Topic: Thoughts on Physical Media and Digital Downloads

I recently read an article about digital downloads being "the future" while discs/carts will soon phase out. Yes, digital downloads has it's benefits, but there's plenty of cons in regards to digital downloads.

See, I don't really sell games because the games I buy are ones I know I'll like and keep- plus, I tend to go back and play a game a year or so from the time I bought it and play through it again. So, selling games is out of the question for me. But the flaw with digital downloads I always have in my mind is the fact that you cannot 'share' these games. The only way to 'share' a digital game is to pretty much lend your whole device or give your friend your account information (in terms of Cloud gaming).

I'm hoping physical media do not phase out because it has it's benefits that digital download just doesn't have. Who doesn't like that new smell of a game you just bought? I sure do. And I'm the type of person who shares certain things. Imagine this:

3DS/Vita having no physical media. So, a friend wants to borrow your console because you have a game he wants to check out or just play the whole game and he has a console of his own. So, instead of just letting him borrow the game to play it, you'd have to lend him your console- see, that's tacky. I'd rather lend him the game than the console.

It's funny how people overlook this and say "Digital is the future."

First, digital isn't the future because it's already being done. Secondly, if you think digital is going to be the only type of media for video games, well.. I think you're nuts I mean, physical media and digital can most certainly coexist (it's being done right now anyways), but to say digital is the only way you'll be playing games, well, that's concerning and you're just giving the corporations ideas because you know what will be going through their heads?

"So, Bobby is lending his game to Mike.. And Mike is playing the game and will eventually beat it.. So that means he will likely not buy the game, so that = losing money. Hell no! Digital is the way to go. No more physical media and sharing."

Sharing is caring. But in the corporations say "I don't share and I don't care"..

Or, that's what they want people to say..

_{I'm kinda tired, so pardon errors and stuff like that...}

Remember, this is a discussion, not a war zone!

_{But I wouldn't mind free entertainment...}

I honestly do not care for digital downloads, and I dread the day that they become the standard for gaming. To cite a very good example, with the recent playstation network crisis, many people's credit card information were stolen because they were all on record with the psn. Thats a very good example for there to be a slower march towards the digital download. my credit card info is not 100% safe, to my knowledge that is, and would be very easy to hack.

As for actual games, there's just something that isn't as satisfying as going to a store, buying a new game, cracking open the instruction booklet, then loading it into my console. that can't be compare to downloading a game.

However, downloading small games for a cheap price is very good. I applaud some downloadable only games because they offer a lot of value for being cheap and enjoyable. It's not that I hate to download a game, I'm just saying that if it came between me buying a new Mario game digitally, or with a disk/cart, I'll go for the hand copy hands down. No offense to digital downloads btu I feel we just haven't gotten to a point where it would be 100% safe to do it, and that it would be more feasable.

I don't see how people sharing games is in anyway advantageous to the companies, I they would rather everyone buy their own copies anyway.

_{Or at least that's what I was going to say before you touched on it later in your post.}

Eventually it may become digital only.

Im half and half, I wanna play all my games on one system or 2 Handheld/Console
but I still think physical media is better, I just wish every system was backwords compatible with ALL older forms
I hope the successors to the 3DS will play DS still
same with Wii U successor's playing Wii games

HAHAHA

/me imagines putting NES carts into Wii U

HAHAHA

I prefer physical media for whatever reason, but it's inevitable that games will be completely downloadable in the near future.
These guys do a good job of explaining things and making it sound at least halfway pleasant.

Well, I'd only share with people I trust (mostly family members and best friends). It's not like I'd share my game with just any friend.

Thing I like about Steam's digital stuffs is that sometimes, they'll let you have special passes so you can share the full game with friends for 3 days. If everything goes digital only, I'd hope something like that happens.

This is why I love Valve's online infrastructure more than Nintendo's (laugh!), Microsoft's and Sony's :3

I like both but downloadables are more convenient.

Just to go through all Komic's points:

I recently read an article about digital downloads being "the future" while discs/carts will soon phase out.

I generally hear 20 years being quoted, and that sounds about right. There's a definite industry transition that is taking place.

See, I don't really sell games because the games I buy are ones I know I'll like and keep- plus, I tend to go back and play a game a year or so from the time I bought it and play through it again. So, selling games is out of the question for me. But the flaw with digital downloads I always have in my mind is the fact that you cannot 'share' these games. The only way to 'share' a digital game is to pretty much lend your whole device or give your friend your account information (in terms of Cloud gaming).

I'm hoping physical media do not phase out because it has it's benefits that digital download just doesn't have. Who doesn't like that new smell of a game you just bought? I sure do. And I'm the type of person who shares certain things. Imagine this:

The mass market doesn't really care about that stuff. Yes, individuals do, but 5 or 10 per cent of the population aren't going to be enough to convince an entire industry to backflip.

It's funny how people overlook this and say "Digital is the future."

Because they're talking about the future of the entire industry, not "the future of the industry from Komic's perspective."

First, digital isn't the future because it's already being done.

What? Digital Download is still in its early adoption stages. "It's the future" is a turn of phrase to represent a trend that is going to become dominant in the future. It's not meant to be taken literally.

Secondly, if you think digital is going to be the only type of media for video games, well.. I think you're nuts I mean, physical media and digital can most certainly coexist (it's being done right now anyways), but to say digital is the only way you'll be playing games, well, that's concerning and you're just giving the corporations ideas because you know what will be going through their heads?

What you don't seem to understand is that publishers and developers want games to go digital. Publishers hate dealing with retailers, because retailers are as a whole, obnoxious. If a publisher can remove that middleman, it will.

Retail games are still being made right now because digital adoption for the really big games is between 5-10 percent. That's growing though. There will be a tipping point when enough people are downloading games rather than buying them in a shop that is becomes a liability, not a profit, for a publisher to release a game to retail. When that happens, the publisher will stop putting games on retail shelves.

Yes, it will mean some people miss out, but that's business.

o cite a very good example, with the recent playstation network crisis, many people's credit card information were stolen because they were all on record with the psn. Thats a very good example for there to be a slower march towards the digital download.

Actually, PSN downloads has accelerated since the network went back up.

my credit card info is not 100% safe, to my knowledge that is, and would be very easy to hack.

Everyone shops for goods online these days. Your credit card isn't safe even if you don't buy download games. Your credit card isn't safe at all - even if you never use it online, you can have it physically stolen.

As for actual games, there's just something that isn't as satisfying as going to a store, buying a new game, cracking open the instruction booklet, then loading it into my console. that can't be compare to downloading a game.

None of that "satisfaction" supplies the publisher with any money whatsoever. So there's no reason for a publisher to work to maintain it.

There's more to it though

Personally I dont think phyiscal media such as game discs and what not. I for one prefer having a physical disc over a digital download. For one if I want to be able to loan a game or a movie or cd to a friend I can do that without loaning him my whole computer or Ipod or what not.

This discussion has come up before and I always say the same thing but who knows maybe some day I will change my tune.

I actually hope they go back to cartriges. I was always facinated by them.

(Continued from Digital only is the future of gaming?)

I thought your DSiWare was bound to a single console. Like how you can't transferDSiWare across an SD card to another DS. Are you referring to a situation where you keep the same 3DS your entire life, because although that is feasable, if your 3DS is damaged or otherwise expired (and unless Nintendo deems you worthy of a software transfer), you won't be able to transfer games over to a replacement console.

But you said in an earlier post (found on that previous topic, locked and deleted by TBD)"Your house can also burn down in the night - better not buy hard copies, either. Nothing is permanent, I don't know why people expects this to change for digital downloads."

So although it's likely your console suffers a freak memory wipe, and game developers aren't obliged to reimburse you, you can actually back up games for as long as you want?

Don't get me wrong, Download is great - I use it loads (particularly with steam) and I'd be a hypocrite if I was to say otherwise (plus, my part of Rural Norfolk may get decent broadband within a year, and even better broadband in the next 3 or 4 years), but unless the unfair DRM companies like EA and Ubi love to put in their gamesis completely eradicated, it [downloadable games] might come as a mixed blessing. Yeah, piracy is a problem, but unless the game companies completely lock down the games for use on a single computer by a single user (sign in to a server that may or may not be defunct in 5-10 years time), they'll never get rid of it.

And Super-Fast broadband will expedite this.

wait, what did i delete? i'm confused now :/

When I first followed the link (while making the previous post), it was broken, and so I assumed you deleted it.

I thought your DSiWare was bound to a single console. Like how you can't transferDSiWare across an SD card to another DS. Are you referring to a situation where you keep the same 3DS your entire life, because although that is feasable, if your 3DS is damaged or otherwise expired (and unless Nintendo deems you worthy of a software transfer), you won't be able to transfer games over to a replacement console.

Nintendo's not exactly the best example of a company with good digital download credentials. The kinds of problems that you list above will be fixed over time.

But you said in an earlier post (found on that previous topic, locked and deleted by TBD)"Your house can also burn down in the night - better not buy hard copies, either. Nothing is permanent, I don't know why people expects this to change for digital downloads."

So although it's likely your console suffers a freak memory wipe, and game developers aren't obliged to reimburse you, you can actually back up games for as long as you want?

I've never had a publisher feel "obliged" to replace a retail game after it's died, either.

But yes, in the event that your PSP or PS3 explodes tomorrow, you can buy new hardware, and provided you have a backup somewhere, restore your games without actually redownloading them. Same with iTunes and iPhone/ iPad. Especially so with Steam.

Keep a cloud service going somewhere and you can keep an off-site backup too. Which make it more secure than physical copies.

I'm very against digitally distributed media, legal or otherwise. Why? Because A) You're 100% depended on storage; Computer, NAND, SD or HD broken = Media gone. B) It makes the product super-impersonal; No manuals to hold in your hands, no disc to put into the system. What counts is the media, not the hardware; Hardware can easily be exchanged, media is limited to many circumstances. Downloads are also depended on the one who offers them; if a digital 'product' is taken offline then you might have a problem. In other words you become totally depended on the offerings. The internet has certainly it's advantages, but things go the wrong way when dependence goes to the ultimate extreme. What i consider worthy, is a originally pressed DISC of Resident Evil, not 'just another download'....dunno, it just feels bland, empty...to be avoided as much as possible.

P.S. I don't count so-called durability of digital 'media' as a advantage. When you truly respect your discs and cartridges then you might enjoy these for the rest of your life. My discs don't have a single scratch on them.

Do not like Digital at all.

Heck even if they said "we are going full digital" (Which Nintendo is not, they clearly stated Discs are being used for the Wii-U) I'd just print out my Own box art and such. I can't stand having a Digital copy (though with VC it's understandable, I don't want to pay over $50 for that old of a game) :/

I want downloads to continue to supplement retail. The ps vita is a prime example in that retail games are released same day for download, so I can choose to buy either one. digital downloads are much more convenient, but with slow internet speeds or preference to being able to hold something in your hands, digital downloads likely will never become the only option for buying games.