Current Events > Something needs to be done about all these game ports and remakes >_>

(+) Yeah! (+)

There has to be a reliable way to play older games in their original forms without resorting to either ROM piracy or spending tons of money on out-of-print games that only run on older, failing hardware.

This is an issue that the gaming industry as a whole has never tried to address in any serious manner, other than maybe the occasional game compilation.

Nintendo is just about the only publisher who's made an attempt at preserving older games, but even their methods have been flawed. The Virtual Console only goes so far, and even then the games aren't always unedited in some manner. There's also stuff like the NES/SNES Classic but that's basically the same deal as other compilations and are hardly all-encompassing (outside of adding more ROMS, which again is technically piracy).

---

this is a problem that's unique to gaming, as well

it's not like you need specific hardware to read a book or watch a movie

---

as a result, this is an issue that people outside the industry have taken into their own hands to try and remedy, which yet again I must remind you is technically illegal

---

Nobody? I guess everyone likes paying third-party sellers through the nose for older games and hardware. Or paying the developers full price for pointless remakes of games that were just fine before.
>_>

---

Tote-All posted...

If you own the games it's not piracy.

People are still using this in 2021, huh?

---

A lot of it has to do with publishing rights. None of the contracts for older games were written with a digital distribution platform in mind.

Also some of the licenses have been transferred and no one is really sure who owns them, or the company that owned the rights went bankrupt, but still holds the rights to it.
---

Listen, if a company like Sony doesn't want to release a port of Breath of Fire 3 - 4 on the PS store or PS now, I'm going to play it anyway I can, I already own the discs. Fuck 'em.

---

Much of this issue could be resolved simply by making older games public domain.

But that'll never happen.

---

HylianFox posted...

There has to be a reliable way to play older games in their original forms without resorting to either ROM piracy or spending tons of money on out-of-print games that only run on older, failing hardware.

There isn't and you can blame the greedy companies for that.

---

In regards to the comment about failing hardware..... there do exist solutions.

There are hardware clones of classic consoles. From the cheap Retron line of products to premium consoles like ones from Analogue, to thr upcoming Polymega that lets you insert your own games and then install them on the hard drive

And the prices vary by game and console but alot of old games are still not that hard to get ahold of on ebay or even amazon

The only thing that needs to be done with it is quality control. I like when old games get remastered, but a lot of them are so fucking lazy that they don't do the game justice

---

HylianFox posted...

There has to be a reliable way to play older games in their original forms without resorting to either ROM piracy or spending tons of money on out-of-print games that only run on older, failing hardware.

Nah I'm content with the bolded. DMCA is a laughable unjust system of laws meant to convert strings of numbers and intangible ideas into even more capital

---