Digital or physical

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Winckle** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:51 am

jawafour wrote:I think the divide in preference is generally between PC and console formats. Steam, and other PC/Mac shopping channels, are awesome in terms of accessibility, service, account setup and pricing. Using console shopping channels is a different experience and rarely one that is better than buying a physical product.

There'll always be some people who will pay, for example, fifty-five quid to download ZombiU, but console game publishers are barking up the wrong tree if they think the bulk of the market will pay those sort of prices.

To put it more bluntly: "Consoles are bad."

PostRe: Digital or physical by **jawafour** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:33 am

Winckle wrote:To put it more bluntly: "Consoles are bad."

Winckle, are your pyjamas adorned with "PC Supremacy" logos?

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Rik** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:40 am

I think you're safer to own a disc than a licence for a DRM system, who knows what would happen if Valve went bust or got purchased? There is no guarantee that you would be able to use your games.

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Wedgie** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:43 am

I would love go full digital but the bloody prices are too much of a rip off, especially on the Wii U.

I usually wait until the price fall, and then buy it. I own more digital games for the PS3 than actual physical games (and I realise this would put me at a loss when the PS4 launches if I trade it in. So I'll just keep the PS3 forever.)

Digital games are a strawberry floating boon on handheld systems, like StayDead said.

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Rax** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:44 am

Valve have a sold track record of putting the player first and not trying to screw anyone over, theyre a privately owned company that makes billions so they cant be bought unless Gabe allows it and I dont see that happening anytime soon.

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Wedgie** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:45 am

Rik wrote:I think you're safer to own a disc than a licence for a DRM system, who knows what would happen if Valve went bust or got purchased? There is no guarantee that you would be able to use your games.

It's a possibility but to be honest, do you see Value going bankrupt? Honestly?

It will only happen if all PC owners say "strawberry float you Steam" and switch to EA Origins or worse. :lol:

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Rik** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:45 am

Never say never, Gabe could be run over tomorrow.

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Wedgie** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:46 am

Value isn't run by Gabe alone. :simper:

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Rik** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:50 am

No but other people may not think the same way :simper:

People like to think Valve are some sort of mega friendly company, truth is they were telling gamers last year that if you didn't accept their new terms and conditions about class action lawsuits they wouldn't just deny you access to the store but DELETE your entire account with all your games and that was not reversible.

Even MS wouldn't pull that gooseberry fool.

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Qikz** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:54 am

Rik wrote:No but other people may not think the same way

People like to think Valve are some sort of mega friendly company, truth is they were telling gamers last year that if you didn't accept their new terms and conditions about class action lawsuits they wouldn't just deny you access to the store but DELETE your entire account with all your games and that was not reversible.

Even MS wouldn't pull that gooseberry fool.

Pretty sure that's already in the terms and conditions of making an xbox account somewhere to be honest.

PostRe: Digital or physical by **jawafour** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:59 am

Rik wrote:People like to think Valve are some sort of mega friendly company, truth is they were telling gamers last year that if you didn't accept their new terms and conditions about class action lawsuits they wouldn't just deny you access to the store but DELETE your entire account with all your games and that was not reversible.

That was a peculiar episode that was glossed over by the gaming press. IIRC, the move was legal in the States but not elsewhere. Valve presented it as a positive step for customers, but how a company can bend the law to suit themselves and still come up smelling of roses, I'm not quite sure.

I'm not anti-Valve and I'm an admirer of how Steam works (even though I barely use it) but they're a business just like any other.

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Schumi** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:06 am

As things stand it makes no sense for me to sit and download 10GB or whatever a PS3 game is when I can get it dropped through my letter box a day or 2 before release for £15 cheaper.

My internet is hardly slow, but even so, it'll take a good couple of hours to download and install it all, and I'd have to pay the absurd price for a new game via the PSN.

If the prices were brought into line, then I'd think about it more seriously.

I only really buy console games, and tend to just buy 3-4 games a year at release. I'm not all that fussed about digital or physical, whatever is cheapest and least effort, and currently that is physical for me.

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Mafro** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:16 am

I'm pretty much download-only on PC since serial keys can more often than not be found for cheaper from a variety of sites.

I rent most of my console games these days so digital isn't an option, not that I'd go digital on a console anyway due to the ridiculously inflated prices (MH3U is the only exception to this due to the amount of playtime it'll get, plus the premium Wii U account offer thing of getting money off other purchases after spending a certain amount). I used to have Playstation Plus, but most of the free games they gave away every month I already owned on another format or wasn't really interested in and that still seems to be the case.

On the 3DS I was physical-only, but the recent change with GAME selling download codes for cheaper than the prices on the eShop itself might sway me to go for more digital purchases in future.

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Rik** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:17 am

StayDead wrote:
Rik wrote:No but other people may not think the same way

People like to think Valve are some sort of mega friendly company, truth is they were telling gamers last year that if you didn't accept their new terms and conditions about class action lawsuits they wouldn't just deny you access to the store but DELETE your entire account with all your games and that was not reversible.

Even MS wouldn't pull that gooseberry fool.

Pretty sure that's already in the terms and conditions of making an xbox account somewhere to be honest.

Link?

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Winckle** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:21 am

Rik wrote:
StayDead wrote:
Rik wrote:No but other people may not think the same way

People like to think Valve are some sort of mega friendly company, truth is they were telling gamers last year that if you didn't accept their new terms and conditions about class action lawsuits they wouldn't just deny you access to the store but DELETE your entire account with all your games and that was not reversible.

Even MS wouldn't pull that gooseberry fool.

Pretty sure that's already in the terms and conditions of making an xbox account somewhere to be honest.

Link?

1.8. What types of changes can I expect to the Services? We continuously work to improve the Services and may change the Services at any time. Additionally, there are reasons why Microsoft may stop providing portions of the Services, including (without limitation) that it is no longer feasible for us to provide it, the technology advances, customer feedback indicates a change is needed, or external issues arise that make it imprudent or impractical to continue. We may release the Services or its features in beta version, which may not work correctly or in the way the final version may work. We may, among other things: (i) restrict or limit access to the Services; (ii) retrieve information from the Authorized Device and any connected peripheral device used to log onto the Services as necessary to operate and protect the security of the Services, and to enforce this Agreement; and (iii) upgrade, modify, withdraw, suspend, or discontinue any functionality or feature of the Services, or any hardware or software associated with the Services or with an Authorized Device, from time to time without notice. We may do so by the automatic download of related software directly to your Authorized Device, including software that prevents you from accessing the Services, playing pirated games, or using unauthorized hardware peripheral devices.

http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/Legal/LiveTOU

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Rik** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:28 am

That doesn't say if you don't accept our terms and conditions we delete your account.

Microsoft in the past have banned consoles from Live for pirates and cheats, however they allow even those people to keep their account.

PostRe: Digital or physical by **bear** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 12:03 pm

Even though I have a pretty poor Internet connection I'd still say digital. Discs belong in the past.

PostRe: Digital or physical by **SchminkyPinky** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 1:41 pm

Digital can be good for convenience' sake but I still much prefer having my physical collection of games that doesn't rely on any kind of internet connection. Add to that the fact that my current console digital collections have been effectively proven worthless and the lessons I've learned from that mean I probably won't be investing in any console digital libraries moving forward. I'll still buy cheap digital games on PC but I don't particularly appreciate Valve's monopoly-like grip on that market and I'm not a fan of DRM so I'll still be very selective with what I buy.

PostRe: Digital or physical by **Rubix** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 1:45 pm

Physical for me

PostRe: Digital or physical by **jawafour** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 1:48 pm

Brerlappins little hat wrote:Only some kind of backwards looking caveman would champion physical media nowadays.

For PC gaming, the digital channel has cost, usage and access benefits which offer clear advantages over the physical channel.

For console gaming the digital channel doesn't offer the same attraction; it's generally more expensive and has poorer access/ownership aspects than just buying a physical copy.

Until I can buy a game and use it on any compatible machine of my choosing, and play it offline if I want to, I will carry on buying physical copies of games for my consoles.

Digital or physical

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