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2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/vr/ - Retro Games

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1095038 No.1095038[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

>Someday all your cartridges will be too old to play properly
>All your discs will have stopped reading due to disc rot.
>Your physical collection will be entirely worthless.
>All the money you spent on having authentic experiences and you will be in the same position as someone who just downloaded all their ROMs and ISOs free.
>Won't even be able to resell their collection investment because no one will want games you can't play.

How does /vr/ deal with this knowledge? It haunts me sometimes

>> No.1095042

>>1095038

I'm not looking forward to the day when the batteries on my NES games die. Wanted to cry when my 200+ hour file in Pokemon Silver vanished. Fuck.

>> No.1095048

Eeproms can be reburned. I guess you can always make copies of disc based games if you chip your systems. I get the feeling I'll be so old I won't care by this point. My collection is purely sentimental value, I'd give it all away to another gamer who appreciated it before I ever resold it. Games should go to gamers, not hoarders.

>> No.1095051

Flash carts, backup copies, and soon, crystalline recording media.

>> No.1095084
File: 68 KB, 282x246, 1362119752851.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1095084

>>1095038
>pic

>> No.1095086

carts will probably last longer than we will
discs on the otherhand..

>> No.1095089

>>1095038
>>Someday all your cartridges will be too old to play properly
unless you're storing them in a very humid place they'll probably last for decades, perhaps they'll even outlast you

>>1095084
famicom synthesizer, it's hip and trendy

>> No.1095096

>>1095038
The people who collect discs and cartridges are responsible for all the ROMs and ISOs you can download. They have to be dumped somehow.

>> No.1095094

>>1095038
Tough to say. I'd like to envision a future where no one is able to make an extra buck reselling videogames. However I can also picture a future of entirely cloud based media without personal ownership and the few remaining games being fought over zealously... scary.

>> No.1095102
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1095102

I don't have to worry about it because I have no interest in collecting physical media.

>> No.1095117

What I find the most sad is that copyright restrictions are going to cause most of the media we have now to just disappear rather than being preserved in the public domain. Movies, music, pictures, and software such as games will be largely dead once the discs, tapes, cartridges, photos, etc deteriorate. Much like how old films from the early 1900s are almost entirely gone now.

>> No.1095123

>>1095042
You know you can back that up with a Mega Memory cart and then restore it after the battery is replaced?

>> No.1095124

>>1095038
Considering most of my collection is from my childhood up, and the rest is just at yard sales or cheap finds online? I'm not going to feel anything really. Im mean yeah it will be sad but it's not like I get years on end to enjoy them.

>> No.1095125

>>1095117
And thankfully we have collectors and pirates to keep that stuff alive. How long before TPB gets recognized as a historical preserve.

>> No.1095126

>>1095038
>Someday all your cartridges will be too old to play properly
Can this actually happen within our lifetimes? I thought mask ROMs were nearly impervious to the sands of time.
Save batteries will die, of course, but they are simple to replace.

>> No.1095129

>>1095125
pirates help more really because they are ensuring that data is always somewhere online to be shared. It has a far lesser risk of being lost as opposed to a physical collection where anything from weather to theft or just time can ruin it.

>> No.1095128

>>1095117
I think we're already past the age where any kind of public content will ever be lost forever. Yeah a YouTube video that almost no one saw might be able to removed forever, but nothing that thousands of people experienced will ever truly die as someone will always have saved a copy somewhere.

>> No.1095146

All those rare as fuck CD games that shelf collectors pay hundreds of dollars for will stop working in half a century or less. Not that those guys would care much anyway. Resellers on the other hand...

>WOW! ULTRA RAREST W O R K I N G COPY OF LUNAR ONLY $50.000

>> No.1095151

>>1095038
>>All your discs will have stopped reading due to disc rot.
It's actually not disc rot you need to worry about, it's bit rot. bit rot is a very different thing than disc rot.

>> No.1095158

>>1095038

>Someday all your cartridges will be too old to play properly

Nope

>> No.1095165

>Someday you will die and worms will eat your hands

How the fuck will I be able to play games then? ;_;

>> No.1095169

The only thing I have to worry about is batteries dying in cartridges, which I don't mind that much since they're easily replaced. Cartridges will last longer than I will and disc rot isn't a thing.

>> No.1095172

Regular retail copies of games are going to last a while mask ROMs are strong.

Game prototypes on the other hand are not so lucky. Prototypes are commonly stored on EEPROMs which are extremely vulnerable to UV radiation and thus are much more delicate. It's possible that those prototypes will one day be completely irrecoverable. Additionally it doesn't help that the resellers that do manage to stumble upon them don't really care about preserving them, since copying them would decrease the value of the original.

>> No.1095171

>>1095038

Given the relative lifetimes of solid state media, and the likely-hood that our A/V connection and broadcast frequency standards won't be changing any time soon, you'll probably have to contend with the screaming void that is your own Death long before your old shit is unusable. The readable lifetimes of current storage media will be a problem for the future's archivists and archeologists, not us.

>> No.1095187

>>1095169
>disc rot isn't a thing.
Yes it is, but it only really effects things like Laserdiscs that had bad glue. Bit rot, though is a real thing that you will need to worry about

>> No.1095265

>>1095038
Hardware can be re-manufactured (and is).

Flashcarts are exactly like normal cartridges.

Cartridge games aren't going anywhere. It's the disc based consoles that we should worry about, since noone is making new ones.

>> No.1095452

>>1095126

Their worst enemy is corrosion. You can delay it but not stop it...

>> No.1095461

>>1095038
>>Won't even be able to resell their collection investment because no one will want games you can't play.
But collectors don't play their games. They aren't video game enthusiasts, they're hoarders. It's a mental illness, not a hobby.

>> No.1095475

>>1095038
>>Someday all your cartridges will be too old to play properly
I doubt this will happen in your lifetime.

>> No.1095486

>Someday you will learn what a flash cart is, and eventually deciated FPGA hardware emulators that mimic at the transistor level
>All your discs will sit on a shelf because you'll mod your system to run disc-less off SD cards.
>All your money spent on games will still have been worth it, unless you've bought an over-rated title recently (CT, EB)

>> No.1095628
File: 5 KB, 303x243, 1328351128960.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1095628

>>1095038
Calm down shitlord, i'll probably be dead when all these things happens.

>> No.1095643

Disc rot does not exist. leaving your discs near the sun, heat, or moisture will however cause damage to discs. They theorize that is disc rot did happen then most decent quality discs could have a lifespan of nearly 50 years anyways. In 50 years I will be too old to care.

>> No.1095646

>>1095643
will you care in 35 years?

(games from 15 years ago)

>> No.1095692

>>1095146
only fifty dollars?
they don't know what the have.

>> No.1095758

I am already 58, so I don't care.

Nay, I'm in my early 20s

http://www.osta.org/technology/cdqa13.htm - 10 to 15 years.

http://vivtech.blogspot.hu/2007/03/cd-and-dvd-lifetime-and-maintenance.html - 30 years

http://askbobrankin.com/lifetime_of_a_cdrom_disk.html - HUNDREDS OF YEARS

An intresting article about 'disc rot': http://www.rfgeneration.com/news/disc-rot/An-important-note-to-Video-Game-Sellers-and-Buyers-1337.php

Also, I know it is not retro but fucking GD-ROMS are pressed so bad, or I don't know, maybe cheap materials, but you can't even clean them.

>> No.1095769

>>1095643
The aluminum layer oxidizes. It's not common with well-pressed discs, but video games tended to be cheaply produced to increase margins. CDRs and such are even cheaper. I had a CDR that completely oxidized, and it was stored in a cake box in my dry basement for years. The plastic disc and a thin film of translucent material was all that was left.

>> No.1095792

My mask roms and properly dehumidified pressed optical media will last long enough after I'm dead for something like this to happen to them and I'll laugh from beyond.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4GYg-5AdRw

>> No.1095795

>>1095038
>Someday all your cartridges will be too old to play properly
>Do i look that i know what a 'Meskruhm' is
0/10
But to be honest, some famicom/atari carts have EPROMs installed.

>All your discs will have stopped reading due to disc rot.
5/10
Similar applies to floppy disks.

>Your physical collection will be entirely worthless.
>I know for a fact that plastic dissolves over the time
1/10
Bare materials can be sold.

>All the money you spent on having authentic experiences and you will be in the same position as someone who just downloaded all their ROMs and ISOs free.
Yes i exactly know what you mean, NOT.

>Won't even be able to resell their collection investment because no one will want games you can't play.
Some people are going to collect unplayable games, just to look at the interesting boxart/cover.

>How does /vr/ deal with this knowledge?
What knowledge?
You just only threw some 'meaningless' facts in your post, ever heard of the words 'evidence' and 'proof'.

>It haunts me sometimes
Wow.

However. Your post is great, it made me laugh.

>> No.1096102

>>1095038
It doesn't haunt me, it gives me comfort. When the last cart dies it will signify the end of the age of original physical mediums for gaming. Then we will all be free play emulators, use flash carts, make repros and all that other good stuff without that voice still whispering to us "you're not really playing it right."

>> No.1096653

Byuu already solved it

>> No.1096671

>>1095038
When disc rot occurs in a hundred years what will I care?

>> No.1096674

>>1095038
I absolutely will not care. I'm not a collector. I'm also not so completely anal about games being 100% exactly the experience they were on the console. Most of the differences are so slight as to not be worth mentioning.

>> No.1096715

the only really collecting I ever did was a commodore 64, a game gear and a Tiger LCD game; and I only got those cause I really wanted them. If I want to play an old game, I will just emulate it from my netbook to my LCD TV, as connecting my consoles to a digital TV can be a pain

I sometimes think of buying dead/busted consoles (that can go for 99c) though, just to have on display on a cabinet beside my TV without having to spend any real money on them

>> No.1096727
File: 225 KB, 1297x872, 1271671867781.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1096727

>>1095038
This is why I've already made a few thousand selling off my collection of games and consoles on ebay.

Also I'm trying to live a life of spartan minimalism so there's also all of this delicious empty space I'm acquiring.

>> No.1096783

Cars rust
Books mold
Clothes thin and tear
Shoes come apart
Jewelry breaks and bends
Houses are chewed apart by termites and rot

And worst of all, YOU age.

Everything will break or disintegrate given enough time. This doesn't mean collecting old NES games is a bad idea. I guarantee that plastic Final Fantasy cart on my shelf will outlast the iPud whatever new trendy shit kids are buying these days.

>> No.1096810

>>1096727
>spartan minimalism
>posts crusader
>collection was only worth a few thousand anyway

>> No.1096882

>>1096810
Certainly you're not dumb enough to confuse spartan with Spartan.

>> No.1096932

>>1096882
Certainly you don't think medieval knights lived spartan lifestyles

>> No.1096940

>>1096932
Certainly you don't believe that was implied in any way.

>> No.1096975

flash carts and retrons for all

>> No.1097293

>>1096975

>retrons

You must be casual, trusting that inaccurate garbage.

>> No.1097478

I just want to say that (in my experience) ISO's and ROM's aren't that safe either.

I haven't lost a cartridge due to malfunction.
Only Pokemon Games have lost memory back-up.
I've had to replace multiple Disc's destroyed either by constant play or Console Malfunction.

I still have and use my -
Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive, Atari 2600, Super Nintendo, N64, Gameboys - that I purchased all on their respective release dates in Australia.
But i have had three Sega Saturns, 4 X-boxes, 3 360's, 5 PS2's, 3 PSX

I have even lost PC systems and file back-up's off ISOs and ROMs. So I know where quality lies.

I'll stick it out with my old consoles and carts thanks, that haven't failed me yet and when they do they'll still be worth all the time and all the money I have invested in them.

>> No.1099157

>>1095758
Ok this is both very alarming and very informative, thanks anon for posting this, I know I'm going to be looking over my Ps1 and other disc based games over the next few days for this Disc-rot. Never heard about ever until today which is why I'm so happy to have stumbled on this thread.

>> No.1099168

SNES is safe for now, thanks to bsnes, as long as people continue to host the source code and ROMs.

>> No.1101930

Not entirely worthless. Just broken or non functioning.

Also I don't collect shit beyond the few games I keep because they're mine. I still play them on emulators anyway. So, nothing lost for me.

>Won't even be able to resell their collection investment because no one will want games you can't play.
You have no idea how the absolute depths of fucked up reasons people go to for retarded shit. Someone somewhere will want them. They'll build an entire castle out of mario cartridges to live inside because they fucking can. They'll build the great wall of EA games.
They will use them hard snap wallets connected by NES controller cables, cigarette cases, beds to sleep on. For the nostalgic touch of owning the plastic cases. To make repros.

You won't get your full investment off of it most likely. But you just need to find the right people who want the shit you have.

>> No.1101932

>>1095038
>disc rot

Dvd's should last a century if I am not mistaken, and if they aren't used that increases their service time?

>> No.1101936

>>1101932
CDs don't last long if you mistreat them. Leave them in a car and they'll fuck up in no time.

>> No.1101938

>>1101936
What about if you keep them in relatively dry cool place (like box in carton box in garage or balcony)?

I know Dvd's last longer than Cd's because technology, so I spent some time on buying loads of blanks because autism

>> No.1101947

>>1095038
>>Won't even be able to resell their collection investment because no one will want games you can't play.
Explain why people bought dogshit Atari games in the late 90s and early 00s.

>> No.1102369

>>1095089
yep and pretty sure most carts last longer than any flash memory drives or HDDs. the batteries need frequent replacements though.

>> No.1102482

Hopefully one day, all the old games (ALL of them, not a pittance like what is available on the Wii Virtual Console) will be digitally available (though I don't expect them to be at reasonable prices).

>muh collecting
>muh boxes and manuals

If you really love playing games, as opposed to just building a collection that looks nice on a shelf, then you won't really give a shit what form your games are in.

>> No.1102557

>>1095048
tfw i'm learning about microprocessors in a course im doing atm, rom, eprom n shit

shit sucks yo

>> No.1102709

>>1095038
>collection investment

If this is really enough of an issue to give you the crawling heebie-jeebies, you're a hipster fuck. The reason to own the genuine media is to play it.

>> No.1102721

>>1099157
PS1 games are pretty good quality, you're not likely to have spontaneous failure. Unless you're a moron who stores PS1 games on a spindle (or just strewn about the floor of your room like my younger brother did), or you live in the frigging Sahara with no air conditioning, you should be fine.

Saturn discs, on the other hand...

>> No.1102750

>>1095038
>www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-CLINTON-RADIO-CIRCA-1930S-/161079110524?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2581102b7c

Your games will last longer than you will.

>> No.1104324
File: 230 KB, 800x600, sd_2.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1104324

>>1095038
Not me! U Mad? most systems have this...

>> No.1104391

>>1104324
>sd cards
>long lasting
pick one