On top of that, everything since the PS4 and even some of PS3, has been game files are on the disc, but incomplete. Disc is more or less a DRM security check to make sure you still have the game. Outside of that, you still have to download the full game basically. The disc is useless if you tried using this in the year 2067. By then I’m sure any service related to the PS5 will be long dead. Right now, I can buy and play NES games from 1985. I have no issue doing that. As long as your TV has component cable input, I can play an NES on your TV with an NES I can buy on ebay. The game and console both made in the 1980s. It will still work. Might need some isopropyl alcohol and a few q-tips, but it will work. 1985 was 41 years ago. 2067 is 41 years from now. I have zero faith that you’ll be able to use anything from the PS4 or PS5 era. That will become lost media. There may be issues connecting an NES to a modern TV in 2067, but if there are adaptors to make it work on whatever they use at the time, and if the physical plastic and brass hasn’t eroded, then you’ll STILL be able to use an NES in 2067. I have zero faith that Gen-Z will be able to show their grandkids what they played in 2018.
Good chance I’ll be dead before then, so I may not even see the day. My point stands though. We’re living in a digital only age, when we haven’t figured out how we will forever preserve these games. Because unless something crazy changes, I fully believe this generation is a generation you can only play now, while you can. My PS3 still has the PSHome app installed. I remember playing on PSHome for years. Then one day, they announced it would die, and all access to the service would be lost to time. Which is how it stands to this day.
I forget what the error says if you try to launch it now, but I stopped trying to launch it, because I was afraid it might self-delete.
Physical deterioration is another reason to focus on DRM free rather than physical for the sake of physical.
Classic ROM-based cartridges have proved pretty resilient so far, but older games on CD are already experiencing a culling due to disk rot. Thankfully almost all of them are backed up somewhere, but those backups are in a precarious legal position and could be lost.
Peffse@lemmy.world 6 days ago
Here’s a database of games, whether they play offline or require internet, and whether they require a download to play.
It’s at 94% of PS4 games that require no internet to play, 87% require no patch to beat, with more being validated. Far from “everything”.
memo@slrpnk.net 1 day ago
While I agree that @Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world’s data isn’t exactly correct in covering the percentage of games that can be played, their sentiment is not so random.
For example:
One could argue that Sony’s going at great lengths to keep services alive; for example, the PS3 still lets you download and update content. One also can, however, easily imagine that there will be a day when such service is not considered profitable enough, since you soon won’t be able to buy games for it anymore. What then? Can we realistically expect Sony to keep servers and checks alive for a console that does not generate any new profit whatsoever? I honestly doubt so.