zlacker

>>Jerry2+(OP)
It makes me feel old to remember buying physical media that will still work today, 30 years later. My fictive grand kids will be able to play those games long after the worms have gnawed my bones.

Whereas my library of virtual assets will probably evaporate into ether before I'm even retired.

>>FullyF+gb
> My fictive grand kids will be able to play those games long after the worms have gnawed my bones.

I would love that you be right. And by far, I strongly prefer physical media.

However, physical media is no guarantee either.

- Sometimes, the pain is on purpose: some apps require an online activation, and the corresponding service, 30 years later, is not available anymore.

- Sometimes, it's a lack of foresight from the developers (i.e overzealous Windows version checks, refusing newer versions).

- Sometimes, it's plain dumb stupidity (the installer is a 16-bit windows executable).

If you're not convinced, I suggest you try installing, say, Wipeout XL (for Windows 95) on a recent laptop (spoiler: at this point it's easier to play the PSX version on an emulator).

>>Ace17+0K
I agree, and add:

Sometimes bits rot, and the media becomes unreadable. Sometimes you're able to back it up, sometimes not.

Sometimes hardware and software incompatibilities appear. I built a late 90s/2000 era PC for that period of PC gaming (Windows 98, CRT). Other times, you get lucky and it's fixed: Freelancer won't run on Vista, but will on 7.