Why Aren't Games Republished More?
I'm working on the following article for my blog, but it's kinda rough right now and I'm probably missing a few things, so I would appreciate some input and/or corrections.
Here we go...
I actually have some time to actually do some relatively deep thinking tonight, so I pose this question: why don't game publishers release their greatest accomplishments from the past to newer consoles on a more frequent basis? Would gamers not buy older games for modern consoles?
Now I realize that most games might not sell enough units to warrent spending the necessary resources to make a perfect port to multiple systems. But with the processing power of today's console and even to a greater degree with the next-gen consoles (XBox 2, PS3, Revolution), developing an emulator to run older games is not unfeasable.
It might not be effective for every developing house to make their own emulator for every system, but here is my example solution: look at Nintendo and Sega. Both of these companies dominated the gaming market in most of the 1980s and 90s. They could develop emulators in-house for their respective systems (NES, Genesis, etc) to run on the current and future systems. Keep in mind, both Nintendo and Sega have done this to some extent already. Nintedo supposdly used an emulator to run its highly-successful Zelda pack and Sega also has done so in its Sonic Mega Packs (for all three current platforms mind you).
Not only can Nintendo and Sega use these emulators to re-release games from their own back-library, but they could also license these emulators to other publishing houses such as Konami, Square/Enix, Namco, and various others that could lead to a flood of classic titles being available on current consoles for a reasonable price (for both the publisher and the consumer). Even if they might be a bit reluctant to get working on emulators, there already some open-source initiatives already underway. After all, PocketNES was already utilized in a similar way.
Although, one concern they might have it people hacking these emulators in order to put together their own complilations. An example of this would be the Sega Smash Pack for Sega's Dreamcast. Although the emulator was far from perfect, somebody took the time and effort to rip it and distribute it on the Net. While I am not aware of any other more recent examples of this, I would not put it past the gaming community to come through on the challenge. But there should be some way to be able to make an emulator either difficult to rip or made to only run a certain game under only certain circumstances. It's all about creativity.
Not only could classic console games be emulated on most any system, but there are also some opportunities to port some classic PC games to newer systems, especially the XBox. Sure, most XBox gamers want the most cutting-edge graphics, but I'm sure there are a decent amount of people that would like to see some not-so-new PC games ported over to XBox. Again, I'm not much of a PC gamer, so I may be off on this one.
Personally, I see the gaming industry as inching toward being a major piece of the entertainment marketplace in the coming years. As more of today's gamers grow older, we will see classic gaming afficianados just as we see classic film buffs today. The movie industry has it a bit easier -- it has a standard format on which to release a movie and there is no porting of code. So to make up for this, the gaming industry needs to develop a way to preserve their games without requiring their customers to keep piles of aging machines in order to play their old favorites.
The combination of emulation and backwards compatability is the technique that could be the solution to this problem. In the past, backward compatability was significantly harder because of the changes in cartridge formats, but now with optical media standards, it has become a bit easier. That's the one thing I respect most about the PS2 -- the ability to play the extensive list of the PSOne game library -- including giving the option to improve the experience.
Backwards compatability is a ongoing struggle for the XBox 2 rumor whores however, with the talk of switch to an ATI graphics processor, it looks as if you won't be able to play your original XBox games on Microsoft's next console. In my opinion, this would be a very bad move on their part if they really want to compete with the powerhouse that is Sony.
Until the game-markers take some clues from the ideas I've presented, nostolgic gamers will be forced to either have 15 different consoles hooked up to their TV or devise a HTPC that will run their old games on emulators every time they want to play a certain game from yesteryear.
I'm working on the following article for my blog, but it's kinda rough right now and I'm probably missing a few things, so I would appreciate some input and/or corrections.
Here we go...
I actually have some time to actually do some relatively deep thinking tonight, so I pose this question: why don't game publishers release their greatest accomplishments from the past to newer consoles on a more frequent basis? Would gamers not buy older games for modern consoles?
Now I realize that most games might not sell enough units to warrent spending the necessary resources to make a perfect port to multiple systems. But with the processing power of today's console and even to a greater degree with the next-gen consoles (XBox 2, PS3, Revolution), developing an emulator to run older games is not unfeasable.
It might not be effective for every developing house to make their own emulator for every system, but here is my example solution: look at Nintendo and Sega. Both of these companies dominated the gaming market in most of the 1980s and 90s. They could develop emulators in-house for their respective systems (NES, Genesis, etc) to run on the current and future systems. Keep in mind, both Nintendo and Sega have done this to some extent already. Nintedo supposdly used an emulator to run its highly-successful Zelda pack and Sega also has done so in its Sonic Mega Packs (for all three current platforms mind you).
Not only can Nintendo and Sega use these emulators to re-release games from their own back-library, but they could also license these emulators to other publishing houses such as Konami, Square/Enix, Namco, and various others that could lead to a flood of classic titles being available on current consoles for a reasonable price (for both the publisher and the consumer). Even if they might be a bit reluctant to get working on emulators, there already some open-source initiatives already underway. After all, PocketNES was already utilized in a similar way.
Although, one concern they might have it people hacking these emulators in order to put together their own complilations. An example of this would be the Sega Smash Pack for Sega's Dreamcast. Although the emulator was far from perfect, somebody took the time and effort to rip it and distribute it on the Net. While I am not aware of any other more recent examples of this, I would not put it past the gaming community to come through on the challenge. But there should be some way to be able to make an emulator either difficult to rip or made to only run a certain game under only certain circumstances. It's all about creativity.
Not only could classic console games be emulated on most any system, but there are also some opportunities to port some classic PC games to newer systems, especially the XBox. Sure, most XBox gamers want the most cutting-edge graphics, but I'm sure there are a decent amount of people that would like to see some not-so-new PC games ported over to XBox. Again, I'm not much of a PC gamer, so I may be off on this one.
Personally, I see the gaming industry as inching toward being a major piece of the entertainment marketplace in the coming years. As more of today's gamers grow older, we will see classic gaming afficianados just as we see classic film buffs today. The movie industry has it a bit easier -- it has a standard format on which to release a movie and there is no porting of code. So to make up for this, the gaming industry needs to develop a way to preserve their games without requiring their customers to keep piles of aging machines in order to play their old favorites.
The combination of emulation and backwards compatability is the technique that could be the solution to this problem. In the past, backward compatability was significantly harder because of the changes in cartridge formats, but now with optical media standards, it has become a bit easier. That's the one thing I respect most about the PS2 -- the ability to play the extensive list of the PSOne game library -- including giving the option to improve the experience.
Backwards compatability is a ongoing struggle for the XBox 2 rumor whores however, with the talk of switch to an ATI graphics processor, it looks as if you won't be able to play your original XBox games on Microsoft's next console. In my opinion, this would be a very bad move on their part if they really want to compete with the powerhouse that is Sony.
Until the game-markers take some clues from the ideas I've presented, nostolgic gamers will be forced to either have 15 different consoles hooked up to their TV or devise a HTPC that will run their old games on emulators every time they want to play a certain game from yesteryear.
:sigh
