The Future of Retro Gaming?

Gaming isn't as simple as it used to be.  Back in the days of my youth we didn't have to deal with online connections and constant game updates, you just plugged that shit in and went.  Some PC games required patches to be downloaded or expansion packs to be bought but that was about as complex as it got and for your average youth, we were rockin' the consoles anyway.

Today is vastly different, you cant even start a game up anymore without the system prompting you to update something or sign up/log into some other 3rd party service.  Hell, this is an age where some games, even single player ones, require an internet connection to be played at all.  So while I was shopping for old games today I started thinking about something.

I wonder what retro gaming will be like in the far future?  When I'm long dead and the Playstation is up to its 8 or 9th iteration and the idea of 16 bit being "cutting edge" is laughable.  Kind of like how we view shit like that Atari now.

Right now, retro gaming is easy since it was a much simpler time.  If you can get your hands on a system and a few cartridges/discs then all you have to do is hook that shit up, flick the switch and BOOM you're playing your old favorites.  But will things be that simple in the future? Will retro gaming even exist in the same way that we know it today?

Think about it, plenty of games have mandatory updates that require internet connections or servers that they need to check with before you can start playing.  What happens in the future when these servers don't exist and there is no update server for your game to connect to?  Will some punter in a used game shop be able to buy used games and just pop them in and have a grand old time?  I don't think so.  Things right now are OK I guess, I can totally see PS3 or 4 games still working in the far flung future but with internet connections and digital distribution maybe the joy of picking up a dusty old game in a used book store will be long gone.

What I fear is that in the future the idea of buying retro games will be dead and companies will charge stupid amounts of money for the back catalogs of games.  Half the reason I don't use things like the Wii virtual console or the classics collection on PSN is because I can go round the corner and pick up the original disc versions of the games for about half the money.  When you think about that, in a way it's already happening.

Still, I'm just rambling and I'll be long dead before anything like this happens so it's whatever