9 ms·

It's scary to think about all the games we're going to lose because so many games are implemented as SAAS nowadays. As someone interested in gaming history and

It's scary to think about all the games we're going to lose because so many games are implemented as SAAS nowadays. As someone interested in gaming history and the preservation of games it's actually quite saddening.

vanadium 7y ago
The gaming console space up to a couple of generations ago, prior to digital distribution, is pretty well covered (and I've contributed ~75 titles and variations of console-based prototypes myself to the public), but most modern gaming is going to have a much more pronounced preservation issue. Consider also the download-only releases of console games, usually by indies but not always, nowadays on the big 3 platforms; other than avenues like Limited Run Games that provide for production of limited physical runs of previously download-only titles, they're lost to the aether eventually.
- unicornporn 7y ago
  > most modern gaming is going to have a much more pronounced preservation issue. That's putting it mildly. Gameplay videos is all that's going to be left for plenty of games.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
ekianjo 7y ago
Well more concerning is that source code is never ever released for most games even when they are not sold anywhere anymore. Being able to run a proprietary piece of software is one thing, but being able to check how it was implemented would be more interesting at way many more levels. But gamedevs have no interest in preserving anything, they like it disposable.
- neurotrace 7y ago
  That's not fair to the devs. Plenty of devs would love to share their code but the companies they develop for prevent them from doing so for obvious reasons.
  - ekianjo 7y ago
    Indies dont release their source code either so I dont think there is any proof that they care, since they dont even do it when they only work for themselves.
woodrowbarlow 7y ago
it's not hopeless, though. as an example, look at the communities that have preserved "vanilla WoW" through reverse-engineered custom servers and patched clients.

vanadium 7y ago

The gaming console space up to a couple of generations ago, prior to digital distribution, is pretty well covered (and I've contributed ~75 titles and variations of console-based prototypes myself to the public), but most modern gaming is going to have a much more pronounced preservation issue. Consider also the download-only releases of console games, usually by indies but not always, nowadays on the big 3 platforms; other than avenues like Limited Run Games that provide for production of limited physical runs of previously download-only titles, they're lost to the aether eventually.

unicornporn 7y ago
> most modern gaming is going to have a much more pronounced preservation issue. That's putting it mildly. Gameplay videos is all that's going to be left for plenty of games.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

ekianjo 7y ago

Well more concerning is that source code is never ever released for most games even when they are not sold anywhere anymore. Being able to run a proprietary piece of software is one thing, but being able to check how it was implemented would be more interesting at way many more levels. But gamedevs have no interest in preserving anything, they like it disposable.

neurotrace 7y ago
That's not fair to the devs. Plenty of devs would love to share their code but the companies they develop for prevent them from doing so for obvious reasons.
- ekianjo 7y ago
  Indies dont release their source code either so I dont think there is any proof that they care, since they dont even do it when they only work for themselves.

woodrowbarlow 7y ago

it's not hopeless, though. as an example, look at the communities that have preserved "vanilla WoW" through reverse-engineered custom servers and patched clients.