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When The 360 Dies.
Inzigna
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I've been having this fear. We all know consoles eventually die out, such as the Playstation, the Dreamcast and the Xbox, just to name a few recent console exits. And thus I have been thinking, this will eventually happen to the Xbox 360, and we all know how temperamental this console is, the RRODs, the disc drive problems and all kinds of shit; but we haven't really been too hot about it since Microsoft has been nice about replacements and repairing the 360.
But... What happens when the 360 has run its course? What if the next console has no backward compatibility? Will Microsoft stop providing support for the 360?
Will we ever get to play [Insert Game Here] on the 360 in 10 years time?
I'm sorry if this has already been answered, but I'm just worried that everything that I've invested in this console will go to waste once this fragile console dies. Unlike my PS2 and my Dreamcast, which are both holding up extremely well.
But... What happens when the 360 has run its course? What if the next console has no backward compatibility? Will Microsoft stop providing support for the 360?
Will we ever get to play [Insert Game Here] on the 360 in 10 years time?
I'm sorry if this has already been answered, but I'm just worried that everything that I've invested in this console will go to waste once this fragile console dies. Unlike my PS2 and my Dreamcast, which are both holding up extremely well.
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Think about the similar problems with the NES cartridges and the batteries dying. How was the solved?
I'm fresh out of Crystal balls here, so it is just wait and see.
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/hugs his Dreamcast
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Do companies like SEGA and Nintendo still provide support for their 'dead' systems?
We don't like to talk about it much, but yeah, that's generally how it works.
You shut up right now
No kidding, I was having such a nice morning, too.
One day all the universe suns are going to die too, leaving a lifeless universe.
Stuff happens.
Generally, yes.
I think Nintendo recently quit supporting the SNES and N64. SEGA recently stopped support for the Dreamcast.
You can usually get a good 10 - 15 years of tech support for a console, depending on popularity.
Hell, the Mega Drive 3 was recently release in Brazil.
You open the cart and replace the battery.
You lose your saves, but if it has died you've already crossed that bridge.
猿も木から落ちる
We're going to nuke ourselves into oblivion long before that.
Stuff will happen and it will be awesome.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Thanks, dicks.
Is it depressing that technology progresses such that all games eventually become portable and playable? Later computers will no doubt be able to store an entire 360 game on the future equivalent of a USB key. People on their consoles two generations from now will be downloading Halo 3 on their Live or PSN equivalent and thinking "ahhh, I remember this one! hahahah, look at how pixellated these graphics are. this was back when they called their displays 'high definition.' those were the days, eh?"
Hell I can already download games from last generation directly onto my xbox, supplied by Microsoft themselves. I wouldn't worry too much.
If you enjoyed all of those games for years and years, though, is it ever really lost?
Yeah, BC is a pretty big selling point for me. I actually do go back and play the older games.
I wonder, if we were all a bunch of commie reds after a revolution, would "pirates" become legitimate civilian distribution methods? Or is there only appeal or profit in that form of distribution when it's illegal or at least too difficult for your average non-"hacker" to manage?
The Genesis was BC with Master System games, and the Atari 7200 could play Atari 2600 titles.
Not quite. Up until the DS came out, every iteration of the gameboy system was backwards compatible with all previous games.
Also, the sega master system games were compatible with the genesis with an adapter (the power base converter)
Nintendo pissed off *alot* of parents when the SNES wasnt BC with NES games, but us kids didnt care :P
All 360s are still prone to RROD, its a fundamental design flaw. The newer chips lessen the chances somewhat, but its still a valid concern.
batteries in NES cartridges arent a problem at all, you can replace them yourself, just need a screwdriver, or a bit to fit the screws. The really old carts use standard phillips screws, but those were around the release of the NES and had the internal 60 to 72 pin adapter in them. Dont think any of those used batteries.
I also sort of disagree with this notion that we were "fine" before BC. These young'ns who think their Nintendo was the beginning of gaming history may have been fine in the late 90's, but us vintage console owners have been scavanging parts for years.
Nevertheless taking the idea and running with, whilst adding in a little bit of IP/trademark laws protect it or lose it and factoring in the fact that one computer year is about 5 real life years, then I think it should be a rule that once a company stops releasing products that can play a game, then that game enters the public domain.
If nintendo isn't making N64s then all N64 games should be passed into the public domain to ensure their protection and preservation. That is what happens in effect due to emulators and piracy, but it should be enshrined in law.
Then it becomes an issue if Wii VC reissues prevent the originals entering public domain. Which is a much more rational argument to be having, as it forces the company to archive its content or lose it. Which is in the public interest.
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I like this idea in principle, but it just isn't practical on a few levels.
It fucks smaller third parties pretty hard, as indies just don't have the resources to keep continually porting a game (and paying the licensing fees to get it on a DRM platform) over and over, so many classics will inevitably lapse into public domain. From there, you'll start seeing the "1,001 classic NES and SNES games" compilation cash-ins.
It also exacerbates the "Mickey Mouse" dillema; on the one hand, Mickey Mouse is long past due to enter the public domain, but on the other, he's the centerpiece of the Disney brand. The minute Mickey Mouse drops out of copyright protection, he'll be plastered all over cheap watches, made-for-TV movies, and shady hentai websites. Not only will Disney lose control over the financial rights to the character, they'll lose the quality control over how their mascot is used. Imagine a world where anyone who wants to make and sell a Zelda game is free to plaster Link all over their shovelware -- it's pretty obvious to see how that directly harms Nintendo and the consumer.
We need SOME mechanism in copyright law to protect a consumer's right to continue legally using the software they've purchased after the hardware or storage medium is past prime, but I think simply scaling back some of the more draconian provisions of the DMCA would do the job.
(As an offtopic side note, this is why companies like Disney end up suing daycare centers for painting Mickey on the wall and whatnot. Not because they enjoy doing it, but because the trademark would be voided if they knew about it and chose not to defend their trademark.)
No, you've got a fundamental misunderstanding of how trademark law works. Mickey Mouse the trademark can't prevent people from making artistic works.
Here's a good example. Peter Pan is a valid trademark for peanut butter and bus lines, but anyone can make a Peter Pan movie, book, video game, etc, because the original work has hit public domain (except in England where there's this weird, Peter Pan-specific exception codified into law for some reason, but you get the idea).
(this is probably a good thing, because otherwise Link's character design would infringe on copyrights held by the J. M. Barrie estate).
Fair enough. I'm not an IP lawyer, after all. Does only the very first appearance of a character "protect" that character? How does it all work when there's still a zillion other (original, not licensed) works based around the character, as with Mickey Mouse?
There was actually a really interesting piece about this in the LA Times a while back: link
Their interpretation (which is still a matter of controversy, I've listened to IP lawyers argue about this over beers for well over an hour at a time) is that the "current-era" Mickey Mouse would be protected, but the "early" Mickey Mouse probably wouldn't be. "Well, big deal, you have the half-retarded-looking Steamboat Willie character", you might be thinking, but hang on! As Daedalus pointed out, a public domain character like Peter Pan can be "reimagined" in any number of ways, resulting in increasingly intricate webs of IP. Somebody could "reimagine" Mickey Mouse, create their own "Mickey Mouse Peanut Butter" with their own stylized (but still identifiable) Mickey Mouse design, and they'd theoretically be in the clear.
Modern copyright law is soul-crushingly complicated.
I'm actually more concerned about what will happen with older PC games than console games. Console games get programs written for them that can make them playable on most PCs given enough time, but old PC games can have some serious issues with OS changes, hardware changes, etc. Take the Xcom series. It runs fine on XP, but not on Vista. Steam has a pre-configured version that works on Vista, but now I can't get Terror from the Deep to run.
I think a federal database of games might not be a bad idea. It sounds a little odd, but games are a bigger industry than Hollywood nowadays and vastly more influential by the very nature of the medium. It wouldn't even be that expensive to set up because of how cheap hard drive space is these days. If and when the original company that made the game dissolves, the game can become public domain. Companies would still be able to protect their IP, but no more of this stupid garbage where we can't get a sequel or even a rerelease of the original game because some corporation or another is squatting on the rights.
The same way we get old console games to run. DosBox isn't a compatibility layer, it's a full x86 machine emulator. If Microsoft finally kills support for programs built on the Win95/98/ME libraries, I'm sure something similar will pop up for that.
Of course everyone would want their own creation categorized the second way.
Yes.
What worries me is the XBLA. If your 360 dies twenty years from now, after Microsoft has stopped supporting it, you can get your XBLA games onto a new Xbox, but you won't be able to play them without MS's activation servers. I assume clever hackers will find a solution (as they tend to do) but this generation is really the first one where a software solution is necessary to solve this problem rather than just fixing up old hardware.