Widescreen Gaming Forum

This is a neat concept.

And by concept I mean something that is not done yet, only conceptualized, because at the moment it is not nearly interesting. It could be, however, and that is worth talking about.

In case you didn't know, Games for Windows Live (and Xbox Live) now has a download for a virtual arcade, which is free in a sense, and offers you a portal through which you can play tons of classic arcade or console titles. It offers video capture, medals, high scores across the 'net and other such community features. Each game costs $3 in Microsoft fun bucks I think, but you can demo them with "tokens" you earn through doing things in the game, like decorating or whatever.

All the games on it right now suck honestly, other than probably Centipede and Tempest, but it's a neat concept and works well on PC with the Xbox controller every PC gamer should have by this point. If they add some more recent arcade titles (or better ones) and maybe add Sega consoles and others like the Wii has, I could see this being a big hit. That could take a long time though, and would only be done if this is a large success I would guess. They need to advertise the PC version because I didn't know about it at all until today, and that was by accident.

It's worth noting the whole thing is designed to rape your wallet the Microsoft way, which is to say micro-transactions and such, but you can ignore all that and just play the games. Also worth noting is that I assume these things will only be available through the Virtual Arcade, making them in a sense DRM'ed and unplayable should the service ever die.

What do you all think?

MAME32.exe

MAME32.exe

Well obviously this is a completely legal alternative with added features.

I am ok with ROMs of games you can't buy anywhere, but that is not the case with these now obviously.

Well obviously this is a completely legal alternative with added features.

I am ok with ROMs of games you can't buy anywhere, but that is not the case with these now obviously.

What added features? DRM?

I stand on a different side of the same foot, I'm okay with ROMs of games that don't help out developers in any way.

It's a lot like the whole music business, Buying CD's from the major record companys hardly helps your favorite artists, over 75% of the money goes to big wigs, not the awesome guys (and girls!) putting their life into their content.

In this case the original developers of these games are surely getting nothing from it. Microsoft probably takes a nice chunk and the rest goes to a publisher that most likely will not use the money towards new games unless they have to dip into that side pot.

I don't mind rereleases of old stuff if they're rebuilt to look better on new stuff (eg: FF3 DS, FF2 PSP) but I like unaltered original rereleases (FF6 PS1) too. However, with the latter, I get deeply annoyed if something I could pick up essentially free due to being abandonware suddenly requires payment of £10 for the pleasure. Especially if they're download only. Old old games on a service like this is great, if they're maybe a quid each. Much more than that, and I get annoyed that they're milking the system. ;)

I'm okay with ROMs of games that don't help out developers in any way.

It would be erroneous to assume that these sales don't help out developers in any way. If a game can remain profitable for 30 years after its release, that raises the value of gaming IP in general, which is good for developers. If you're making a game today, it will be worth more to a publisher who thinks nostalgic old farts will still pay to play it many years from now than to a publisher who thinks it will be forgotten by Christmas.

Buying CD's from the major record companys hardly helps your favorite artists, over 75% of the money goes to big wigs, not the awesome guys (and girls!) putting their life into their content.

Sure it helps out your favorite artists. These label deals are mutually beneficial - if they weren't, the artists wouldn't agree to them. But the only reason the record companies bother with the investment is because they think they will get lots of profits from CD sales and whatnot. So yeah, buying CDs encourages deals that benefit your favorite artists.

However, with the latter, I get deeply annoyed if something I could pick up essentially free due to being abandonware suddenly requires payment of £10 for the pleasure.

It's fine to criticize something you think is overpriced, but using "free" as a baseline price is rather unfair.

My policy is that I'm fine with ROMs of games no longer available, but you have to pay if they become available. But if you do own the game in some legal form, I think it's just fine to continue playing them in ROM form, which is often preferable to "legal" forms.

However, with the latter, I get deeply annoyed if something I could pick up essentially free due to being abandonware suddenly requires payment of £10 for the pleasure.

It's fine to criticize something you think is overpriced, but using "free" as a baseline price is rather unfair.

My policy is that I'm fine with ROMs of games no longer available, but you have to pay if they become available. But if you do own the game in some legal form, I think it's just fine to continue playing them in ROM form, which is often preferable to "legal" forms.

Abandonware = games no longer available.

If a game is available legally, I'll buy it... but I originally played FF3 (Japanese FF3, not FF6 which was renamed to 3 in the States...) as a ROM which some enterprising individuals had hacked and translated. It took Square... oh, about seven years after that to finally get around to releasing FF3 so it was available in the UK.

It's a lot like the whole music business, Buying CD's from the major record companys hardly helps your favorite artists, over 75% of the money goes to big wigs, not the awesome guys (and girls!) putting their life into their content.

Well the company foots the bill for making the record, promoting the band and all these other things that go into making a band money and fame. No one would go to concerts if there were no record to get the music out there, and record companies make that happen.

There seems to be a disconnect with people that corporations having more money means the people below have more money, both in media and everything else.

the Xbox controller every PC gamer should have by this point

no sorry, I refuse to give in to this stupid monopole, plus I don't like the controller at all
I prefer a joystick/mouse/keyboard combo. This monopole is what is actually killing quite a bunch of games from including any form of way to fully customize controls & the like ... (GTA4, Shaun White Snowboarding ...)

It took Square... oh, about seven years after that to finally get around to releasing FF3 so it was available in the UK.

As far as my knowledge goes as long as something is not licensed in a country, it's legal to use fan made translations: it's exactly the same flaw that is used by groups to release fansubs of manga titles ...

Abandonware = games no longer available.

I know. I'm just saying it's not fair to base your expectations of a game's price on the fact that it used to be abandonware. After all, if they eventually get around to selling it, it isn't really abandonware.

And FF3 is pretty decent. I played the fan-translated ROM awhile back, long before the DS remake came out. FF2 on the other hand is a turdball, and none of its half-dozen or so remakes fix it. Not even the PSP one, which doesn't come bundled with the FF1 remake, and therefore is entirely skippable.