Page 1 of 1

Nothing Last Forever?

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:20 am
by ildfisk
As a SEGA collector I'm Concerned about how long you can count on consoles and games can last. I mean nothing last forever after all ...

Will the data on Saturn and Dreamcast games disappear because of aging? Will it take 10 years or 50? And What about the lasers in the Mega CD, Saturn and Dreamcast?

And again can the Mega Drive and Master System read cartridges in a few years?

Thanks ;)

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 10:28 am
by Gavvie
Well...First of all I'm going to put this in General Gaming, as it's a good topic for over there.

Secondly..I'm not sure. It's an interesting theory you've got. I would say that the data shouldn't disappear or anything because of aging, at least not in the timeframe you're talking about, but that's not to say it'd never happen.

I've had my Dreamcast for a good 10 or so years, and nothing's gone wrong with it at all, well, not the unit anyway. The only problem I had was that the AV cable started going a little dodgy, but that was fixed by buying a SCART cable XD

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 11:49 am
by mazonemayu
I'm assuming that aventually everything dies(everything does, but Motörhead :P ) , but I'm still using my first saturn & dreamcast (last one on an almost daily basis) so I think they're pretty much indestructible. Also by the time all the game discs have rotted away, I'm pretty sure we'll be playing backups on our phones. from a collectors pow however, its different. I got plenty of factory sealed stuff that may or may not have already decayed (who knows, I'm not just gonna open it to find out). should I ever sell this (which at this point I say I won't). it'll end up on ebay as: game x factory sealed. say someone buys, opens & tries to play it and it doesn't work, am I to blame??

Imo its also a good thing to stock up on a few extra (broken) consoles, to cannibalise for spare parts. this is locked up in a cool, dark & dust free space, so hopefully my stuff'll last till I'm gona ;)

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 2:20 pm
by Quills on Wheels
this reminds me to WALL-E in a sort of way...

...don't know why...

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 2:34 pm
by Matty
This is where emulation comes in. People whine about emulation = piracy, maybe it does but emulators preserve what hardware can not

I'm a fan of the fruit machine emulation scene, Machines get smashed up daily, stop working or get damaged via other means and some people dont realise their true worth, some will be like oh its an old machine which dont work, no-one will want it lets scrap it. That procedure goes on & on till they're gone.

There are a lot of cases where theres only less than 5 of a certain machine left. Without emulation nobody else aside from the owners would be able to enjoy the machines, and in cases like that when a machine is auctioned on ebay they will go from £500+ Most cases people just want a few mins playing just for the sake of nostalgia, emulation allows this.

So when all these Dreamcasts and Saturns break and stop working you'll have emulation to thank and that will allow you to carry on playing long after the hardware dies

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 2:38 pm
by Grannamir
I don't believe it gonna "die", or simply disappear, just for 2 reason.
- Gamers that make collections treat his games and consoles VERY carrefully.
- Sega (and other companies too) must have the data from games digitally stored in backups.
So for me it's not a big deal.

Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2011 11:39 pm
by Gonic
Who's to say emulation won't die after 50 years? :P probably won't cause you can still play pong now days but still.

Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2011 4:06 am
by dab_dob
Thanks for this