I totally consent with this. However, doing as much as we can to reproduce the experience is of some importance. E.g., there has been a basic Spacewar! emulator in Java since 1997, but it only recreated the game on an abstract level, missing the intricacies of the display. Many, including myself, somewhat shrugged their shoulders on this. It has only been, since there have been efforts to recreate the display experience on a more or less analog level that the game is appreciated for what it is, a quite perfect beginning, not to the least for its esthetics. (Disclosure, the web emulation of the PDP-1 running Spacewar! is by me.)
Based on this experience, I'd say, there's need to constantly update emulators to the current state of technical media representation. We are never on the safe side… This will only become trickier as any original hardware and/or media recordings of the software running are lost. Much will be lost in translation, since software has context.
Based on this experience, I'd say, there's need to constantly update emulators to the current state of technical media representation. We are never on the safe side… This will only become trickier as any original hardware and/or media recordings of the software running are lost. Much will be lost in translation, since software has context.