Emulation hurts video games

"But it's for preservation..."

We all know that emulation isn't for preservation. That is like hanging a print of a Van Gogh in the Louvre. Emulation being preservation is like an NFT for preservation. It doesn't preserve the original state of the code. It appends and modifies it. It doesn't preserve original intent of the code running through that hardware and that I/O. No pixel bleed for dithering. Let's just be honest. Emulation is about living in the past, not preserving it.

That is why emulation will hold gaming back. Despite red-herring rhetoric that the Xbox Series S is going to hold gaming back, this has nothing to do with processing power and everything to do with design. Games are losing innovation because gamers keep playing the same games.

While I am not a fan of VR, at least it forced developers to re-think game design. The Nintendo Switch, in all it's limited glory, forces some developers to get out of the "immersion" lie and back to the truth of "fun is immersive".

Emulation doesn't inspire anything to be different. It is, by definition, derivative. It's pirate nature not only drowns innovation, but also drowns opportunity. 

Like Wikipedia, emulation is driven by unpaid labor. No one is paid for their contribution. While some may argue it is volunteerism weaponised to deflate profits, the truth is that it hurts the "volunteers" more than anything else.

We need more native, more new, more unexpected and more experimental. We need more Ouya and more Playdates. We need indie boxes with arcade sticks. We need "light gun" consoles where we play the definitive versions of Power Wash Simulator.

We won't get to those new grounds without leaving the basement. It's time to move on.