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I've been making the rounds reading various articles about digital vs disc based gaming. With the constant up roar about Microsoft's new strategy to shift everything to a more digital landscape for console gaming, I found myself wondering something. Am I the only one who still prefers to all games regardless of platform on a physical disc?
Honestly I do take good care of my discs but because I'm afraid of accidents I make a digital iso and store it in 2 separate hard disks for maximum redundancy. But if something happens to my discs I will burn another one instead of using some sort of iso service like daemon tools or alcohol420 to run the system. I also prefer this because the online services have the ability to pull a game at any time and if you have to reinstall windows or your hard drive crashes its down, no more playing that game unless you pirate it.
I also see people shifting, at least PC gaming, more to online retailers with downloads. With platforms like steam(which arguably is the best example for how it can go right assuming you don't piss them off and they ban your entire account which makes you lose access to all your games you registered on that account). Go into your local Target, Walmart, Gamestop, any name brand store.
I promise you the thing you'll see is a very very small collection of pc games usually with the available stock already on the shelfs of only the top PC sellers.(usually some blizzard games, cod, some of the more popular steam games.) And yet they'll usually have a sign that says for you to go online and access their extended library, just download the game directly from their servers!
There are also tons of new services aiming to be the new "steam". It seems each company is making their own launcher type service(uplay, origin, battle.net's app is in closed alpha or beta), so they can "reap" the benefits of having a place to hawk games that may interest you only from that publisher. With a service like steam you're not only competing among your own titles, but other publisher titles. As the years progress I see less and less discs in the stores and more and more digital only crap.
Poll: Which do you prefer?Disc-less gaming with downloads (25) 58% Disc based gaming (9) 21% Combination of Both or what ever is available. (9) 21% 43 total votes Your vote: Which do you prefer? (Vote): Disc-less gaming with downloads
(Vote): Disc based gaming
(Vote): Combination of Both or what ever is available.
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It's not the future, it's the present. You're living in the past bud
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Pretty much this. The only games I still buy in physical form are blizzard games, just cause it's much cheaper than their site.
I don't even have a cd/dvd-rom anymore, and haven't for years
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United States5162 Posts
I haven't bought a physical game since 2006.
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I like them digital, but most games that I play are cheaper to buy in physical form than in digital.
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I like games that can be downloaded online, but hate ones that are dependent on client.
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I guess I'm alone in that I like box art and manuals to read  .
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T.O.P.
Hong Kong4685 Posts
On June 14 2013 07:05 FromShouri wrote:I guess I'm alone in that I like box art and manuals to read .
I like it too, but I rather have the publisher save costs and pass the savings along.
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Manuals are bullshit nowadays anyway. I rofled when i looked at my GW1 box compared to GW2. It made me sad, 2 complete novels in comparison to an extended install leaflet.
I prefer either, i like to have a few game cases floating about but at the same time i download most of my games digitally anyway, on PC at least.
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On June 14 2013 02:26 elmizzt wrote:
It's not the future, it's the present. You're living in the past bud
It's still very much the present for people that aren't relatively privileged (as in the majority of people). While digital distribution is definitely the near future, it is not yet today. Internet quality still isn't good enough to support most people getting all of their games digitally (games are rather massive, taking up a lot of space on consoles, and downloads take hours upon hours + install time usually takes hours as well). Furthermore, games need to make a near-universal switch to being digitally available before it can become the present. They are widely available, but still have yet to be near-universal.
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I haven't bought a physical game in years. Then again, most of the games I buy these days aren't even available in a physical format, so even if I didn't prefer digital distribution (which I do) I wouldn't have a choice.
Desura is actually a better distribution system than Steam in some ways--you can download the installer for everything or nearly everything that you buy, whereas Steam does not give you that option--but obviously does not have the same library that Steam does (but that goes both ways too).
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its nice to just have it in steam for example, that way you don't have to carry around a bunch of discs. Discs are a waste of money, and lets be honest, the physical product just creates more middle men who takes the money from the creators.
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Thought this was disconnect-less gaming and had a yelp of joy onto to have it squelched...
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Most things now are direct download I'd say. I really like the fact that it saves equipment used that would otherwise pretty much ruin the environment, like the plastics and such. Direct download is the way of the present haha.
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I prefer physical copies for storage. Of course, if a game I wish to buy is discontinued, then I will have to rely on digital copies instead. I will take whatever is available, but I will prioritize discs if I can.
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I can honestly say that I haven't used a CD/DVD/whatever-it's-called-these-days drive on a computer for ten years or something. My current one doesn't even have one. IMO they are slow, unreliable, and horribly obsolete, considering broadband internet exists. Hell my free gmail account holds more data than even the most advanced optical media available. (Albeit only in small chunks but still, there are other services out there, just an example)
As a sidenote, you should not trust optical media for your long-term storage needs. They lose data over the years, faster if they are of cheap manufacture.
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I buy all my games for PC digitally, I don't see any benefits to having discs, console or otherwise.
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well, i miss the 100 page manuals from games like civ 2 or railroad tycoon, but not having to worry about those stupid discs far outweighs that. Havent bought a retail game in years, most of my games are on steam so i can install them with a single click.
i think the only people still buying discs are people who dont trust "the internet".
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If they would make manuals again, I would buy retail boxes even if they were a bit more expensive that digital distribution. Remember Alpha Centauri?
Are you listening publishers?
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Discs are good for when you move and have to wait 3 weeks to get internet service.
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I think it depends. Depends on what you ask? It depends on the platform. Allow me to explain. On PC, your computer is already naturally set up to access the internet, assuming you live in a 1st world country (which is really the market for video games anyway). This means that it is easy to digitally download and is preferred due to the ease of doing so.
However, on consoles this is not really the case. I know there has been a move toward consoles being more internet friendly, but we are definitely not there yet. I don't think you can assume that consoles should always be hooked up to the internet. I don't mind if companies want to provide both digital AND physical copies on console at least (PCs are debatable, but having both is still better anyway. It allows the consumers to have the choice if they want the physical copy) but I don't think the gaming industry is best served by going 100% digital.
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Canada11520 Posts
On June 14 2013 07:05 FromShouri wrote:I guess I'm alone in that I like box art and manuals to read .
But they hardly have that anymore. Blizzard games are just empty boxes with demo keys
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I have a thing for the boxes and miscellaneous stuff, but if the game is on sale digital is the way to go.
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EPT
