Keeping your memory was not a requirement. On top of that you could even argue that not keeping them is a plus since you get to experience games you have already played like they were new. :-)

He actually says it in the first post of this classic hit-and-run thread, where he admits to owning a PS3, a PSP and having gamed on his brother's PSX. It does somewhat undermine his argument.

That's quite a few million years.

Not so much...... I once thought about gettin a ps 4 to get a sense of Final Fantasy but... you know what... Square came through...

Yes, modern technology is a work of wonder and I certainly would never advocate returning to a pre-tech civilisation.

I'm an avid gamer and a software developer who for close to 15 years now has contributed to society in large part through the software I write.

I think that like anything else, it's a matter of dosage. I think it should be (and maybe I'm wrong, but I hope not) possible for 8+ billions people to have a computer (either laptop/desktop or cell phone) that lasts them decades. Ongoing developments, combined with the opinion of experts (scientists really), seem to suggest however that it is not possible for a large fraction of 8 billions people to have a laptop/desktop that they change every 5 years, a cell phone that they change every 2-3 years, 1-3 consoles they change every 5-6 years when there is a next generation, convenience electronics in everything we have and millions of servers in datacenters that we change every 3-5 years with an ever greater ration of the world population jumping into that bandwagon.

So when I write that I don't want to buy an additional machine just to play games as I should be able to play them on the machines I have, it's really not a criticism of modern technological achievement or being dismissive about the importance of gaming. To the contrary, it's a hope that by applying some moderation now, we may increase the odds of preserving those things for the future and also making it accessible for as many people as possible (because a future where computers are still around, but scarce enough that only the 1-5% richest can access them is not that interesting either, definitely not much of a gaming industry in that future).

For the ROMs, it's mostly about respecting intellectual property (as I've rented Kid Chamelon, but never owned it), although if you tell me that intellectual property rights last way too long, I won't disagree.