EdenMaster Wrote:Indeed. Especially as speeds get faster and faster. Eventually, it's all gonna be download only.
Sorry, A Black Horse And Carriage, times are a changing. You gotta leave your paper manuals behind sometime.
Whether you mean this or not, I know some people (I'm not sure if they are people here or not, but some gamers) DO believe things like this. They're wrong, and here are some reasons why. First, they're crazy. :) There are a lot of reasons why, but some people just won't listen and are like "Steam is awesome, DD forever, I hope retail dies!" despite everything... ugh.
-Paper manuals and such -- yes they matter, and most definitely not just "because they used to be good!". They matter. Why do you think so many people buy paper guides (and yes, a lot of people do)? Because they are much more convenient than GameFAQs, that's why. I use GameFAQs exclusively much more because of the price than because the product is better, it's not because it's much more convenient to have a guide on paper than on the computer. Also, if manuals were better, as they used to be, guides would not be quite as essential... and things like paper maps and posters aren't just useless extras, even today in plenty of cases they'd be great to have. It's really too bad that PC gaming packaging particularly has collapsed so spectacularly from where it used to be, the needs for these kinds have things hasn't changed... they just don't exist anymore, even though they should.
-You actually own physical media. Downloads, though, it's more fuzzy... Yes, many physical-media games have DRM too, but there is a difference -- for one thing, physical-media games are always available. If for some reason the game is discontinued, you can just buy a used copy. With digital-download games though, once a game is discontinued and removed from sale, it is gone forever outside of piracy.
We have seen this -- some games have been removed from the 360's XBLA for instance. They are now gone apart from people's hard drives. With phyisical media that is impossible. This is a MAJOR point against digital-download, and I think that as time passes is something that will become more and more important...
-Particularly as we see older services continue to get shut down. See the innumerable PC games which have shut down online services, or the original Xbox which is going offline for good in a few days. All the download-only DLC will become forever unavailable for anyone who doesn't have a hacked Xbox. Again, this is not true for anything available on a disc.
-Another note on that -- so if your PS3's clock gets messed up, or your PC's internet connection is disconnected, with some services and even GAMES now you WILL NOT BE ABLE TO USE THE GAME OR CONTENT. Ubisoft's new system for its PC games is that GAMES WILL REQUIRE YOU TO BE CONNECTED TO THEIR SERVER in order to play anything, even single-player games -- and if your internet goes down while you are playing, you lose your game and get sent back to whenever you last saved. Now, this is with physical media too, so this isn't just a physical/digital issue, but it's definitely related... Similarly, Dragon Age DLC on the PC requires an internet connection for you to be able to use it. This is true for most PS3 and 360 DLC as well -- you must be connected for it to work.
Good luck still using it some years down the road after they shut down the 360's XBLA too, which I'm sure they will eventually do just like happens with all of these things far too soon! If you're going to just rely on patches to remove the checks, well, I wouldn't, because they won't all come.
These things are very bad for gaming, perhaps even more so than digital-only is. But they are definitely related and going download-only exacerbates the problem. Ignore this if you wish, it'll just be you who suffers when suddenly someday you will be unable to repurchase or even play the games you think you own. :) With physical media there are more ways to get around the problem, and it is not as bad.
-One more important reason that digital-only is awful is that by going digital only, you are restricting yourself to a market that includes only current, somewhat serious gamers. Lots of people do not use Steam, or do not use it much. Other DD services like Impulse, Direct2Drive, etc. have even smaller marketshares. I know that over time these services are growing, but still, you will never get nongamers to just check out Steam like you could get them to buy a box in the store while they're there. By going DD only you're dropping most of your chances of expanding gaming's market and audience, and that is a very bad idea. This is obviously part of why Nintendo, for instance, only releases small stuff on their DD services -- they know that they won't get many people to buy their casual or mainstream audience games if they're not in boxes. I do not think that this fact will change anytime in the forseeable future.
Yes, PC gaming is as big as ever... when you include MMO fees and such... but genre variety is far far far down from where it was ten years ago, so it sure doesn't look it. Going DD only limits companies to just the market that already wants their games, and is probably part of why a lot of genres that used to be important are now so sidelined. Yes, you can still make the games, but only with a low budget, because you won't be selling many copies. And if you're not watching the online services often, you'll miss that some games even exist. This is really sad.
-You know, it used to be that if some company released an addon or download file on day 1 (or soon after) that required payment, they would be pilloried and ignored and hated by gamers... but now this kind of ridiculous behavior is commonplace and okay. Alright, buy Mega Man 10 for WiiWare, it's $10... plus $10 more to buy the DLC addons. This kind of thing should still be unacceptable.
I'm sure there are more things I could say, but that's what I can think of for now.