Yeah... I'm going to shut up now. I wasn't trying to have any argument. I was only saying that putting a specially crafted media into hardware designed to play that specific media has always been nice.

surely you see the irony in suggesting a person wanting to play a PC title use a PS1 emulator. An emulator only possible because it targets a very specific set of hardware.

Nah, I've hit stuff that can't run in it. No amount of futzing with the IRQ settings would restore audio, that kind of stuff.

Regardless, the issues you describe is not necessarily the way things have to be. I mentioned the Evercade in another post elsewhere. It's a console made with cartridges. You put the cartridge in. You play the game. You don't need to subscribe to anything. You don't need to upgrade to another version. You don't need to purchase the missing chapter.

If I made a game today for the Evercade, yes it would need to go through certification, but in 20 years, if I put that Evercade cartridge in my Evercade... It'll play. No ongoing maintenance patches. No workarounds. No troubleshooting by the end-user.

perfectly tuned for it.. for how long though?

That's why GoG introduced the preservation program. So they can continue maintaining that software. But it's a strict list.

How many indie titles on PC aged out of the platform and have no maintainer?

You get what I'm saying? Even the older console titles can still play on the console they were designed for... but PC is so nebulous that both software and hardware can age out of use.

A person who purchased Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for PC would be unable to launch the game in any modern OS. But if they have it on PS1, it still works.

A person who purchased Minecraft in 2011 can no longer play that game on the same computer they purchased it from. But if they purchased Minecraft on PS3... it still works today the same as the day it was purchased.

And once again, I must insist, I am not saying PC is a bad platform. I'm saying PC is a moving platform. Having a set target is a good thing for development and playability. We here are all a-okay with workarounds and emulation layers. But sometimes it's a good thing to just have the person sit down and start playing without troubleshooting.

I run exactly what was designed for PS5 on a PS5.

EDIT: That came out more smarmy than it should have. I meant that the PS5 doesn't need emulators, VMs, and translations layers for the software that was designed for it.

There is definitely a benefit to having a set platform for game developers to target.

I don't mean that PC is a bad platform... I just mean it's a moving target. An ever-evolving target. The further back you go in the PC library the worse the game compatibility gets. We completely lost 16-bit games years ago without much fuss.

Consoles, though, serve as checkpoints almost. Place GTA IV into an Xbox 360 and it'll act exactly the same as when you bought it.

I feel like I'm going to summon somebody from c/latestagecapitalism but it really seems like we've gotten to the point where companies are so big, so invested in everything, that the "scrappy can-do company" can no longer challenge the ingrained supremacy.

So we just kinda... wish for less abuse from whoever is still in the market.

I asked all the gamers I know who they think could turn around that Playstation news and enter the market by promoting physical media. All I really got was shrugs. Nobody really can. Sega is out. Gamestop probably would benefit most, but they don't design hardware. Evercade has hardware and production lines, but fills a niche at best. You've got giants like Google who failed with Stadia, so Amazon and Samsung probably wouldn't dare try.

It's uhh... not good.

Still testing a new game, but it seems like profile management in Mass Effect Andromeda on Xbox Series X is performed by the Xbox operating system, not the game. So while I can get into the dashboard in a pseudo-"offline" mode, once the game starts up and I assume uses the Xbox API to load a profile and saves... Series X throws the Xbox Live login screen because I'm internet enabled but not authenticated. Nothing I did could bypass this login screen. I couldn't even create a guest profile at that point.

This is only a guess based on taking the network offline, of course. Once I removed internet access, I assume the Xbox OS returned a fully offline profile for Mass Effect to use.

and I hit submit 59 seconds too fast. Guess what happens when I hit A to continue:

A login screen!

EDIT: BONUS ROUND

I cannot capture a screenshot of the game asking for a login, as the capture application requires I log in to Xbox Live.

No difference, game plays fine... switching to Series X

Hmm, I do not have an unpatched console to check and see if a firmware update is what is blocking gamers right this moment. But if that's the case, I would think just disabling internet would let you continue playing?

EDIT: I think the confusion is the title saying "any digital or physical media". I do know of games that require persistent internet and release with Day 1 patches. But this implies that putting a disc in right now just doesn't work.

hmm... How can an outage affect physical media?

I booted up my Xbox One and put in Mass Effect Andromeda. It has not been previously installed or patched. Curious what will happen.

EDIT:

tl;dr: I tested Xbox One and Series X. Xbox One continued to play my media, while Series X required I log in to select my profile in the game. Also, the capture software of the Series X required I log in to gather my screenshots.

I do not know if the Xbox One just had a cached session of my profile that the Series X did not, or if they authenticate differently. But regardless, I was unable to play Mass Effect Andromeda on Series X while this outage is ongoing.