the future of old consoles

[samjc3]

what will an atari 2600 be worth in fifty years? will anyone remember the n64 in 2067?
what does the future look like for todays "old" consoles? will it be grand and wonderful, and filled with epic mods, or will they all just die, except for the ones in our (benheck'ers) closets?
what do you think?

[Oniak]

I don't know, but wont the games have to eventually die? Along with the systems? I mean electronics can only last so long right?

[jjhammerstein]

I bet someone will like, cryogenically freeze a Pong game until it's the last one left, and then sell it to a museum for millions.

[eagle5953]

I don't know, but wont the games have to eventually die? Along with the systems? I mean electronics can only last so long right?

As everything becomes disk-based, the disks and the systems themselves will die over time. Through emulation and re-release, the games themselves will live on.

[Oniak]

Well yeah, disks have a lot less life then cartridges, especially the disk lasers. And of course, emulation with help games live.

[jjhammerstein]

Nintendo, Sony, Atari, Sega etc. should all make their coding/etc. public so that emulation can become more perfect. They're not making money anymore. Or, just sell it. This is a terrible idea, and I am very selfish. Ignore it.

Why do I keep saying "etc"?

[Oniak]

but one thing im worried about with starting an older game collection is, "How long will they really last?"

[samjc3]

but one thing im worried about with starting an older game collection is, "How long will they really last?"

buy em and then torrent them, that way, you arent stealing, and then get several flashcarts for whichever console, and put the fresh game files on the flashcarts.

[themadhacker]

cartridges can last for probably a lifeitime, depending on how you take care of it. sure, capacitors and resistors in the carts could go bad, but those can be replaced.

[metalcookie]

i think that when those sd cards get more advanced console designers would start thinking of replacing the disc drive with a card reader, reducing the size of the console, and improving its life.

it may sound crazy, but just think about it -
the nes was huge, and yet the gameboy color is much smaller, and the game carts are much smaller. just compare super mario bros. with super mario bros. on the gbc -

and lets not forget the game boy advance. the games were even smaller than gbc, and yet it can play gbc and gb games, including super mario world, yoshi's island, and super mario bros. 3. i think making game consoles that read the information from a card without re-writable information would be great. if you left a game out on a desk and it gets knocked over and gets trapped under something for a long time without you knowing, and you find it - it still works. cds get damaged so easily and if they are lost, there is a high probability it won't work.

[cowsgoquack101]

I just hope that one day a company would recreate old consoles to be exact replicas of what they were 20-30 years ago. I mean, how cool would it be to get a reproduction model 2600 in mint condition that plays the games just the same all of the accessories work for it? Some one has to have the copy rights and patents to do this!

[SonyPortableizer]

Im hopping that in the future that they become worth a LOT for whatever reason.

[grossaffe]

Nintendo, Sony, Atari, Sega etc. should all make their coding/etc. public so that emulation can become more perfect. They're not making money anymore. Or, just sell it. This is a terrible idea, and I am very selfish. Ignore it.

Why do I keep saying "etc"?

Nintendo is making money off the Virtual Console.

[XCVG]

Nintendo, Sony, Atari, Sega etc. should all make their coding/etc. public so that emulation can become more perfect. They're not making money anymore. Or, just sell it. This is a terrible idea, and I am very selfish. Ignore it.

Why do I keep saying "etc"?

Nintendo is making money off the Virtual Console.

Only because of stupid people. If you don't care about authenticity, emulate. The games are old enough that no one really cares about legality anyway. And if you want accurate reproduction, get the real hardware.


As for the life of games, discs will survive longer than cartridges if stored properly, but cartridges will survive longer if stored not-so-properly (thrown in a box loose). As for the console, it depends on the console.

[ShockSlayer]

Compare: NOAC's to the 1985 NES. That is the way we will take. Or, emulation.

I can totally see a museum though.

SS