OnLive: Is it the future of gaming.

[KungKras]

Scoobes said:

KungKras said:

RSEagle said:
I'm a very avid supporter of physical media as well, so I'll naturally oppose services like OnLive. However, the future doesn't look good with digital distribution continuing to grow stronger. I'd say in a generation or two, physical media for new release games will be phased out completely.

Not gonna happen. DD doesn't suit video games the way it suits music. People want to be able to hold their games in their hands, to sell crappy games back to the stores, and to collect retro games.

They said exactly the same of the movie and music industries too and they've grown hugely in terms of digital downloads much as DD is growing in the games industries. Steam, PSN, Live, and countless other digital distribution systems have been setup now. It's not like physical media will cease to exist, but as time goes on it will become more niche. For example, I don't know anyone that collects retro games, but I know plenty that will download them on WiiWare, PSN or general ROMs.

DD works on PC because games on computers have always been just ones and zeros. But on consoles, the games are played by the hardware, like how music ic played by an instrument. People want to be able to touch their video games. Had Steam been on consoles, it would have failed.

The music industry companies refused to go DD, but were forced to do so by the consumers. In the video game industry, it's the other way around. The industry wants DD to gain control and to eliminate used game sales. But so far, DD on consoles have failed miserably, look at PSPgo.