The only reason I prefer discs to downloads is the lack of credit card I have. I can't purchase online items without one, and my family drove into my head that credit cards are pointless, and if you don't have the money, you don't get the item.
2 in 3 Gamers Prefer Discs to Downloads, Says Survey
- Thread starter Logan Westbrook
- Start date
Physical media > digital distribution.
I prefer getting discs instead of using Steam and I prefer buying CD's instead of using iTunes.
I prefer getting discs instead of using Steam and I prefer buying CD's instead of using iTunes.
Hm, a very large percentage of the physical copy crowd would be those who have poor internet connections, or live in Australia (or somewhere with a similar problem)
Yeah, I'd LOVE to just Steam everything, and I do for the smaller things... but I can't really go around using up all 2 GB of my downloads, and still having to wait about as long as it takes me to convince someone to drive me sometime next week to the physical store.
Actually, I'm getting a massively better deal sometime soon (Think it's 40GB OnP/160GB OfP) so that'll be fun.
Yeah, I'd LOVE to just Steam everything, and I do for the smaller things... but I can't really go around using up all 2 GB of my downloads, and still having to wait about as long as it takes me to convince someone to drive me sometime next week to the physical store.
Actually, I'm getting a massively better deal sometime soon (Think it's 40GB OnP/160GB OfP) so that'll be fun.
I am personally making it a mission to put a dent in that statistic. I love direct content download, namely XBLA as it opens the door for some really really interesting indie and unique games.
I prefer physical copies, but I am not against D.D. as long as it isn't setup as a scam to take away my rights as a paying customer. Valve tends to have lots of sales (Just got BC2 since it was on sale about a half hour ago. WOOT!!) which makes purchasing from Steam worth it even if it is going to take me a couple days to finish downloading the game in all likelihood.
For me, I'm slowly coming to like D. D. more and more.
A year ago I would have sworn black and blue I would never buy a game direct through Steam. But as the prices of Digital Distribution drop, and the retail prices rise, and my bandwidth gets better ... it's just becoming so much more convenient to have the digital copy available.
No disc swapping. (Hell, no lost or damaged discs!). Games saved in the cloud. Easy multiplayer online.
I've become a convert to digital.
A year ago I would have sworn black and blue I would never buy a game direct through Steam. But as the prices of Digital Distribution drop, and the retail prices rise, and my bandwidth gets better ... it's just becoming so much more convenient to have the digital copy available.
No disc swapping. (Hell, no lost or damaged discs!). Games saved in the cloud. Easy multiplayer online.
I've become a convert to digital.
This. Almost everyone in my country has a capped bandwidth, everyone who doesn't has horrible slow bandwidth.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
While I do enjoy having a physical copy of my game, I prefer it to be digital, as it is both cheaper to buy them on Steam (living in Australia) and it looks prettier in my Steam Collection.
If I buy the game on Steam, I get a nice background and stats when I go to play it.
If I buy the game normally (and put it on Steam) I have this ugly, sparse background filled up with the shortcut.
My favourite games are ones that I can buy physically and activate on Steam. (*hugs copy of Saints Row 2*)
If I buy the game on Steam, I get a nice background and stats when I go to play it.
If I buy the game normally (and put it on Steam) I have this ugly, sparse background filled up with the shortcut.
My favourite games are ones that I can buy physically and activate on Steam. (*hugs copy of Saints Row 2*)
My disks don't freeze up half-way through the trip back home. Nor are they subject to complete loss when my console or hard drive fails.
.pdf's are soulless, game manuals you can hold in your hand are an art form.
They make great pleasure reading and you can always come back for an "Ohhhh" moment on a little trick or control that you missed out on before and would've made the game a whole lot easier/ more fun.
I had to reread that twice but is that a euphemism for what I think it is?
They make great pleasure reading and you can always come back for an "Ohhhh" moment on a little trick or control that you missed out on before and would've made the game a whole lot easier/ more fun.
Wait-wha?Grey_Focks said:
I had to reread that twice but is that a euphemism for what I think it is?
I'll always prefer discs and cartridges to downloads. It's almost traditional that games come on a card, a disc or a cartridge and I'm more stuck in my ways than 10 granddads. When digital distrubition replaces physical media (There's no 'if', it's 'when') I'll be rattling around forums, telling anyone who'll listen that games were better when you slid a disc into a system instead of going to a memory bank and selecting start.
The only downloaded game I have is Portal and that's only because it was free. You might think that's hypocritical and that's probably because it is.
The only downloaded game I have is Portal and that's only because it was free. You might think that's hypocritical and that's probably because it is.
Not really surprising.
People like to own their games as if they where products and not services that can be botched by publishers in every sense of the word to fuck over gamers as much as possible.
People like to own their games as if they where products and not services that can be botched by publishers in every sense of the word to fuck over gamers as much as possible.
I fail to see how digital distribution is any different in that regard. Regardless of the method of sale, publishers just love translating US prices directly into Euros regardless of the fact that Euros are worth more than dollars, resulting in higher prices in Europe. To add insult to injury, digital distribution services are region-locked, allowing publishers to employ price discrimination.Major_Tom said:
Not to mention that, in some cases, a digital version of a game costs just as much as it's physical counterpart...Overall, it's still better to purchase a physical copy or at least wait for it to reach bargain bin prices. If someone has a low salary and invests in something as expensive as a video game, than they can even less afford to potentially lose it due to the company going under or something similar.
As much as I like the idea of owning my own games - and physically having an actual disc is the best embodiment of that - resale is not valuable for me for ANY games I own.
I hate the idea of knowing I will sell it on again for as little as 1/5th or 1/10th of the price I paid for it, yet any store I sell it to they will sell it on for 3-4x as much as they paid me for each copy. I also can't be bothered with direct sale through ebay... more trouble than it is worth half the time.
I'd much rather gift my old games to friends and family, to introduce them to new genres and to support their gaming. When I was a little kid I was very dependent of hand-me-down games from my older Brother and uncle, now I'm giving my cousins my old PS2 games and they are dead chuffed. I appreciate that so much more.
I hate the idea of knowing I will sell it on again for as little as 1/5th or 1/10th of the price I paid for it, yet any store I sell it to they will sell it on for 3-4x as much as they paid me for each copy. I also can't be bothered with direct sale through ebay... more trouble than it is worth half the time.
I'd much rather gift my old games to friends and family, to introduce them to new genres and to support their gaming. When I was a little kid I was very dependent of hand-me-down games from my older Brother and uncle, now I'm giving my cousins my old PS2 games and they are dead chuffed. I appreciate that so much more.
I enjoy discs and downloadable games, they're both just fine for me, but they do have their cons:
Discs can scratch and smudge easy, once that happens and you have no way to buff it to fix it or another copy to find then you're screwed.
Download game data can corrupt and you'd have to start all over, plus if it's a huge game it can take hours to download, especially on PS3.
But, the cons aside, I'd buy either type.
Discs can scratch and smudge easy, once that happens and you have no way to buff it to fix it or another copy to find then you're screwed.
Download game data can corrupt and you'd have to start all over, plus if it's a huge game it can take hours to download, especially on PS3.
But, the cons aside, I'd buy either type.