I like physical copies but cannot deny the convenience of digital downloads.

[DoPo]

but what happens when the HDD or the whole console goes out.

Erm, what happens if a disk gets scratched beyond readability or it breaks? How is it that only DD is in threat of your game never being playable again, yet a physical copy is seemingly immune to this fate?

I have had hard drives fail from normal use. I have never scratched or broken a disc, never! Scratching/breaking a disc is not something that happens by using it as intended.

Yet, it does happen. Partly because people are not using them as intended, because they might not be bothered. Or they lend the disk to somebody. Or they move and the disk gets lost or maybe gets damaged during the transportation.

It's not really an infeasible scenario.

Besides, the scenario suggested was of doom and gloom where several low chance things have to all go wrong at the same time for it to be true. Given the context, a perhaps rare, yet not impossible, scenario is perfectly suitable.

 

[WeepingAngels]

but what happens when the HDD or the whole console goes out.

Erm, what happens if a disk gets scratched beyond readability or it breaks? How is it that only DD is in threat of your game never being playable again, yet a physical copy is seemingly immune to this fate?

I have had hard drives fail from normal use. I have never scratched or broken a disc, never! Scratching/breaking a disc is not something that happens by using it as intended.

Yet, it does happen. Partly because people are not using them as intended, because they might not be bothered. Or they lend the disk to somebody. Or they move and the disk gets lost or maybe gets damaged during the transportation.

It's not really an infeasible scenario.

Besides, the scenario suggested was of doom and gloom where several low chance things have to all go wrong at the same time for it to be true. Given the context, a perhaps rare, yet not impossible, scenario is perfectly suitable.

Scratching/Breaking a disc and a hard drive failing are not on the same level. One is in your control and one is out of your control because it happens through normal usage.

If you are a careful person and you don't loan games to careless people (or don't loan them out at all) then you may never have a single scratched/broken disc but a hard drive failing through normal use could cost you many many games if the servers are gone or you can't re download for some other reason.

Oh and in 10 years it is very likely that 2 things will occur. PS3/360 hard drives will begin to fail and the respective stores will be shut down.

 

[DoPo]

Scratching/Breaking a disc and a hard drive failing are not on the same level. One is in your control and one is out of your control because it happens through normal usage.

I've never had a hard drive fail on me. Besides, if you are a careful person, you can secure against that.

IT'S THE SAME!

Besuides, you seem to be stacking a lot of ifs on both sides. If you do that, and if you do that, and if you do that versus if that happens and if that happens at the same time and if you've not done that.

Answer me a single thing: is a disk being unavailable for whatever reason a reasonable likely event. Don't spice it with "if that and if that and if that" - just a straight yes or no: is a disc not being usable a thing that is likely?

And if "no", you will have to explain why you need to be so careful with discs, if it's not something you have to guard against.

 

[WeepingAngels]

Scratching/Breaking a disc and a hard drive failing are not on the same level. One is in your control and one is out of your control because it happens through normal usage.

I've never had a hard drive fail on me. Besides, if you are a careful person, you can secure against that.

Ok, tell me how to prevent a hard drive from ever failing while also using it for it's intended purpose. The more you download, the more you will use it and the faster it will fail. Enlighten me.

IT'S THE SAME!

Not until you tell us how to make a hard drive last forever while also being used for it's intended purpose.

Besuides, you seem to be stacking a lot of ifs on both sides. If you do that, and if you do that, and if you do that versus if that happens and if that happens at the same time and if you've not done that.

Only two "if's"

- If your hard drive fails
- If the online store has been shut down

Both of these things are a certainty at some point and 10 years down the road is very likely. Are you prepared to claim that:

A) Hard Drives can be preserved and used forever and
B) PSN and Live Marketplace will never drop support for previous consoles?

Answer me a single thing: is a disk being unavailable for whatever reason a reasonable likely event. Don't spice it with "if that and if that and if that" - just a straight yes or no: is a disc not being usable a thing that is likely?

Not in my case. I take care of my discs and that is why I prefer physical. If for some reason I was incapable of taking care of my discs then I would probably prefer digital up until the day that I lose all my games because an online store shut down and the hard drive storing them failed.

And if "no", you will have to explain why you need to be so careful with discs, if it's not something you have to guard against.

I don't need to be "so" careful with my discs, just careful. You need to hold them in the center and edge and put them back in the case when not in use but you don't need to treat them like eggs. It's a shame so many people don't do these simple things.

 

[DoPo]

Ok, tell me how to prevent a hard drive from ever failing while also using it for it's intended purpose.

I would appreciate it if you didn't put words into my mouth.

Ok, tell me how to prevent a hard drive from ever failing while also using it for it's intended purpose.

That idea is preposterous. Also, something I never, ever suggested. How about you explain it to the class, as you are the one who is suggesting it?

Enlighten me.

1. Backup.

2. Health check.

You are now enlightened. You are now allowed to do more strawmanning, and shifting goalpoasts and sidelining and so on as much as you choose. I would try to steer you to the correct course again, as always.

Not in my case.

I notice you did not answer my question as I laid it out. Yes, or no? Are discs are inherently utterly infallible or is there a significant enough chance that they can be be in a state where they are not usable?

If the former, then you don't actually need to take any care of them. Yet, you keep insisting that it's needed, which would be baffling. If not, then you are not actually refuting my initial question. Which is also baffling, as you somehow tried to.

Which one is it?

 

[WeepingAngels]

The formatting on your post was a mess so I won't answer line by line. I hate when that happens to me, it's kind of a pain to clean it up. Besides, I think I am done after this.

Anyway, here goes.

Discs can be damaged but not through normal use, unlike hard drives. A careful person can make their discs last a very long time (until disc rot sets in) while still using the disc as intended. Using a hard drive as intended will eventually wear it out.

I don't know what else to say here.

If you want to support digital downloads, be my guest. It's not like it will affect me in a decade if I can still play Tales of Xillia, Skyrim, etc... and you can't.

 

[F-I-D-O]

There's a permanent quality to physical copies that digital downloads will never replicate.
That said, I have a boxed copy of MAG for PS4 that can never be used since the servers shut down. Physical copies can still become unplayable.

I used to say I'd never pay $60 for a digital download, but that feeling has faded with increased usage of Steam/GoG in the last few years. Buying digitally on PC is just much easier at this point. In addition, I don't like the way PC game boxes look(the black PC CD/DVD theme doesn't look good to me), and it'd be impractical to have a physical version of my steam library. I still don't like buying digitally on consoles due to the interfaces feeling clunky as the downloadable list grows, but I'm not opposed to it.
I think it's important that download costs scale with physical prices. PSN and Xbox Live game prices rarely change from launch, which becomes frustrating.

Collector's editions should always include a physical component. I won't buy a collector's edition digitally. I don't care about an extra art book, comic, and in game items if I don't have something to show for the extra 20-40 I spent.

Personally, I wouldn't buy a physical case for a download code. It just seems kind of silly. I will buy physical elements from that game universe or a later "collector's edition" of a game I already own digitally for display. I think indiebox/gamerseditions are cool systems because they allow a way to display indie games similar to console releases. I have the vinyl copy of Hotline Miami 2's soundtrack just because it was a way to have something from that game world in real life. I'd already bought the game, but the extra physical odds and ends were nice.

I don't think physical releases will ever fully go away purely for gift giving occasions (giving a code seems less significant than a box), but I can see more options being developed (games coming with a disks and a voucher, but only one CD Key).

 

[FoolKiller]

Here are my questions:

a): do you prefer digital download or physical copies?

b)would you like the see physical copies of games with digital download codes inside.

C) do you think this is a good idea and will ot catch on?

Edit: im talking mostly about consoles because i don't think PC games have hardcopy releases anymore.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying but some of it wouldn't make sense.

a) I prefer physical to digital. It saves bandwidth and when the service (Xbox Live or PS Plus) no longer caters to that system (we'll see soon enough with 360/PS3) then you can't play it again if you deleted it to save HD space. Really all the current gen systems should have started with a 2TB hard drive.

b) This is a bad idea. I would get the game and then could sell it and keep the digital version? And I don't want to pay for a case, although I did for Minecraft on Vita (it's code only, but gives you a PS3 copy as well as a discount to get the PS4 copy for only $5).

I love the easy swapping of digital games on Xbox One but I like to actually have a library of games I can actually pop in. That said I now get annoyed when I have to change discs.

 

[Creator002]

Physical copies for consoles, at least until they come with decently sized hard drives. Downloads for my PC.

This is basically how it is for me. I bought FIFA 14, 15 and Halo: TMCC digitally on my Xbox. That was a huge mistake.
In Melbourne, you can't even return or trade boxed PC games as far as I know., so I might as well go digital.

 

[DoPo]

Discs can be damaged but not through normal use, unlike hard drives. A careful person can make their discs last a very long time (until disc rot sets in) while still using the disc as intended. Using a hard drive as intended will eventually wear it out.

*Sigh* again, you did not answer the question as I laid it out.

If you want to support digital downloads, be my guest.

This had not been about "supporting" anything. If you want it to make it so, be my guest. Just do that with somebody else.

 

[Bellvedere]

I prefer digital. I actually just hate having to store a whole bunch of game boxes. It's also easier than going into a shop. I still buy physical console games though because there's no competition for digital retailers whereas there is for physical so it's often easier to get a better deal with a non-digital copy.

Having a digital copy included with physical would be cool if only so that I could redeem a digital copy if I ever lost the physical (like GOG do!). In general though, for games that don't require an install anyway, I'll probably keep using the disc if I have it already.

I don't think it will catch on
I think there would be too much concern from publishers and distributors that one person would keep the discs and then give/sell the download code to someone else, thus essentially selling two copies for the price of one. I know CDProjekt do this with (some?) of their physical games (at the very least with the first and second Witcher games you can redeem a full DRM free digital copy through GOG with the CD key from the physical copies). They have a big "pro-consumer"/believe consumer good faith is worth more than the chance of persons "abusing the system" kind of strategy going on though.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

There is nothing i love more than looking at my bookshelf and seeing the wide arrangements of videogames i have purchased across the years.

That being said i cannot deny the convenience of purchasing a game via digital download. No need to disc swap, an entire library at my fingertips.

I was wondering if anyone else would like to have the best of both worlds. I would love to see retail box games with a digital download code , to be able to have my box all while having the convenience of being able to play my games without the disc.

I'm actually about to clear out a lot of my old boxed games. The world over has moved towards the convenience of digital in not just games, but music, TV, film and to a lesser extent, books. I do love my boxed games, I still remember excitedly reading the backs of each one, opening it to sift thru its contents and wait to install a game. And I'm talking about actual boxes, not DVD cases!

But Steam has made boxes about as redundant as piracy (which at the very least still has a low price tag attached). The convenience, speed and surrounding services make it my preferred choice for games. I've re-bought pretty much every single boxed game I own again on Steam. The tragedy is that I'll likely never use the boxed copies again, hence my clear out. I'm keeping only the most special, the ones with a particularly significant emotion attached. And even these I'm keeping for sentimental reasons since I own them all on Steam too.

The convenience of being able to buy and install in a few clicks, often as fast or faster than via optical media is just too good. Not to mention the freed up shelf space. In fact, I have a bunch of other discs beside my monitor I can probably be rid of...and upgrade my screen to use the space o.o

 

[WeepingAngels]

Discs can be damaged but not through normal use, unlike hard drives. A careful person can make their discs last a very long time (until disc rot sets in) while still using the disc as intended. Using a hard drive as intended will eventually wear it out.

*Sigh* again, you did not answer the question as I laid it out.

If you want to support digital downloads, be my guest.

This had not been about "supporting" anything. If you want it to make it so, be my guest. Just do that with somebody else.

What about my position confuses you as I think I have been more than clear. Here is my position:

- Online stores do eventually close and all games you do not have downloaded will no longer be available
- Hard drives do eventually fail through normal use so even your downloaded games will one day be gone
- Discs do not fail through normal use, they can be damaged if not taken care of but taking care of discs is super easy

If you dispute any of these points, then say so. If you are going to counter with "you can backup your hard drives" then I will counter with how that is an extra cost that does not apply to simply buying the disc in the first place. I doubt anyone here has backed up all of their consoles. Further, I think the PS3 automatically formats any hard drive when you insert it so I am not sure how a replacement hard drive with your games on it would work. If you take out your current PS3 hard drive and then put it right back in I think it reformats it.

I am not really talking about PC here but I did see one poster mention backing up Steam games. I tried that once and it took hours to backup The Last Remnant and I am guessing that if Steam died, the backup copy still wouldn't work. GoG is awesome.

 

[DoPo]

What about my position confuses you as I think I have been more than clear.

As have I, I thought, on the several occasions I tried to steer you towards the meat of my question. You, for some reason, keep drifting away and starting to argue with some imagined things.

 

[WeepingAngels]

What about my position confuses you as I think I have been more than clear.

As have I, I thought, on the several occasions I tried to steer you towards the meat of my question. You, for some reason, keep drifting away and starting to argue with some imagined things.

So you don't disagree with me? That's cool.

 

[DoPo]

What about my position confuses you as I think I have been more than clear.

As have I, I thought, on the several occasions I tried to steer you towards the meat of my question. You, for some reason, keep drifting away and starting to argue with some imagined things.

So you don't disagree with me? That's cool.

Seemingly, as you don't with me. Which is strange as you phrased it very weirdly.

 

[Timeless Lavender]

I dunno dude. I would like to have digital games if :

1)I have my own credit/debt card
2) If I have good internet services( go to hell LIME/FLOW)
3) If I have a good PC

Other than that, I do see the benefits of digital games.

 

[ultrabiome]

Physical discs for full retail releases on console - usually cheaper and doesn't fill my HD (looking at my Wii U specifically, but the PS3 to some amount). Used copies are also an option, especially for old systems.

Digital downloads for indie/VC titles on console - often physical releases don't even exist and they don't fill HDs, although it is now not uncommon to have 1GB+ indie titles.

Digital downloads on PC - steam and origin (Mass Effect Trilogy only) make having physical discs unnecessary. I do pick up boxed copies of a few games to display, but mostly the boxes just have downloadable codes.

One recent exception - I bought a boxed copy of StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void (have boxes for Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm too) and the game actually installed from the disc for the most part, saving me some time installing as I didn't need to download much to complete the process. Better than a code that just sends you to a full game download and I appreciated that.