Xbox |OT|

[Shadow1980]

Ryuu96 said:

Idk what Starkville is, I'm trying to figure it out, but the codenames for Series X/S were Scarlett, Anaconda and Lockhart so Starkville unless the codename has changed, I think Starkville is something else, I just can't figure out what.

I mean sure, people can lose their digital games, e-books, people can lose their digital libraries after having their accounts closed, they can also lose their physical games, they can break, they can degrade, their console can be bricked, they can be banned from videogames even having a disc, etc. You're using uncommon scenarios to paint a whole picture.

Are you talking about TV Show streaming and cancellations? In which case I would disagree because cancellations have always happened when something wasn't profitable. Or are you talking about Zaslav being a dickhead? Yes that sucks, which is why we need more digital preservation and focus our efforts there instead of shouting into the void for physical copies, they're already gone/going but we can further efforts in digital preservation.

Games which are de-listed can be played as long as you still own them, no?

I mean...This is an extreme take that everything will be subscription based because some media is, Lol. It's a bit dramatic.

Personally doesn't bother me that I don't own my digital library or the TV Shows that I watched. I ain't got the space for it anyway, nor do I really want it, I rarely rewatch or replay stuff years later and the vast majority of stuff that I have digitally, or have watched, I can still play/watch anyway, like practically everything, Lol. TV Show subs have given me more stuff to watch than ever before that I can't keep up anymore.

It's not 100% verified that Starkville is the Series X, but the timing and everything else is rather suspicious. Hopefully it really is just an option.

People can be banned from playing online (definitely a problem for an MMO or online-only MP game), but they cannot be banned from the use of their discs. I live in the U.S., and under current federal law physical books, music, movies, and console games are treated as "sold, not licensed." MS cannot prevent me from playing Halo 3 campaign or local split-screen. Nintendo can't take away my ability to use my Super Mario Odyssey cartridge. Et cetera. It's digital that's treated as "licensed, not sold." The fact that MS, Nintendo, Sony, Amazon, Apple, etc., have the power to strip you of your licenses for digital downloads is worrying, even if it's something that happens rarely. It shouldn't happen at all.

Regarding de-listed games, sure, if you got it while the getting was good, you still have access to the title as long as it's on your hard drive. If something happens to it and it's no longer available for re-download, well... Like I said, once the Halo 2 DLC maps became unavailable for download and I somehow lost that data, I couldn't re-download them. There was, fortunately, a physical option for all but the last two maps. Only physical allows someone who wants to purchase a title no longer in publication to do so. There are countless digital-only games that have never been re-listed after being de-listed, many of them having been gone for many years with no indication that they'll ever be available again. Think of all the digital stores that have been closed on consoles. If you lose any of your old WiiWare games, well, you're just shit outta luck. There's no way to re-download them. But there's lots of old games released physically that are long OOP and never got re-released (some of them being orphaned works), yet you can still buy them.

Regarding game preservation, yes, everything decays over time. Nothing lasts forever, not even the earth and sky. But if you take good care of your physical copies, they will last you a lifetime. I still have CDs that are 20-25 years old or more that are still in pristine condition. My old NES & SNES carts still work. And even if a console dies on you, once the patents expire anyone with the money & know-how can create clone consoles (I have Analogue's SNES & Genesis clones and they're amazing).

And yes, I was talking about what David Zaslav and others have done. There have been multiple series that were only available via streaming that have been removed, with no indication that they'll ever be available again, at least not any time soon. We will see the same problems with game streaming. If streaming were the only way to play Forza, every time one of the games was pulled for licensing reasons, you'd lose access to them. Streaming has generally demonstrated itself to be the least reliable form of media distribution because of how ephemeral the content is (plus it requires a constant internet connection, which is another drawback).

My skepticism towards digital will go away the moment the necessary legal reforms are put into place where downloads are treated as "sold, not licensed," requiring owners of distribution platforms to implement a means of license transfer for people to re-sell, gift, or lend their games and removing their ability to take away access to any lawfully-purchased copy. IIRC, this is how it works in Europe, where digital downloads are apparently treated just like tangible copies. Also, there needs to be some mechanism to ensure the ability to re-download games into perpetuity.

Until that day arrives, I want the ability to buy an actual, tangible product that I can hold in my hands and say "This is mine." In its current form and the way the law currently is in the U.S., digital just has too many drawbacks.