November 27, 2024: Games As Art And Literature

[DeadParrot]

Originally Posted by PracticalM

.....

I did finally get rid of all the software that I only had on 3.5" floppies after I no longer have a working computer to read those. Next is all the old CD-ROMs that won't run on newer machines.

Still lots of ways to read 3.5" floppies. Drives still available that connect via USB. Some folks, including me, still have a 5.25" FD and motherboard to run it "just in case". Most modern Operating Systems, including Windows, have a way to run a Virtual Machine(VM) that can emulate earlier systems. So you can still load up that Win 3.1 or DOS game and play it. One of the problems is that even after the overhead of emulating early hardware and software, the emulated system is many times faster then the original. 'Push start, a few fast flashes, you died while scoring 3482 points.' Sometimes there are VM settings that can fix that.

That said, I have done some serious culling over the years. Mostly computer games that looked more fun when purchased than during play. I tend to hang on to physical games. Sometimes they can be harvested for parts for other games.