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Forums - Gaming - Backward compatibility? We need to talk about Forward compatibility!

Who cares if i can play the games i bought on my old console, i can play them on my old console in the future.

But what about the games i buy for my new console, will i be able to play them in the future?

In a time where games are more and more dependend on online features and DRM, cloud processing and external servers, will i be able to play them in 10 or 20 years from now, or will my console be a expensive brick once the servers been shut down for some reason?

there are already games this generation that have been crippled by shutting down server support for online play, but with recent developments it means every single game you buy could be rendered unplayable once it is disconnected from either side of the internet.

Do you think there is even some kind of plan in place for this scenario to make games avaliable after the support for the concoles has run out, or do they only think about the here and now and how they can get to our money?

 

 



“It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.”

- George Orwell, ‘1984’

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I'm guessing you will have access to your games even after support has run out as long as you have internet. Microsofts cloud storage will most likely have support even after the console has run its course. But it will require you to have internet to access games. The only games that would be affected would be online rpgs and shooters. Once they shut down servers there's no more online play.

As far as buying used games and having to register them to play after support has run out, I think that's one server they will keep on.... The one that collects a fee to allow you to play.



It happened to PC games. It will happen to console games.
When the publisher decide to shutdown the registration server, your game suddenly stopped working 'cause you couldn't get pass the initial login.



Nice topic. We've seen that happen with online portions of a game becoming obsolete when the servers are plugged off. But what about that cloud service the new consoles will be using. Maybe even the main game can't function without that external processing power? Guess they'll just activate a pre-rendered or simplified version when there is no servers.



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Interesting topic, but we have problems to worry about today, nevermind 20 years down the road



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If we look in the past; we can see games like "Neverwinter Nights"; I think that Bioware simply removed the check at the some point in a patch. I think they can do the same with online DRM... They can just patch the OS to stop validating it or something similar.

I agree that this is a must and they need to think about a solution for that :)



Homebrew. If the console gets hacked you can be sure that every single mechanism preventing games from starting will be destroyed by homebrew applications.



Hahaha I been preaching the same story as you OP since last gen. The evidence was all there. This gen will only get worst.

well this is why retro games have gone up in vlaue in recent years. Most oldskool gamers are not happy with these stupid choices.

The only solution I see is microsoft removing the DRM when the gen ends. That way 20 years from now I will be able to buy a second hand console if mine breaks and play my games.



 

 

Porcupine_I said:

Who cares if i can play the games i bought on my old console, i can play them on my old console in the future.

But what about the games i buy for my new console, will i be able to play them in the future?

In a time where games are more and more dependend on online features and DRM, cloud processing and external servers, will i be able to play them in 10 or 20 years from now, or will my console be a expensive brick once the servers been shut down for some reason?

there are already games this generation that have been crippled by shutting down server support for online play, but with recent developments it means every single game you buy could be rendered unplayable once it is disconnected from either side of the internet.

Do you think there is even some kind of plan in place for this scenario to make games avaliable after the support for the concoles has run out, or do they only think about the here and now and how they can get to our money?

 

 

Technically this isn't true. 

DRM in the US cannot be circumvented lawfully for active products.  However, for products no longer supported DRM can be circumvented.  This was included in the US because of DIVX, the video disc rental/purchase media/hardware system released in the 1990's.  When the company behind it went under, people who had bought DIVX movies lost their content.  The only option for them was to circumvent the DRM. 

Unfortunately for the DVD industry, the gain of losing DIVX as a competing format brought the technology learned in removing DRM/Copy protection from video discs and ripping discs to HDDs. 

The technology that hackers/pirates have developed previously on the Xbox 360 could be used in the future to circumvent DRM on the console when and if Microsoft ever deactivates the DRM.

Europe is a completely different beast, as there any attempt to circumvent DRM is illegal.