1) It's far more convenient

Not really, my pc game collection is a mess now. Sure steam is nice, but I also have games from gog.com and games directly from different publishers leading to a bunch of emails to keep track of with download links and activation codes and passwords.
Downloading 10gb is also far from convenient, much faster to get the game from a shop. Especially when you want to watch Netflix or something while waiting for a download. Not recommended.

2) It's cheaper, for not only the consumer but the developer and publisher as well

Not yet for the consumer, steam still sells new games at the same price of retail. So far consumers only get less for the same price.
And you need to factor in the cost of your internet connection. I would have to get a more expensive connection or pay 2 dollars extra per Gb over my monthly limit.

3) Downloads don't break, consoles are cheaper

I haven't had 1 broken game disc this gen, I have however had all my consoles break, 360 twice. Re-Downloading my digital games library takes forever.

4) It's good for the environment

Can't argue with that, although not playing games at all is even better. Leaving your console on all night to download a game isn't great either.

Digital downloads are convenient for smaller snack sized experiences and for games I would trade in anyway after completing them. However the current pricing is still far off for new games to beat day 1 buy then trade. And if I change my mind I can always keep the game. It's much nicer to have the games I love sitting on the shelf with nice box art instead of just an entry in a database.
I like to browse through my movie collection as well. Having a 'watch it again' list in Netflix does not begin to compare. And for games it's also far easier to have extras on the disk instead of having to download them separately.

Jay520 said: haxxiy said: Andrespetmonkey said: haxxiy said: In theory it all seems nice and good, like pretty much every technology out there, but tell me the last time you saw something escaping the grasp of greedy companies and their antics. Just some of the possible unfortunate consequences of digital-only distribution: 1 - always online gameplay 2 - limited lifespan for games 3 - paying extras for unlocking content 4 - in-game advertising 5 - account hacking 6 - killswitch in case of mods or cheats 7 - one copy per player is mandatory And so on. We've seen Digital Distribution as the norm for PC gaming for years, there are very few gams that require 1. 2 and 4 hasn't happened, measures are taken to prevent 5, 3 has happened anyway, not sure what you mean by 6. 7 in an unfortunate con, but like I said the pros outweigh the cons imo. Yeah but we are talking about consoles here, who should implement cloud-based storage much earlier than PCs. It would make most of what I mentioned possible if not likely depending on the economics of the market. we're talking about digital distribution, not necessarily cloud-based gaming

It's the natural step for the next decade however, so it's only fair to consider it. Otherwise if we were to talk about, say, Blu-ray, we couldn't point out HD video as an advantage since it isn't about TVs we're talking about.

Anyways I've said in my first post things are nice and good excluding the possible uses companies could make of it.

haxxiy said: Jay520 said: haxxiy said: Andrespetmonkey said: haxxiy said: In theory it all seems nice and good, like pretty much every technology out there, but tell me the last time you saw something escaping the grasp of greedy companies and their antics. Just some of the possible unfortunate consequences of digital-only distribution: 1 - always online gameplay 2 - limited lifespan for games 3 - paying extras for unlocking content 4 - in-game advertising 5 - account hacking 6 - killswitch in case of mods or cheats 7 - one copy per player is mandatory And so on. We've seen Digital Distribution as the norm for PC gaming for years, there are very few gams that require 1. 2 and 4 hasn't happened, measures are taken to prevent 5, 3 has happened anyway, not sure what you mean by 6. 7 in an unfortunate con, but like I said the pros outweigh the cons imo. Yeah but we are talking about consoles here, who should implement cloud-based storage much earlier than PCs. It would make most of what I mentioned possible if not likely depending on the economics of the market. we're talking about digital distribution, not necessarily cloud-based gaming It's the natural step for the next decade however, so it's only fair to consider it. Otherwise if we were to talk about, say, Blu-ray, we couldn't point out HD video as an advantage since it isn't about TVs we're talking about. Anyways I've said in my first post things are nice and good excluding the possible uses companies could make of it.

I disagree. I don't think publishers are going to ignore the large mass of people with slow/unstable internet connections. They'll likely still offer the option to download direct to hardware. Going back to the music & movie example, they still alow you to download those mediums. You don't have to be connected to the internet.

I don't think Cloud gaming's gonna take off anyway. The moment someone's internet disconnect's or lags, in the midst of a deep gaming session, people are going to prefer the download alternative.

Ostro said: Andrespetmonkey said: No more broken cases or scratched discs, even in the rare occurance that a file gets corrupted you can simply re-download that game. Quite weird "pro" point when you talked about iTunes which doesn't allow multiple downloads. And I like how you think it's better for nature. Do you know how much power is necessary for servers, big clouds, etc.? Check what electricity a single keystroke on google.com needs and what the consequences are for the environment (cooling the server centers, etc.). You could argue that we go all green now with power through wind and sun. But we do not even know yet what negative things wind power may cause. A lot of "cons" have already been mentioned. The biggest for me is actually that you just get a license to use something while owning a disc or cartridge has some sort of real value although it's no difference. But a big difference for my brain lol

Huh? The only negative impact to the environment wind power has is it takes up a lot of space, but tbh a lot of that space (at least here in Britain) would otherwise just be built on anyway, so ultimately a wind farm is better than a housing estate.

 

As for the OP... There is currently no way for me to sell a DLed copy of a game, which for me is a big con, if it turns out a game isn't worth keeping then I want some money back.

Kasz216 said: haxxiy said: In theory it all seems nice and good, like pretty much every technology out there, but tell me the last time you saw something escaping the grasp of greedy companies and their antics. Just some of the possible unfortunate consequences of digital-only distribution: 1 - always online gameplay 2 - limited lifespan for games 3 - paying extras for unlocking content 4 - in-game advertising 5 - account hacking 6 - killswitch in case of mods or cheats 7 - one copy per player is mandatory Also they could shut down your entire library if they feel you step too much out of the line, like M$ did with some X360s a while ago. And so on. Outside 7... this all happens to physical media as well.

this exactly -- people are scape goating DD (..7 is also true for physical, it wasn't possible for me to share my WoW discs with a friend due to the always online gameplay part for instance).

i like DD.  i've lost more media to disc scratches, missplacements (i left my entire DS library of games on the amtrak once), friends that never return my stuff, and shifts in technology (BS to any one that says physical is forever 'cause my VHSs don't work anymore) then i ever have to DD.  be it my music, psn, or iOs stuff things have transitioned soo much better since i went digital.

i'm doing DD only on my vita.  mobile gaming is soo much more mobile when you don't have to lug cartridges around.  that was such a huge inconvenience with my DS that i'm soo happy to be rid of with vita.

it's cheaper generally.

plus i'm starting to hate physical for the space.  i buy 30 or so games a year and i refuse to go to a 4 bookshelf just for more pieces of plastic.

 

the only down sides is the time to download (for those with slow internet, not me) and the lack of competition making pricing structures a bit more ridged.  it's awesome that nothing goes "out of print" but picking up games on the cheap is not so frequent outside of steam.

Lol cheaper my arse nearly every game on steam I can by £5-10 cheaper from retail, Diablo 3 £45 digital £30 retail ROFL.

Digital Distribution is bad, it kills game stores. People lose their jobs. Maybe its not yet the case but it could happen. Just imagine if a company like Gamestop would die because of that. Are you aware of how many people would lose their jobs?
And its not cheaper at all, espacially Steam is on of the most expensive stores I know of.

AndrewWK said: Digital Distribution is bad, it kills game stores. People lose their jobs. Maybe its not yet the case but it could happen. Just imagine if a company like Gamestop would die because of that. Are you aware of how many people would lose their jobs? And its not cheaper at all, espacially Steam is on of the most expensive stores I know of.

The prices go down faster (not as cheap as used of course, but that's on it's way out anyway) and the sales can be fucking insane

Andrespetmonkey said: AndrewWK said: Digital Distribution is bad, it kills game stores. People lose their jobs. Maybe its not yet the case but it could happen. Just imagine if a company like Gamestop would die because of that. Are you aware of how many people would lose their jobs? And its not cheaper at all, espacially Steam is on of the most expensive stores I know of. The prices go down faster (not as cheap as used of course, but that's on it's way out anyway) and the sales can be fucking insane

I didnt meant used games, I dont buy used games anyway. When I was going to buy Mass Effect 2 it was on steam for 29.99 I purchased it on Origin for 19,99

same was with Dragon Age: Origins. The Witcher 2 was on steam for 39,99 I bought it on Amazon for 24,99. Bioshock 1 & 2 I paid 10€ on Amazon on Steam the first one alone is 19,99

You can always find cheper games somewhere else.

AndrewWK said: I didnt meant used games, I dont buy used games anyway. When I was going to buy Mass Effect 2 it was on steam for 29.99 I purchased it on Origin for 19,99 same was with Dragon Age: Origins. The Witcher 2 was on steam for 39,99 I bought it on Amazon for 24,99. Bioshock 1 & 2 I paid 10€ on Amazon on Steam the first one alone is 19,99 You can always find cheper games somewhere else.

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