Welcome Back to Digital Pinball Fans - please read this first
For latest updates, follow Digital Pinball Fans on Facebook and Twitter

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="StarDust4Ever" data-source="post: 186079" data-attributes="member: 3033">Off topic but here goes...It is indeed troubling that eventually DLC and digital content will be unattainable. Nintendo maintains at least one generation of backwards compatability with their handhelds and consoles, but it may not always go like this. Microsoft and Sony have both pulled server support for Xbox original / PS2. Nintendo Wii has all services taken down except for the eShop. PS3 and Xbox 360 will likely go next. Android and iOS so far seem to have maintained backwards compatability across generations, but this may eventually change as well. Apps might be half broken, like trying to run Windows 3.1/95 programs on Windows 8.Mac switched architectures, ultimately rendering all Power PC apps incompatible with the death of Rosetta. Nintendo currently runs an outdated derivative PowerPC architecture on it's Wii-U, for the third consecutive hardware generation. Next home console will probably move to either ARM or x86, killing backwards compatability with Wii-U. Nintendo is talking of creating a "unified" platform out of their home console and handheld divisions, and moving to ARM would be one way to achieve that. Knowing they tend to do their own thing and not what the rest of the industry is doing, I can't see them going with a power hungry x86 that would actually compete head on with MS/Sony.Even if you could keep stuff running forever without breaking your hardware, eventually the console would change ownership, and the new user will be stuck with whatever games and DLC the previous owner used. Any new or used disc games, if they can be initialized at all without dialing home to the servers, will be without those critical day-1 updates and may have bugs or playability issues. FPS games will be in the bargain bin along with the throwaway sports titles. And physical media will likely be dead by the time 9th gen gets here. Future downloads-only consoles will essentially become "bricks" without a server to log into, unless you're into exactly the same stuff as the previous owner.I have an 4-switch Atari 2600 that likely rolled off the assembly line shortly after I was conceived (May 1980 date stamp; I was born Jan 1981), and it still works. And we all know how many times Atari has changed hands or filed bankruptcy over the years. Mechanical disc drives will fail, non-volatile memory will wear out from rewrite cycles or suffer bit-rot, but the mask-rom cartridges and their systems will outlast everything. Future downloads-only consoles will effectively "die" when the servers are shut down. Disc based consoles will die when their drives fail or firmware gets corrupted. Cart systems and games will outlive their original owners if well cared for...Arcade machine owners (pinball and video), back up those EP-ROMs before die. Many machines are pushing 30 years old but bit-rotted EP-ROMs can be replaced just like a worn flipper, if one has a backup copy of the data.</blockquote>

Verification

Members online

No members online now.

Total: 100 (members: 0, guests: 100)

Latest posts

D
Anyone still playing?
- Latest: Dan
- Mar 3, 2025
The Pinball Arcade / Farsight Studios