Do Gamers prefer downloads to Boxed Games?

Gamersloot.net is a company that has gone digital, instead of sending out the box, they only send out the CD Key. They fill a niche that many mainstream publishers are beginning to notice. As broadband connections become the norm, digital downloads are picking up in popularity.

[PoSTedUP]

i prefer a bluray collection, i bought burnout, warhawk and socom on bluray, GT5p i bought download because i didnt want gt5p in my collection along with GT5 when it comes out, and i dont sell my games.

download is in fact more convenient though.

[drdistracto707]

I agree, downloads are easy, but I like to have the bluray, its reliable and gives me a sort of sense of pride to own the disc and put into the ps3, to here the click and the sudden spin of the disc, its somehow very rewarding (especially if you buy the game yourself)

[thebudgetgamer]

besides you cant take a downloaded game over to a friends house to play r2

:)

[SaiyanFury]

Unless a game is released only through the PS Store, I buy it in disc form. Have been since I was buying Sega CD games back in the early 90s. I'd rather own a physical copy than download a software version considering my $hitty internet connection speed. I have 1.5mbps and it takes me like 4 hours to download a GB. I'd rather substitute that with an actual disc where I'm not locked into a long download cycle. Digital downloads are the future perhaps, but people are accustomed to buying a disc in a case and like the feeling of owning that copy. I do believe that this will be the case for a long time to come. It's what people know, and has been the case since the 80s when people bought VHS movies. The same 30 year old mentality is already embedded in the average consumer and will no doubt prevail onto other disc or physical-based formats.

[uie4rhig]

demos = downloads
full games = hard copy

nuf said

[TheColbertinator]

I only like small downloaded games but I like to stack my tower of 360/PS3/Wii games.It looks really cool

[yoghurt]

boxed version all the way. Its nice to have something physical for your money. I appreciate downloads for what they are, and use them occasionally but I'm not up for downloading a movie/game that I really want - rather have the disc thanks

[PirateThom]

I always buy boxed when given the choice on the PS Store, but for small games, downloads are pretty awesome.

[micro_invader]

Yeah, I agree. I like building up a library of games that I own physically on a disc. Also, I don't mind buying small games like PJ Eden, Wipeout etc from the store.

Oh, and I forgot to mention manuals and cover art, I like those as well.

[EyeShield 21]

Boxed games for the win. You feel good when you actually have an game booklet to watch from time to time.

Im off to another thread with my MAX SPEED!!!

[robotnik]

Boxed. I wonder if they will ever release a boxed compilation of Ps network games.

[Jotenks]

My preference is for boxed games, though my friends tend to get downloads for PC games usually (I suppose it helps deal with the problem of having to find the disc as well as the keys). Though if it is a console game I would prefer to have it in a box, suppose just the way it is; because I certainly don't want to spend a good chunk of my time downloading a game when all I have to do is walk to the store (or drive) and get it pop it in and play.

[NewYork214]

i like how it is now. keep the small games downloadable and big games get boxed and shipped

[Master and Commander]

Metal Gear Solid 5 will probably be 100 gigs. When will most people have a fast enough connection, and big enough hard drive to download a game like that? 2020?

[hotrider12]

I rather have a CD blu-ray disc anyday hell, your ps3 or 360 over load or burnout then what??..... a hard copy disc much better

[Sjoeter]

I prefer boxed over download! you never really own a downloaded game.

[riksweeney]

Too right, and what do you do once you've finished playing it? You can't trade it.

[timmyrulz]

I prefer my DVD9 games, no isntalls, no waiting just plug in and play like consoles are meant to be. Plus when i buy games with more than one disk i feel like im getting more value for my money

Yours sincerly

Trolls r us

[n4gzz]

As of today's technology, I don't even like small downloadable games, let alone full games.
But, we didn't like to download music either 10 years ago. As technology advances and we will have more secure and owned feeling on download games, opinion and choice changes.

I was one of those who adapted dvd over vhs really late 'coz i was always afraid of disc scratch.

[FunkYellowMonkey]

yep plus the fact dat boxed games don't take up hd space, it just loads em on the go - running out of space on ps3 hd now, last thing is to fork out more money on another drive with the credit crunch and xmas going on!...

[Draconis]

There is no greater feeling than looking at your collection and say I really need to play that game again. With digital download it just gets lost in the shuffle. By the way they keep the prices up for longer periods, its harder to score a bargain bin game. it will seriously hurt gamesales. They have to stop comparing console gamers with Pc gamers. What goes for one doesn't necessarily go for the other

[YouNoob]

i have got over 500 discs (Dreamcast/Xbox/360/PC) lying around and collecting dust. i'd much rather have 10 big harddrives lying around.

in a few years, discs of any sort will be history anyway.

[PistolPumptMonk]

I think the human enjoyment of owning a physical object will keep discs around to some extent forever. I for one love going to the store and buying a new game a lot more than clicking download and not seeing anything "real" from it.

[lokiroo420]

So I guess you dont share any of those with family or freinds? Hard to believe that you never just bring one with you on the go to another persons house? Downloads will never allow you to play on anything but your system, I for one want a game to be portable.

[YouNoob]

nope i dont. ppl always come to my house if we want to game together. besides that, to access downloaded games at another place, just login with your profile and there you have it. DD of the future will OBVIOUSLY include online storage. it's not rocket science but humans have usually a hard time letting go of old habits.

[gnothe1]

I was starting to prefer DD over boxed games until I bought the download version or Warhawk. not my type of game, to me it sucked an if I had the boxed version it would have already been traded in,but now I'm stuck with a game I may never play again!! so yeah give me the boxed version.

[djroberts]

No, I prefer discs for most games.

[gametheory]

I would prefer streaming games if I was gonna play games on demand, but downloading and waiting 2 hours for the game to be on my hard drive, that's just too much. Until I can STREAM my games of the net I will keep buying discs, otherwise it would be expensive to be buying bigger hard drives because I need to fit more games.

[villevalorox]

no. because u can not sell downloaded games or lone them out or borrow them. And cash is not dead yet.

[THE_BATTLERAGER]

Of course you can't trade it but then I am very careful bout what games I buy, I torrent first than buy later if it's good.

[mariusmal]

i prefer hard copys. i just love looking at all my originals... mega drive ones, psx ones, xbox ones. just remembering the good old times

[ReubenSala]

The only games I ever downloaded was ones on XBLA and The Orange Box, other than that I prefer games in the box, I mean, what happens if you reformat your computer and you lose your game data and you have internet connection? Easy, you're boned! But I don't have to worry about that too much. Also, pulling up old game boxes brings back a lot of nostalgia, I mean when I saw a box for Dark Forces at Goodwill for 3 bucks, all I could remember was good times of my childhood.

[C_Dub]

Downloadable games only feel right if they're small or arcade types. As for full-on retail titles, I couldn't bear to have them without the box.

[mettalhead70]

I don't know about anyone else but I prefer to actually own my games and when I say "own" i mean to actually hold it.Same thing goes for music.

[PS3Freak]

Hell no, i like to actually have the game in my collection. Not some virtual downloaded data, screw that. When you have the game in your collection you are guarenteed that nothing will happen to it, unless you can't take care of your games.