2 in 3 Gamers Prefer Discs to Downloads, Says Survey
- Thread starter Logan Westbrook
- Start date
"Games are a bigger investment that music and movies"
???
Admittedly you may pay more up front for a game disc than you would a DVD or CD, but I can still play a CD I bought in, oh, 1992 why not, without having to invoke the Nostalgia Gods and plug in an obsolete player. Surely an asset that loses playability, and therefore also value, over a short space of time is not a bigger investment than putting cash in an asset with a longer lifespan?
Besides which, what are we investing, really? Money? Surely in that sense games are like cars; the minute you buy them, they depreciate. The cash value doesn't go up, but down. If time, then going back to my previous, you can invest 10-15-20 years in a CD. Probably a lot more, if you figure that you can burn the CD to an electronic medium and keep its data independently of the orginal disk. How many games can say the same?
Or are we investing gullibility? 'Cos if we are, then go games! Well done! Give yerself a scooby snack. 'Cos what you're actually saying is, games are a more expensive purchase than CDs or DVDs, but 'more expensve purchase' doesn't really go down well with the guys and gals in marketing, does it? Bigger investment, now; that sounds more like a winner!
???
Admittedly you may pay more up front for a game disc than you would a DVD or CD, but I can still play a CD I bought in, oh, 1992 why not, without having to invoke the Nostalgia Gods and plug in an obsolete player. Surely an asset that loses playability, and therefore also value, over a short space of time is not a bigger investment than putting cash in an asset with a longer lifespan?
Besides which, what are we investing, really? Money? Surely in that sense games are like cars; the minute you buy them, they depreciate. The cash value doesn't go up, but down. If time, then going back to my previous, you can invest 10-15-20 years in a CD. Probably a lot more, if you figure that you can burn the CD to an electronic medium and keep its data independently of the orginal disk. How many games can say the same?
Or are we investing gullibility? 'Cos if we are, then go games! Well done! Give yerself a scooby snack. 'Cos what you're actually saying is, games are a more expensive purchase than CDs or DVDs, but 'more expensve purchase' doesn't really go down well with the guys and gals in marketing, does it? Bigger investment, now; that sounds more like a winner!
Same thing happened to the inside ring on my MW2 disk as well. Luckily I caught it before it fully broke apart. Just Activision cheapening their process however possible.spartan231490 said:
On topic: Disks are infinitely better. I download at 125 kb/s on average, which is death when it comes to digital distribution.
I have no problems with Steam as an online distribution method, but I won't personally invest the time or money on online distribution w/out a physical copy of the media I'm purchasing.
I like the idea of Steam, especially for providing PC ports of some of my favorite games, but I do dislike the constant internet connections nessisary for some games.
I like the idea of Steam, especially for providing PC ports of some of my favorite games, but I do dislike the constant internet connections nessisary for some games.
Personally I love the freedom of being able to download a game, especially as trying to find shelf space for all those games is starting to get out of hand, not to mention once the disk is scratched that's it, it's gone.
What I don't like though is the fact that sometimes they like to tie you down to a maximum of 5 downloads, or stop having the download available. The other thing I hate is that they still charge you full wack for a game, even though they don't have to cover the expenses of producing a physical copy or have it sitting as merchandise in a shop.
I definitely think downloading games is the way forward, I just don't think it's quite up to scratch yet.
What I don't like though is the fact that sometimes they like to tie you down to a maximum of 5 downloads, or stop having the download available. The other thing I hate is that they still charge you full wack for a game, even though they don't have to cover the expenses of producing a physical copy or have it sitting as merchandise in a shop.
I definitely think downloading games is the way forward, I just don't think it's quite up to scratch yet.
You know, that really <a href=http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=m570&_nkw=Super+Mario+Brothers+Duck+Hunt>depends <a href=http://music.shop.ebay.com/CDs-/307/i.html?_nkw=ABBA&_catref=1&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282>entirely on how <a href=http://catalog.ebay.com/Swordquest-Waterworld-Atari-2600-/56236255?_fifpts=1&_pcatid=2&_refkw=Swordquest&_trksid=p3286.c0.m271>hard it is to <a href=http://cgi.ebay.com/BEATLES-White-Album-UK-1st-Press-Nr-MINT-psych-LP-/110552420803?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Records&hash=item19bd7011c3#ht_1264wt_1137>find.Karloff said:
Quite simply I have no intention of ever downloading anything I can buy physically. Simply because when steam finally plummets or when the XBox Arcade Super-Deluxe whatever finally stop supporting them, those games will be rendered unplayable.
I like being able to pop in disks and cartridges from decades ago and still giving them a whirl- in five years, I'll bet most of what is digitally purchased today will be useless.
I like being able to pop in disks and cartridges from decades ago and still giving them a whirl- in five years, I'll bet most of what is digitally purchased today will be useless.
I prefer downloading... Not only do I find much better prices on steam (By waiting for them to drop the price, never had the impatience needed to buy a title on opening week, kinda like this but only a six-nine month delay or so)
But also I can check and see if the game is on sale so much more easily. I know very soon after they drop the price of a game I'm interested in (For some reason they are taking their sweet damn time with reducing the price of mass effect 2, but hopefully the current sales will play their part and it will be £19.99 in a week or two)
The only game in recent times I've payed full price for was Dragon Age, and I bought it about two weeks before it dropped, which really annoyed me. (That and the game not being all I'd hoped it would)
Although I'm not fanatical about that, I buy disks if they are cheaper (for some reason the disk of GW:EoTN was five pounds cheaper then the direct download version that they wouldn't let me buy (a couple of attempts not noticing a section for expiry date, and ncsoft have forever blacklisted my card) Or on some sort of sale (bought two copies of DMC3 in a 2 for £7 deal)
But ultimately I prefer the ease of playing what I want when I want, and with a 500gb hard drive, space isn't an issue. (Til I filled it up with 200gb of doctor who episodes, but that's a story for another time)
But also I can check and see if the game is on sale so much more easily. I know very soon after they drop the price of a game I'm interested in (For some reason they are taking their sweet damn time with reducing the price of mass effect 2, but hopefully the current sales will play their part and it will be £19.99 in a week or two)
The only game in recent times I've payed full price for was Dragon Age, and I bought it about two weeks before it dropped, which really annoyed me. (That and the game not being all I'd hoped it would)
Although I'm not fanatical about that, I buy disks if they are cheaper (for some reason the disk of GW:EoTN was five pounds cheaper then the direct download version that they wouldn't let me buy (a couple of attempts not noticing a section for expiry date, and ncsoft have forever blacklisted my card) Or on some sort of sale (bought two copies of DMC3 in a 2 for £7 deal)
But ultimately I prefer the ease of playing what I want when I want, and with a 500gb hard drive, space isn't an issue. (Til I filled it up with 200gb of doctor who episodes, but that's a story for another time)
I don't want a full game without having a disc, but DLC and addons? Sure, digital distribution is fine.
Digital Distribution is great the way Valve does it. no limitations like number of downlaods and stuff like that. Just a username and password, and can install it on any computer.
I avoid getting them in store, even getting to the point of "not avaible on steam? then I don't buy it". That said, I will be breaking that rule when I get Starcraft 2. -_-
I avoid getting them in store, even getting to the point of "not avaible on steam? then I don't buy it". That said, I will be breaking that rule when I get Starcraft 2. -_-
In terms of consoles, it is a lot easier to have a physical disc. It is just easier to transport them to a friend's house without having to drag your console along with you, unless of course you were going to bring it along anyway.
Whereas desktop computers are involved, digital distribution doesn't surprise me in the least as far the rate of popularity goes. While you are probably connected at all times to the internet as long as your computer is on, then why not have a new game downloading in the background while you're messing around on social networking sites or commenting/posting on here? Seems like a logical way to take the most advantage of your time. But with the rise of mobile computing solutions (laptops, netbooks, tablet computers, and I regret to say "smartphones"), some of which don't have an optical drive installed, downloading games just makes the most amount of sense if you want to be able to do something other than solitare on your downtime without having to be connected to the internet and killing your battery quicker.
Now if they made a console that didn't have a disc drive, I'm sure you'd see a dramatic rise in downloads, but that seems like an extreme situation. You know, I'm surprised they haven't begun to release games on a more solid platform aside from discs. Cartridges had a good advantage since they couldn't be scratched or accidentally broken when closing the case. Even with the advances of SSD technology, I'm surprised there hasn't been much of a return to cartridges, unless you count thumb drives.
Whereas desktop computers are involved, digital distribution doesn't surprise me in the least as far the rate of popularity goes. While you are probably connected at all times to the internet as long as your computer is on, then why not have a new game downloading in the background while you're messing around on social networking sites or commenting/posting on here? Seems like a logical way to take the most advantage of your time. But with the rise of mobile computing solutions (laptops, netbooks, tablet computers, and I regret to say "smartphones"), some of which don't have an optical drive installed, downloading games just makes the most amount of sense if you want to be able to do something other than solitare on your downtime without having to be connected to the internet and killing your battery quicker.
Now if they made a console that didn't have a disc drive, I'm sure you'd see a dramatic rise in downloads, but that seems like an extreme situation. You know, I'm surprised they haven't begun to release games on a more solid platform aside from discs. Cartridges had a good advantage since they couldn't be scratched or accidentally broken when closing the case. Even with the advances of SSD technology, I'm surprised there hasn't been much of a return to cartridges, unless you count thumb drives.
Yeah, in a third world country, digital dl is not possible. I would blow my cap in HALF a game download.Darktau said:Well yeah, some of us have a bandwidth cap, slow download speeds or just cba to wait, even if we WANT to download digitally
Well for me I'm kinda old fashioned. I prefer to have all those annoying boxes and and disks and whatnot. Same reason I will probably never get a Nook or Kindel; I prefer to have a bookshelf bursting with books. Same gos for my games. Also the fact that I am paying the same price, but getting less just really irks me. I will admit though, I have recently started buying some things digitally thanks to steams massive summer sale. In instances where I can save a significant amount of money on a game then I will happily but it digitally.