MCV: "A survey of over 1,000 people by research firm Ipsos MediaCT found that 64 per cent preferred physical discs for their games over digital copies."
Of course they do.. While Digital is rather convenient at times.. With discs, You get to have it physically in your possession.. which is always alot nicer :)
good that it is there to hold but bad if your kids get hold of it and scratch it up or worse. Surprising at the numbers. Not exactly a landslide but still a win for the physical media camp.
I like both as there are some things I cant find on physical but i can on DD and it doesnt make me enjoy the game any less if I dont have to remove the disc when finished.
that 36% isn't an adoption rate. If that was the case Blu-Ray could be said to have 64%. But it does support that digital distribution is here to stay which was kind of apparent.
It also shows physical media will always have its place, especially when you need a lot of capacity...like for games. And as long as technology and games improve generation after generation, we will always find reason that we need to use that extra capacity. So there will always be physical media.
On steam you can burn the folder of your game to a disc :)
easy as pie.
I've downloaded a couple of 15gb+ games already over steam. The great thing about pc gaming is you won't RROD or YLOD by leaving it on overnight. Or if you're like me...Months at a time.
think about it... are you still going to download 25gb of data? games getting better and better every year, there maybe games that takes 100gb~250gb of data in the future do you still want to download that lol i prefer physical disc cuz i want the box art and instruction, i can let my friends borrow it or even trade it
There are not many games that are that big, i can only think of 2 of the top of my head (God of war 3 and MGS4). There might be more don't know nor care.
Point is if Internet providers were not greedy dicks and instead of taking all those government grants and put it into tech. that would AT LEAST get us caught up to places like South korea where downloading your 100gb-250gb can be done for $20 a month with NO bs download limits and in 5 min no less.
So don't blame DD, blame the IP's.
Just look at Steam's current sale. I'd like you and anyone else out there tell me when was the last time a brick and mortar had a 50-75% off sale? I live in canada so maybe that is why but then again I think the prices on steam right now are what games should be charged but i digress.
Discs all the way. DD is good for the under $20 smaller file size and budget Indie games. Even then, I'd actually like a collection of top idie games on one disc.
With disc you can do what you want with it. Borrow, trade, sell. It's by far the better option. What if one day the company goes under or just decides to stop distributing games by DD.
Devs and Pubs use the excuse of pirating as one reason to go DD but what they do not under stand is that gamers sell old games to buy new ones. Going DD only would hurt new game sales especially since many gamers under 17 do not work.
Don't mind DD as an option but 9/10 times physical copy for me. I buy it like anything else and it becomes mine to do with as I like.
I was part of research projects in grad school, and work as a market research analyst now.
MNicholas is right, and I suspect it might be off as much as 10%. Our problem is sample. Often times we have sampling bias where a respondent is prone to a certain response.
Digital downloads or "copies" are a scam and really have no value once you "buy" it. especially they way DD is done now by locking the copy down to the purchaser and a particular piece of hardware. If I buy a Disc based game or movie it is essentially mine to do as I please, I can lend it out store it for use sometime in the future, destroy it or Sell it as I see fit. Digital Downloads are so restricted you might as well consider them a rental. you cannot back them up on a disc, nor can you lend it to a friend to watch or even sell. It is a scam and anyone that thinks otherwise is deluded.
It will be a dark day for the consumer if digital downloads or "copies" become the de facto standard of distribution in the game and media industries.
There is only one way DD could redeem itself, If the digital copy could be backed up on a disk with no restrictions for what you can play it on. and that the copy becomes essentially yours to do as you please.
I dont mind DD and i actually like it a lot, BUT the main thing that worries me if i am able the license forever. Like say a hundred years from now (just saying) could i still download it and play it or would the company hosting my games disappear and not let me download it anymore?
Even if said game is of the same quality and length as a game you would find on a disc?
I understand why you're fighting progress. You spent a lot on a media disc player and you want it to stay relevant.
Edit: @ SunnyD
Actually, you're wrong. I would just transfer the game to an external hard-drive, along with a shitload of other games, and be able to carry around that external hard-drive anywhere I wanted.
The reality is that digital distribution is the next logical step for game distribution. The only qualms people have with it is download speed and download caps, but that is not going to be an issue in a couple of years. People are just dragging their feet.
There is physically no difference in carrying a game on a disc and carrying a game on a hard drive. People say things like, "I like physical copies of my game because I want to own them." It's a nonsensical statement. If you have the game data on a hard-drive, then it's exactly the same as having your game on a disc.
Digital distribution is the future, and the best way to make it a standard is to plant the seeds now.
Well, think about it. With Disks, you can take them everywhere. While with DD you would have to take the whole system to play it. Also, with DD you need a lot of space, not to mention a reasonably fast internet speed to download gigabytes amount of space. With Internet providers giving consumers a cap on how much they can dowload, that's another reason to use disks.
what If the info gets corrupted? Digital dis works for movies and music but its just not the same for a game, guess why a game holds what they call "value" get it? And by the way Surj does not approve...
Wanting to own them is not nonsensical. People are attached to materialism(myself included). You want to be able to see the collections of games or whatever else, that you spent your hard earned money on.
Also, as previously stated. What if your data gets corrupted, or the precious harddrive itself that you store it on? Then what will you do?
@ PS3freak18, data can get corrupted but discs can also get scratched. If you have a digital distribution network like STEAM, you can just re-download and re-install the game data on your drive for free if you've purchased your game from STEAM. So the fear of game data being corrupted is moot.
The other point that you guys brought up is the inability to sell or trade games if you obtained them through digital distribution. That is a good point, I must admit, but there are ways around it. The owner of a DD game will be able to sell a game to another individual through pay-pal data transfer. DD networks like Valve won't refund games because they have no use for them since they already own the data and can duplicate it digitally for no cost.
But there is an upside to this. The cost of games via Digital Distribution are much lower than the cost of disc-based games from a third party retailer. On average, the difference in cost is 10 dollars, but STEAM and other DD networks like Direct2Drive offer fantastic deals on games, like THQ game packs that cost 40 bucks and come with 30 full games, or EA game packs that come with 10 games for 40 bucks.
Basically, even if the consumer of DD games loses the ability to refund or trade games for other games, they gain so much more. Overall, the cost of gaming goes down significantly because digital distribution is cheaper for the publisher than physical distribution.
The only arguments for physical distribution right now are the caps placed on DLing by ISPs, but that's about to change as aggressive competition has forced ISPs to remove those caps, and DL speed, which is constantly getting faster. The third claim is the ability to refund games that players don't like, but to me that just seems like an argument for poor consumers.
You guys do know what demos are for, right? If you play the demo and don't like it, then don't buy the game. Stop buying the game for full price just because you can return it for a refund. Keep in mind that major chains like Target and Wal-Mart don't give out refunds for opened software. They only give you store credit, which is kind of like a "digital" form of money you can only spend there. Hell, sometimes they'll only give you a new copy of the same game.
I don't know about you, but in my entire PS3 game collection, there is maybe one scratch. Blu ray has a protective layer on the bottom, and if that is perfected to the point were they actually never scratch, then the disc getting scratched argument will be moot.
For example, you download a game off of PSN or XBL you are saying that you can just copy that game to a hard drive and play it on ANY PS3 or 360? how about movies, can you download a movie off of PSN and then copy it to a disk for viewing on any player anywhere? can you sell your digital downloaded titles? Not possible because there are restrictions, you are not allowed to copy them to a disc for backup and play elsewhere.
Digital downloads are a slippery slope as they are and will need more work towards balancing distributer and consumer rights to be a viable option. Right now, DD is too tilted toward the rights of the distributer and are not a good value at this time.
I have over 100 games in my collection. Some are rare. Will be nice to know I can sell those games if the need arises either to recoup some money or even make a profit.
I don't care if I have a 4000TB HDD in the near future, I still won't prefer storing my games in it over the hard copy.
Music is different. Movies and games are another thing for me. Having that case in my house is comfortable to me. I don't care if I end up with a 2000-case Blu-Ray collection.
Only time I will choose digital for a game is when it's mandatory for me to buy it that way. Can't live without Super Stardust HD or Dead Nation when that comes out!
I rather have a physical disc of my game then have it digital. Reason is because what if I bought something from Live or PSN, but then those services get shut down? I won't be able to redownload it if I misplace it.
I can't understand why people are still attaching importance to a round bit of plastic. All the disc gives you is the "illusion" of ownership, you never own the game you pay for a licence to USE the game.
I have been a gamer for 20 odd years and I am now 100% digital. In the early days I actually cared about the boxes and discs, we would get maps, posters, novella's and other little knick knacks that gave the game value. Now all you get is a crappy 5p recycled plastic case, a disc that probably cost 2.5p there is just very little of actual value in a boxed copy these days.
I have 60 odd games installed on my PC all in steam I love the fact that when I want to play a game I just bring steam up, click on the game and I am playing. If anything happens to my PC and it needs a format I can get all 60 of those games up and running again within half an hour without having to reinstall all 60 games from their respective dvd's.
"If anything happens to my PC and it needs a format I can get all 60 of those games up and running again within half an hour without having to reinstall all 60 games from their respective dvd's."
Exactly how fast is your internet connection? You do realize that if you formatted your hard drive you would have to download all 60 of the games and install them again. You say you can manage this feat within half an hour!? I call BS on that, unless you have 60 games that weigh in at a few megabytes (not gigabytes) each. I have a 12meg connection, took me a couple of hours to download Portal and install it ... that's just one game!
Now if you had physical media you wouldn't have to download your 60 games, that alone would save you half a day (or more) or downloading (if you have no download cap that is). Installing from a disc is not really that much more time consuming, wow you have to take the disc out of the case and put it into your drive ... that's a few seconds of your life you could have used better (sarcasm).
You really aren't a PC gamer are you Deebee ? The only partition of my hard disc that is ever likely to see a format is my C drive. I naturally DO NOT have my steam folder on the C drive I have an entire 1tb hard disc dedicated to steam. So if I format the c drive or reinstall the OS I do not lose the game files because they are on a seperate HD.
Now after a format all I need to do is reinstall the steam program and hey presto when I go to launch the game it checks to see if the files are still there (and they are) and runs the game again.
Now with the DVD version if you install the game to a different hard disc and then format the c drive it usually stops the gaming working at all so that usually involves you having to reinstall the game all over again.
My steam folder has survived several upgrades and formats, I have only ever had to download my games ONCE from steam and never had to re-download any game again after a format and reinstall. I loved the way you totally dismissed the idea of having 60 games to hand at the click of a button though.
@Charmers, yes I am a gamer, the only difference is I don't use steam ;)
And whilst what you do is great, it's something I would do if I used steam, the majority of people would not think to do this. Most people who install games click "next" "next" "next" until the game/program is installed, these people would never think to back up things or put important files on another drive.
And as for having 60 games at hand at the click of a button, I don't have that many on my system right now but all of what I do have are at hand at the click of a button. You can have X amount of games "to hand at the click of a button" without the need to have steam.
As a foot note, I do actually like steam, I just have always bought physical media so don't need to have another layer between myself and the game I want to play.
If people just click "next" "next" "next" then what ever happens is on their own head. A simple bit of knowledge on how things work goes a very very long way.
As for saying you have your games to hand at a click of the button ... well that isn't strictly true now is it. If you want to play your games you have to find the dvd (even though the game is installed to your hard disc) insert the dvd. Then you have to wait for the PC to detect the disc (unless you are using no dvd cracks which I wouldn't touch with a barge pole). I don't with steam I just click a link and the game launches.
Then there is the bonus of the fact I never have to re-install my games to HD ever again with steam. Once downloaded to my hard disc the games are ready to run whenever I want them. Even after a format and reinstall of the OS I can have all of my games back up and running in under 30 minutes. That isn't the case with DVD games, even if you installed the game to a different HD you will find 9 times out of 10 you have to reinstall the game after a format and reinstall of the OS.
I personally could never go back to buying retail discs and it is probably fair to say that steam actually encouraged me back into gaming. I love the convenience, I love the speed and I love the fact I don't have crap loads of tacky 5p dvd cases to find a home for.
You have me on that point Charmers, I do have to put the DVD/CD into the drive and wait a second or two for the drive to detect it before I can play my game of choice. I personally don't find this to be too inconvenient, I don't mind the few seconds delay between me wanting to play a game and getting to play it. I guess years and years of doing this has made it a "normal" thing that I barely notice now.
As for the rest of what you said, it's perfectly valid, and a great way of doing things, more people should take the time to learn a little more about what they are doing to save themselves time in the future. Sadly, as we see with the proliferation of virus' and botnets, not everyone is as smart ... in fact the "smart" people are grossly outnumbered.
But back to the main topic I guess you'll not be surprised that I remain in the stance I had before, I simply prefer physical media. Yes it has some drawbacks especially when compared to your method, but I can live with that :)
DD is the future like it or not. Reason being it will cost the company making those games less to distribute it. It saves them money. As I said before. Do what PC's do. Have the actually copy of the game and install it fully on massive drives. Have DD in conjunction with it.
PSN and XBLA games are fine to download, but full titles I need disks, partly for my collection and partly because its more secure for me than digital download (hdd space, system failure or internet problems)
I want to physically OWN the game, in my hand, and you know what? maybe I'm alone on this, but I love being able to take a look at my game shelf and see my collection.
I'm fully support disc. I buy very few Digital version because it's not available on disc.
For disc edition, we can still play the game many years later as soon we have the compatible game console and the disc is in playable condition.
Digital edition probably will not be playable after a few years because either we lost the game license due to game account change, max out 5 downloads on PS3, or even we still have the game license, the game maybe not be available for redownload.
Gamers who like digital version are often those who only care about playing the games in a short time and don't really care if they lost the rights to play it again someday.
I still have over 200+ PS2 and Xbox physical disc games in my library and I can play any of them in years to come as long I have compatible game consoles. Try that with digital download version in a few years. Same goes for the disc and digital download version of the movies.
Well people forget about this fact, if indeed next gen was all Digital (which I dont think it will be) then that would make BluRay the last official Disc type, which then makes it 1000x times more important as it would be the last and only kind ever used again
Of course they do.. While Digital is rather convenient at times.. With discs, You get to have it physically in your possession.. which is always alot nicer :)
it should be higher. it'll be a cold day in hell before i pay more than $20 for a dd game.
But I'm one of them. I love owning my media. I know they wont last forever, but I still love having then in a physical form.
not everyone has high speed internet, dd is not a option for alot of people.