KalessinDB wrote:I've fallen in love with shelf candy. Having the games all nicely boxed up, with artwork, on the shelves is just... I can't describe it.
For me, that'll keep me away from pure emulation for a long time. Even though I have flash carts for most of the systems that they exist for, have modded the majority of my optical drive based systems, and have terabytes of roms/isos/etc. I CAN emulate in various forms, but that'll never stop me from collecting legit copies.
My modded Wii is my holy grail of emulation for 8/16bit consoles.
I can also play dumped Wii/GCN games off a portable HDD with USB Loaders and DIOS MIOS.
The GenesisGX Plus emulator has one of the best UI's ever and plays Sega CD games flawlessly.
Popful Mail FTW!
Would like to softmod a PS3 one of these days, but havent gotten around to finding a proper guide or what is required to do it.
Would also like to upgrade the 120gb HDD in it to 500 or more.
Depending on how much of a worrier you are, watch out. The pins on any cart-based system can gain a "memory" of sorts which could cause problems down the road if you leave a cart in permanently.
Realistically, I don't see it being very likely to be a big problem, but depends on how much you worry.
Hazerd wrote:Would like to softmod a PS3 one of these days, but havent gotten around to finding a proper guide or what is required to do it.
Unless you stumble onto one that hasn't been updated in years (literally, at this point), there is no more true softmodding. If the Firmware was ever updated past 3.55, it needs to be downgraded with a hardware flasher in order to softmod it.
If you get lucky like I did when my softmodded PS3 was stolen and find a coworker or something who has an old PS3 gathering dust, welll then softmodding it is easy as pie.
1: Disconnect PS3 from internet
2: Take any game disc out of drive
3: Put CFW update on USB stick
4: Update from USB
I'll weigh in on this topic as well. IMO you can't beat original hardware on a CRT or upscaling hardware on an HDTV. Emulation can mean all sorts of things. For me accuracy to the original hardware is crucial and very few emulators can pull this off convincingly. For many people they won't even notice the difference. However if you ever put the real deal next to an emulator you will notice a huge difference then. For me the thing that always bothered me was shitty sound emulation in many emulators. Before BSNES was rolled into whatever it's in now it made great strides in the area of emulation accuracy and hopefully other will follow the example set when working on emulating other consoles.
Emulation has opened up doors for me that would not have been there previously.
Growing up with Genesis, I still have my old model 2, but it's long since given up the ghost. Same story with my PS1 and 64. Emulators have not only let me relive the games I grew up with, but also to explore almost the entire catalog of games from NES all the way up to Wii, and mods have allowed more when emulation fell short. That's something I could never afford to do with actual hardware. It's been incredible experiencing games I would not of had the ability to try without emulation. Of course, legitimate emulation, with ROM dumps and disk rips, can be very complicated to get right for lesser payoff, so I can see they others avoid it.
I actually tried to get into actual hardware with a gifted Genesis and Saturn. Even on a CRT with composite, the difference in quality was just not there for me to go through the extra trouble. I believed the hype about original hardware and old-school setups and I was let down. Others, of course, can't bear to go without it.
Many still swear by original hardware and with good reasons, but for me, the overwhelming convenience and versatility, coupled with the increased accessibility make emulation the only way to go.
I feel like I'm caught up in a never-ending war with myself when it comes to emulation... It's such a gray area.
My original recent setup of about two years ago was an HTPC I built to run XBMC. I figured out how to get Advanced Launcher running just the way I liked it and had an awesome emulator setup, handling everything up to PS2 and GC... sort of. There were always quirks that bothered me. N64 games would be buggy, PS1 games would cause XBMC to lose focus, and GC/PS2 games were completely hit or miss.
Once I got an Xbox One to act as my new media center, I went the Wii route. Got it modded with an external drive hooked up. It worked great, except I'd lost PS1/PS2 emulation, but oh well. The new problem was convenience. I know, I know, first world problems, but the act of playing a retro game became: Wait a few seconds for Wii to boot, wait many more seconds WiiFlow to load, scroll to console, scroll to game, get the classic controller hooked up to Wiimote... play Excitebike for 30 seconds...
Then two things happened: I found my old SNES Jr in perfect condition in the garage with Super Mario World, All Stars, Mario Paint. The AC adapter was busted, so I bought a new one for $20. Then, my brother in law found called my wife to tell her he found all her old SNES games including the copy of Chrono Trigger I'd loaned her 11 years ago! So now I had a working SNES with games, and my old Genesis with some more games, and a NES I bought locally for $40 that sort of worked sometimes... I had completely forgotten the joy of picking a game off a shelf, slapping it in a console, clicking that power button, and playing your game.
Then my 3 year old daughter grabbed Super Mario 2 (Which she now calls the Princess Peach Game) and asked if she could play it.
The rest is history... and insanely expensive.
HOWEVER!
All my Dreamcast games are burnt. When I get a Saturn and Sega CD, I'll be burning those games as well. I often wonder if I should mod my OG Xbox and PS2 to play burnt games, and I'm always looking at Flash Carts for old consoles just so I have complete libraries on hand should the need arise. When I think about all that the next thought is always, why not just emulate? In addition, I absofreakinglutely LOVE reproduction carts, which is another point of contention in the back of my head!
Still, nothing compares to browsing a shelf of games, pulling them out to read the synopsis or look at the art, and carrying it to the console.
TL;DR - Emulation is fine but I collect because reasons...
I think more and more emulation is becoming increasingly acceptable among retro fans as games are getting harder to find, emulation itself is getting better and the retro craze has created a market for things like reproduction USB controllers or even converters for old controllers. Newer TVs are also complicating things and increasing the barrier of entry for the average person.
As I said before, if I didn't already have a collection, I wouldn't even think about starting one.
I guess they way I justify building a collection now is that I plan for it to be a very "controlled" collection. My 600 Games project limits the games I plan to hunt for, and the shelves I'm using limit additions. As it is, I have 50 games set for each console, plus room for 16 personal choices for each cartridge console, and 10 for each disc/handheld console. After that, I'm done.
That feeds into my other issue with emulators, and Steam for that matter. With premium cable you spend all your time flipping through 8 million channels while settling on nothing. I feel that way flipping through complete ROM collections. I'll spend all my time browsing a menu, only to decide I'm now too exhausted to actually PLAY something
i was set to "no to emulation" (except official ones like VC) before.
my mind slowly started to change when i would look at my wondermega and thought "too bad its not in 100% condition, i just hope it doesn't get worse". later also my 3DO started not to read certain CDs.. i bought an extra FC and SFC to ensure i have some well kept consoles but i dont think i could afford any more doubles (especially for the rarer ones).. and i'm like screw it i dont want any of consoles getting worse. soo...
i got over it and just started running emulators. on the wii no less. at least there's some semblance of "authentic feel" (emphasis on some semblance). man that thing can save CDs! and also no worries about wearing out my carts too! i even plan on getting an extra wii now.. (before they get all "rare and expensive")
so, i guess its a matter of preference, but im still a retro collector.
