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Comment by beezischillin | Hacker News Reader

Nintendo is one of the worst game companies when it comes to dealing with online / their fans. The YouTube / Twitch streaming controversy was just ridiculous... They will also aggressively chase down people who run sites that preserve old games that aren't even produced anymore even if they don't intend to allow people any access to them in the future.

As far as they're concerned people shouldn't be allowed access to these historic works, no matter the circumstances.

It's pretty sad behavior from a company beloved by so many.

By the way, I also find it really interesting that video games are software, a special kind of software that we assign a very particular type of value to that's not really monetary. We want to keep them alive and enjoy them so long after their time has passed. It's so much different than, say, a copy of Photoshop 2.11 or Winamp 3.

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>By the way, I also find it really interesting that video games are software, a special kind of software that we assign a very particular type of value to that's not really monetary. We want to keep them alive and enjoy them so long after their time has passed. It's so much different than, say, a copy of Photoshop 2.11 or Winamp 3.

Creative works are valued longer because new creative works don't function as replacements. There's only one Canterbury Tales or Super Mario World.

An old photoshop copy is more like an old almanac, it is a tool.

> An old photoshop copy is more like an old almanac, it is a tool.

Sometimes, though, the old tool is better than a new one.

For instance, if I have a choice between a Craftsman wrench from say, 1970, vs a brand new one from today - guess which one I'm going to choose?

Software can be like this as well; indeed, there are some DOS apps out there for which there isn't a good replacement available (though they can be niche - which is probably why).

There's a lot of software that used 20MB at the most in the XP days, but doesn't run on windows 10 or is missing some random new 2010+ era feature and just needs a patch, but now the only modern version of this software is a minimum-viable-product SaaS monthly subscription.

>By the way, I also find it really interesting that video games are software, a special kind of software that we assign a very particular type of value to that's not really monetary.

Video games may be software, but they're consumed in a way that's much more similar to music or video. Video games aren't a mean to an end like other kinds of software, but instead is an experience to be enjoyed simply through the consumption of it.

We treat the copyright on print material in the same way. The laws are the same for a technical reference for an exotic piece of hardware as they are for the latest Dan Brown novel. In reality they aren't related at all except for the fact that they are a collection of words put together. They may not even be on the same media (one may be a PDF and the other a chunk of dead tree with ink stains).

> It's so much different than, say, a copy of Photoshop 2.11 or Winamp 3.

I do not think that this is the case, many abandonware sites had (non-game) "software" sections ever since they first came up and today there are communities that are dedicated on preserving old applications in their original state often with manuals and photographs of the original disks. Games are way more popular, of course, but people do value old applications too.

> It's so much different than, say, ... Winamp 3.

Have to disagree on this one. Classic software I wish modern media players were as good. Nice thing is you can still get it! [0]

[0] https://getwacup.com

That's so awesome to see. I used to go and look at the winamp forums every now and then to see if they actually ended up doing something with it or not, it's good to see that the community's taken it into their own hands!

What I meant with that is, people will more likely to go and look for the old version of a Prince of Persia game than an older, specific version of an application.

> What I meant with that is, ...

I know that, yeah, but what I meant was just that Winamp 3 isn't a great example :-)

I kinda wish I could run a copy of Winamp 3 on my *nix box at home - but that ain't gonna happen...

/well - maybe with wine

Winamp3? Wasn't that the one everyone hated? They did release an Alpha for Linux[1]. If you were talking about Winamp 2, have you tried xmms?

[1] https://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Winamp-for-Linux/97273...

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