ok apparently I have a niche inside as a hobby, and it something like getting classic arcade games running - oh the #nostalgia!
Seeing games that used to exist as a collection of large, heavy cabinets in a large room run on a thin plate of glass is a kinda neat.
It's a juxtaposition and shift in perception of space as a kid and young teen.
Once emulated, you can "insert" 47 quarters to mindlessly blow through Metal Slug and not look back. It didn't cost $11.75 (which brings up a whole other conversation around the "right" to play games one doesn't "own" (or subscribe to))
Websites are now (2020) starting to get so sophisticated they emulate games on pages themselves, eliminating the need to figure out or even acquire hardware required.
This is not surprising when we are now streaming full-fledged, graphically rich games on Stadia and the like in 2020.
It would be a natural progression for Netflix to stream games and move into virtual "experiences" as they are fundamentally an "Entertainment" company with some of Hollywood's biggest execs.
Removing the barriers inherent in the install & upgrade process is something companies have been working on for decades.
It does leave the question of - first we removed the idea of owning movies, then it became acceptable to stream music and not even buy songs for 0.99 (when this was a breakthrough in itself!). We started to accept SaaS (software as a service) and now we don't even own games we buy. I tried to boot up games (some I purchased) on my original iPad and they simply don't run because they are dependent on an external server.
I don't know how I feel about this.
Being able to play the I played as a kid & get lost in my own world is a privilege today's kids will not have in our highly connected and social world.
and I'm sure it will be fine for them. Our kids will find a different kind of nostalgia when they want to be alone.
I'm starting to realize I've taken for granted my individualized, isolated, world of a creative. I keep myself busy and I have for a very, very long time, since I was 8.
probably a next piece on A World of My Own
what is the point of getting MAME to work on my ‣?
I think it's to levarage the hardware to its fullest
to take advantage of my embedded systems mindset and maximize 256GB of space
which translates to games one would pay 25¢ for a relatively steep learning curve, when compressed, are a max of 100MB (and maybe 10-15MB on average for pre-2000 games based on raster graphics)