Sony: Consumers Prefer Discs Over Digital
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
As I've said before.
Disks=trade in's
Disks will become used games and the used games will end up hurting Sony more! I mean, if you have a HUGE expansion or GOTY then sure, pop it onto a disk, but I just feel like we're adding to used games/hurting the industry more.
Disks=trade in's
Disks will become used games and the used games will end up hurting Sony more! I mean, if you have a HUGE expansion or GOTY then sure, pop it onto a disk, but I just feel like we're adding to used games/hurting the industry more.
Translation:
"We swear the self-inflicted punishment we took on to put a Blu-Ray drive in the PS3 was worth it... we promise."
"We swear that UMD was a good idea at the time."
In reality, the only reason to prefer discs over download this generation is the 20+ GB download sizes on some games. Even still though, the fact that most games now require "installs" that take upwards of ten minutes during play sessions are almost like downloading parts of the game itself anyway.
"We swear the self-inflicted punishment we took on to put a Blu-Ray drive in the PS3 was worth it... we promise."
"We swear that UMD was a good idea at the time."
In reality, the only reason to prefer discs over download this generation is the 20+ GB download sizes on some games. Even still though, the fact that most games now require "installs" that take upwards of ten minutes during play sessions are almost like downloading parts of the game itself anyway.
I like digital distribution but I do miss the good old days of PC gaming with the big boxes and enough reading material to keep you going for an hour or two while watching that install percentage creep up and occasionally ask for a different disk to be inserted.
So that said sony's full of crap I dont think I've seen a decent manual with a (standard ie not special limited collectors gold edition with nobs on) game since Stalker:SOC and WC
rophecy long LONG before that
So that said sony's full of crap I dont think I've seen a decent manual with a (standard ie not special limited collectors gold edition with nobs on) game since Stalker:SOC and WC
rophecy long LONG before that
Discs >> downloads
Perhaps I'm just an old fart who got used to the idea of actually owning the things he buys, but I just don't understand the appeal of downloads. The publisher can charge whatever they want on their own download service, you cannot re-sell the game, and you cannot bring it over to a friend's place. The servers will inevitably be disconnected, and you won't be able to redownload what you bought.
Downloads may be convenient, but I'm not sold on the idea. I hope people aren't quite as stupid as I think they are, and will cease to buy DLCs that are not worth it, and not pay good money for downloads. But hey, wait and see, maybe even old farts like me can get used to it...
Perhaps I'm just an old fart who got used to the idea of actually owning the things he buys, but I just don't understand the appeal of downloads. The publisher can charge whatever they want on their own download service, you cannot re-sell the game, and you cannot bring it over to a friend's place. The servers will inevitably be disconnected, and you won't be able to redownload what you bought.
Downloads may be convenient, but I'm not sold on the idea. I hope people aren't quite as stupid as I think they are, and will cease to buy DLCs that are not worth it, and not pay good money for downloads. But hey, wait and see, maybe even old farts like me can get used to it...
Question: Why? It's the same game, is it not?Stormz said:
This is very true. And I won't even buy a game unless it has the box art with it and not those stupid placeholders that GameStop uses. But whatever you want. I could go for either one and it's good to see they're at least trying to have an option for both.
Even with highspeed internet, in the time it takes to download a game, I could run to the store, buy the game for the exact same price, stop somewhere for lunch, go home, and install it with time to spare.
Some day far in the future, digital distribution will probably replace discs. It is going to be a slow transition.
Some day far in the future, digital distribution will probably replace discs. It is going to be a slow transition.
This is kind of hard to believe at face value coming from the people running the Playstation Store. Which often doesn't have demos or even videos for the bulk of their marketplace. Unlike Xbox live, which has demos for pretty much every game.
Also, trying to navigate the PSN store can be an exercise in frustration with the jumble of icons and PSP games, along with random addons/etc cluttering the display. At best, if you know the name already you can look up a game in the alphabetic listings. But hardly optimal for browsing for games you aren't already familiar with.
Also, trying to navigate the PSN store can be an exercise in frustration with the jumble of icons and PSP games, along with random addons/etc cluttering the display. At best, if you know the name already you can look up a game in the alphabetic listings. But hardly optimal for browsing for games you aren't already familiar with.
My download experience is limited to PSN (and that's what the article is covering anyway) so I'll admit some jadedness. But as to my complaints:
DRM: Aside from the recent Fingal Fight issue which was pretty bad, there is no legitimate way to save games you download to an external source. They do this out of fear that one copy of Final Fantasy 7 will make it's way across town. I've been told I have limited downloads (5) before I have to pay for it again. Maybe not exactly DRM, but it still is tight controls on what I can do with something I've paid for.
HD space: Sony's done all right recently, but its early HDs were laughingly inadaquate for gigabyte size installs plus DLC, video, MP3s, and games. Maybe Sony never expected that some of us are still collectors and want to amass a collection of games to play on out whim, not after an hour (at best) redownloading something because we needed to clean off some storage space.
Price: I recently saw a copy of that God of War game for PSP at Gamestop for $20. I saw the same thing online for $25 for download. So much for the idea of lowering prices by cutting middlemen and packaging and transportation. I've seen this elsewhere in digital media. Most music places give a discount for buying the whole CD worth of music rather than just a few songs, perhaps because for the last few CDs I bought, a buck a song wouldn't net me much savings, if not cost more ($14 CD for 13 songs, or $18 CD for 26 songs). That last one is because the price is universal and doesn't take into consideration if I'm downloading top ten material, a cult classic, a 30 minute Beethoven symphony, or the theme from jepordy. Even in my anime world I've seen 26 episode series for $2 an episode that I could buy physically for $37 plus $3 shipping (and it's come down in price since). Even Kindle books have been priced so at not to cut into physical media sales. While I've seen some (PS1 games) that are relitivly failry priced, I've seen some examples of online pricing that seem to ignore the physical world entirely.
Failures: Forgive my jadedness, but I've lost two computer hard drives (plus my mom's) plus a dead memory card for PS1 with all my RPGs on it, but I'm very protective of my digital data. I'm actually very concerned with my PS3 (after two bronken PS2s and a dying 3rd one)because I know they won't fix and return mine, but send me someone else's refurbished system. With my PC that's fine, I have hard backups of everything, but back to point 1 (DRM) I could find myself at my download limt and have to re-purchase something I already bought whereas with a physical disk, I wouldn't have to. And I haven't noticed much compression on PSN games.
And all this doesn't even get into bandwidth issues. Not everyone has the best high speed interenet (and PSN never gets good speed anyway). Plus many ISPs are moving towards bandwidth caps limiting how much I can get at any one time.
Digital media trades convience for control, and if I had more faith in Sony and other publishers, I'd take convience, but for now, I want to say I own it. I can delete and reinstall it as necessary without permission from an outside party. It's there if my system dies no matter what may happen online. It's there if my internet cuts out, and there for me to resell or loan to a friend.
DRM: Aside from the recent Fingal Fight issue which was pretty bad, there is no legitimate way to save games you download to an external source. They do this out of fear that one copy of Final Fantasy 7 will make it's way across town. I've been told I have limited downloads (5) before I have to pay for it again. Maybe not exactly DRM, but it still is tight controls on what I can do with something I've paid for.
HD space: Sony's done all right recently, but its early HDs were laughingly inadaquate for gigabyte size installs plus DLC, video, MP3s, and games. Maybe Sony never expected that some of us are still collectors and want to amass a collection of games to play on out whim, not after an hour (at best) redownloading something because we needed to clean off some storage space.
Price: I recently saw a copy of that God of War game for PSP at Gamestop for $20. I saw the same thing online for $25 for download. So much for the idea of lowering prices by cutting middlemen and packaging and transportation. I've seen this elsewhere in digital media. Most music places give a discount for buying the whole CD worth of music rather than just a few songs, perhaps because for the last few CDs I bought, a buck a song wouldn't net me much savings, if not cost more ($14 CD for 13 songs, or $18 CD for 26 songs). That last one is because the price is universal and doesn't take into consideration if I'm downloading top ten material, a cult classic, a 30 minute Beethoven symphony, or the theme from jepordy. Even in my anime world I've seen 26 episode series for $2 an episode that I could buy physically for $37 plus $3 shipping (and it's come down in price since). Even Kindle books have been priced so at not to cut into physical media sales. While I've seen some (PS1 games) that are relitivly failry priced, I've seen some examples of online pricing that seem to ignore the physical world entirely.
Failures: Forgive my jadedness, but I've lost two computer hard drives (plus my mom's) plus a dead memory card for PS1 with all my RPGs on it, but I'm very protective of my digital data. I'm actually very concerned with my PS3 (after two bronken PS2s and a dying 3rd one)because I know they won't fix and return mine, but send me someone else's refurbished system. With my PC that's fine, I have hard backups of everything, but back to point 1 (DRM) I could find myself at my download limt and have to re-purchase something I already bought whereas with a physical disk, I wouldn't have to. And I haven't noticed much compression on PSN games.
And all this doesn't even get into bandwidth issues. Not everyone has the best high speed interenet (and PSN never gets good speed anyway). Plus many ISPs are moving towards bandwidth caps limiting how much I can get at any one time.
Digital media trades convience for control, and if I had more faith in Sony and other publishers, I'd take convience, but for now, I want to say I own it. I can delete and reinstall it as necessary without permission from an outside party. It's there if my system dies no matter what may happen online. It's there if my internet cuts out, and there for me to resell or loan to a friend.
Which is why I question the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 as DLC only and in episodes no less...
Good for us: It's Sonic 4, finally.
Bad for us: No physical, tangible disc to validate our purchase and we have to pay more than it's worth.
Good for Sega: More money for splitting the game up into pieces for no really good reason other than the aforementioned "more money."
Bad for Sega: We're still going to be pissed at them and demand a Disc compilation of the whole game in one, in turn challenging the Exec in question's choice of avoiding that manufacturing and shipping expense of discs that would have cut into their bottom line. If anyone knows where to contact their PR people, do it now.
Sure, I've spent a hefty amount on classic Virtual Console titles on the Wii but they're a bunch of old games I already own. That way I can play them and maintain the integrity of my aging cartridges. As for the other two console's Stores, I've downloaded some small inconsequential games that I'd never buy on disc (as they'd cost more), but I would never place all my money on Digital-only games. If you hard drive crashes or the service discontinues, where did you investment just go? It's gone.
Funny enough, that sounds hypocritical for me since I was a subscriber to SEGA Channel in the 90s from launch to shutdown. Then again, this wasn't really an issue back then. Besides, it was access to 50 games all at once every month/2 weeks for a flat fee. It was a fuckin' deal and the greatest perhaps SEGA has ever done. It definitely prolonged the life of my Genesis even when the 32-bit machines came out.
Good for us: It's Sonic 4, finally.
Bad for us: No physical, tangible disc to validate our purchase and we have to pay more than it's worth.
Good for Sega: More money for splitting the game up into pieces for no really good reason other than the aforementioned "more money."
Bad for Sega: We're still going to be pissed at them and demand a Disc compilation of the whole game in one, in turn challenging the Exec in question's choice of avoiding that manufacturing and shipping expense of discs that would have cut into their bottom line. If anyone knows where to contact their PR people, do it now.
Sure, I've spent a hefty amount on classic Virtual Console titles on the Wii but they're a bunch of old games I already own. That way I can play them and maintain the integrity of my aging cartridges. As for the other two console's Stores, I've downloaded some small inconsequential games that I'd never buy on disc (as they'd cost more), but I would never place all my money on Digital-only games. If you hard drive crashes or the service discontinues, where did you investment just go? It's gone.
Funny enough, that sounds hypocritical for me since I was a subscriber to SEGA Channel in the 90s from launch to shutdown. Then again, this wasn't really an issue back then. Besides, it was access to 50 games all at once every month/2 weeks for a flat fee. It was a fuckin' deal and the greatest perhaps SEGA has ever done. It definitely prolonged the life of my Genesis even when the 32-bit machines came out.