1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: He there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio. And 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 1: how the tech are you? You know? I thought today 5 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:24,480 Speaker 1: I would talk about the issue of video game preservation. 6 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: I was inspired to do this because of something that 7 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: recently happened with Ubisoft, a game company that's well to 8 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: put lightly, It's had a pretty darn controversial few years. 9 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: But Ubisoft makes lots of different game titles, and one 10 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 1: particularly popular franchise from them is the Assassin's Creed series. Well, 11 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:48,920 Speaker 1: one of the entries in this long running franchise came 12 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 1: out way back in two thousand twelve, and it was 13 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 1: called Assassin's Creed three Liberation, and it's notable for a 14 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: few reasons. One was that the player controls the character 15 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: named Aveline de grand Pre, who happens to be the 16 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: first female assassin in the series that the player could control. 17 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:11,119 Speaker 1: Before that, they were all male protagonists. Later on, would 18 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: be Soft released a remastered version of the game titled 19 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:20,039 Speaker 1: Assassin's Creed Liberation h D. Anyway, Steam, which is the 20 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: video game store, the digital video game store so it's 21 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,840 Speaker 1: an online store. It's run by Valve, which used to 22 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: primarily be known as a video game developer now is 23 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: mostly known as the company that runs Steam. Anyway, Steam 24 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: posted a message on July eleven, two thousand twenty two 25 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,959 Speaker 1: that's said, at the request of the publisher, Assassin's Creed 26 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: Liberation h D is no longer available for sale on Steam, 27 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 1: which is fair enough. These things happen. Companies will allow 28 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 1: something to technically kind of go out of print, although 29 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: in this case that's kind of a misnomer because we're 30 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: talking about digital sales. But it would be Soft decided 31 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: to stop selling copies of this game now it would 32 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 1: be Soft had also previously announced that it would be 33 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 1: ending multiplayer functionality for several of its games, including Assassin's Creed. 34 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: Now that could be disappointing to hardcore fans, but at 35 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: the same time, you can kind of understand why it's happening, 36 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:19,919 Speaker 1: because supporting multiplayer means that a company has to run 37 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 1: servers that host those multiplayer sessions, which also means maintaining 38 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:29,240 Speaker 1: those servers and responding if something goes wrong with them. 39 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:33,239 Speaker 1: So for older games, the player base that's still accessing 40 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: multiplayer might be so small that it's difficult to justify 41 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: the ongoing expense of keeping those servers online, particularly if 42 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:45,400 Speaker 1: it's a game that doesn't have a subscription model to it. 43 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: Right Like, if it's a game where multiplayer was part 44 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: of the features of the game that you got with 45 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 1: the purchase of the full game, and it's not an 46 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:58,640 Speaker 1: ongoing expense, then the company is footing the bill for 47 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: providing that service even after people are no longer really 48 00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 1: buying the game. Um, it's a bummer, but you know, 49 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: it's kind of understandable from the perspective of the business. However, 50 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: these days, a lot of games require at least some 51 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: sort of online component, typically as part of digital Rights 52 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 1: Management or DRM, which is terrible, but here's how it goes. 53 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: The basic idea is that the game you're running on 54 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: your local device, like on your computer or whatever, checks 55 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: in with a home base server that belongs to the 56 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 1: company in order to verify that the copy of the 57 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: game that you are playing is legitimate. And at that 58 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: point the home base server says, yeah, go ahead, let 59 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: let them play the game. Or if the game isn't legit, 60 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,520 Speaker 1: or if the connection can't be made for some reason, 61 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: the server tells your local machine, hey, don't let us 62 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:56,120 Speaker 1: jerk face play that game. They probably stole it. So 63 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: for players who just want a single player experience, right like, 64 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: it's a game that's just meant to be played on 65 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: your computer. There's no online component, there's no multiplayer component. 66 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 1: If those those folks have a poor internet connection or 67 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: no connection to the internet, this kind of DRM is 68 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 1: a huge hassle because it means there's no real way 69 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: to access the game legitimately. But that's the nature of DRM. 70 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 1: I've done full episodes about this in the past. All right, 71 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: let's get back over to Ubisoft. So, in its initial 72 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 1: message that was published on Steam, the implication was that 73 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:34,239 Speaker 1: the Assassin's Creed game wouldn't just be unavailable to purchase 74 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,600 Speaker 1: from that point forward, but would in fact be rendered 75 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:42,440 Speaker 1: completely unplayable. That people who had purchased a copy of 76 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:46,039 Speaker 1: this game would be unable to access their game at all, 77 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: even if they were just trying to play local single 78 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:52,680 Speaker 1: player mode, nor would they be able to run any 79 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: of the downloadable content or DLC that they had purchased 80 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:59,840 Speaker 1: for the game. Steam would issue a follow up s 81 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,600 Speaker 1: eatement that said people who own the game already would 82 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 1: still be able to play it, they would even be 83 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:09,039 Speaker 1: able to read download it. So on Steam, you have 84 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: a library of games. These games may or may not 85 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: actually be downloaded to your computer, but it's a record 86 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,119 Speaker 1: of all the games you have purchased throughout your time 87 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:22,240 Speaker 1: using Steam, and if you want, you can read download 88 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:24,360 Speaker 1: a game to install it on a new machine. Let's 89 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: say that you're upgrading your computer. You've decided to, you know, 90 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 1: switch to a brand new new computer system that can 91 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: run the latest games, but you also have a soft 92 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: spot for some older games. Well, you can re download 93 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:42,160 Speaker 1: them to your new machine. So ubisof said players will 94 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: still be able to do that. They'll still be able 95 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 1: to access the game that they purchased. However, they will 96 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 1: not be able to access online content or DLC for 97 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:54,239 Speaker 1: that game. That would be unavailable anyway. That whole ness 98 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: prompted this episode because with so many games requiring online 99 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:02,160 Speaker 1: services to function, even if the games themselves are otherwise 100 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:06,679 Speaker 1: confined to a local device, what happens when the company 101 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: that provides that online service goes out of business, because 102 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,159 Speaker 1: that has happened more than once in the video game world, 103 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 1: or what happens if a company like Ubisoft decides to 104 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:21,280 Speaker 1: shift resources away from continuing support of older games that 105 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:27,160 Speaker 1: have smaller player bases, the thing you purchased suddenly becomes inaccessible. 106 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 1: Even if the code is fine, and even if you 107 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 1: have a machine that otherwise could run the game without 108 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: a problem, you still can't access the game. That approach 109 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:40,040 Speaker 1: means it becomes difficult to preserve such games, and in 110 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 1: some cases it could even be illegal for you to 111 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:45,919 Speaker 1: try and do it. In other cases, it might not 112 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,600 Speaker 1: be illegal, but it might be practically impossible, and so 113 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: these games are lost in time like tears in Rain. 114 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: Let me know if you've got that reference. Now, some 115 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:01,600 Speaker 1: of y'all might be saying, I didn't even know video 116 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 1: game preservation was a thing, or maybe a few of 117 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:06,919 Speaker 1: you could be saying, why is it important to even 118 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 1: preserve video games in the first place. And it's totally 119 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:13,880 Speaker 1: fair that not everyone is into video games. That's cool, right. 120 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: I'm not into every kind of art there is. Doesn't 121 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: mean the arts bad. I'm just not into it that 122 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: there are a lot of folks who are really into 123 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:24,280 Speaker 1: video games, including those who consider video games to be 124 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: a type of art. I happen to be one of 125 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,239 Speaker 1: those people. I don't necessarily think video games, at least 126 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:34,640 Speaker 1: not most of them, typically qualify as high art. But 127 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 1: I do think there's a lot of artistic expression that 128 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:41,840 Speaker 1: goes into creating video games. Whether it's from character design 129 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: or level design, or even gameplay elements, or the textures 130 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: that you use to enhance visuals or the story that 131 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:52,600 Speaker 1: plays out over the course of a game. There are 132 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: a lot of avenues for artistic expression. Some of them 133 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:59,200 Speaker 1: you might not classically think of as artistic, like gameplay elements. 134 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,280 Speaker 1: You might think, oh, you know, pressing a to jump, 135 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: that's nothing. But you look at some of these games 136 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 1: and some of the elegant approaches to gameplay elements in them, 137 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:11,040 Speaker 1: you start to think there is an art to this, 138 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: and people who are particularly artistic can create really transformational 139 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: experiences through that. So even if you strip all the 140 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:24,040 Speaker 1: art away, right if you if you deny that there's 141 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:29,040 Speaker 1: anything artful about video games, the fact remains that people, 142 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 1: and a lot of people in many of these cases, 143 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 1: I mean some of these games have hundreds of folks 144 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:38,600 Speaker 1: who worked on these Well, those people worked really hard 145 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: to make that game happen. They labored over getting the 146 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: various components up to snuff, and then they also worked 147 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:48,240 Speaker 1: really hard to make sure all these different components actually 148 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: work together so that one thing doesn't break something else. 149 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: And let's be fair, video game companies are not always 150 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,440 Speaker 1: successful in doing this. There are plenty of examples of 151 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:02,960 Speaker 1: broken games out there. Some of them got less broken 152 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:05,160 Speaker 1: over time thanks to patches and stuff, but we have 153 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:08,600 Speaker 1: seen no shortage of you know, games that just didn't 154 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:12,200 Speaker 1: work properly. But I still feel like the work of 155 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:16,040 Speaker 1: the people who who dedicated their time and their their 156 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 1: skill and their knowledge to creating these games should be 157 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:23,160 Speaker 1: acknowledged and it should be preserved. I think two big 158 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: things that prompt people to question the need to preserve 159 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:30,640 Speaker 1: games are that there's still this perception among some people 160 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:33,480 Speaker 1: the video games are meant for kids, like video games 161 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 1: are for babies. They're just silly diversions, and there's really 162 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: no reason to put any effort into preserving those things. 163 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: There's another perception that undermines the concept of preserving video games, 164 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,079 Speaker 1: and that's that they are so tightly connected to commerce. 165 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:52,960 Speaker 1: They are a product, you know, like you would go 166 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:55,720 Speaker 1: out and buy a hammer, but you wouldn't necessarily want 167 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:59,680 Speaker 1: to preserve the hammer for posterity. And you know, not 168 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:02,760 Speaker 1: all games are made specifically to be sold, but the 169 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: vast majority of them are, so they aren't really considered 170 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:10,120 Speaker 1: art by some folks. However, I would argue that most 171 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:12,600 Speaker 1: art is actually meant to be sold. It's not just 172 00:10:12,679 --> 00:10:16,480 Speaker 1: meant to hang on a wall, and the artist makes 173 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 1: no money from it. I mean, if art was never sold, 174 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:23,200 Speaker 1: artists wouldn't make a living. Um, you know, whether it's 175 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: patronage or it's selling it through an exhibition or whatever. 176 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: Art and commerce always have a relationship with each other. 177 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: Otherwise you'd run out of artists because they all starve 178 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: to death. And of course there are countless examples in 179 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: say the fashion world, where people spend truckloads of cash 180 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:46,679 Speaker 1: on designer goods and they consider these art. Like the 181 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:50,439 Speaker 1: fashion world, that is art art that has been made 182 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:56,160 Speaker 1: to be worn in some way. But even while people 183 00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:59,600 Speaker 1: are spending those truckloads of cash on the latest fashions, 184 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:03,080 Speaker 1: they do so knowing that the stuff they are buying 185 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: is going to be out of fashion in six months 186 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:09,600 Speaker 1: to a year, Like the thing that is avant garde 187 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:15,640 Speaker 1: and desired today is going to be almost dismissed in 188 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:20,280 Speaker 1: a year's time, which that is the stuff that wrinkles 189 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:25,080 Speaker 1: my brain. Video games. I get fashion. I mean, you 190 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 1: just have to take one look at me and you 191 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,439 Speaker 1: would know he doesn't get fashion. That's fair. And I'm 192 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:33,560 Speaker 1: not saying that fashion is silly or frivolous. I just 193 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:37,800 Speaker 1: don't get it. But let's talk about video game preservation. 194 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,320 Speaker 1: So one of the methods I have talked about in 195 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:45,360 Speaker 1: fairly recent episodes of tech stuff is the main platform 196 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: and MAME is m a m E and it stands 197 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:55,079 Speaker 1: for multiple Arcade Machine emulator. Name's purpose is to emulate 198 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 1: or you know, simulate if you like, the circuitry and 199 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:04,040 Speaker 1: program ng of various game platforms. Now, the games themselves 200 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:07,360 Speaker 1: come in the form of rams, r o ms or 201 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 1: read only memory. There there are people who have copied 202 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:16,800 Speaker 1: the code off of classic video games to preserve those ROMs. 203 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:21,480 Speaker 1: And originally these ROMs were programmed directly onto microchips. So 204 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:24,040 Speaker 1: if you were to open up a classic arcade game, 205 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:26,520 Speaker 1: you would see a whole bunch of circuit boards with 206 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:29,800 Speaker 1: chips on them, and this is the game, like, the 207 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: game is physically coded onto the circuit boards, and those 208 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:38,040 Speaker 1: microchips include the ROMs the read only memory that is 209 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:42,560 Speaker 1: the game itself. So in order to create a copy 210 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:45,480 Speaker 1: of that, you have to strip the code off of 211 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:47,600 Speaker 1: the ROMs, and that's not always easy. In fact, it's 212 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:50,359 Speaker 1: pretty complicated. And then you also have to create software 213 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: that imitates the operation of that actual circuit so that 214 00:12:56,960 --> 00:13:00,720 Speaker 1: the ROMs will run properly, and that also is a 215 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: non trivial thing. So the arcade machines and then later 216 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 1: on cartridge based consoles and also computers would have games 217 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:14,760 Speaker 1: that were programmed in physical circuitry. UH. Cartridges in particular, right, like, 218 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:17,280 Speaker 1: that's there's a circuit board in a cartridge and that's 219 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:19,760 Speaker 1: what the game has programmed on. Then later on you 220 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:22,000 Speaker 1: would have things like images that would be put on 221 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 1: optical discs. We'll get to that too. So the main 222 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:30,960 Speaker 1: platform mimics the circuitry, allowing the copied code from whatever 223 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:35,600 Speaker 1: the original ROM was to play on a computer. UH 224 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: doesn't always play perfectly well. Sometimes the emulator is just 225 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:44,199 Speaker 1: an approximation of how the game would work. In other cases, 226 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:48,160 Speaker 1: the approximation is incredibly accurate, to the point where it 227 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,800 Speaker 1: feels like you're playing the original arcade machine. It depends 228 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:55,319 Speaker 1: heavily on the level of emulation for that particular game, 229 00:13:55,840 --> 00:13:59,240 Speaker 1: as well as the specs on the machine you're running 230 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 1: Maime on the first place. We'll come back and talk 231 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,800 Speaker 1: more about Maime and emulation and the reasons why this 232 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:18,079 Speaker 1: is important for preservation after we take this quick break. So, 233 00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: the original purpose of MAINE was to serve as a 234 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: way to preserve games. Now, obviously a lot of people 235 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:29,160 Speaker 1: have used MAIN software to create like a home arcade 236 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 1: machine that's capable of running hundreds or thousands of different games. 237 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:36,240 Speaker 1: Like you can even go online and find companies that 238 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:41,240 Speaker 1: offer these things where they will have a computer, often 239 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:44,640 Speaker 1: powered by a Raspberry Pie, which is a very basic 240 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 1: computer that's running main emulation software and has a like 241 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:55,040 Speaker 1: a smart card just loaded with gigabytes of ROMs on it. 242 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: But that was not the original intent of creating main 243 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:01,920 Speaker 1: Like what the idea wasn't hey, let's create a way 244 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:05,160 Speaker 1: for people to get access to these hundreds of arcade 245 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:07,360 Speaker 1: machines in the comfort of their own home. It was 246 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 1: the idea that we need something that can preserve these 247 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 1: games because the hardware that the games are built upon 248 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 1: will degrade over time and eventually the last remaining cabinet 249 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:23,480 Speaker 1: of any given game will stop working, and at that 250 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:27,479 Speaker 1: point the game is lost. So this is a way 251 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:31,960 Speaker 1: of preventing that loss from happening. It just so happens 252 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 1: that It also means that you could create a full 253 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 1: Arcade in one machine by downloading lots of ROMs. However, 254 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:47,080 Speaker 1: you should know downloading ROMs can be illegal. It's technically 255 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: copyright violation because you're downloading a copyrighted work without legitimately 256 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: purchasing that work. Doesn't mean that doesn't happen everywhere. It does, 257 00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:00,720 Speaker 1: but it's still illegal. Now, never mind that in some cases, 258 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:02,760 Speaker 1: at least, there's no way for you to buy a 259 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:06,840 Speaker 1: legal copy of the game, or if the then may 260 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:08,880 Speaker 1: be that the only legal way to buy the game 261 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 1: is to find someone selling it on a market like eBay, 262 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:17,320 Speaker 1: and it might be for an incredibly expensive price that 263 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:19,040 Speaker 1: that might be the only and there's no guarantee that 264 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: those will work. By the way, like you might go 265 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:24,120 Speaker 1: out and spend a couple of thousand dollars buying a 266 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,880 Speaker 1: Classic Arcade cabinet, find out that you need to do 267 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:29,840 Speaker 1: a lot of maintenance on it in order to make 268 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: it work properly. The circuitry if it's treated well will 269 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,880 Speaker 1: typically hold up for a very long time, but things 270 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:40,160 Speaker 1: like the actual buttons and controls they wear out. I mean, 271 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:43,680 Speaker 1: that's just wear and tear. So yeah, it could get 272 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:46,200 Speaker 1: to a point where there's just there's very few avenues 273 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:51,000 Speaker 1: for you to make a legitimate purchase of a game. Uh. 274 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: The way MAME is supposed to be used is that 275 00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:57,800 Speaker 1: someone who has a legal right to a roan, like 276 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 1: they own a game, or maybe they even own the 277 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:03,840 Speaker 1: I P for the game, Well, they can download the 278 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:07,080 Speaker 1: RAM for their own use and they can run the 279 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:10,120 Speaker 1: main software on a computer. They can activate that RAM, 280 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:13,399 Speaker 1: and it's totally legal. So for example, let's say that 281 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:17,159 Speaker 1: you went out and purchased an arcade machine of a 282 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:23,919 Speaker 1: classic game like Elevator Action, which I absolutely and ironically 283 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:26,879 Speaker 1: love and no I cannot justify it, but I love 284 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 1: that game. Well, let's say you bought a cabinet of that. 285 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:33,120 Speaker 1: You went out and you you purchased a copy of it. 286 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:37,440 Speaker 1: You could then legally download a RAM of Elevator Action 287 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:40,440 Speaker 1: and that could serve either as a backup or as 288 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:43,440 Speaker 1: a replacement for the RAM on the arcade machine itself 289 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 1: if it had stopped working. So it's kind of like 290 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:49,160 Speaker 1: making a backup of a recording for your own personal use. 291 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:54,040 Speaker 1: That's acceptable, that's fair use. But if you didn't already 292 00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:57,720 Speaker 1: own a copy of Elevator Action, then downloading the ROM 293 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 1: would essentially be piracy. In fact, not essentially it is piracy. 294 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:07,560 Speaker 1: As for Mame itself, Mame is totally legal to download. 295 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,800 Speaker 1: Mame doesn't have any games on it natively, It's just 296 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:15,199 Speaker 1: a program that emulates different kinds of hardware. Name is 297 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,719 Speaker 1: kind of like a console in a way. It's the 298 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:21,480 Speaker 1: thing that lets you play the games, but it is 299 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 1: not the games themselves. So theoretically you should not be 300 00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:29,840 Speaker 1: downloading ROMs for games that you don't already own. However, 301 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,560 Speaker 1: a lot of games are otherwise unavailable, like the companies 302 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:36,360 Speaker 1: that made some of those games have long since vanished, 303 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:39,400 Speaker 1: so there's nowhere for you to go to to buy them. 304 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:42,320 Speaker 1: Or sometimes another company has come around and scooped up 305 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:44,520 Speaker 1: the old I P from someone who has gone out 306 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:47,359 Speaker 1: of business. Sometimes that can be hard to track down, 307 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: Like you might think, oh, there's this great game I 308 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:52,040 Speaker 1: loved when I was a kid. The company that made 309 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 1: it went out of business. I have no idea who 310 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:58,159 Speaker 1: owns that intellectual property. Because chances are someone bought it 311 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:00,960 Speaker 1: when uh the old but he went out of business. 312 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 1: So there are a lot of cases we're finding a 313 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:06,919 Speaker 1: legitimate way to purchase the game you want just doesn't 314 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,840 Speaker 1: appear to exist, and that is frustrating. That being said, 315 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:14,439 Speaker 1: there are some game creators who have granted permission for 316 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,080 Speaker 1: folks to download ROMs of their games. So these are 317 00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:20,120 Speaker 1: creators who have the right to do that right. They 318 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,000 Speaker 1: are the folks who actually own the intellectual property in 319 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:26,719 Speaker 1: the first place, so they have the capacity the authority 320 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 1: to grant permission to people so that they can download 321 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:33,159 Speaker 1: the ROMs. And the main website does link to ROMs 322 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,359 Speaker 1: that meet that qualification. However, you're not going to find 323 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:39,879 Speaker 1: any real big names in that list. In fact, you 324 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: may not recognize a single title. There are a couple 325 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:46,280 Speaker 1: of dozen titles that fall into this category. I actually 326 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:49,120 Speaker 1: looked them over and I didn't recognize any of them. 327 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:51,080 Speaker 1: None of them were titles that I was familiar with. 328 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:53,840 Speaker 1: So to get the stuff that you you know and love, 329 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:58,640 Speaker 1: you would have to go elsewhere. Now, I mentioned Arcade Machines, 330 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,920 Speaker 1: but that is not the only hard where that MAIM emulates. 331 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 1: Since two thousand fifteen, the main platform has integrated a 332 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:09,679 Speaker 1: separate emulator called MESS m E s S, which stands 333 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:15,320 Speaker 1: for Multi Emulator super System. So Main's primary purpose was 334 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: to preserve arcade games that otherwise would eventually disappear once 335 00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:23,639 Speaker 1: that last working cabinet gave up the ghost. MESS focuses 336 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:27,000 Speaker 1: more on consoles and computer systems, most of which are 337 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:31,360 Speaker 1: well out of production, and MESS supports nearly one thousand 338 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,399 Speaker 1: systems in total. Not all of them are fully functional, however, 339 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:37,840 Speaker 1: so while you could count all the ones that are 340 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:40,159 Speaker 1: included in the emulator and you would get up to 341 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 1: more than nine hundred, you'd have to keep in mind 342 00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: some of those are only partially functional. They are really 343 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:50,159 Speaker 1: big names on that list, by the way, including the 344 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:54,760 Speaker 1: Nintendo Entertainment System or any s. The Super Nintendo Nintendo 345 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:58,680 Speaker 1: sixty four is on their Sega Genesis, also known as 346 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 1: the Mega Drive is there. The Sake of Dreamcast is 347 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:04,800 Speaker 1: on their older consoles are on there too. The AT 348 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,600 Speaker 1: twenty hundred and Colico Vision and in Television are all 349 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:12,160 Speaker 1: on there, and obviously lots more game consoles as well 350 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:15,399 Speaker 1: as for computers you name it. I mean there's everything 351 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:20,840 Speaker 1: from Texas instruments to Apple to computer systems, to Commodore computers, 352 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,239 Speaker 1: to Amiga and more. Now, these are all devices that 353 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:27,520 Speaker 1: have long since been out of production, which means you're 354 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:29,479 Speaker 1: not gonna be able to buy a new one. You 355 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,840 Speaker 1: might be able to find a working used one somewhere, 356 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,880 Speaker 1: but chances are emulation is going to be the only 357 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:38,719 Speaker 1: way you will experience a lot of the programming that 358 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: was originally made for those devices. Now again, in a 359 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: lot of cases, that software is not technically abandoned ware, 360 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:52,280 Speaker 1: meaning you know, abandoned ware is something where there's no 361 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:56,840 Speaker 1: legitimate owner of that i P anymore. It has been abandoned. 362 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:02,640 Speaker 1: It is just existing on its own with no owner 363 00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:07,840 Speaker 1: above it. Someone somewhere owns the i P for most 364 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: of the software that's out there, So you might think 365 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:13,720 Speaker 1: of it as abandoned ware because nobody has done anything 366 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:16,680 Speaker 1: with it for a very long time, But legally speaking, 367 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:21,320 Speaker 1: it's not because it does still belong to some company 368 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:24,639 Speaker 1: or person out there. Now. It may be that that 369 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,720 Speaker 1: entity doesn't care if folks download ROMs or images of 370 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 1: that of that program or game or whatever. Image in 371 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,040 Speaker 1: this case means essentially a copy of the code, not 372 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 1: an actual picture of something. But you can't just assume that, 373 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:43,560 Speaker 1: and it's certainly not the case everywhere. I mean, some 374 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:47,639 Speaker 1: companies like Nintendo, for example, are really well known for 375 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:51,240 Speaker 1: being super protective of their work, even if there is 376 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:54,560 Speaker 1: no way to purchase the titles from the company itself anymore. 377 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:58,600 Speaker 1: Me just look at Nintendo, and you look at how 378 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:04,040 Speaker 1: for first part games the price never comes down. Like 379 00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 1: you could look at first party games that Nintendo cells 380 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,600 Speaker 1: to this day, and the games themselves might be years old, 381 00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: but the price hasn't budged. That really gives you a 382 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:17,280 Speaker 1: hint at Nintendo's perspective on this kind of thing, which 383 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:19,680 Speaker 1: I'm not saying is a wrong perspective. I'm just saying 384 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:24,359 Speaker 1: it indicates that you're not likely to find Nintendo saying, oh, sure, 385 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:27,040 Speaker 1: go ahead download images of our games. We don't care that. 386 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:30,679 Speaker 1: I can't imagine that ever happening. However, let's put aside 387 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: the ownership question for a moment to get back to 388 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,520 Speaker 1: the central point of this episode. The main and mess 389 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:41,040 Speaker 1: platforms and others that are like them aim to provide 390 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:44,640 Speaker 1: a way to preserve the games and other programs as well, 391 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,639 Speaker 1: but we're focusing mostly on games that had been made 392 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 1: for these old platforms that are no longer in production. 393 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:55,440 Speaker 1: Without the emulators, we would gradually lose access to that work. 394 00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:59,160 Speaker 1: We would be fully dependent upon companies re issuing work 395 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:04,000 Speaker 1: which they might not ever do. And computers changed so 396 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:06,000 Speaker 1: quickly that a lot of stuff that was made for 397 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:10,200 Speaker 1: older systems becomes impossible to access otherwise without an emulator. 398 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: Right Like, you can get old PC programs and try 399 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:18,000 Speaker 1: to run them on a modern PC, and sometimes it 400 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:21,120 Speaker 1: just becomes inoperable. You can't even use it. I remember 401 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:27,520 Speaker 1: distinctly having a version of the classic Star Wars arcade game, 402 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:30,160 Speaker 1: the wire frame game that you saw in the arcades 403 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,040 Speaker 1: way back in the eighties, and I had a PC 404 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,400 Speaker 1: version of that game, and I said it aside and 405 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:38,840 Speaker 1: kind of lost track of it. And then we upgraded 406 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:40,600 Speaker 1: computers a couple of times. This is when I was 407 00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:43,600 Speaker 1: a kid, and I found the game and I thought, oh, 408 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:45,119 Speaker 1: I want to play this. I haven't played in a 409 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:48,520 Speaker 1: very long time. Loaded it up. Could not play the 410 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:52,040 Speaker 1: game because now it ran so screamingly fast that just 411 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:56,119 Speaker 1: touching the joystick would make it uh jerked to the 412 00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:58,359 Speaker 1: left or jerked to the rider up or down or whatever. 413 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:00,760 Speaker 1: And things were moving so quickly on the screen you 414 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:04,240 Speaker 1: couldn't see anything, and you blink once and you would 415 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,960 Speaker 1: see game over. So it became impossible to play. I 416 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,840 Speaker 1: needed to have an emulator in order to run that 417 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:13,680 Speaker 1: code at the proper speed, and I did it, so 418 00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:16,440 Speaker 1: that game just became inaccessible to me. Let me give 419 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:20,080 Speaker 1: you another less frivolous example. So both of my parents 420 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,600 Speaker 1: right novels, and when I was a kid, my parents 421 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:27,760 Speaker 1: bought an Apple to E computer. My dad used it 422 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:31,160 Speaker 1: primarily so that he could write books in short stories 423 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,080 Speaker 1: using the Apple, although he would also play the occasional 424 00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:37,080 Speaker 1: computer game on there too. In fact, I remember him 425 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:40,080 Speaker 1: being particularly fond of the game Wizardry, which was kind 426 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:44,080 Speaker 1: of a a D and D style dungeon crawler computer RPG. 427 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:49,080 Speaker 1: But anyway, Dad used a relatively primitive word processor program 428 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:52,000 Speaker 1: on the Apple to write out his first few books, 429 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:56,200 Speaker 1: and he saved these chapter by chapter onto floppy discs. 430 00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:58,879 Speaker 1: It would take more than a dozen floppy disks to 431 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:03,600 Speaker 1: hold a single novels manuscript. In fact, I once accidentally 432 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,239 Speaker 1: deleted an entire chapter of his work because he had 433 00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:09,120 Speaker 1: left the computer to go do something else and he 434 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,639 Speaker 1: had not saved the file for a little bit, and 435 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:13,560 Speaker 1: I thought he had just left the computer on, so 436 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,800 Speaker 1: I was thought I was being conscientious and not wanting 437 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:20,280 Speaker 1: to waste electricity, so I turned the computer off. Whoopsie. 438 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 1: So if you ever wondered why the novel Moon Dreams 439 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:24,960 Speaker 1: didn't go the way you thought it was going, that 440 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:29,119 Speaker 1: was probably because of me. Anyway, flash forward, It's been 441 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:32,240 Speaker 1: a couple of decades since we had a working Apple computer. 442 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:36,640 Speaker 1: So assuming the data on those floppy disks is still intact, 443 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:40,480 Speaker 1: which is a very big assumption because magnetic storage is 444 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,959 Speaker 1: not permanent. It will degrade over time. But assuming it's 445 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:46,320 Speaker 1: still intact, we would still have to find either a 446 00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:49,679 Speaker 1: working Apple to E computer and a copy of that 447 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:53,760 Speaker 1: work processing program in order to access those files, or 448 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:56,399 Speaker 1: we'd have to get an emulator that would run on 449 00:26:56,400 --> 00:27:00,280 Speaker 1: a modern computer, plus an external floppy disk drive could 450 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:03,240 Speaker 1: connect to a modern computer, possibly through an interface like 451 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 1: USB or something. Otherwise, that data is just going to 452 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:11,760 Speaker 1: slowly rot on those floppy disks, which honestly is probably 453 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:14,720 Speaker 1: what's gonna happen. Now. The good news is those are 454 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,320 Speaker 1: really books all published, right, so you can actually track 455 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 1: down copies of the books, though it could take a 456 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: lot of searching. Most of those books have been out 457 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:25,120 Speaker 1: of print for nearly forty years. But as for the 458 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:29,320 Speaker 1: earlier drafts of those books, some of which were had 459 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:33,840 Speaker 1: notable differences from the published version of the book. There's 460 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:37,800 Speaker 1: one children's novel in particular, my dad wrote where I 461 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:41,879 Speaker 1: thought the original draft was in every way superior to 462 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:45,960 Speaker 1: the published version of the book. Those might be lost forever. 463 00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 1: So emulators are one method we can use to preserve 464 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 1: games and other types of coded content. And that works 465 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:57,200 Speaker 1: pretty well for local games, as in games that are 466 00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: meant to run on a local device that may or 467 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 1: may not be connected to the internet. But like I 468 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 1: said earlier, there are a lot of games, an increasing 469 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:10,200 Speaker 1: number of games in fact, that rely in part or 470 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:15,479 Speaker 1: entirely on some sort of online component. And let's tackle 471 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:17,639 Speaker 1: the d r M games. And like I said, I've 472 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:20,639 Speaker 1: talked about DRM a lot in fairly recent episodes, so 473 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:24,360 Speaker 1: we won't go into too much detail here. Now some 474 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:29,160 Speaker 1: games might just need an initial check in, but increasingly 475 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:34,000 Speaker 1: lots of games require a persistent online connection. These games, 476 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:36,560 Speaker 1: and and just to be clear, it's not just games 477 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:39,000 Speaker 1: that do this, lots of different software does this too. 478 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:43,000 Speaker 1: These games have what's called an always on DRM or 479 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:47,480 Speaker 1: persistent online authentication requirements. So if you lose your connection 480 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 1: to the internet, you're likely to get a little pop 481 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:53,800 Speaker 1: up notification within the game explaining that the connection to 482 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 1: the authentication server is down and that this is going 483 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:00,480 Speaker 1: to affect your experience in some way. For example, the 484 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:04,560 Speaker 1: game might no longer count any progress toward achievements because 485 00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:07,920 Speaker 1: it can't verify that you're not cheating, or it might 486 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:10,880 Speaker 1: be unable to save your progress in the game as 487 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,520 Speaker 1: you play it. Now today, a lot of games will 488 00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 1: save progress locally on your computer, and then once you 489 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:21,320 Speaker 1: have re established a connection with the authentication server, it 490 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:23,880 Speaker 1: might give you the option to either revert to the 491 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,000 Speaker 1: save that was established by the server the last time 492 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,640 Speaker 1: you are connected, or you can choose your local save, 493 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:33,560 Speaker 1: which is probably more recent, and then that will just 494 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 1: overwrite the older one on the server and you can 495 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:41,000 Speaker 1: go from there and there's no other interruption. But if 496 00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:44,920 Speaker 1: that server, that authentication server goes offline, either due to 497 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: malfunction or the company chooses to no longer support it, 498 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:53,040 Speaker 1: then legitimate owners of this game suffer they're unable to 499 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:56,280 Speaker 1: access all the features of their game, or in some 500 00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:58,160 Speaker 1: cases that they are not able to launch the game 501 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:02,480 Speaker 1: at all. Thus, there is a single point of failure 502 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:05,560 Speaker 1: for this game, and it's not even within the player's 503 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:09,920 Speaker 1: control to address it. Their hardware might be working just fine, 504 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:13,760 Speaker 1: but because of this connectivity requirement, they are unable to 505 00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:19,560 Speaker 1: play the game that they legally purchased, which doesn't seem fair. Well, 506 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:22,560 Speaker 1: I'm going to talk more about that and how this 507 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:26,000 Speaker 1: ties into the issue with piracy in just a moment 508 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:29,440 Speaker 1: and then get back into video game preservation. But first 509 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:40,440 Speaker 1: let's take another quick break. Okay, So we were talking 510 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,280 Speaker 1: about how any sort of issues with connecting to an 511 00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:50,480 Speaker 1: authentication server can create an untenable experience for a legitimate 512 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:54,160 Speaker 1: owner of a video game copy. Well, meanwhile, you've got 513 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:58,000 Speaker 1: people who are engaged in piracy, who are illegally downloading games. 514 00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:03,360 Speaker 1: They're stealing games, they're cracking those authentication requirements because obviously, 515 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,040 Speaker 1: if you're stolen a game and the server detects that 516 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:08,600 Speaker 1: this is not a legitimate copy, you're not going to 517 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:10,680 Speaker 1: have access to those features. So you've got to get 518 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:14,680 Speaker 1: around that, right, So pirates can launch their copy and 519 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:16,840 Speaker 1: play it with no problems, at least for games that 520 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:20,680 Speaker 1: are local. Single player games. It's a little bit different 521 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:25,040 Speaker 1: from multiplayer games because getting around authentication servers for online 522 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:28,120 Speaker 1: play requires a lot more work, but at least for 523 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:31,280 Speaker 1: single player experiences, it's not an issue once the game 524 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:33,479 Speaker 1: has been cracked. Yeah, you might not have access to 525 00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:36,520 Speaker 1: things like achievements, but you'll be able to play the game. 526 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 1: So a lot of folks have gone on to say 527 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:44,160 Speaker 1: that always on DRM is just playing bad technology, like 528 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,120 Speaker 1: it's it's just doesn't work. It's it's a bad idea 529 00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:49,600 Speaker 1: because it does not do what it's supposed to do. 530 00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: It's supposed to prevent piracy, but people are still pirating games, 531 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:57,400 Speaker 1: and meanwhile it creates a bad experience for legitimate owners. 532 00:31:57,400 --> 00:31:59,960 Speaker 1: You know, the people who actually spent money to purcha 533 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 1: just a real copy of the game. They're the ones 534 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,680 Speaker 1: who get affected by always on DRM. The pirates have 535 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:08,560 Speaker 1: worked away around it, so it's a double whammy, right. 536 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:10,680 Speaker 1: It doesn't do what it's supposed to do, which is 537 00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:14,200 Speaker 1: stop piracy, and instead it impacts the people who are 538 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:18,040 Speaker 1: legally purchasing the games, which you could argue drives more 539 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:20,800 Speaker 1: and more people to piracy. It's kind of a self 540 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:25,920 Speaker 1: defeating tool. Anyway, back to the video game preservation. So 541 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,920 Speaker 1: in this case, the Cracked games might be the only 542 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:32,120 Speaker 1: games that can stick around, because if a company were 543 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:35,719 Speaker 1: to go out of business or to shift assets away 544 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:39,640 Speaker 1: from supporting a particular title, like Ubisoft is doing, then 545 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:42,840 Speaker 1: at that particular title might lose some or all of 546 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:47,760 Speaker 1: its functionality. The Cracked games, which have severed this connection 547 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:50,440 Speaker 1: to home base will continue to work, or at least 548 00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:54,040 Speaker 1: work as much as they possibly can, since online functionality 549 00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:57,320 Speaker 1: will still be affected if the company stops running servers 550 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:03,400 Speaker 1: to support whatever that functionality is. Let's consider the MMO 551 00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:08,880 Speaker 1: world for a second. MMO stands for massively multiplayer online, 552 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,440 Speaker 1: so it's kind of a general category and there are 553 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 1: a lot of subcategories under it, and MMO pretty much 554 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:19,680 Speaker 1: describes one aspect of what these games are all about. Namely, 555 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:23,520 Speaker 1: these are games that are played online, so an Internet 556 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:27,240 Speaker 1: connection is required, and they support a large number of 557 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:32,440 Speaker 1: simultaneous players, thus the massive multiplayer. A popular subset of 558 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:36,040 Speaker 1: MMO games are m m O rpg s, or MMO 559 00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:39,240 Speaker 1: games that are role playing games. A famous one that's 560 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:41,760 Speaker 1: still going on is World of Warcraft. That's kind of 561 00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:46,920 Speaker 1: like the flagship example of m m O RPGs. Historically speaking, 562 00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:50,400 Speaker 1: but there are other games that came and went and 563 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 1: would have totally disappeared if it weren't for dedicated fans 564 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:57,560 Speaker 1: who would commit their own resources to keeping instances of 565 00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:01,960 Speaker 1: the game running by running their own own servers. One 566 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:05,640 Speaker 1: such example is Star Wars Galaxies, which is obviously a 567 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:09,719 Speaker 1: game set in the Star Wars universe. That game originally 568 00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:13,720 Speaker 1: launched back in two thousand three, and it received numerous 569 00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:19,240 Speaker 1: updates and expansions, but the player base diminished slowly over time. 570 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:23,400 Speaker 1: By two thousand nine, Sony Online Entertainment, which ran the game, 571 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:28,319 Speaker 1: alerted players who had characters on certain servers that those 572 00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:31,479 Speaker 1: servers would soon be shut down and the player would 573 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:35,640 Speaker 1: be given the capability to transfer their character to one 574 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:40,280 Speaker 1: of the remaining servers that Sony would continue to operate. However, 575 00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:43,360 Speaker 1: in two thousand and eleven, Sony would shut down the 576 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:46,359 Speaker 1: whole shebang. So why did it do that? Well, one 577 00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:48,759 Speaker 1: reason was that the Star Wars based m m O 578 00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:53,160 Speaker 1: RPG Star Wars the Old Republic was about to launch, 579 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:57,360 Speaker 1: so the company wanted to dedicate its resources to supporting 580 00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:01,680 Speaker 1: the new game and also push people to move over 581 00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:04,640 Speaker 1: to the new title. Keep in mind these m m 582 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:07,399 Speaker 1: O RPGs. The way they generated revenue is that these 583 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:11,680 Speaker 1: were subscription based services. Right for the most part, you 584 00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:14,799 Speaker 1: would subscribe and pay a monthly fee in order to 585 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 1: maintain access to the game. So unlike most video games 586 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:23,920 Speaker 1: where you purchase it once and that's it, this was 587 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:28,000 Speaker 1: a model where you are having a recurring payment to 588 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:31,200 Speaker 1: the company. And this is before we get into stuff 589 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:36,240 Speaker 1: like you know, uh, in game content and micro transactions, 590 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:41,120 Speaker 1: which is the predominant revenue generation model that we see today. Like, 591 00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:45,160 Speaker 1: that's how how video game companies are really making revenue 592 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:47,799 Speaker 1: now is that they have ways to continue to sell 593 00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:50,680 Speaker 1: you stuff within a game so that you keep on 594 00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:53,480 Speaker 1: spending money on a title. Uh and a lot of 595 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:55,960 Speaker 1: those titles end up being free to play, but to 596 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:57,799 Speaker 1: get access to all the cool stuff, you've got to 597 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,640 Speaker 1: cough up the big bucks anyway. So and he decides 598 00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:05,400 Speaker 1: to shut down Star Wars Galaxies. Now, Star Wars Galaxy 599 00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:08,279 Speaker 1: has had a pretty robust set of features, including a 600 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:11,080 Speaker 1: player centric economy in which players could buy and so 601 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:14,520 Speaker 1: goods that other players had crafted or that they had crafted. 602 00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:18,640 Speaker 1: They could become bounty hunters or smugglers or you know, 603 00:36:18,719 --> 00:36:21,520 Speaker 1: a Jedi or whatever. It was a game that received 604 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:24,680 Speaker 1: pretty positive reviews, and the players who were still with 605 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:28,640 Speaker 1: the game toward the end weren't really ready to say goodbye, 606 00:36:29,239 --> 00:36:31,680 Speaker 1: so some of them didn't. There are a couple of 607 00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:34,360 Speaker 1: different groups that set out to emulate the server system 608 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:37,520 Speaker 1: that ran Star Wars Galaxies. One such group formed the 609 00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:42,000 Speaker 1: s w G EMU project, so it's s w G 610 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:45,960 Speaker 1: e m U, and that actually aimed to create servers 611 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:50,000 Speaker 1: that ran an earlier version of Star Wars Galaxies, one 612 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:52,360 Speaker 1: that it didn't include a change that was made to 613 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:55,800 Speaker 1: the game's combat system a little later on. There's another 614 00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:59,120 Speaker 1: group called Project s w G that has set out 615 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:01,920 Speaker 1: to create emulation did versions of the servers running the 616 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:05,040 Speaker 1: later versions of the game, so the one that actually 617 00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:09,120 Speaker 1: did incorporate some of those changes to combat, plus other expansions. 618 00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:13,120 Speaker 1: So there are fan run servers out there. Some of 619 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:16,960 Speaker 1: them are still under construction, and these are keeping that 620 00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:22,040 Speaker 1: game alive and otherwise it would just be gone. That's cool, 621 00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:26,200 Speaker 1: but not all companies are keen to allow unofficial servers 622 00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:31,040 Speaker 1: to operate. For example, Electronic Arts or E, a company 623 00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:35,080 Speaker 1: that was once said on a pole from a consumerist 624 00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:38,799 Speaker 1: to be the worst company in America used to rely 625 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:43,040 Speaker 1: on a company called game Spy to manage online multiplayer 626 00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:47,280 Speaker 1: functions for some of their titles, titles like Battlefield Heroes 627 00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:53,360 Speaker 1: and Battlefield two. But you know, there's always a bigger fish, 628 00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:56,279 Speaker 1: and sometimes bigger fish have different ideas of what they 629 00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:59,759 Speaker 1: want to support. So what happened with game Spy. I 630 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:04,080 Speaker 1: g N merged with GameSpy in two thousand four, then 631 00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:08,240 Speaker 1: Ziff Davis acquired I g N, and then Ziff Davis 632 00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:10,759 Speaker 1: decided to shut down a whole bunch of services that 633 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,760 Speaker 1: had been run through I g N and GameSpy because 634 00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:17,400 Speaker 1: it was, you know, an expense. It was it was 635 00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:20,759 Speaker 1: having to maintain and run these things, and Ziff Davis is, like, 636 00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:24,239 Speaker 1: why are we paying to do this? Hardly anyone uses it, 637 00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:28,000 Speaker 1: shut it down, and that included online multiplayer functions that 638 00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:31,399 Speaker 1: games like the Battlefield ones I mentioned we're using. So 639 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:34,040 Speaker 1: a group of fans began to run servers that would 640 00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:37,239 Speaker 1: allow players to keep playing the online multiplayer functions of 641 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:39,799 Speaker 1: those games. To get to be able to do that, 642 00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:41,520 Speaker 1: they had to get copies of the games that would 643 00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:46,799 Speaker 1: be compatible with this approach, and you know, their their 644 00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:48,600 Speaker 1: view was that this is the way of preserving a 645 00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:50,760 Speaker 1: game they love and preserving a part of the game 646 00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:53,680 Speaker 1: that was a big part of the experience. There are 647 00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:57,799 Speaker 1: players who bought the battlefield games just for these multiplayer 648 00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:00,319 Speaker 1: modes because that's really where the meat of the game was. 649 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:03,359 Speaker 1: Like there there are plenty of examples of games out 650 00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:07,120 Speaker 1: there that might have some limited single player content, but 651 00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:11,680 Speaker 1: the vast majority of the experience is really aimed at multiplayer. 652 00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:15,279 Speaker 1: So why should you just accept that the thing you 653 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:18,600 Speaker 1: bought no longer has all the features that it was 654 00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:21,960 Speaker 1: supposed to have available to you? Why should that be allowed? 655 00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:25,240 Speaker 1: So the fans ran the servers for a few years, 656 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:28,799 Speaker 1: but in e A sent a legal note to them 657 00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:31,879 Speaker 1: and asked them to shut it all down, which they did. 658 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:34,920 Speaker 1: And when you think about you can understand EA is 659 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:37,600 Speaker 1: a big company. It's got deep pockets. You don't really 660 00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:39,960 Speaker 1: want to get in an i P dispute with them. 661 00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:43,760 Speaker 1: And EA was saying, hey, you know what, you don't 662 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:48,239 Speaker 1: have the authorization to do stuff like distribute content that 663 00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:54,200 Speaker 1: has our logo on it and our trademarked content and 664 00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:57,600 Speaker 1: intellectual property on it. And the people running the server said, 665 00:39:57,840 --> 00:40:00,520 Speaker 1: you know what, You're totally right, we don't have that authority. 666 00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:04,440 Speaker 1: It's not our right. We can't present ourselves as representing 667 00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:07,239 Speaker 1: a company when we don't have any connection to that company, 668 00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:11,320 Speaker 1: so they shut it down. Now, for many fans and preservationists, 669 00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:14,839 Speaker 1: this kind of activity has become a huge point of frustration. 670 00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:18,360 Speaker 1: If there are no legitimate ways to access or to 671 00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:21,120 Speaker 1: preserve a game, then there is a risk that that 672 00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:24,319 Speaker 1: game is just going to fade into obscurity forever. All 673 00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:27,920 Speaker 1: that work will just be forgotten. The game's industry has 674 00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:31,080 Speaker 1: argued that the nature of their work means that an 675 00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:35,160 Speaker 1: old title can re emerge on a new platform pretty 676 00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:39,040 Speaker 1: much any time, and technically that is true. If a 677 00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:42,320 Speaker 1: company deems that there's enough of a market to justify 678 00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:46,359 Speaker 1: the effort that would be involved, they can make those 679 00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:50,279 Speaker 1: old titles available again, and in some cases it could 680 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:53,359 Speaker 1: be a relatively trivial effort, but in others it could 681 00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:56,960 Speaker 1: require the creation of an emulator, or they might have 682 00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:00,640 Speaker 1: to port the original game to new platform, and that's 683 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:03,240 Speaker 1: not really the same thing as preserving a game, because 684 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:07,440 Speaker 1: ports of games can really alter fundamental aspects of a title. 685 00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:13,080 Speaker 1: But it is hard to argue against that industry perspective 686 00:41:13,120 --> 00:41:16,800 Speaker 1: because it is technically possible to bring back these games. 687 00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:20,560 Speaker 1: I mean, that's obvious because of the emulator community. They 688 00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:24,000 Speaker 1: they're doing it themselves without the authority to do so, 689 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:28,000 Speaker 1: so it is possible. Enthusiasts and historians have already proven 690 00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:30,839 Speaker 1: that's possible to bring these games back and to run 691 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:35,399 Speaker 1: them on modern hardware, sometimes with almost perfect replication. So 692 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:39,680 Speaker 1: if enthusiasts and historians can do it, then surely the 693 00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:42,280 Speaker 1: companies that own the I P can do it too. 694 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:45,799 Speaker 1: And sometimes they do, but sometimes they don't. They can 695 00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:49,040 Speaker 1: choose not to do that. In many cases, they probably 696 00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:52,160 Speaker 1: wouldn't choose to do it because the effort to do 697 00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:55,239 Speaker 1: it would not end up being paid off. There'd be 698 00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:57,799 Speaker 1: too few people to go out and buy the new 699 00:41:57,920 --> 00:42:01,040 Speaker 1: version of the game. Uh. Even if you know there 700 00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:03,160 Speaker 1: are people who really really love that game, they're not 701 00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:05,919 Speaker 1: enough of them to justify the effort of doing this. 702 00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:10,799 Speaker 1: So because they have the right to do it, that 703 00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:15,000 Speaker 1: means we're kind of stuck, right Like, they can reissue 704 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:16,839 Speaker 1: a game if they want to, but they don't have to. 705 00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:20,120 Speaker 1: And because of that, that's why we get into this 706 00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:24,440 Speaker 1: situation where preserving games gets to be difficult. Occasionally, groups 707 00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:27,719 Speaker 1: like the Electronic Frontier Foundation or e f F will 708 00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:31,320 Speaker 1: attempt to argue that the case for preservation should serve 709 00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:34,880 Speaker 1: as an exception to copyright and fall under the umbrella 710 00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:38,280 Speaker 1: of fair use, so that it should be perfectly legal 711 00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:41,919 Speaker 1: to create these emulators and copies of games. But that's 712 00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:44,160 Speaker 1: tough battle because the companies that own the i P 713 00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:47,279 Speaker 1: tend to be pretty convincing to politicians. Now, you could 714 00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:50,080 Speaker 1: get cynical and say that's because these companies spend a 715 00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:53,919 Speaker 1: lot of money to lobby politicians and that the politicians 716 00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:56,959 Speaker 1: listen to people who give them money, or you could 717 00:42:56,960 --> 00:42:59,839 Speaker 1: just say that they can afford to have really influential 718 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:03,000 Speaker 1: all yours. Both arguments hold some validity to them. Now, 719 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:05,480 Speaker 1: the good news is there are a lot of people 720 00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:08,799 Speaker 1: working to make sure these games don't just disappear. That 721 00:43:08,920 --> 00:43:11,560 Speaker 1: folks in the future will be able to access and 722 00:43:11,640 --> 00:43:15,400 Speaker 1: experience these games, at least on some level. The games 723 00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:19,480 Speaker 1: will likely not have the same appeal because the graphics 724 00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:21,680 Speaker 1: are going to be outdated, the scope of the game 725 00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:25,400 Speaker 1: will be much less ambitious, but the ideas and the 726 00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:28,680 Speaker 1: presentation could inspire people to create new games that they 727 00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:32,160 Speaker 1: otherwise never would have imagined. They could spark something. I mean, 728 00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:35,480 Speaker 1: that's part of creativity is building upon things that you 729 00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:39,480 Speaker 1: have encountered before. Well you can only do that if 730 00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:43,200 Speaker 1: you're able to encounter those things. So that's why preservation 731 00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:45,759 Speaker 1: is so important. Plus, do we really want to live 732 00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:48,799 Speaker 1: in a world where you can't play Elevator Action if 733 00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:52,680 Speaker 1: you want to? Because I don't. So that's kind of 734 00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:58,480 Speaker 1: this current situation about video game preservation, how it has 735 00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:03,279 Speaker 1: sort of a uncertain ground. And I think for the 736 00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:07,319 Speaker 1: large part, like the wrong community, the main community, even 737 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:09,439 Speaker 1: though you've got tons of people who are using mame 738 00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:15,760 Speaker 1: quote unquote illegally, in many cases that's overlooked because companies 739 00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:18,520 Speaker 1: aren't really doing anything with the i P anyway, Like 740 00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:23,560 Speaker 1: they're not actively trying to reissue old arcade machines because 741 00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:27,759 Speaker 1: the arcade model no longer really exists, at least not 742 00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:32,080 Speaker 1: on a sustainable grand scale. But that's not the case 743 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:35,120 Speaker 1: across the board. You do occasionally get these moves like 744 00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:39,520 Speaker 1: um like the fairly recent trend of companies to reissue 745 00:44:40,600 --> 00:44:46,760 Speaker 1: small versions of old hardware like the Nintendo Entertainment System, 746 00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:51,600 Speaker 1: the Supernintendo, where you get really, what's an emulator in 747 00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:54,240 Speaker 1: a box that has you know, a couple of dozen 748 00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:57,319 Speaker 1: games on it. You have cases like that, So there 749 00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:01,040 Speaker 1: are ways that companies are cashing in and on this 750 00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:04,720 Speaker 1: old I P and thus there is a very strong 751 00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:07,839 Speaker 1: argument to say, like, we can't allow people to just 752 00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:12,320 Speaker 1: download this for free because it is part of our 753 00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:15,439 Speaker 1: our assets and we are actually doing stuff with them. 754 00:45:15,719 --> 00:45:19,600 Speaker 1: But for every title that is getting kind of a reissue, 755 00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:23,720 Speaker 1: there are hundreds that just kind of are gathering dust. 756 00:45:24,200 --> 00:45:27,920 Speaker 1: So yeah, it's a complicated situation, and you can definitely 757 00:45:27,960 --> 00:45:31,920 Speaker 1: see arguments on both sides that have validity to them. Uh. 758 00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:35,879 Speaker 1: I definitely want to see titles preserved, but I would 759 00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:39,320 Speaker 1: love to be able to see a an approach where 760 00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:44,560 Speaker 1: there's collaboration between the industry and the historians so that 761 00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:51,799 Speaker 1: the process can be one that isn't going to encounter opposition, right, Like, 762 00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:56,520 Speaker 1: isn't going to be legally challenged and then possibly shut down, 763 00:45:56,560 --> 00:45:58,480 Speaker 1: because that would just mean that all that work would 764 00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:00,520 Speaker 1: have gone to waste. So that's kind of what I 765 00:46:00,560 --> 00:46:05,000 Speaker 1: hope for. I don't anticipate it happening anytime soon, but 766 00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:07,920 Speaker 1: I do hope. And for the record, there are some 767 00:46:08,000 --> 00:46:10,399 Speaker 1: video game creators out there who definitely feel that way, 768 00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:13,839 Speaker 1: who feel like preservation is a legitimate and important thing. 769 00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:17,480 Speaker 1: All right, that's it for this episode. I do have 770 00:46:17,560 --> 00:46:20,840 Speaker 1: another episode where're gonna I'm gonna be talking about preserving 771 00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:24,719 Speaker 1: data and the challenges of preserving data in a way 772 00:46:24,760 --> 00:46:29,239 Speaker 1: that is long lasting and accessible. Uh, that's gonna be 773 00:46:29,440 --> 00:46:32,959 Speaker 1: It's it's inspired by a listener request actually, so look 774 00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:34,960 Speaker 1: forward to that because it does tie into some of 775 00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:37,360 Speaker 1: the things we've talked about here today. If you have 776 00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:39,759 Speaker 1: suggestions for topics I should cover in the future, there 777 00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:41,520 Speaker 1: are a couple of ways to reach out. One is 778 00:46:41,640 --> 00:46:44,520 Speaker 1: you can leave me a message on the I Heart 779 00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:47,840 Speaker 1: Radio podcast app or really I Heart Radio app. You 780 00:46:47,880 --> 00:46:50,919 Speaker 1: just download it for free. Navigate to Text Stuff. There's 781 00:46:50,960 --> 00:46:53,120 Speaker 1: a little microphone icon you click on that you can 782 00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:56,680 Speaker 1: leave a voicemail message for up to thirty seconds if 783 00:46:56,719 --> 00:46:59,560 Speaker 1: you want me to use the message in the context 784 00:46:59,560 --> 00:47:01,759 Speaker 1: of an episod, so go ahead and let me know 785 00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:04,600 Speaker 1: and I'll be sure to do that. Or you can 786 00:47:04,600 --> 00:47:06,680 Speaker 1: reach out to me on Twitter. The handle for the 787 00:47:06,719 --> 00:47:10,600 Speaker 1: show is tech Stuff h s W and I'll talk 788 00:47:10,640 --> 00:47:19,120 Speaker 1: to you again really soon. Y. Tech Stuff is an 789 00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:22,840 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, 790 00:47:23,160 --> 00:47:26,320 Speaker 1: visit the I heart radio, app, Apple podcasts, or wherever 791 00:47:26,440 --> 00:47:27,920 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.