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[OldBoyGamer]

Unless I’m mistaken, PSN and XBLA games didn’t make it over to last gen or new gen.
So I was wondering, is that it now? Have all those hundreds of games become lost in time to only be played if you have them installed on your PS3 or XB360?

(or if you have a modded old console).

 

[Miles708]

What some people don't realize is that keeping something online is not a "one and done" affair, it's actually a costly 24/7 effort.

On 360 there were a subset of even smaller Live Arcades (can't remember the actual name) that you could play only when connected online.
I remember a pretty cool marble madness-like game, and some other simple but pretty addictive games. Of course I'm probably the only one remembering those, that's digital y'all.

 

[LegendOfKage]

I think XBLA games still work, but XNA games are forever lost to time. Sorry, I Made a Game with Zombies in it.

 

[MasterDerico]

On Xbox 360 console, all games, including Xbla can be played offline, but Xblig. They need to make a patch for this...

 

[BigBooper]

It was the cost of digital back then.

 

[AV]

All the legacy PSN stuff is still available to buy via the old hardware; PS1, 2, 3, PSP and Vita games. It's the reason I still own a PS3 and a Vita.

 

[michaelius]

All the legacy PSN stuff is still available to buy via the old hardware; PS1, 2, 3, PSP and Vita games. It's the reason I still own a PS3 and a Vita.

It's accesible yes - but there are no discounts or sales for those games anymore which makes buying anything you missed super expensive.

 

[HE1NZ]

If you're willing to hack your 360 and PS3, these games are available through illegal methods. The scene is archiving digital games. The one library that was almost lost to us were DSiWare games, but just in time before Nintendo shut it down the good people managed to snag all these games and hack DSi software and DS layer on 3DS to be able to run them (so I could finally play Four Swords Anniversary)

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

I remember a pretty cool marble madness-like game, and some other simple but pretty addictive games. Of course I'm probably the only one remembering those, that's digital y'all.

Marble Blast Ultra?

 

[Miles708]

Marble Blast Ultra?

Yes! That one!

 

[D.Final]

Why you think that?
The clouds?

 

[zcaa0g]

Yes! That one!

It's free for PC. I haven't seen any issues with it for a number of years:

http://old.marblevortex.com

 

[Miles708]

It's free for PC. I haven't seen any issues with it for a number of years:

http://old.marblevortex.com

Fantastic, thanks!

 

[Zog]

What some people don't realize is that keeping something online is not a "one and done" affair, it's actually a costly 24/7 effort.

Maybe more people would 'realize' it if you explained it to us. Tell us how keeping files on a server with automatic payment processing is a costly, 24/7 effort?

 

[ItsTheNew]

Maybe more people would 'realize' it if you explained it to us. Tell us how keeping files on a server with automatic payment processing is a costly, 24/7 effort?

It's just bullshit, really.
If the fucking space jam website can still be alive unchanged for over 30 years, there's no way hosting a 30mb game is an impossible or costly task.

 

[Enjay]

I just wish XBLA's port of Guardian Heroes could be re-ported.

 

[FeldMonster]

I do wish I could access the 1989 Ninja Turtles Arcade game and the 1992 X-Men Arcade game that I can play on my Xbox 360 on my Xbox Series X (and my Xbox One).

Also, since we are discussing it, I am still mad that the XBLA version of Soul Calibur had its campaign removed in order to fit under the size limit that XBLA had placed at the time.

 

[Jeeves]

Seems like one of those cases where piracy is the only way to preserve the games. I have a lot of 360 Arcade games installed and unless they still maintain the store for that console, I believe they're gone forever if the console storage fails. I guess you could make the same argument for scratching a disk, but at least it's just one game in that case, and you can still buy it second hand.

It's just bullshit, really.
If the fucking space jam website can still be alive unchanged for over 30 years, there's no way hosting a 30mb game is an impossible or costly task.

Damn, you weren't kidding. Incredible.

 

[Miles708]

Maybe more people would 'realize' it if you explained it to us. Tell us how keeping files on a server with automatic payment processing is a costly, 24/7 effort?

Someone has to upload the files on some servers. These servers must be

1. Up to date with all latest security patches and modules
2. Online 24/7 no matter what (ddos attacks, power outages, hardware failures etc.)
3. reliable and with data constantly backed up to external machines, to be retrieved when needed (and this is an entirely different network and problems).

Once you've done that, you can:

1. Connect to the internet
2. Connect to Xbox live/PSN
3. Connect to your own account on said services
4. Connect to the server with your file
5. Finally, "simply" download

The internet is just someone else's computer. You post your data on someone else pc, and this someone assures you that his pc will stay online for you.

Guess what, things don't "stay online" on their own without the effort of an entire constellation of people and services, all relying on each other (hosting providers, ISPs, private companies).
If then you're a big company, and your clients DEMAND download speed and 24/7 accessibility, all hell breaks loose ALL THE DAMN TIME.

Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Apple, all have teams and teams of people around the clock just to monitor their infrastructure, and promptly switch servers when things hit the fan, which (at that scale) you can bet happens every day.

Why do you think Sony relies on Microsoft for its internet infrastructure? Because managing these things at this scale is hell.

And don't get me started on the purely licensing and legal side of things, that's an additional, entirely different and special kind of circle of hell.

So yes, you can access the Space Jam website. That's a static website with 0 visits, 0 active content and 0 expectation of performance. For everything even a bit more modern, you need an hell of an infrastructure in perfect working order for you to "just" download a file at max speed from your console whenever you damn please.

 

[bitbydeath]

Try here for PS3/Vita/PSP titles.

Official PlayStation™Store US