Are you worried about the longevity of your newer consoles?

[heybtbm]

Bet the PS3 is the final PSOne compatible system, and I don't see PS2 compatibility being reintroduced anytime soon unless Sony decides a version of MS's Xbox Original's is a good way to earn a lot of money.

Not at all. PS1 emulation costs absolutely nothing to Sony. They'll include it with every console that can read the discs. The same will go for PS2 discs. Sony is working on improving their PS2 emulator as we speak. They want to start making money just like MS is (with the downloadable "Xbox Originals"). PS1 and PS2 games will always work on future consoles through improved emulation. No "hardware" required.

[Leo_A]

There is no evidence or confirmation that Sony is attempting to fully emulate via software the Playstation 2.

Until that day comes, its safe to assume Sony would not want their Playstation 4 to be compatible with their console from three generations previous, and nothing else between. They're not going to be gaining anything letting a PS4 owner play twenty year old software, they'd only include it if its easy and available via software already, and somehow they managed to include PS3 compatibility which would be what's important.

And the level of cost to include the necessary hardware for a PS4 to have PS3 compatibility is just going to be extremely expensive now that console manufactuers sell consoles so expensive to produce that they lose a large amount of money for each sale and never reach things like $50 price points.

And software emulation will be just getting more complex, expensive, and inpractical. If MS and Sony can't or aren't willing to do it now, what makes you think they'd do it next generation with even more complex systems to emulate, and emulators for systems they're not willing right now to even perfectly emulate when those systems are still going concerns since they're just 1 generation old with software still actively being sold, and still important to gamers.

I think we're seeing the end of backwards compatibility as these console manufacturers decide that the cost versus the reward just isn't there.

And at this point, I think most agree that the days of physical media are in it's final days, so I find it doubtful there will even be a disc drive in whatever Playstation product there is in twenty years to even let you play Playstation cd's on. I don't think the disc drive will be disappearing by the time the PS3's successor comes around, but I do see it happening.

Anyways, lets get back on topic. I just wanted to express my doubts, not shift the topic to something new.

[Flack]

I worry about the media as much as I worry about the consoles themselves. I've picked up Genesis consoles that look like they had been buried in the dirt that worked just fine, but with all these new-fangled drives with moving parts, I wonder just how much long-term abuse they will put up with. Likewise, most carts can be cleaned up with a little alcohol and a q-tip. I handle my CD/DVD discs very carefully and many of them already have scratches. I wonder what they will look like in 10 years?

[SegaAges]

I worry about the media as much as I worry about the consoles themselves. I've picked up Genesis consoles that look like they had been buried in the dirt that worked just fine, but with all these new-fangled drives with moving parts, I wonder just how much long-term abuse they will put up with. Likewise, most carts can be cleaned up with a little alcohol and a q-tip. I handle my CD/DVD discs very carefully and many of them already have scratches. I wonder what they will look like in 10 years?

I agree with Flack on this one.

I care for my 360 discs alot. I take good care of them, and I also keep good care of my 360. The games go from their case to the 360 and then back to their case and that is it.

My copy of Rock Band still got laser burn

I even keep my system horizontal at all times. What happens if in, even 10 years, an obscure game I like, like Project Sylpheed, gets laser burn? Yeah, that would suck bad.

[Steve W]

My nephew tried playing my 360 last week, and it gave him the red ring of death. I hadn't played the thing in a while, since I was expecting it to die on me, considering my luck. But when I tried it out, I got green lights.

I have four Dreamcasts, only one (my original) works. The people who owned the others before me seriously abused them or something. In two of them, the controller ports are dead, and the third can't load anything.

[heybtbm]

I have four Dreamcasts, only one (my original) works. The people who owned the others before me seriously abused them or something. In two of them, the controller ports are dead, and the third can't load anything.

Exchange the working controller ports (from the non-loading DC) for the bad ones and you'll have another working unit.

[Slate]

Yesterday I would have responded "No."

But today, I am concerned. My 360 Elite's DVD Drive just blew it and my Pro 360 doesn't connect to Xbox live at the moment. (My internet is fine, The Xbox won't connect to the Xbox Live servers)