zlacker

> 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+(OP)
> at this point it's easier to play the PSX version on an emulator

How hard is it to set up windows 95 in a vm, basically an emulator?

>>earenn+V5
Well, if you want any decent performance, you'll need to pass through a PCI device which is non-trivial even on modern Hosts and Windows Guests.

>>zaarn+Mc
I'd expect CPU rendering to work pretty well on a game from 1996. I could be wrong though.

>>zaarn+Mc
Depends on what you mean by "decent performance". PCem emulates on hardware level (it uses stock BIOS firmware, for example), and it can run Win95 with about the same perf as a typical machine circa 1996. And it also emulates 3dfx.

>>Ace17+(OP)
He who works on drm destroys the legacy of his fellow man.

>>Ace17+(OP)
For certain, I meant to imply "... without depending on online activation". As for copyright protection, most schemes can or have been defeated with emulators. Even pesky Apple Lisa can be run in emulators (no thanks to Apple).

Physical media + online DRM is as bad as online-only.

>>Ace17+(OP)
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.