Preserving the past
By vidiot 9 Comments
I've been pretty quiet here for the past few months or so. I set-up my video channel, which is going to have another dump of content soon. Looking back at the frequency of my blog updates in comparison to this year seems almost night and day. This year has been surprisingly hard for me in, and my emotional state is kinda less than stellar right now. I have a bunch of stuff to do, and I'm quite overwhelmed.
I'm shooting for a huge goal next year. A new college, leaving my old one, a more structured life strict life that will come with it. I'm terrified. I really am. The metaphorical pants have been pissed multiple times just thinking about it. At the same time I want it happen now. My patience has dramatically diminished, with not just my goals, but socially with people as well for better or worse. I've become incredibly anxious.
Enough about that. Let's dive into a giant sea of text shall we?
One of the first things I did when I finally got my first HDTV several years back was hook up my PS2....and then immediately disconnect it...and walk around in a circle trying to understand what happened like someone after a car accident. What followed was a humble lesson regarding the differences between SD and HD, and my slow realization that we might have a problem down the road.
Sony's decision to ignore backward compatibility with future PS3 models began to really bother me as I realized that hooking up a PS2 with component cables wasn't going to cut it for me. In the madness of trying to figure everything out, reality hit me like a sack of bricks. I feel that backward compatibility is paramount this generation. The preservation of the previous generation to look acceptable on our new monitors. One might argue that the change of aspect ratio is also a cause for concern, but the ability to not be able to play an older generation game on our new hardware, without really tinkering with it, really bothered the hell out of me. I snagged a 60 gig PS3 while simultaneously pretending that what I was paying was half...of what I was actually playing. Now I could play my older library of PS2 up-scanned without any problems.
When my PS3 laser broke while playing Final Fantasy XIII I payed another bundle of money to get it fixed...once again pretending that I was paying half of it...
It's like giving someone a McDonald's meal, asking if they want to super-size it, and then take away their fry's. Don't give me that crap that the "Upgrade" they're talking about is the Hard-drive, most people swap that damn thing out the moment they buy these things.
If you haven't: The hell is wrong with you? It's easy, cheap, and Sony actually supports it. Bust out that screwdriver! NO! Zip your pants up! That's not what I meant you sick bastard!
...
...Anyway, my concern about preserving the previous generation kinda has hit over-drive the last few months as I started to explore the Sega Saturn library in full detail. (I'm hoping to post a bunch of cool stuff about that in a later date.) The system literally has a whole host of games nobody knows about, and is worth the time to really check out. It's upsetting that I didn't know about it, and it's upsetting that the only real way to experience it is through emulation that's not on the same level as it's Playstation counterpart, or doing what I've done: Hunting down a system and pretending that all the games for it are actually several times less that what they market at on Ebay.
Click this. You see that price? Yeah. That's for one disk. For a four disk game. That's fucking ridiculous, I hate that and I really think something should be done about it.
So while I don't have an all-encompassing answer for a cheap, less expensive way to legitimately preserve games, without burning them to disks and emulating everything: Sony has kinda made up it's own mind about it, and I don't know how to 100% feel about it.
No, I would like to talk about how I hate ports, for the sake of making a port. Perhaps it's been the ad-nauseum of seeing yet another port of an NES Final Fantasy, or a port of Myst that for some reason has been on everything except XBLA or PSN. Think about that for a second. Myst is on the freaking DS. Yeah, I know! WTF right? Why would you put it on the DS? It feels like Telltale freaking owns a fraction of both PSN and XBLA for god-sake. Am I not the only one who see's opportunity here?! Sheesh!
Well regardless, my taste for ports is all over the place. I'm looking at you Chrono Trigger DS, and how it feels like that the only reason why you exist is because Square was having a bad holiday season. Guess we will wait for the next new Chrono development! Hahahahahahaha! Like that's going to happen! XD
It's funny because it's sad.
-_-
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...I have yet to place the like's of the God of War Collection, or The Sly Collection in a proper acceptance range. I loved the first Sly game, but I never got around playing the other two. The Sly Collection was a great way to dive into the whole series, and I'm very satisfied with my purchase. All three Sly games look phenomenal, there is a big difference between up-scaling and letting the PS3 render everything. Anyone leaning, or curious about a purchase might want to check this video out. ( Link source)
In a way these repacked collections are almost embodiments of everything I despise about ports. Sony has no interest returning it's PS2 functionality, and if my personal experiences with trying to get my PS3 repaired is any indication: Sony doesn't want me to have PS2 functionality. Why not make a quick buck off me, while they repackage and sell me a game I can already play with ease? It doesn't feel right. Perhaps my own personal acceptance would be better if Sony actually had backward compatibility back in their damn console.
Because I see so much potential in these re-releases, and I can't wait to see what else is down the line.
I've always felt that giant compilation's of big name franchises has been a viable market. Why not? Surely you haven't played EVERY Ratchet and Clank game. Let's face some pretty bad fact's too: There's a good chance you don't own an actual copy of Ico....Bastard....
Sony has a neat, almost Criterion collection market it can easily camp on. Microsoft has it's abysmal Games on Demand service that I don't know anyone who uses. I can easily see good Sony exploiting this to their advantage.
I could also see bad use of these compilations. Hastily thrown together collections that don't use HD rendering, ignore trophy support, ignoring 16:9 widescreen, or doing
The idea of every Resident Evil game on one disk, full HD and trophy support appeals to you. Admit it.
So I gotta ask: What's your take on this strategy? Perhaps we've talked about this before, but in regards to...I don't want to say "ethics", but perhaps the wondering inclination if there could be another solution to bringing the PS2 library into the HD generation proper, for everybody who still owns their PS2 games. I'm still torn about it, I wonder what other people think.
BTW: I see a bunch of talk with people wanting the PS2 generation Final Fantasy games in one giant collection. That's all fine and good, but you have to be aware that there will be trophy support....
BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I SEE YOU CRYING FOR A PLATINUM TROPHY FOR FINAL FANTASY X IN YOUR FUTURE!!!