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7k MS-DOS Games playable in the browser

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Re: 7k MS-DOS Games playable in the browser

#11

Post by rangibaby »

justnotworthit wrote: post #7

I wonder if something like this will ever happen to xbox 360, ps4, etc games. Or if they'll be long unplayable either technically or legally.

20 years ago I would have considered the idea of being able to play every dos game ever made directly in a browser without waiting science fiction.

I guess it will happen eventually; I think the biggest concern with preserving games now is the amount of functionality provided server side that is lost (maybe forever) when the game company switches their servers off.

Re: 7k MS-DOS Games playable in the browser

#12

Post by Arcorann »

justnotworthit wrote: post #7

I wonder if something like this will ever happen to xbox 360, ps4, etc games. Or if they'll be long unplayable either technically or legally.

Standalone emulators are continuing to make progress for each of these platforms, but there's still quite some way to go. Once we get those to a level where most games are playable without issues at full speed porting them to the browser would theoretically be possible (no idea about the speed hits though), though I don't expect that to happen for several more years.

As for the Internet Archive itself, they recently set up their Internet Arcade: Turbo Edition [1], a collection of arcade games from the 90s and early 00s that cover the most demanding emulated games playable in the browser on the site (apart from Dottori-kun, of course).

[1] https://archive.org/details/internetarcadeturbo

Re: 7k MS-DOS Games playable in the browser

#13

Post by reitzensteinm »

User23 wrote: post #6
georgeecollins wrote: post #3

I strongly recommend Bandit Kings of Ancient China. It is a great game.

I saw the title and came here to post this. Here's the direct link[1]. I spent an absurd amount of time playing this game at my brother's house because he had a PC and my family had a Mac. Empire[2] was another one that got plenty of play. [1] https://archive.org/details/msdos_Bandit_Kings_of_Ancient_Ch... [2] https://archive.org/details/msdos_Empire_1985

Empire is written by our own Walter Bright, more famous these days for the D language. Small world.

Re: 7k MS-DOS Games playable in the browser

#14

Post by rangibaby »

userbinator wrote: post #9
bufferoverflow wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will take a lot of effort to reverse-engineer and then emulate whatever backend these consoles have. 90's games were simple, very simple.

...and there would also have to be another huge jump in (mainly single-threaded) computing power to make emulation at native speeds possible in a browser. Those consoles have relatively powerful GPUs and CPUs.

GPU pass through makes a huge difference in running games in a VM. AFAIK current gen consoles are mostly PCs-in-a-box, I am hopeful for the future of emulating them.

Re: 7k MS-DOS Games playable in the browser

#15

Post by jerry80 »

justnotworthit wrote: post #7

I wonder if something like this will ever happen to xbox 360, ps4, etc games. Or if they'll be long unplayable either technically or legally.

>Or if they'll be long unplayable either technically or legally.

Technical isn't usually a problem, as cracks and emulators already exist.

Legality is a problem in theory, but in practice it seems it is just ignored? Actually, what explanation does the Internet Archive have for any of this being legal?

Re: 7k MS-DOS Games playable in the browser

#18

Post by thom »

sandworm101 wrote: post #16

Woot! Sid Meier's Colonization is there. Hands down one of the best games of all time. Wing Commander II collection, but no Privateer? That game is why Star Citizen even exists.

Frontier: First Encounters but no Fronter: Elite II also puzzling. Not sure I've had a computer in the least 30 years without Wing Commander or Elite II installed (or Wizardry VII, or Civ, or Daggerfall, or, or, or...)
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