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Andy Anonymous
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3 months ago
in Does Backwards Compatibility Matter Anymore? on Aeropause Games
I played Super Mario Bros. 3 just today, Zelda LttP last week and a host of other titles within the past month. Many games remain fun to play long after their release, due to a combination of nostalgia and excellent game design. And I'm far from alone: retro game downloads on services like Gametap, Wii Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade have been a huge success.
Unfortunately, while some of your favorites do become available as downloads later on, many do not and probably never will, often due to licensing issues or simply not having been popular enough.
Unfortunately, while some of your favorites do become available as downloads later on, many do not and probably never will, often due to licensing issues or simply not having been popular enough.
1 reply
3 months ago
in Does Backwards Compatibility Matter Anymore? on Aeropause Games
I think you underestimate just how quickly you may find yourself with an entire generation of consoles having died out. We are no longer talking about Apple IIc lengths of time here (machines were still easy to find that were compatible with that device for over a decade after its release, so the games would have been playable for much longer), we're potentially talking about five to ten years. If you're happy having the library you spent so much money on become worthless in that short time frame, great. I'm sure not, especially when backwards compatibility provides a decent alternative for as long as it's viable. It's not an issue of being "cheap" at all, it's an issue of wanting lasting value for the money I spend, especially when many of these games are ones I simply want to be able to replay for a long time to come.
1 reply
JoeFourhman
Again, I think the core issue here is how often you really go back and play games that are five to ten years old. For me, that amount would be almost never.
I still don't see why we think electronic media should be for life, when everything else we buy, from VHS movies to audio cassettes and from cars to houses, was/is either outmoded, replaced, or requires a constant influx of money to maintain it.
Unless you're talking about the Sears Lifetime guarantee on your Craftsman tool kit, nothing lasts forever.
I still don't see why we think electronic media should be for life, when everything else we buy, from VHS movies to audio cassettes and from cars to houses, was/is either outmoded, replaced, or requires a constant influx of money to maintain it.
Unless you're talking about the Sears Lifetime guarantee on your Craftsman tool kit, nothing lasts forever.
The real question facing the next generation: will we be able to transfer our downloadable purchases across to the next Wii, PS4 or Xbox? I bet it will be frustratingly random, with some developers/companies allowing it, and others pinning the blame on incompatible hardware changes.
I wouldn't call the retro game download services a huge success. Turner just offloaded Gametap, and we rarely get sellthrough reports on what people actually buy on PSN / WiiWare / XBLA... which suggests the numbers are nothing spectacular when compared to retail releases. And I'll wager the new games sell far better than the older games anyway.