exclusive format annoyance

[qskint]

Does anyone else find it annoying not being able to get all their favourite games on one machine??
Just realised yesterday when i had a relaxing shmup day (not that relaxing as im crap) switching between my mame pc, ps3 and xbox360. DoDonPachi resurrection on the xbox, then playing some random shmups on mame and ddpdoj and then onto the ps3 for some psx dodonpachi... i prefer the arcade version on mame but like having it on the console sat in front of the TV.
Anyway rant over just wish i could get them all on one system (without needing a hacked console) and i hope they release ddpdoj onto either xbla/psn/psn ps2 collection!

[Gus]

Get a supergun.

[Marc]

Yeah because we can all afford to throw around stupid money on PCB's. I'd like to see my other half's face, she'd fucking murder me.

[qskint]

that wasnt my point, i cant afford PCB's either and definatly not for the games i want. But wish i could just get them on one console.

[BPzeBanshee]

I get this feeling sometimes. Fortunately most of my titles are either on MAME or the 360 so it isn't a huge deal for me. If Raiden Fighters Aces ever comes out for PAL I'll get hold of that and then I won't need to play those titles in MAME ever again either, so I think all things considered I've got it extra good.

[gray117]

It can be an issue ... but you're also talking about removing choice/competition from the market.

To some extent this may happen with hardware in a couple of generations, but you'll probably replace it with increased competition between services such as steam/itunes/xbla/psn/onlive to provide you with the games.

Initially, of course, the introduction of a competive generation can introduce development time/costs that can get smaller companies to pitch themselves exclusively. However, moving forwards I think other middleware companies have found great solutions and value in developing tools/services to provide porting functionality.

... So unless there's region locking or platform holders signing exclusivity deals I think you'll hopefully [already?] be seeing this less and less.

... but annoying though this, it is better than monopolies, right?

[mrsmiley381]

I used to have this problem but it eventually got to the point where it became a non-issue. While I would love for every game to be on one console (Like Dreamcast! I love Dreamcast.) the end result is that certain games on older hardware would have no chance of ever being on new consoles. Here's a short list of shmups I play semi-regularly:

NES: Recca, Gun-Nac
Genesis/CD: MUSHA, Robo Aleste, Truxton, etc.
SNES: Axelay
Saturn: Garegga, DoDonPachi, Salamander, etc.
PS1: None, but a region mod would change this
N64: Pffffthahahahahaha
Dreamcast: All the shmups
PS2: Gradius V
GCN/Wii: Meh
XBOX: None, but I play other stuff
360: Tons of stuff, mostly CAVE
PS3: Under Defeat
PC: Doujins out the ass

So that's a bunch of consoles, right? I found switching consoles in and out to be a pain in the ass so I got a big shelf. Turned into a wiring mess, so I pulled out most of the power cables. This made switching consoles still a pain in the ass, so I got a little more creative. I sacrificed the bottom layer of my bookshelf and made it my central powering hub. All the power cables run on the back side of each shelf down to the bottom and plug into a power strip. My PC, TV, and LAN switch are all on separate power plugs so I can switch off power to the strip of other consoles if I so desire. It's a pretty nice setup.

However, certain sacrifices had to be made for this. Everything is hooked up to an LCD. Boom, there's a bit of lag, the inability to TATE, and whatever other problems that may arise. The TV also happens to not have a whole lot of inputs, so I need to use switches/couplers for a good number of connections. The LCD doesn't support 240p either, so certain PS2 games freak the TV the hell out when I try to boot them, so I have to switch that to S-Video. Losing that bottom shelf layer also forced me to put the NES, SNES, and N64 aside. For those I'm not too disappointed. There's also the fact that I have a whole bookshelf of game consoles, which takes up some space.

Complete shmup console consolidation doesn't seem feasible. Even if I switched to a 4:3 CRT there would be issues with certain 360 games and my newer fancy-pancy games wouldn't look as good. You have to make sacrifices to get everything on one display, I suppose.

[Deca]

I'm just waiting for the day I can have a dedicated game room. Get a nice shelf going along one wall with enough monitors to hook everything up at once, probably a selector box to the he monitor. Right now I have a nice Asus monitor with minimal lag for he consoles, PVM permanently tated for Japanese Saturn, and an old CRT or two for all my other old consoles.

[JBC]

It's irritates me that Raiden IV is only available on 360. For one, I prefer PS3 and sold mine and two, I'm not tilting a 32" plasma screen that's wall mounted anyway. It would be nice if they had released a PC version like they did for III, which I still play to this day. Unless it get's thrown up on PSN as a downloadable release I don't see myself getting to play the latest entry in one of my favorite series anytime soon.

[BIL]

I consider myself a gamer first, collector second, so I'd definitely prefer a single omnigamebox for practicality's sake. I try to not have more (personally important) material possessions than I can realistically transport on my person, and while the game side is easy to keep trim the range of often bulky consoles required to run them with 100% accuracy isn't. A necessary compromise though, if you love everything from the FC to current gen like I do.

I don't find the switching / organisational aspect bothersome at all, though. I have a nice corner of the house to myself and a bit of a hardware fetish. It's just the transport aspect that gives me some pause.

[Elixir]

I have a Japanese 360 hooked up to my monitor on the left. I have a PC hooked up to my monitor in front, with a PS3 on switch (PS3 has no shmups, though). I have an Xtokki adapter plugged into the back of my 360, plugged into a PS2 Saturn controller, and the controller sits to the left of my left monitor. I have an inpin adapter plugged into the back of my PC, plugged into yet another PS2 Saturn pad, sitting at the right edge of my desk. All sound across 360/PC/PS3 goes to my headphones.

So, no.

[neorichieb1971]

You could just own one console and buy only games that come out for it.

I bought a PS3 and never bought any games lol.

[Kollision]

I wonder for how long I'll be able to keep it close to this

[BIL]

I wonder for how long I'll be able to keep it close to this

Like a dam collapsing before a torrent in slow motion, over the last five years I've gradually caved into collecting for every system in your pic minus the SMS and Marty (and plus the original Xbox). Currently trying not to get into handhelds... which I guess should be the least of my worries.

[Kollision]

I wonder for how long I'll be able to keep it close to this

Like a dam collapsing before a torrent in slow motion, over the last five years I've gradually caved into collecting for every system in your pic minus the SMS and Marty (and plus the original Xbox). Currently trying not to get into handhelds...

Oops, I forgot to mention that an Atari 2600 and a Neo Geo AES are tucked in the closet and that a PSP is somewhere in between the games in a tiny bag inside the shelf.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

All I can say is thank fuck for emulation

[spl]

It's irritates me that Raiden IV is only available on 360. For one, I prefer PS3 and sold mine and two, I'm not tilting a 32" plasma screen that's wall mounted anyway. It would be nice if they had released a PC version like they did for III, which I still play to this day. Unless it get's thrown up on PSN as a downloadable release I don't see myself getting to play the latest entry in one of my favorite series anytime soon.

You can get it on PC, the actual arcade hardware is a PC - people have been playing it for ages on this forum.

[JBC]

[Nasirosuchus]

All I can say is thank fuck for emulation

Ditto.

I emulate everything except for the PS2, PSP, and DS exclusives. Nothing like having everything available on my desktop and two HTPC's instead of having to power systems on and off and swap out discs and cartridges. Saves a ton of room as well.

[spl]

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... e+x+loader

You're welcome.

[O. Van Bruce]

Where is the Wii? and the Nintendo DS?

[JBC]

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... e+x+loader

You're welcome.

Yes, thank you. Thank you very much!

It's actually my birthday and I consider this a present

[Jeneki]

All you need to do is case-mod all of your consoles and attach them to server rack rails.

[MintyTheCat]

It can be an issue ... but you're also talking about removing choice/competition from the market.

To some extent this may happen with hardware in a couple of generations, but you'll probably replace it with increased competition between services such as steam/itunes/xbla/psn/onlive to provide you with the games.

Initially, of course, the introduction of a competive generation can introduce development time/costs that can get smaller companies to pitch themselves exclusively. However, moving forwards I think other middleware companies have found great solutions and value in developing tools/services to provide porting functionality.

... So unless there's region locking or platform holders signing exclusivity deals I think you'll hopefully [already?] be seeing this less and less.

... but annoying though this, it is better than monopolies, right?

gray117:

I think that you've hit the nail right on the head with your comments there.
In any healthy system there has to be competition - a Monopoly kills that.

qskint:

Tbh I really do not see there being any real issue with there being multiple formats, but then I am a product of the age I was raised in:

we had competing technologies and platforms often with different interpretations of any given licenes (e.g. Contra/Probotector on the SNES and Megadrive are widely different Games from each other).

I find the whole "all consoles have the saw Game released for them" trend to be utterly boring and 'safe' and it merely limits your options in the grand scheme of things.

As for downloadable content: who owns the Software that you purchase and who dictates how and when and under what conditions you are permitted to use the Software that you paid for? It's the providers who will offer these Services for as long as it makes financial sense to them.

To my mind you are merely bringing forth vacuum/bubble/windowed gaming and you're not going to have the same level of access that many of the Retrogamers enjoy to this day in the near future.

I know full well that my Megadrive, SFC, FC, PCE, Saturn, DC, NeoGeo and PS1 Software is mine to use when I feel the interest and that makes me a darn sight more comfortable than if I were to invest my Cash in 'Downloads' that lead to short term Gaming. If you subscribe to the disposable culture of mass media and mass fastfood and everything else that is made to dispose of then by all means continue to use Downloads and indeed lobby for 'one machine for all Games' but you'll be losing out on the aspects that make Games Machines interesting to many and more over everything that you play in the future will be a Port. Now I know that Ports can be done well but still they lose something from the Original.

Each to their own as they say.

[Ex-Cyber]

Fundamentally, there's no reason that there couldn't be an open standard platform for games with the sheer capacity of modern hardware. The competition ought to be based on who can offer the best implementation of that standard at the best price, but instead we have "competition" at the branding/marketing/backroom-deal level based on who can lock the most/hottest exclusives into their proprietary platform. That is really the opposite of choice and competition. Except in the most bleeding-edge generation of hot new stuff, you shouldn't have to worry about whether your game console is compatible with a game any more than you worry about whether your motherboard is compatible with a web site.

[trap15]

Fundamentally, there's no reason that there couldn't be an open standard platform for games with the sheer capacity of modern hardware. The competition ought to be based on who can offer the best implementation of that standard at the best price, but instead we have "competition" at the branding/marketing/backroom-deal level based on who can lock the most/hottest exclusives into their proprietary platform. That is really the opposite of choice and competition. Except in the most bleeding-edge generation of hot new stuff, you shouldn't have to worry about whether your game console is compatible with a game any more than you worry about whether your motherboard is compatible with a web site.

The issue though, is that sometimes you want to develop your console with more/less power than the competition. In that case, you can't have a standard platform implementation because it is either more powerful than the standard, so that power goes to waste; or it's weaker than the standard, so you can't comply.

[Ex-Cyber]

The issue though, is that sometimes you want to develop your console with more/less power than the competition.

Except that you don't really want that per se, you want it so that you get more/better exclusive games, which is irrelevant to the standards-implementation model.

[trap15]

No, it really is what they want. More power means higher-quality games, less power means cheaper more economically-efficient hardware (and usually lower-quality games). With standards-implementation, there is only a single hardware power model, and thus you have literally no edge against the competition, and then everything just falls apart into a single monopoly.