4 ms·

It makes me feel old to remember buying physical media that will still work today, 30 years later. My fictive grand kids will be able to play those games long

It makes me feel old to remember buying physical media that will still work today, 30 years later. My fictive grand kids will be able to play those games long after the worms have gnawed my bones. Whereas my library of virtual assets will probably evaporate into ether before I'm even retired.

FullyFunctional 7y ago
I wrote that and now I just got a "Your UltraViolet Movies and TV Shows Are at Risk" mail. Sigh.
Ace17 7y ago
> My fictive grand kids will be able to play those games long after the worms have gnawed my bones. I would love that you be right. And by far, I strongly prefer physical media. However, physical media is no guarantee either. - Sometimes, the pain is on purpose: some apps require an online activation, and the corresponding service, 30 years later, is not available anymore. - Sometimes, it's a lack of foresight from the developers (i.e overzealous Windows version checks, refusing newer versions). - Sometimes, it's plain dumb stupidity (the installer is a 16-bit windows executable). If you're not convinced, I suggest you try installing, say, Wipeout XL (for Windows 95) on a recent laptop (spoiler: at this point it's easier to play the PSX version on an emulator).
- earenndil 7y ago
  > at this point it's easier to play the PSX version on an emulator How hard is it to set up windows 95 in a vm, basically an emulator?
  - zaarn 7y ago
    Well, if you want any decent performance, you'll need to pass through a PCI device which is non-trivial even on modern Hosts and Windows Guests.
    - likeclockwork 7y ago
      I'd expect CPU rendering to work pretty well on a game from 1996. I could be wrong though.
    - int_19h 7y ago
      Depends on what you mean by "decent performance". PCem emulates on hardware level (it uses stock BIOS firmware, for example), and it can run Win95 with about the same perf as a typical machine circa 1996. And it also emulates 3dfx.
- Haga 7y ago
  He who works on drm destroys the legacy of his fellow man.
- FullyFunctional 7y ago
  For certain, I meant to imply "... without depending on online activation". As for copyright protection, most schemes can or have been defeated with emulators. Even pesky Apple Lisa can be run in emulators (no thanks to Apple). Physical media + online DRM is as bad as online-only.
- theandrewbailey 7y ago
  I agree, and add: Sometimes bits rot, and the media becomes unreadable. Sometimes you're able to back it up, sometimes not. Sometimes hardware and software incompatibilities appear. I built a late 90s/2000 era PC for that period of PC gaming (Windows 98, CRT). Other times, you get lucky and it's fixed: Freelancer won't run on Vista, but will on 7.
ThrowawayR2 7y ago
> It makes me feel old to remember buying physical media that will still work today, 30 years later. If it uses GPU rendering, possessing physical media doesn't mean much. GPU vendors aren't that diligent about making sure old games run properly on their current hardware offerings. Even for physical media for console games, patches DLC are delivered through the console's online service. Once that ends, as it has for the PSP and original Xbox, you're left with the game as it was originally released with whatever bugs it contains.
- Const-me 7y ago
  > GPU vendors aren't that diligent about making sure old games run properly on their current hardware offerings. The compatibility situation has improved a lot, thanks to Vista. Windows Vista required D3D9-capable GPU, actually used it to render desktop, and Microsoft’s GUI stack uses the hardware too, e.g. modern WPF is still based on DX9 because compatibility reasons. While GPU vendors indeed don’t care about gamers running 10 years old games, they can’t ignore business customers running 10 years old LoB software. As a side effect, even very slow (by modern standards) integrated Intel GPUs are usually quite good at running older DX9-based games.
Const-me 7y ago
> my library of virtual assets will probably evaporate into ether before I'm even retired. That’s why I prefer gog over steam, downloading complete offline installers, and keeping them backed up. This way is even more reliable than buying games on physical media. Due to anti-piracy measures, often you can’t easily back up CDs or DVDs.
greenhatman 7y ago
I already can't play anything on physical media. I don't have an optical drive anymore.

FullyFunctional 7y ago

I wrote that and now I just got a "Your UltraViolet Movies and TV Shows Are at Risk" mail. Sigh.

Ace17 7y ago

> My fictive grand kids will be able to play those games long after the worms have gnawed my bones. I would love that you be right. And by far, I strongly prefer physical media. However, physical media is no guarantee either. - Sometimes, the pain is on purpose: some apps require an online activation, and the corresponding service, 30 years later, is not available anymore. - Sometimes, it's a lack of foresight from the developers (i.e overzealous Windows version checks, refusing newer versions). - Sometimes, it's plain dumb stupidity (the installer is a 16-bit windows executable). If you're not convinced, I suggest you try installing, say, Wipeout XL (for Windows 95) on a recent laptop (spoiler: at this point it's easier to play the PSX version on an emulator).

earenndil 7y ago
> at this point it's easier to play the PSX version on an emulator How hard is it to set up windows 95 in a vm, basically an emulator?
- zaarn 7y ago
  Well, if you want any decent performance, you'll need to pass through a PCI device which is non-trivial even on modern Hosts and Windows Guests.
  - likeclockwork 7y ago
    I'd expect CPU rendering to work pretty well on a game from 1996. I could be wrong though.
  - int_19h 7y ago
    Depends on what you mean by "decent performance". PCem emulates on hardware level (it uses stock BIOS firmware, for example), and it can run Win95 with about the same perf as a typical machine circa 1996. And it also emulates 3dfx.
Haga 7y ago
He who works on drm destroys the legacy of his fellow man.
FullyFunctional 7y ago
For certain, I meant to imply "... without depending on online activation". As for copyright protection, most schemes can or have been defeated with emulators. Even pesky Apple Lisa can be run in emulators (no thanks to Apple). Physical media + online DRM is as bad as online-only.
theandrewbailey 7y ago
I agree, and add: Sometimes bits rot, and the media becomes unreadable. Sometimes you're able to back it up, sometimes not. Sometimes hardware and software incompatibilities appear. I built a late 90s/2000 era PC for that period of PC gaming (Windows 98, CRT). Other times, you get lucky and it's fixed: Freelancer won't run on Vista, but will on 7.

ThrowawayR2 7y ago

> It makes me feel old to remember buying physical media that will still work today, 30 years later. If it uses GPU rendering, possessing physical media doesn't mean much. GPU vendors aren't that diligent about making sure old games run properly on their current hardware offerings. Even for physical media for console games, patches DLC are delivered through the console's online service. Once that ends, as it has for the PSP and original Xbox, you're left with the game as it was originally released with whatever bugs it contains.

Const-me 7y ago
> GPU vendors aren't that diligent about making sure old games run properly on their current hardware offerings. The compatibility situation has improved a lot, thanks to Vista. Windows Vista required D3D9-capable GPU, actually used it to render desktop, and Microsoft’s GUI stack uses the hardware too, e.g. modern WPF is still based on DX9 because compatibility reasons. While GPU vendors indeed don’t care about gamers running 10 years old games, they can’t ignore business customers running 10 years old LoB software. As a side effect, even very slow (by modern standards) integrated Intel GPUs are usually quite good at running older DX9-based games.

Const-me 7y ago

> my library of virtual assets will probably evaporate into ether before I'm even retired. That’s why I prefer gog over steam, downloading complete offline installers, and keeping them backed up. This way is even more reliable than buying games on physical media. Due to anti-piracy measures, often you can’t easily back up CDs or DVDs.

greenhatman 7y ago

I already can't play anything on physical media. I don't have an optical drive anymore.