The future of video console collecting.
Discussion
Having a thought the other day and I know the older console is starting to become a bit of an icon where people are going back to the 1990s to play some obscure game. Then I wondered how this would happen in the future with DLC and cloud based gaming.
Will the collectible of the future be basically a useless brick once all the services are turned off?
Will the collectible of the future be basically a useless brick once all the services are turned off?
I guess it depends how much you care about playing it on the original machine. The game will always be in existance via emulators, backwards compatibility and internet browsers. I doubt the consoles of today will have the same importance and nostalgia that the ones 30 years ago did and will be worthless in a few years.
Its an interesting point that has been thought about for several years now. I'm sure many of us PC gamers have extensive Steam collections, but one day Steam is going to shut down, and what happens to all our games then? If you have them installed on a PC then you may be able to still play them, but any you don't have you'll have nowhere to download them from.
At the moment with our physical games and consoles its something we can keep hold of; I still have my original MegaDrive and lots of games stashed away alongside a Playstation and a few games, but as already mentioned playing them via emulators is more comfortable and easier so the consoles themselves are just things to look at once in a while and be able to say I have. (My mum is convinced there's my brothers old Spectrum ZX in her loft but I've yet to see it).
To answer your question I'd imagine the physical consoles will remain collectable items, but the games probably not as they become easier to get via emulators or go digital download only. You could say the same for films and music though, no more "collectors editions" and the like.
At the moment with our physical games and consoles its something we can keep hold of; I still have my original MegaDrive and lots of games stashed away alongside a Playstation and a few games, but as already mentioned playing them via emulators is more comfortable and easier so the consoles themselves are just things to look at once in a while and be able to say I have. (My mum is convinced there's my brothers old Spectrum ZX in her loft but I've yet to see it).
To answer your question I'd imagine the physical consoles will remain collectable items, but the games probably not as they become easier to get via emulators or go digital download only. You could say the same for films and music though, no more "collectors editions" and the like.
Not sure emulation will be that big of a factor - it's easy to get SNES or NES roms but the prices for the originals are very high. I think one factor that will keep PS3/360 prices lower is the sheer amount of games out there, the fact that the multiplayer part will be either shut down or deserted and the that 99% will come with the box and instructions (if they ever bothered to include them in the first place).
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