Lovely Shiny Disks.

[fizz4m]

It has been on my mind for quite some time but what do you guys think of physical media (disks) -VS- Direct Download. The latest example I have would be Portal 2. On release day, I could've get the game early but did not because I wanted the box.

PC Gamers: have you abandoned disks to use Steam/similar services? Why is that?
Console Gamers: Do you purchase games straight from your consoles or you get on your feet and go to the store?

Personally, I either order a boxed copy online or get on my feet.

 

[UghRochester]

I usually go with the disc. Used to trade in and sell my games, but now I'm saving them for a collection.

 

[De-Ting]

Both are meant to co-exist.

Knowing that I own the game and it's out of digital space is simply comforting. It might get damaged, but it will always be mine. No need to worry about it taking up space on my hard drive, either.

On the other hand, digital copies are undeniably convenient, in their own way. For example, my PSP's UMD drive broke, and I can only play the games I can download now. The biggest negative about them is that there's no guarantee that you'll always be able to play them. Imagine if the Steam service got shut down. I'm not saying that's likely to happen soon, but it is still possible. Anything you had on the cloud is now gone. If your game file somehow become corrupt, you can't get them back. But I suppose you're not entirely screwed, since this is one of those chances that you'd be able to pirate the game back and not have a guilty conscience...however, that depends on if anyone actually has it available to torrent. And of course, you can't really sell or trade digital property.

As for preference on which one to buy, the answer is simple to me. Whichever's cheapest.

 

[Diabolus]

I want a fucking disc, not some damned download. Why? Because hard drives have a lifespan, and I'm not putting $60 worth of faith into something that can go bad at any time.


A disc is forever. A computer/HDD is not.

 

[truncheon5000]

What I like with downloaded games from PSN is that you get 5 copies that you can share, split the monies 5 ways among friends and digital > physical every time. My shelves are already bowing under the weight of my collection. Can't wait personally till the big retail chains who have been riding the popularity of gaming like that redneck on the black guy in pulp fiction bite the dust.

 

[MattAY]

I always go with disc. It's like having a hard copy incase your HD fails.

Plus, there's nothing like a big pile of boxes to show off your collection.

 

[cyberjim2000]

I'm more in favor of having both direct downloads and physical discs. Like if you brought the actual DVDs for the game, you have the option of doing a direct download in case you ever lose them or your discs have scratches on them.

 

[Bretimus_v2]

My one concern: Will it be up 5 years from now? 10? 15?

 

[NickKmet]

I usually go with downloads these days. Much more convenient, and this also means I don't have to carry 30 discs with me every time I move back and forth between college and home. It saves a ton of space.

I think it's interesting that you guys all point to failing HDDs as a reason not to go digital. That doesn't really make sense when it comes to PC. When you buy a game on steam, or amazon digital, you can download it an unlimited number of times. A failing HDD doesn't really matter in that regard. I mean, even if your HDD did fail, it's not like you could play the game if you had a disc anyways. You still couldn't install it, or even run it really.

A quick question for you consolers - do you really only get one download per purchase for your games?

The other interesting aspect of that argument is that many of you seem to forget that discs themselves are not invulnerable. In my personal experience, it seems like it's more likely you'll accidentally scratch a disk to non-usability status than have your HDD fail. And as I mentioned above, having your HDD fail doesn't matter either (at least for PC).

Also, I'm not really worried about steam being "shut down." It's a damned profitable business model, and digital platforms really are the future of PC gaming. It's hard enough to find physical copies of games these days at Gamestop or any other gaming boutique. It's really unlikely that the steam service will become unusable without something like a zombie apocalypse occurring, in which case, I don't think I'll be doing a lot of gaming anyways.

 

[danielrbischoff]

Discs > Downloads

 

[schimmel]

Disc, almost 100% of the time. Why?

- a direct download takes up gigs upon gigs of space, not just for the EXE files but for everything else that comes on it too.

- Box art and physicality of the disc is awesome

- Why are we paying the same price for something digital? When you go buy a game other fees other than development apply: the cost to ship the game, the cost to produce the game onto a disc and create the case for the disc as well as the instruction manual and anything else it may be packaged with. When you get a direct download you pay for none of that. It goes from the central server to your HDD, so why make the download the same price as the physical game?

- At the end of the day, resale. I'm gonna be honest, I buy a lot of games that I may only play through once, but I still consider worth owning for a period of time, When I buy a physical copy I know that if the day ever comes that I decide I no longer want to own the game, all I have to do is take it to a game store and sell it back to them for someone else to get my old copy and enjoy it too. And I see money from it. Why would I ever give that up for a direct download?

 

[fizz4m]

I'm more in favor of having both direct downloads and physical discs. Like if you brought the actual DVDs for the game, you have the option of doing a direct download in case you ever lose them or your discs have scratches on them.

My thoughts exactly. Some major movie studios started doing this a while back with their content sold in brick and mortar stores. It's a good thing because when you are at home, you can simply watch the movie on your big screen. When you are on the move, you can watch that movie on your laptop. I'd like to see iTunes codes included into the purchase.

 

[Delorean88]

I treat my games like my college textbooks, rather have a physical copy in front of me instead of it being saved on a computer. Although downloading is better in the sense that I don't have to drive to a gamestop and wait 20 minutes because somebody in front of me is ordering PS2 controllers and trying to pre-order the new madden. Though game stores have used game prices but that extra charge in my mind is a over priced "convenience fee" as in being able to get it now immediately instead of having to go to the store. Though when I was a kid when I bought a game I read the manuals and now I don't know if maybe it's cause I'm older but I never touch the manual.

 

[Bretimus_v2]

- Why are we paying the same price for something digital? When you go buy a game other fees other than development apply: the cost to ship the game, the cost to produce the game onto a disc and create the case for the disc as well as the instruction manual and anything else it may be packaged with. When you get a direct download you pay for none of that. It goes from the central server to your HDD, so why make the download the same price as the physical game?

- At the end of the day, resale. I'm gonna be honest, I buy a lot of games that I may only play through once, but I still consider worth owning for a period of time, When I buy a physical copy I know that if the day ever comes that I decide I no longer want to own the game, all I have to do is take it to a game store and sell it back to them for someone else to get my old copy and enjoy it too. And I see money from it. Why would I ever give that up for a direct download?

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