company. We don't need to look too hard to find a historical precedent for such fears (the closure of the original Xbox servers, for example).

As a side note, of course games don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Hell, they certainly shouldn't be a massively important component in our own lives. But the same can be said about all forms of entertainment, media and art. Music, film, books etc. Why are gamers the only ones not allowed to take their media seriously?

[originalbadboy]

However, that only really applies when the content is distributed en masse in the public domain. We're talking about a closed network here, content that is only available from a specific set of servers run by a specific company. We don't need to look too hard to find a historical precedent for such fears (the closure of the original Xbox servers, for example).

I agree with that .. Video games should be public domain after a certain amount of time. Music is for example is public domain after 50 years. The same should be put on Video Games as well, after a certain amount of time it becomes the public domain, and therefore free for anyone.

Basically we are both after the same thing, just from different directions.

[Brad]

Theoretically Digital distribution is better in every single way. DRM is the problem. The more aggressive it is, the more the digital distribution fails. I bought Witcher from GOG. I have all the patches too and they're all backed up onto a hard drive and DVD. If both of those fail then morally I know I have a right to the game and I'll just get the digital version from a friend, the internet, GOG.com, wherever. Skyrim (which I bought on disc)? Well, when Gabe says Steam is no more then I'll never be able to play it ever again. Digital isn't the problem. DRM is.