Game Preservation an Issue?

Calico45

So I do not think it has been officially announced, but the information circling about the closure of the digital PS Vita and PS3 stores got me thinking about game preservation. I am sure I am not the only one that has a few childhood games lost to time which I would still like to play. Last time I even installed the Sims 1, I had to mod it to play properly. This is especially problematic in digital and console markets. Eventually you won't be able to download your digital purchases if you have to replace your hardware or simply forgot before the cut off and with every new generation the games of the last gen are phased out.

What that means for me, and I admittedly do not play Sims on console anymore since the PS3, is that one of my usual requirements (such as wanting to play it with a controller, simple UI, limited menuing, status of couch coop, etc.) to purchase a console copy of a game is the availability of a physical copy. I do have a few digital games when the sale was pretty amazing, but I generally prefer physical for all my consoles (and most of my games are physical) so I can keep playing my favorites.

What about everyone else, though? I am curious about others' thoughts. I'd love to be able to play things like Sims 2 Pets and Sims 2 Castaway from the PS2 on the PS4 or PS5, but I am fairly certain something like that would never get a rerelease.

EnkiSchmidt

PC player; preservation does matter.

My PS2 died recently and that opened my eyes to the mess upwards compatibility is. The PS3 plays PS2 games, but only if it's an earlier generation of PS3. Mine wasn't, so I had to order a new PS2. Trouble is, I wanted to alsp play a PS1 game on my new PS2, like I did on my old. But the particular generation of PS2 I had ordered froze up when it was supposed to play a cutscene, because it emulates PS1 software only, not hardware. So I also ordered a new PS1. I now play PS1 games on PS1 and PS3 and PS2 games on PS2. Still have the first game boy and and an NES lying around...

Owning the disks doesn't do anything, because Sims 4 needs to get online-activated to start. So even if I bought all the EPs as physical versions, I might run into a situation where that doesn't help at all, because I need to install Sims 4 on a new computer, but the servers are no longer maintained, leaving me no option to activate the game. So my best bet would be to keep my current computer as long as possible.
The servers no longer existing is not a likely danger with The Sims, but I already lost access to online features of handheld games like Dragon Quest 9, because the service providing them no longer exists.

StephenJHolloway

Games preservation is important and I buy digital copies when I can.

I also agree about the older Sims titles not getting a re-released version. It's a shame. I always try and get digital copies of older games when they are available, I have a few re-released PS2 games for the PS4. I would love the older Sims titles to come back. I would have thought it would be too much work for the Devs though.

Hauk150

PC player; preservation does matter.

I liked the sims games from the old consoles, like sims 2, sims castaway, my sims
Sadly i don't have access to them anymore, since my xbox and wii stopped working time ago
I would like to see them remastered and released on PC, that would be awesome

GoodGrim

Games preservation is not important and I buy physical copies when I can.

I think physical copies are more important, on Xbox, it can be a hassle so just a disk download you can get at Target is better

Simburian

PC player; preservation does matter.

I keep moaning to Microsoft asking them to provide something to let me play my old games on my Windows 10 machine. I've got DOS ones and everything after. There used to be a Virtual CD app that allowed this but Windows 10 hasn't made one.

I'm thinking of firing up an old XP machine to play an old game. That's if I can still find the power leads for it! XP was a great OS.

StephenJHolloway

Games preservation is important and I buy digital copies when I can.

Simburian wrote: »

I keep moaning to Microsoft asking them to provide something to let me play my old games on my Windows 10 machine. I've got DOS ones and everything after. There used to be a Virtual CD app that allowed this but Windows 10 hasn't made one.

I'm thinking of firing up an old XP machine to play an old game. That's if I can still find the power leads for it! XP was a great OS.

Windows 10 isn't very good so this doesn't surprise me at all. That operating system is plagued with issues and they keep adding more in updates.