Digital or not Digital?

[IncarnatedDemon]

I am wondering, am i only one who prefers a physical disc instead of digital download?

Looking at the Square, digital download page for Blood Omen 2
Its not appealing.

I dont like the idea of being dependt on a service to access a game.

I want a disc that i can place somewhere and i know it will work when i get it.

 

[VineBigBoss]

Same as you, lady. I like to have the game, put the disc on the tray and have fun. Hate DRM bullshit, it's too much "no fun allowed", "you can't play without a connection", "we're watching you"; a friend of mine says it is good because it gives the devs and companies data about us that they could use to promote things in a better way or make some special events for the players without the need to open a poll or something like this, but yeah... i prefer discs for most of time.

 

[Dark Drakan]

I prefer physicial because the digital downloads are huge & takes forever to download them & they take up a lot of space but overall I dont really mind. I do own some games on Steam but I own more physicial copies & would prefer to own the disc. If the service is having issues it can make getting into the game a pain but I have only had this a handful of times. There are sales on digital downloads & can get some real bargains (Shogun Total War 2 for £7 in Steam sale) plus they can really boost a games sales. If a game doesnt sell as well as expected they dont have to cover the publishing costs of discs etc so profit margin is easier to make up. Plus its much easier for developers to release indie games onto digital distribution services without those sort of overheads & publishing costs. So there are pros & cons to both.

 

[IncarnatedDemon]

Merge threads !

 

[Loopy]

Disc for me. Downloading is unrealiable, even when it is fast. Plus, if your console breaks or gets wiped, then your game goes and your game progress.
Then there's the problem of inadequate servers...EA and Simcity, I'm looking at you. If the server goes down or too many people are accessing, then you can't play the game at all...or it's laggy.

However, like Drakan says, there are advantages for smaller gaming developers like cost cutting for publishing and getting indie games out to a big audience.

But for now, I still prefer the disc instead of digital.

 

[Vergil'sBitch]

Disc all the way...
You have something to show for the money and most games (to download) are over 1GB, so if your internet goes all stupid and stops downloading, you have to do it all again...

 

[IncarnatedDemon]

The Digital vs Disc is parallel to how we get food:

1) Grow, fish or hunt it yourself
2) Buy it from stores

 

[Dark Drakan]

Im open minded about digital downloads & would probably get more if I had a proper gaming PC and a bigger HD than my laptops & I could play & fit more games on it. I use Steam & I still buy physical copies of games. Downloading games can be a long process if you download them the minute they release & get caught in the download traffic but they also give you the option to preload them. Handy if you have a free night & you want the game the minute it releases but cant get to a midnight opening anywhere.

At the moment digital will always lag behind but soon it will become second nature for companies to release games onto these services & more & more of them will pop up. As Internet services improve & the digital services do, more & more people will opt for them. Steam gets more popular every year (1 million+ extra users in 4 months) & the reliability of them continues to improve more people will opt for them. Easier to click a button and get games right then & there for some who live nowhere near stores.

They arent phasing out physical purchases & doubt they will ever fully phase them out. As even some XB arcade titles get physicial releases if they sell enough (The Walking Dead) and even some popular DLC (Undead Nightmare for Red Dead) amongst others. So often the digital release is a way to test the waters before a physicial release. With next gen consoles having you install the games to the Hard Drive its not that different from having to wait to download a game.

I mean everyone thought Blu Ray was a waste of time & now its killed the DVD format. Still not as popular yet but DVD will disappear altogether eventually as Blu Ray gains popularity.

Plus, if your console breaks or gets wiped, then your game goes and your game progress.

If your console breaks (Hard Drive) you will lose save progress regardless of format you have it on, however if disc breaks you have to buy another. Once ive purchased anything on Steam etc I can transfer it to any of my machines without any extra cost & can backup my saves on HD/Memory Stick & Cloud to prevent lost progress. So there are always saveguards there & if you lose the game off your HD you can simply redownload it free of charge. If you lose a disc then its gone, unless you get a no CD patch which is essentially like you having a digital version as you dont have the physicial copy. There are games I purchased on my old gaming PC before it died years ago that ive found in my library on my laptop & redownload them on it.

 

[Martius]

Looking at the Square, digital download page for Blood Omen 2
Its not appealing.

Try looking at gog.com?
I am fine with both but while i am getting something out of that. I have some games on steam but only one of them i bought on release, rest of them i got from sales or bundles.
On the other side i love gog.com, a lot of old games and some new titles in decent prices with no DRM at all.