temptingthelure wrote:So much money is wasted in preserving old tools from the bronze era, why not games?
Preservation of games here, in particular, the computer games, is very much a concentrated, specific-enthusiasts band of a spectrum related issue. Unlike other form of arts, where objects qualifying the preservation of themselves, like the lost city of the Incas and Aztechs, or the Egyptian hieroglyphic slabs, where general cusiosity and interests bloom at each generation in succession, computer games have a different set of admirers.
Most of the games or even the hardwares used for those games and the main points of discussion in this forum are all about DOS based games and machines on which the DOS based games are run.
These games and their reign in the PC world had a limited time period. And those of us who grew up with DOS and it's games are really the preservers and would like to see these games preserved, mostly due to nostalgic memories. Yes, the Windows based games are also there, deeming a classic status, but generally it's the DOS games that we're after.
Newcomers and new kids growing up now will have a hard time appreciating the charms of Ultimas and will not be interested in the Secret of Monkey Island or even what was Le Chuck's revenge thereafter, for instance. The so called "out-dated" graphics will put off potential new comers. For them, games should be like Crysis. This is in contrast to ,say, the appreciation of a sculpture of Plato. A DOS-gamer might be interested in the Angkor Wat but hardly the other way round.
Coming back to the preservation, digital is the only way to preserve them. It's upon the will of the preservers to save them. ( The owners of the games.)
While companies will NOT re-publish the classic games, in full original box with -inserts-pamphlets-additional goodies and so on, but will whine and shout about copyrights and so called rubbish, which will neither make them bankrupt nor profit them, and while some individual discussion groups will fight to death regarding maintaining the copyrights, and discussing about the copyright-bills, anti piracy and the laws and clauses of the law, even though it will neither bring about good or bad to the said groups, (heck, some will bravely defend copyrights, but when alone, they themselves will use pirated softwares or even the abandonwares, believe me! - Empty cans rattle the most) finally, it's the true abandonware sites that will have the final preservation. It's with them the classic forgotten games will be found. Like it or not. (And they don't do that for money.)
