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Even with Virtual Console and backward-compatibility around emulators are still a good thing. Backwards-compatibility is usually only 1 generation, so it just
by dtech 9y ago
Even with Virtual Console and backward-compatibility around emulators are still a good thing.
Backwards-compatibility is usually only 1 generation, so it just pushes the bitrot forward 5-10 years.
Relying on original manufacturers to re-release old games depends fully on that manufacturer's ability and willingness, and up to now the only manufacturer doing it, Nintendo, has been very selective in which games they re-release. And it's a separate release per console so again only pushes the rot for that game forward to that console's lifespan.
Thanks to emulators I'm willing to bet that in 100 years you will be able to play currently-emulatable games since I expect a good Windows/PC emulator to exist at that time.
- Brockenstein 9y agoSure, but how many people run a CDC 6000 emulator today? Sure, there's a niche, albeit it a very small one. Certainly not enough to warrant the fuss that people tend to raise. Why would someone in a 100 years be using an emulator from today (say SNES) inside a Windows emulator? Seems like if there was any interest at all some folks would write a native SNES emulator in the native hard/OS of the time. There's nothing about Windows that makes is especially ideal for emulating consoles for the last 40 years.