The Future of Digital "Ownership"

We are talking consoles, correct?

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

What happens to all the Genesis games after the last Genesis dies? Ultimately, emulation is the only solution for the long-term preservation of a medium that depends on a specific piece of hardware. That's why it's so important. Already there are games on floppy disk that were barely rescued in time thanks to MAME. That's what's going to happen.

Of course it isn't legal, which is why I think copyright law needs to be reformed to expire sooner for items that are out of print. If copyright expires in 10 years after being out of circulation (as was originally intended... might have even been 7 years), then it's no longer a problem. The current bullshit is destructive.

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The problem of unavailable hardware is precisely what one of the DMCA exemptions is intended to address, albeit referenced in the case of access control circumvention. That exemption was first approved in 2003, renewed in 2006, and again in 2009 (at least on an interim basis until the final decision is made). So there is evidence that there is legal sympathy for this problem. Of course, emulation in and of itself is perfectly legal, the only legal issues are access control circumvention and copyright infringement with the software. Put together the full legal picture and while we don't have the ability for every person to run our software, at least there are settings where the preservation of the ability to execute software is currently legally protected in the US.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

What happens to all the Genesis games after the last Genesis dies? Ultimately, emulation is the only solution for the long-term preservation of a medium that depends on a specific piece of hardware. That's why it's so important. Already there are games on floppy disk that were barely rescued in time thanks to MAME. That's what's going to happen.

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Just to nitpick, new clone hardware does exist, and I can't think of any arcade games that were on floppies. Your point is valid, though. Eventually all hardware and media will fail, and all that remains are digital copies.
Amiga Forever comes with a collection of licensed software, but some of the disk images are from cracked copies because the originals are so damned rare, or they vanished entirely before accurate floppy disk imaging was possible..

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Originally Posted by Shin Johnpv

I'm trying to remember what it was but I know at least one EULA was proven illegal. Shit I completely forget the details, but there was a EULA that said the user was just buying the right to use the program. Then when some one tried to sell the program used on Ebay the company had the sales taken off ebay, and the user sued and won. I need to try and find info on it again. I'm completely drawing a blank on what it was or the details of it, I'll try to remember/find out the details.

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I think that was AutoCAD or something, and the issue boiled down to the fact that if the physical disc is decoupled from the license, then there is nothing wrong with selling the original disc, regardless of the license terms. The publisher of the software pretty much shot themselves in the foot with the EULA.

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Originally Posted by bVork

Well, the Games on Demand thing is a joke because retailers would get very upset if you could buy games for less than they cost in stores, and Microsoft would like to not piss off Walmart and friends too much. I'm not even sure why the service exists in the first place.

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If they only offered older games that are out of print, then that wouldn't be that big of a deal. Even retailers that make the bulk of their profits from used games make most of it from more recent games.

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Originally Posted by epmode

Have you even heard of Steam? The sales in the PC DD space are out of control.

Digital distribution for consoles is another story.

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Yeah, Steam and Impulse and friends have done more to reduce PC game prices than anything in history.

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Originally Posted by Spike

You will need to rebuy them for the next system.

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This is the most likely course of action. The more prevalent digital distribution becomes, the more locked down content will be, and the less control consumers will have over the products. We're already seeing it with what John described in his post as the loss of certain consumer rights.

This is what companies ultimately want. They want to be able to tell us when, where, and how much we can have access to their content. It's not going to happen right away, but it's gradually moving towards that direction and most people won't even notice it because each step is so small.

With regards to downloadable content being locked to specific systems, I don't mind that too much. It's no different than physical games generally being system specific. Sure, backwards compatibility is a big plus, but it's not something I expect to have as a consumer.

What I do expect, however, is to have a certain level of control over the products I buy, and digital distribution impairs much of that. For $5 games, I don't care too much because it's a reasonable trade-off. But that's no longer the case when digital games start costing retail price. I would completely be for digital distribution if copyright laws were reformed in a similar manner described by Frog. As is, though, digital distribution benefits content providers more than it does consumers, and I doubt that will change any time soon.

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Originally Posted by kedawa

Just to nitpick, new clone hardware does exist,

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Fine, let's say Atari Lynx or something unloved, then. Although even if it's 50 years from now, the day will come for Genesis too.

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I can't think of any arcade games that were on floppies.

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Sega System 24 games are on floppies, and securing working versions of these to emulate was very difficult and I think there might be a couple that they couldn't find (Bullet, perhaps?)

That's bizarre. I can't imagine a floppy drive and disk being a practical alternative to mask roms. Access speed, reliability, and component cost are all stacked against such a design. It's Sega though, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

There have been arcade games on cassettes, too (like really old Data East stuff).

And there are even odder storage devices out there, like the bubble memory used by several Konami games.

You should read what you've signed up to. The console hardware companies aren't obligated to give you anything on a new platform. Buying intangibles means that you are accepting 0 value for what you are buying beyond whatever qualitative entertainment you gain from it.