Moving toward digital distribution

[Gentle Ben]

The more gaming moves towards digital distribution, the less interested in it I become.
To me, gaming was not always JUST about the games, it had a tactile facet to it. Putting a cartridge into a console, having a game in your hands...I miss that.
When you purchase a license to download a game, you don't OWN that game. All it takes to lose the ability to play the game is loss of internet connection, or Xbox Live (or your choice of service) going down.
The first time that happened to me, I decided I'd never pay for digital content again.
Unfortunately, with the size of game files nowadays, it seems more and more companies are putting only part of the game files on the disc and expecting day one downloads to complement that. So even buying a disc nowadays doesn't guarantee you will own that game fully functional years down the road.

This is why I love retro gaming. I can still experience the tactile sensation of removing a cart from its case, slapping it in the console, and just PLAYING.
I'm also quite averse to playing online. I'm simply not that good at FPS games to survive long. My idea of multiplayer gaming was the original Xbox, getting 4 TVs, 4 consoles, and 4 copies of Halo 1/2, a couple pizzas and plenty of beer...and having a hell of a good time with people in the same room.

I see myself buying fewer and fewer games for modern consoles, mainly because I'm sick to death of waiting for updates almost every time I want to play, as well as buying partial games on disc.
Maybe I'm just getting old and stingy.

Or jaded.

Is everyone really ready to dump physical media?

 

[Kid Panda]

Mod your systems, never have to worry about losing a game.

 

[Gentle Ben]

Mod your systems, never have to worry about losing a game.

Yeah, but that's WORK.
I don't want to have to open my consoles and chance bricking them.
And that even adds to my initial complaint...why the hell should I have to invest time in PIRATING just to make sure I can continue to play my games?
I've already had 2 external HDDs die with all my installed Xbox One games.
So next time that happens, if the games aren't still available for download, I'm SOL.
Meh.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

Stick with retro, there's hardly anything new that's worth playing these days anyway. Nearly all cost you a ton in paid DLC or time.

 

[neo_mao]

Generally speaking I prefer cartridges - but I have to say I love the NES and SNES Classic systems. The convenience of them, the space saving, the ability to play on a big modern tv, save-states...lots of things to love about these things.

Having said that, I still have a bunch of original NES and SNES carts and I don't plan on selling those anytime soon...but I haven't touched any of those originals since I got my "Classic" systems.

On a somewhat related note though - fuck Overdrives. I just can't do the Everdrive thing. Yeah I see the hypocrisy in liking a NES Classic system but not liking an Everdrive...but I never claimed not to be a hypocrite.

 

[cdamm]

Yeah, but that's WORK.
I don't want to have to open my consoles and chance bricking them.
And that even adds to my initial complaint...why the hell should I have to invest time in PIRATING just to make sure I can continue to play my games?
I've already had 2 external HDDs die with all my installed Xbox One games.
So next time that happens, if the games aren't still available for download, I'm SOL.
Meh.

so then just complain just to complain.

 

[Gamefan]

Mod your systems, never have to worry about losing a game.

This^.

If you only own this generation, then you are SOL and will be stuck with Digital for the most part.

 

[FAT$TACKS]

Do what I'm doing and get rid of all your video game stuff.

 

[RAZO]

Do what I'm doing and get rid of all your video game stuff.

This or consolidate your retro stuff to one flash cart for each console. I don't mind digital distribution.

 

[Morden]

Unfortunately, with the size of game files nowadays, it seems more and more companies are putting only part of the game files on the disc and expecting day one downloads to complement that. So even buying a disc nowadays doesn't guarantee you will own that game fully functional years down the road.

With BluRay games on PS3, PS4 and Xbox One, any content you must download are day one patches, or updates that came out between the launch and purchase dates. The real problem begins with the Switch, where devs purposefully choose smaller cartridges unable to fit their games. They are saving money this way, and you have to download the rest of the game. Once those servers go online, you're screwed. Retail disc games should simply work. Disconnect your consoles from the internet, and anything they would need to do is maybe install the data on console's HD.

Is everyone really ready to dump physical media?

I know I'm not. But then again, I'm buying fewer and fewer modern games, simply because I'm not that interested anymore. There aren't that meny titles out there that can get me interested. I'll always buy the new Yakuza, I'll get Ghost of Tsushima and Detroit ... they're all PS4, but Xbox One has no exclusives.

I haven't even bothered to buy a Switch. It's because I've been screwed over with the "pro" incarnations of Xbox One, PS4 and 3DS. I'm not buying a Switch, just to see Nintendo release a Switch Up, new and improved, with exclusive games compatible only with the Up system. Screw that.

Just about the only game for modern platform I bought in the recent 6 months is Kiwami 2 for PS4. I did buy plenty of arcade stuff, though.

 

[Liquid Snake]

Physical only, period

 

[BIG BEAR]

I don't do PC terminals masquerading around as home consoles. Real gaming imo died after PS2. To the original poster, you put up a valiant effort to conform but playing video games should not be a chore.
BB

 

[theMot]

Tactile feel collectard.

 

[famicommander]

I don't mind digital distribution per se but I don't do DRM. So I'm more than happy to buy stuff from stores like GOG or certain Humble Bundle stuff but I'm not really into console digital services or Steam.

I prefer physical copies when possible, though. I really hate downloading console updates and game updates and having half the damn game cost extra as DLC. I hate buying a physical copy of a game and then still being forced to install the damn thing.

I just want to pop in a game and play it. If I'm going to deal with updates, expansions, and installations I may as well be doing it on my PC. A console is supposed to be a console, not a gimped PC.

I feel the same way about emulation. I'm not opposed to emulation but I'll always choose real hardware whenever it's possible/not insanely expensive.

 

[egg_sanwich]

Buy a physical game, play it, beat it, sell it for 60% of retail price. Buy digital, get nothing back.

Itsdoesntaddup.jpg

 

[Late]

Get rid of all your video game stuff.

Aye aye!

 

[k'_127]

There was a point, around the end of the PS2 gen and beginning of PS3 gen, where I thought 2D games (including 3D games that carried 2D gameplay) would keep declining till they eventually die, and the mainstream gamers would continue to be obssessed solely with better 3D graphics. Then XBLA came, popularizing classic games, and Wii, emphasizing on simpler gameplay over graphics. Since that time, I've played and enjoyed countless "new" small-to-mid budget games, both 2D and 3D, like MM9, Hardcorps Uprising, After Burner Climax, Bionic Commando remake, Guacamelee, Shovel Knight, Wonder Boy3 remake and Axion Verge, to name a few.

I'm not solely crediting XBLA and the Wii for the continuation of this kind of games. There were other factors like the handheld market, Steam indies, enthusiasts on the internet ..... etc. etc. but there is certainly no doubt that the digital game markets were a major factor in facilitating these releases on consoles / PC.

And I still go with physical releases whenever there is a choice.

 

[oliverclaude]

Stick with retro, there's hardly anything new that's worth playing these days anyway. Nearly all cost you a ton in paid DLC or time.

Well, it's worth playing once, everything after that feels like a infinitely stretched rerun due to a low audio-visual abstraction level. Everything current seems like kitsch: a prefab creation that leaves nothing left for you to imagine and taking it further in your mind. Like a decalcomania picture of something that wasn't the source anyway. Ha, and mostly in 30fps.

 

[wju2004]

I actually resisted Steam for the longest time because I hated the idea of Digital Downloads, even for PC games. Given, there is a group out there that collects PC games, I suppose, but I just don't mess with that. I do enjoy Steam.

Now, that being said, for consoles...I fight against buying digital releases as much as I can. And if I do have to buy it and they release a physical copy later...I will probably buy it (and just keep it sealed) to have it. There's a few games that are on the Nintendo estore right now that I want, but I just am holding off because I want a physical copy. I know it'll always be there as an option, so I don't worry too much about downloading it right away.

Part of it is that fact that I can hold it in my hand. It's tactile and just reminds me of what we used to play. Another is that there is an actual value to it. That if I decide I don't want it anymore, I can get something back out of it. (Though I am horrible about selling crap period.)

 

[wyo]

Like it or not, digital is the way forward. First of all, there's no point buying physical games that require updates in order to function properly.

From an environmental standpoint, manufacturing and distributing physical products produces a lot of waste and pollution. Thanks to demand from collectards we now have ridiculous things such as the Battle Garegga release where a download code was shipped to people in a fancy box.

All this retro junk that people are currently jizzing themselves over will eventually end up in a landfill with the rest of the trash.

EDIT: Another issue I forgot to mention is the potential for CD/DVD/BR drive failure is much higher than HDD failure. My Wii U drive recently died. All my games are on disc so I have to replace the drive/console in order to continue playing them. If I had purchased the digital copies, I would still be able to play them.

 

[NeoSneth]

welcome to 5 years ago?

there's a reason about a dozen companies are making physical copies of indie games now.
I would be thrilled if i was still a hoarder, but the plastic trash is for other people now.

 

[Gentle Ben]

Like it or not, digital is the way forward. First of all, there's no point buying physical games that require updates in order to function properly.

From an environmental standpoint, manufacturing and distributing physical products produces a lot of waste and pollution. Thanks to demand from collectards we now have ridiculous things such as the Battle Garegga release where a download code was shipped to people in a fancy box.

All this retro junk that people are currently jizzing themselves over will eventually end up in a landfill with the rest of the trash.

Quite valid points.
Perhaps I'm experiencing one of the more common foibles of the human condition...when is enough enough?
We are not squirrels, hiding nuts for the winter. We're not bears, eating as much as possible to fatten up for hibernation.
Yet we tend to (not all of us, but a great deal of us) hang on to those pre-civilization tendencies of hunting/gathering.
Food for thought, I suppose.
Having said that, I like what I like, and you can like what you like. And that's also a problem...some people like driving fuel efficient vehicles, and some love to have their bigass trucks with 18" lift kits and chips to improve performance at the cost of environmental problems that affect all of us.
So...tell you what. Let's all agree to get rid of anything and everything that will end up in a landfill OR add to the climate problems we're all facing, and I'll happily turn in my game collection to be recycled.
Man, if I had kids, I'd be so worried about the world...

 

[heihachi]

Like it or not, digital is the way forward. First of all, there's no point buying physical games that require updates in order to function properly.

From an environmental standpoint, manufacturing and distributing physical products produces a lot of waste and pollution. Thanks to demand from collectards we now have ridiculous things such as the Battle Garegga release where a download code was shipped to people in a fancy box.

All this retro junk that people are currently jizzing themselves over will eventually end up in a landfill with the rest of the trash.

This is maybe the biggest reason I've stopped buying physical for new games. New games also need to be installed on the HD anyways, so it's not like you can buy physical to avoid taking up HD space. So, you're left with more physical crap in your house that doesn't even save any hd space and isn't even the most current version of the game--often it's a half-finished husk of game that had a huge day one update to work.

 

[oliverclaude]

New games also need to be installed on the HD anyways, so it's not like you can buy physical to avoid taking up HD space.

At some point games (as a service) will only be streaming, so you won't have anything in your house taking up space. On your side it'll only be a controller and a smart-TV with a built-in device, on the other vast server farms of a faceless provider and in-between an endless flow of data.

I was just pondering on how long the axiom "you buy it - you own it" will last. The ownership of video games as we know it, of course. I don't give it much more than 5 or 10 years. By then physical retail, digital download, being offline and playing single player... will all be memories. If, indeed, there are any memories.

 

[Ip Man]

we've had this discussion many times before. as an adult physical copies just feel like extra baggage and waste of space.

with digital copies i could keep hundreds of games stored in devices all in one corner of the room and not worry about the condition or spending £200 on a neo game or a mint copy of final fantasy 7 for £80 when i could download the entire game digitally for £5.

no worrying about what condition a game is in or damaging it, no worrying about it being a bootleg, they're usually cheaper and no clutter. digital for the win.