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Forums - Sony - Sony is forcing me to go digital, but I still want physical!

JOKA_ on 06 May 2015
melbye said:
yvanjean said:
The_Yoda said:
I have a large amount of Digital games but i still prefer physical copies. I worry that if my HDD crashes 10 years from now that i won't have the option to re-download them to a new HDD. If that happens I'm out the games and my money. If you have physical and your rig goes down all you have to do is buy a new rig and you still have your games (although you may also miss out on patches if it is a significant amount of time after release).


Your purchase are tied to your PSN or Xbox live account. You can always re-download.

And if one of those services ends?

Are you also worried about things that can happen to physical discs?

Accidentally break? Over time a lot of my N64 games have stopped working

Damage? Flood or fire

Misplaced? Still can't find my copy if Dead Space 1

Stolen? My friend had his apartment broken into. Poof, his entire game collection was gone. With digital you could just buy another console and redownload all if them

 

I'm just saying that physical isn't 100% superior



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yvanjean on 06 May 2015
The_Yoda said:
yvanjean said:
The_Yoda said:
I have a large amount of Digital games but i still prefer physical copies. I worry that if my HDD crashes 10 years from now that i won't have the option to re-download them to a new HDD. If that happens I'm out the games and my money. If you have physical and your rig goes down all you have to do is buy a new rig and you still have your games (although you may also miss out on patches if it is a significant amount of time after release).


Your purchase are tied to your PSN or Xbox live account. You can always re-download.

Do you think it will still be available for download 10 years from now, 20 years from now? Eventually you will lose access to digital content, they will not host it forever.

Considering I don't have any of my NES, SNES, N64 or Wii games left ... I'm not really concern about it.

Beside Nintendo did allow us to bring over all our Wii eshop games over to WiiU. 

 

I guess Sony, Nintendo or Xbox could leave the gaming industry and shut the server off. But, I play games for the experience they give me at the present and not so worried about future used. I don't see Video games as a commodity but rather an experience to be had. 

Also in 10 or 20 years... your disc are also reliant on the fact that your consoles still needs to be in working order.  Beside the big 3 are all trying to monetorize their back catalog of games. So most likely there always going to be cheap alternative to play older games.

 

Sony has PSN NOW ..... Nintendo had the Eshop.... Microsoft will probably going to join the party soon




The_Yoda on 06 May 2015
JOKA_ said:
melbye said:
yvanjean said:
The_Yoda said:
I have a large amount of Digital games but i still prefer physical copies. I worry that if my HDD crashes 10 years from now that i won't have the option to re-download them to a new HDD. If that happens I'm out the games and my money. If you have physical and your rig goes down all you have to do is buy a new rig and you still have your games (although you may also miss out on patches if it is a significant amount of time after release).


Your purchase are tied to your PSN or Xbox live account. You can always re-download.

And if one of those services ends?

Are you also worried about things that can happen to physical discs?

Accidentally break? Over time a lot of my N64 games have stopped working

Damage? Flood or fire

Misplaced? Still can't find my copy if Dead Space 1

 

Stolen? My friend had his apartment broken into. Poof, his entire game collection was gone. With digital you could just buy another console and redownload all if them


I'm just saying that physical isn't 100% superior

I agree, digital is super convienent. That said, I have only had one physical game I've had stop working that i can think of (my son's copy of Mario Kart Wii) out of a couple hundred games.  This does not include Carts where the battery needs replaced.

"With digital you could just buy another console and redownload all if them" that is assuming the company is still offernig the downloads, I'm thinking long term here 10, 15, 20 years from now.



The_Yoda on 06 May 2015
yvanjean said:
The_Yoda said:
yvanjean said:
The_Yoda said:
I have a large amount of Digital games but i still prefer physical copies. I worry that if my HDD crashes 10 years from now that i won't have the option to re-download them to a new HDD. If that happens I'm out the games and my money. If you have physical and your rig goes down all you have to do is buy a new rig and you still have your games (although you may also miss out on patches if it is a significant amount of time after release).


Your purchase are tied to your PSN or Xbox live account. You can always re-download.

Do you think it will still be available for download 10 years from now, 20 years from now? Eventually you will lose access to digital content, they will not host it forever.

Considering I don't have any of my NES, SNES, N64 or Wii games left ... I'm not really concern about it.

Beside Nintendo did allow us to bring over all our Wii eshop games over to WiiU. 

 

I guess Sony, Nintendo or Xbox could leave the gaming industry and shut the server off. But, I play games for the experience they give me at the present and not so worried about future used. I don't see Video games as a commodity but rather an experience to be had. 

Also in 10 or 20 years... your disc are also reliant on the fact that your consoles still needs to be in working order.  Beside the big 3 are all trying to monetorize their back catalog of games. So most likely there always going to be cheap alternative to play older games.

 

Sony has PSN NOW ..... Nintendo had the Eshop.... Microsoft will probably going to join the party soon

at bolded - this is an area where we differ.  I still have all my old systems and games in working order, my son or my friends and i still break them out and play them from time to time (i.e. revist the experiences of our past) it is still lots of fun when we break out Goldeneye at my buddies place (my N64 controllers are about shot) and trash talk eachother just like we did almost 20 years ago. My son likes retro games and I enjoy the occasional visit to nostalgia land. You can still find working consoles from yeter-year on ebay.



Nem on 06 May 2015

I dont think they are forcing you at all and that is the way digital should be.

A digital copy costs less to produce than a physical one. I dont mind paying the usual for a physical edition or less for a digital one.

Yes and notice how i say "the usual" not "more", you greedy publishers. Dont go there.



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The_Yoda on 06 May 2015

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti - digital (roughly 85% of my Wii U games are digital - I think I have around 23 physical games for it ) I just feel like the long game on these is an unknown where I know my gear and games from 30 years ago still work.



StuOhQ on 06 May 2015
yvanjean said:

embrace digital.... no more disc swapping, protect from disc physical damage (accident, pets & younger sibblings, cousin, nephews).

Ask yourself do you actually enjoy the experience and joy of playing witcher 3 or is it owning the physical copy? The saving will help you deal with the emotional lose of not owning the disc.

The main reason for staying physicals is the resale which is something you don't do. I say don't enjoy the collection, enjoy the experience.

I enjoy both. In fact, the physical game is part of the experience for me. I do a lot of retro gaming, as I'm a big fan of legacy hardware. Love being able to bust out long forgotten and unsupported software/hardware and have a blast!

EDIT: As to the notion of fire and/or break-in: ever hear of insurance?



Retro Tech Select - My Youtube channel. Covers throwback consumer electronics with a focus on "vid'ya games."

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walsufnir on 07 May 2015
Aeolus451 said:
walsufnir said:


Oh, it really is a demo. A demonstration showing what can happen when you go fully digital.


Ah, yes it is a possibility with digital games. I was just confirming what you meant. I agree with ya though.


What is even more worrying is when you go physical but someone (who ever that might be) decides to not give any patches for your physical games anymore. This gen relies heavily on big patches, some day 1 which fixes stuff in broken games. So I guess in 10-20 years we won't be able to buy a PS4 or Xbone on ebay and play the games like today.

Point is we as gamers today rely so heavily on "internet" to make the consoles with games work that it's really worrying.



yvanjean on 07 May 2015
walsufnir said:

What is even more worrying is when you go physical but someone (who ever that might be) decides to not give any patches for your physical games anymore. This gen relies heavily on big patches, some day 1 which fixes stuff in broken games. So I guess in 10-20 years we won't be able to buy a PS4 or Xbone on ebay and play the games like today.

Point is we as gamers today rely so heavily on "internet" to make the consoles with games work that it's really worrying.


Compare to the good old days when a broken games was a broken game for ever. Even Nintendo seem to be relying on Day 1 patchs, the entire industry has shifted. But, on the flip side if a game can be fixed and improved why not fixes glitches and errors found after the release. Also, it's allowing developpers to make amazing stuff with DLC and add-on contents. When done right like the DLC and update to MArio Kart 8, it can change the game for better and give you all new experience with a game you love (200CC). 



yvanjean on 07 May 2015
The_Yoda said:

I agree, digital is super convienent. That said, I have only had one physical game I've had stop working that i can think of (my son's copy of Mario Kart Wii) out of a couple hundred games.  This does not include Carts where the battery needs replaced.

"With digital you could just buy another console and redownload all if them" that is assuming the company is still offernig the downloads, I'm thinking long term here 10, 15, 20 years from now.

Gamecube Disc were bad for stop working, the disc looked fine but would not work. My girlfriend bump the gamecube while it was running and that killed my Baten Kaitos disc #2 :(