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Game media survive-ability
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07-08-2013 10:18pm#1
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Join Date:Posts: 50060
Magnetic tapes suck as do floppy disks. They don't really last very long unless taken care of. Cartridges will probably last until the sun swallows the earth, that includes master system and Hucards since they are all the same tech. CD's supposedly only last 10 years but if you keep care of them they will last longer. I've not come across a CD that wasn't a cheap burnable one that doesn't work anymore as long as you aren't using it to polish a concrete floor.
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Floppy disc based media (already dying) and laserdiscs (also dying of disc rot) - I'd say standard CDs/DVDs next and finally carts.
Remember a cd is just some plastic with a layer of aluminum. If the aluminum begins to separate from the plastic you're boned. And then there's warping.
If you're freaked out about a collection not lasting, just stick to cart based games.
Here's a video worth watching which was posted during the week. You'd have more to worry about from your consoles failing than carts.
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Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,541 CMod ✭✭✭✭
Join Date:Posts: 33764
Carts won't last for eternity, but they'll probably outlive everyone on this forum. I wouldn't worry about it.
Disc based media is what you want to be worried about.
Even me?
But don't I have fewer years ahead then you guys?
Aside from Atavan, lets face it, it's a glorious death under a pile of coke and hookers in his future.... lucky b@stard!
And, carts will be around forever, but devices to run them, overall robust but don't count on the Nes too much.
Disc based games, shelf life might be considerably shorter than their hardware based cousins but the machines to play them are even shorter lived than that, so you are likely to have software that'll run just fine in an Xbox 360, if only there was one still capable of playing it on
The only real, long term hope is probably some sort of streaming service, where there'll be a, again, robust off site 360-type emu going on allowing you to run titles from a list, so kiss goodbye to your less popular titles, unless bandwidth is such that such an off-site console can run games from a cloud filled with your own uploaded games, or something..... to the patent office!0 -
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Floppy disc based media (already dying) and laserdiscs (also dying of disc rot) - I'd say standard CDs/DVDs next and finally carts.
Remember a cd is just some plastic with a layer of aluminum. If the aluminum begins to separate from the plastic you're boned. And then there's warping.
If you're freaked out about a collection not lasting, just stick to cart based games.
Here's a video worth watching which was posted during the week. You'd have more to worry about from your consoles failing than carts.
Great video of the endurance of a NES cartridge.0 -
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Join Date:Posts: 50060
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCLOxK6FpfA
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