Why are some gamers so desperate to go pro digital?

[fastbilly1]

What about going all cloud? There are rumblings of EA working with Comcast to provide EA sports titles over the X1 cablebox. Meaning, in the near future Madden sales may be on the cable box instead of on your console.

Hypothetically, can all three consoles survive if they lose a significant amount of users who buy solely for the EA sports lineup?

[Cronozilla]

In 50 years we won't have much choice.

All the cartridges will be blank and all the optic discs will be useless. Or rather "Should be", considering known data retention tolerances.

I really hope everything gets securely backed up prior to then.

I think it'll become pretty common practice for people to dump their game ROMs and re-burn them. It's something I've considered doing for awhile, just to have the original image backed up in case they start going. But on things like optic discs or handheld games (like the DS) it's not as simple. And as far as I can find, flash media doesn't have better data retention than EEPROM.

Discs are really where we're gonna get screwed, because you can't reproduce those without factory equipment. And further than that, how long is it going to be before red laser media isn't produced anymore at all. So, all your CDs, DVDs, and LaserDisc if they lose data (and they will) you won't be able to mod the device to play backups, because burnable media might not exist. I'm sure people will come up with options (like getting a HDD to run on a PS1 or something)

There's also a chance that BluRay isn't going to become remotely as common as DVD and burnable media is never going to become readily available.

In 50 years, we won't have a choice. You'd have to have most things digital. The main issue with that is, you'll no longer have control over your own library. Because current digital systems, are not giving people self contained copies of the content. It's tied to services. That is something that people should be wary of, because, most evidence would make it look like those services won't last as long as your NES cartridges.

I think at some point in time ... probably within 10-15 years, a consumer rights group is going to get up in arms over something when people no longer have the choice over which media they're using. Then there's the issue of infrastructure, which wasn't maintained in the US for almost ten years.

Hypothetically, can all three consoles survive if they lose a significant amount of users who buy solely for the EA sports lineup?

Wouldn't that question be more, can Xbox survive? There's likely a reason why Microsoft was trying to work with Comcast regarding the Xbox One.

The whole power of Comcast thing is another subject that should really bother people looking into the near future, but currently they don't seem to care.

[casterofdreams]

In 50 years we won't have much choice.

All the cartridges will be blank and all the optic discs will be useless. Or rather "Should be", considering known data retention tolerances.

I really hope everything gets securely backed up prior to then.

I think it'll become pretty common practice for people to dump their game ROMs and re-burn them. It's something I've considered doing for awhile, just to have the original image backed up in case they start going. But on things like optic discs or handheld games (like the DS) it's not as simple. And as far as I can find, flash media doesn't have better data retention than EEPROM.

Discs are really where we're gonna get screwed, because you can't reproduce those without factory equipment. And further than that, how long is it going to be before red laser media isn't produced anymore at all. So, all your CDs, DVDs, and LaserDisc if they lose data (and they will) you won't be able to mod the device to play backups, because burnable media might not exist. I'm sure people will come up with options (like getting a HDD to run on a PS1 or something)

There's also a chance that BluRay isn't going to become remotely as common as DVD and burnable media is never going to become readily available.

In 50 years, we won't have a choice. You'd have to have most things digital. The main issue with that is, you'll no longer have control over your own library. Because current digital systems, are not giving people self contained copies of the content. It's tied to services. That is something that people should be wary of, because, most evidence would make it look like those services won't last as long as your NES cartridges.

I think at some point in time ... probably within 10-15 years, a consumer rights group is going to get up in arms over something when people no longer have the choice over which media they're using. Then there's the issue of infrastructure, which wasn't maintained in the US for almost ten years.

This is interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_degradation and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_bronzing

[Exhuminator]

When it comes to plausible longevity, I wouldn't count physical media out just yet:

http://www.mdisc.com

Compatible with both Mac and PCs, the M-DISC™ Ready Drive gives you the power to engrave your files onto the M-DISC™. Once written, your files will never decay or naturally degrade and will be readable with all current DVD drives. Leading computer manufacturers such as LG, Acer, and Dell already offer the M-DISC™ Ready Drive with their newer systems.

ISO/IEC 10995 certification is no joke: http://www.mdisc.com/iso-iec-10995/

[Cronozilla]

That's pretty cool.

It seems like a more compact way of how data was recorded in the 1800s. There's a lot of audio recordings on wax cylinders from that period.

I'm confident we could find new formats that aren't going to degrade as quickly, the issue is the ones we already have.

[Jmustang1968]

The carts will last longer than 50 years

[CRTGAMER]

This is interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_degradation and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_bronzing

The disc rot mainly affected laser discs and earlier DVDs that are two sided. Faulty glue process allowed corrosion to take place on the two sandwiched "metals" of the data. The two sided DVDs were not as common fails compared to Laser Discs though. There have been instances of single sided CDs and DVDs "rotting" but it is so rare. Properly stored discs in a climate controlled environment (even floppies) will out live you.

I prefer discs, though lately a lot of disc based games also require online authentication. At least with the discs that have all the data right on the disc so maybe it could be cracked later if the site shuts down. I hate that prospect of a game no longer working, gaaah I hate DRM.

[aaron]

The carts will last longer than 50 years

esplain.

[Jmustang1968]

The carts will last longer than 50 years

esplain.

The eeproms will decay, but the ICs in the real cart will last as long as they arent exposed to harsh elements.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I don't mind digital items not having resale value because, at least in the case of Steam. I often find that I save more than what I would have gotten had I bought a game then resold it, on top of the fact I get to keep playing the game.

Not to mention it really is wonderful, especially for handheld systems, to not have to carry around any physical media. The iPod did it for years and years before so I'm happy it has been fully embraced by game systems in that space.