#videogame history
#videogame history
by Omar (@neo_graphyte)
Konami has announced the cancellation of Silent Hills, the ephemeral new entry in their horror franchise. With it came the takedown of P.T. from the Playstation Store, the removal of the ability to redownload the game for previous owners, and blowback against users attempting to sell PS4s with copies of the game on eBay.
Recently, NBA2K14 had its servers taken down by its publisher. While this is standard business practice for older games, especially sports titles, this one was especially notable because 2K14 was built around online play. Not only were multiplayer options removed, but players’ career modes, characters and single player progress was wiped as well.
In April 2015, the Entertainment Software Association declared that attempts to preserve abandoned games, even by archivists or museums, was illegal, calling it too close to piracy or hacking.
Digital worlds are disappearing. Our history is being erased.
By: Omar (@siegarettes)
Looking at SEGA’s past record, it almost seems to be one of SEGA succeeding despite their hardware. The Genesis was plagued by multiple revisions with parts sourced from several manufacturers, followed by shoddy, unsupported add-ons. The Saturn was rushed out the door with a 3D processor hastily bolted on to compete with the PSOne. Despite that the Genesis became the first real contender with Nintendo, and the Saturn enjoyed success in Japan and a cult following in the US.
When SEGA finally nailed it, bringing a machine very much ahead of its time, a few poor key decisions and the weight of the company’s history came crashing down upon it. Not even two years into the North American release of the system and it had already been discontinued.
Its been 15 years since the release of SEGA’s swansong. There was obviously some enigmatic appeal to the system, as it continued to see officially licensed titles until 2007, with independent releases as recent as last year.
As for me, I got my hands on one just last year. Worth it?