If you're an avid gamer like me, chances are you own a whole truckload of videogame consoles, and you love every single one of them. You want to be able to play them anytime you want, for as long as you live. The problem is that machines, especially obsolete ones, will break down eventually. The consoles themselves tend to last for a long time, and usually live on through some other means such as newer consoles' backwards compatibility features, or through emulation software.
The problem lies in the fact that the game discs not only have a shorter lifespan than their consoles, majority of games that come in optical media contain some sort of DRM that will prevent you from simply inserting the CD in your disc drive and copying its contents. Chances are your computer won't even recognize the media you inserted.
Due to the above-mentioned problems, gamers are usually left to their own devices. The rich ones and the gullible ones (and usually those that are both) just buy new copies of a game disc every time it breaks down. Which is simply unacceptable. You don't have to keep wasting money just to keep playing a game that you've already bought before. If you want to backup games for future use, you have to do it yourself, using software that is meant to copy game disc onto any media you want, so that you can reproduce it in the future.
Due to DRM being used by game developers, you can't use your PC to produce straight backups willy-nilly. Chances are you will end up will garbage files or worse, a crashed system. You need a proprietary game copy wizard to archive your game collection, so that you never have to worry about losing it to time and age.
Aside from the security it brings, having a backup of your games also provides a couple of nifty features, primarily:
1. Emulation - using emulators tend to be a gray area, legally speaking. The gist is that it is illegal to download backup copies of games if the copies were made from media that you didn't own. It doesn't matter if you have an original copy of the game; if you downloaded a copy of someone else's - you could go to jail if caught.
If you have your own backup software, you can simply make a copy of your games and play them to your heart's content, you are legally entitled to do so.
2. Preserving your games - this is very important for collectors. The thing is that collectors usually end up buying two copies of a game they like, because they want to keep the disc mint, so that it will look good in their collection. If you have a game copy wizard, you can create a backup copy and play that till it gives, while keeping your original in pristine condition.
So, if you are halfway serious about collecting games for various systems, you really need to find a way to back up games on your own. It will be worth it in the long run.
