| NES said: Its gonna be great when it gets to the point where you can't play older games. I don't know about you, but there are a lot of people that play games that are older than two years old. Imagine, if you will, that video game digital distribution has been around for many console gens. Well what happens if you want to play a game that is 4 or 5 years old? It would have long been removed from the service. Maybe you bought that game a long time ago, but 7 years down the road you can't play the game ever again unless it gets put back on the service (that will most likely be a new service you are using this time.). Now you will have to buy that game again. Imgaine how many game will be lost to time, becuase there are no physical copies. Remember that cool cell phone game you played 4 years ago? Yeah its lost, never to see the light of day again. Games without physical copies will be like a lit match that extinguishes before it reaches the fire that is gamings history This is also my problem with On Live. |
I think you need to be introduced to the internet. I can find nearly any game ever made through emulation and torrent sites, quite easily to boot. Even ignoring that option, you're running on the assumption that these providers will drop games off their service altogether, which is unlikely.
Past that, digital distribution may not negate the need for a retail presence altogether. You'll likely see download cards (ie. GTA IV's Lost and Damned), or games offered through flash drives/similar storage mediums.
Either way, you're running off assumptions. I doubt developers, or even manufacturers, would let games fall off their service never to be seen again. And if that does happens it won't be the fault of digital distribution but the service providers - and I'd be the first to complain.
