Topic: Do you prefer Downloading or Retail?

Hmmm. Good question. I like the convenience of having the downloaded game (and the instant gratification ) but I'm still old school enough to like owning the actual disc. I'm also not that happy that I can't share my downloaded Wii games with a friend. One of my co-workers just got a Wii and I let her borrow a couple of my games to try out so she can see what she would like. I can't do that with my downloaded games even though there are some I think she would like.

I think I would have to go with the disc over downloaded especially if they are the same price 'cause that means that's a cheap price for a disc (or a high price for a download)

I go for retail, thus why I am investing in a PSP-3k now instead of waiting for the PSPgo! for that fact. I like having that backlog of games to fall on. I have friends that will sell me their old games for cheaper and if anything were to happen to my unit, I have the discs to fall back on. Don't get me wrong, I love Steam and use it all the time yet I barely buy anything off of it. I just have a few VALVe titles and STALKER, that's pretty much it. I still have old copies of Desu Ex I install from time to time. I have both Fallout 1 & 2 still, Starcraft and Diablo 2, old copies of Doom, Homeworld, Quake, Masters of Orion 2, and a ton of other games. And those are just for my PC. I love having all these old games to fall back on. I'm the kind of guy that falls on the past of gaming instead of now. I don't own a PS3 or an X-Box 360, heck I bought the first X-Box just to mod it so I could play older games on my TV! I collect this stuff, be it past or new so I want to keep it around instead of virtual 1s and 0s. I still have my Intellivision and I will still have the games I own now when that same amount of time passes.

Downloading is somehow more exciting; it's also a lot cheaper and takes up less shelf space.

Digital downloads are good for some things, but bad for others.

I'm for downloading old games and budget priced new games, but not for major retail releases. Producing a retail product helps create more jobs for people. And last time I checked, there is a major job shortage / recession in the world. At some point, creating jobs has to have the upper hand over the dreaded word "efficiency."

Above all, I think collectors like myself like to have a physical copy. I want the case, product artwork, manual, and DVD. I hardly ever download stuff off of iTunes, for $2.00 more I would rather get so much more. Plus, I can make a digital copy for myself at the drop of a hat, if I want.

I like downloading due to its convenience in both buying (except for the times when I have cash) and and playing, though memory and re-selling would be an issue...

i like retail better for many purposes but that doesn't mean i will totally ignore downloadable titles.i like having the disc and the artwork,instruction booklet in my possesion. i will not buy a used game from gamestop or anywhere if none of those are present.the package is just as important to me as the game.

My lost twin!
That basically sums it up.

That's good news! I guess that's what I get for copying and pasting all the time!

I think, I'd have to say retail.
But, that's just because I can't download...

I prefer a good game.. Retail og download, if it's good, I'll be satisfyed

If its about the same price I'd rather go for retail since downloading a full retail game can take a lot of space and time and still leave you without a physical product. However, downloading is great for the smaller games like wiiware which wouldn't have a chance at a retail release and which download fairly quick due to there smaller size.

I've become pretty hooked on VC, but I miss the old days when you'd buy a cartridge inside a big box. Holding a disc box doesn't give me the same feel.

For larger games I prefer retail. For smaller gamers, download.

I like to download "small" games like World of Goo or Peggles. The only large game I downloaded was the Orange Box because paying in US$ via credit card saved me some money and made the game days earlier available for me.

The console is about the size of three or four DVD cases stacked on top of each other. I am assuming in this analogy that the friend already has a Wii set-up so all you have to do is switch Wiis instead of switching discs.

Not to go too far down the road of an economics debate, but the above viewpoint is oversimplifying by contrasting efficiency with job creation / retention.

Here, I believe is your argument: downloading is more efficient due to cutting out the middle-man and the retail stores etc, but we should be happy to pay a bit more so that these people in the middle keep their employment. True, shifting to downloadable gaming on a large scale may kill a good number of jobs in gaming stores and some other parts of the process, but you can't just take that one part of the economic impact in isolation like that. What you might actually get from the shift to downloadable content is more jobs, but on a different level.

If I have $50 to spend, I can buy one retail game and good portion of that money will go to the middle-men in the process, to pay for the local game store, shipping, packaging, etc. However, if I spend that $50 on downloadable games, since all those middle steps are cut out, I'll be able to get more gaming for my dollar, but on top of that, the companies responsible for creating the games will see a bigger total profit, not only because of the higher profit ratio per download but also because now I'm able to buy three or four games with that $50 instead of just one. So, more profit for the game companies may then actually create more skilled jobs, as they will be presumably be better able to hire more professional staff if their games are returning a higher profit.

On top of that, downloadable services, by cutting out most of the publishing / distributing parts of the process, make it far easier for small, innovative gaming companies to make a profit off of a great idea. Instead of everyone having to go through one of the big publishers to even have a chance of seeing their game reach consumers, power is given back to independent developers, and the process is democratized a great deal, leading to frequent success stories where a handful of programmers / designers are able to come up with something that generates substantial downloads and profit.

So, yes, shifting the process more and more to downloadable content might mean some lost jobs in the middle parts of the process, but that efficiency attained still goes somewhere and creates jobs on a different level, except that these will likely be highly skilled jobs, which I'd rather see more of than low-paying local retail and distribution jobs anyhow.

I used to be into the whole "physical" product thing, but really that's not too relevant to me; it's all about the games. If they can do Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance in a download, I'm all for it.