The Future of Gaming

[LinksOcarina]

I meant to post this Sunday...but ive been busy today and yesterday.

This past weeks podcast I asked a question about, well, the future of video games, and how a friend of mine believes they will be full DLC in the coming years and no more hard copies of video games will exist. Suffice to say, the Podcast had some interesting opinions on the subject, and of course, I can't help but reply to them somewhat.

While I do feel like most games will go to DLC, and DLC copies of games will exists, I have to admit that I find it hard to see hard copies of games, be it disks or cartridges or hard drives, or whatever else, will vanish in the future. Businesses like Gamefly, Gamestop, West Coast, etc. You know, the major retail stores for games and gaming, will probably not allow this, or at the very least put up some resistance, as peripherals, and retail sales of used copies of games are pretty much the bread and butter for most of these stores.

Plus, there is a major issue of corruptible files. Without a hard copy to translate files from a disk to a reader, the risk of a DLC being corrupt or broken or w/e is erased because it can be deleted. If something goes wrong with the whole game, you might be stuck with a glitched game, unless they make downloads free after a while. Lastly, and the point that one of the guys said last week, hard drive space is still kind of low in terms of capacity to let that happen right now. Until there is a system that allows a few terrabytes, I feel like no external system that's not a PC will have the capacity for a console download game.

Now I think that DLC games will continue in the future, but I also think that a lot of people will not use the DLC games as much as hard copy games. Not to say that it's not going to happen. Full games that are DLC titles will be in the future, but I don't feel like hard copy games will ever be eradicated, just like CD's are still being made today.

So, your thoughts on this. Perhaps if we get enough responses we can start a nice little debate about things.

 

[used44]

I think that downloading full copies of games just isn't something that many people are really wanting to do, as far as console gamers go. I think that Microsoft/Sony should allow file sizes to increase to perhaps some infinite level, but this will still mostly be used for Arcade games and for Add-ons.

I think add-ons are going to get huge. Bioware has already announced full-story add-ons to their upcoming Dragon Age game. And Lost and Damned was a success. I just don't think things are going to get much bigger than that. Maybe twice the size and scope, but not replacing full games on disc any time soon.

 

[Rakon]

I agree with Used. Getting rid of the game disks isn't going to come anytime soon, if at all. They have their disadvantages, but I enjoy seeing my video game collection, and I wouldn't want it all stored in one box. Also, what happens if the system breaks? Well, I guess PSN/Xbox Live could solve that problem, but that would lead to major hacking/pirating issues.

DLC is great, and add-ons can be a trend that catches on pretty nicely, but game disks (or whatever they may become) are gonna be around for awhile.

 

[keepithowitis]

I love the Xbox Originals that are on Live, but really, sometimes they are glitched. Sound sometimes completely cuts out in GTA: San Andreas, but I redownloaded the game and it's fine now. What I'm saying is that as games get bigger and better looking, it'll take a lot more space to download. And I'm not sitting through a 5 hour download with my Comcast connection to redownload a game that's only one and a half gigs. Think.. Fallout 3 was like 8 gigs or something ridiculous. It glitches all the time, even on CD. If everything is just a media download, we're gonna have to re-download things over and over, and I'm not sure the new generation of impatient children is cool with that.

Overall, I'm saying we either need a super, super fast, worldwide Internet, like that one in Denmark or wherever in Europe a few months ago, if something like this is gonna thrive.

 

[De-Ting]

Until you can download a game from PSN with your main account to your PSP and play it with a sub account, I hope we don't have to say goodbuy to discs for a very, very, very long time.

 

[Peanutkiller]

Destroy discs for all I care, I have been downloading most of my games from Steam or EA marketplace etc. for over a year anyway. Last discs I bought must have been for the 360, but that, too, seems a long time ago.
Now that internet is growing faster and faster, downloading shouldn't be a problem and if there is anything we want to do, it's teaching our youngsters the virtue of patience.
With discs come the inevitable disc checks and copying, which I have no love for. Let's face it, downloading illegal games and music is SO 2008.

 

[KoalaRainbowPoop]

i'd rather have hard copies of a game i paid for. there is a lot of potential for dlc, but there is also alot more pitfalls. seems to me dlc could be hacked very easily, and/or the account for the dlc. then their is the fact that most publishers only let ya download it so many times before you have to pay for the game again. unacceptable.

 

[De-Ting]

Until you can download a game from PSN with your main account to your PSP and play it with a sub account, I hope we don't have to say goodbuy to discs for a very, very, very long time.

I see what I did there.

 

[Jackel585]

I think the question you gotta ask, is what are the digital copies and additions missing from the physical copies?

The reason why digital video/tv isn't making that big last push for instance is due to the fact that they don't have Caption support, and the ISP infrastructure doesn't allow full 1080p at standard consistent streaming speeds.

 

[Nick_Tan]

Digital distribution works for certain games. On the PC, it's fine because hard drive space is cheap and PC users are already used to downloading huge files anyway, especially with Steam. On the handhelds, games are small enough that it's easily transferable. And for independent developers, going through the loops for retail just isn't worth it - nearly all the sales for indies are through downloadble services and digital distirbution.

For the big guns, the triple-A titles, digital distribution is not yet a glowing proposition. Again, hard drive space for the console isn't huge, and console user are just used to just popping in the disc or cartridge and playing. Not having a hard copy also means that you can't display any sort of collection and you can't really trade digital copies. But the real obstacle is that retailers, as the middlemen that connect the publishers to people (particularly those who don't know the firs tthing when it comes to computers) will be against it.

Likely, what'll see is a combination of hard copies and digital downloads, just like it is for music and DVDs. Certain consumers will chose hard copies, the others will like digital downloads - each have their pros and cons. As for digital downloads for triple-A titles, I'm still sticking to my gut reaction that it will takes at least two more generations of the console for that to become a viable option (and just the phenomena that people somehow think that technology will get THAT sopihisticated in such a short amount of time - just how many movies in the 80s believed that we would have flying cars and spaceships by 2010, huh?). I'm sticking with my original prediction of 2030 for digital downloadables, earliest 2025 but possibly even 2035.

 

[LinksOcarina]

Well, if the PSP is going to be exclusively downloadable from what I hear, and if that is successful, then perhaps there is a future for DLC. But I just don't see how people would be induced to go with one form of the medium over the other.

That has been confirmed, right? The PSP that is downloadable games only?

 

[used44]

They're releasing Patapon 2 as a digital-copy-only game. Sony said this is a one-time-trial attempt to see if the service is valid. I would hardly call that a confirmation of a DLC only PSP.

 

[LinksOcarina]

Fair enough, but it is an interesting experiment.

 

[used44]

Very interesting.

 

[Insectavamour]

the devil

im waiting for the great apex of gaming... when im like 70.. and video games are just chips planted in your brain. completely immersive virtual reality. would that not be the shit? gone are the days of sore asses from sitting in chairs for 12 hours straight. now it will be your MIND that is sore from strenuous thinking... kindve like how mine is now.. my head hurts. cant take it. ugh.. hurts to think.

i read some article on this site awhile ago about the army using projection screens and lasers in some large building to train soldiers. and then theres the wii. not exactly an implant under my skull but it's a step forward and i'm sweet with that.

oh, and all video games being exclusively downloads and no more discs? i dont like it. kindve ruins my pattern of buying used games then selling them to buy more used games. would these downloads have refunds? would they come with little instruction booklets that i can read while taking a dump in america's favorite reading room? huh?

yeah, i got nothing.

 

[Rakon]

It hurts my brain to read your posts insect

 

[UghRochester]

I agree with what Nick Tan and Rakon's last post

LinksOcarina,Yes that PSP that is only downloadable is true, Nick Tan i believe mentioned it on Podcast 58 or 59 (forget which one) that the "PSPGo" is going to not going to have UMD and therefore only for internal memory

 

[keepithowitis]

I want something like the game in Ender's Game.. (we just read it for school), where the game has no ending, and you can do literally ANYTHING. That's what I envision in the future of gaming as far as new content.

 

[UrbanMasque]

They're releasing Patapon 2 as a digital-copy-only game. Sony said this is a one-time-trial attempt to see if the service is valid. I would hardly call that a confirmation of a DLC only PSP.

If they want to try a game as download only, and then use it as a barometer/pilot program for future releases - they probably should have used a better game than Patapon 2

Downloading games sounds great for companies as a cost reducing measure, but when you think about the demands at stores for midnight releases and the way people love to have a physical "game library", downloading will not go further than add-ons. The digital divide is still a huge issue, and a lot of people (yes even gamers) still dont have internet access faster than 56k (i know its hard to believe but its true). Also, even if I have the money I hate entering my CC info in order to buy something - and especially hate it if its something I have to download or wait roughly an hour to receive or play (Steam is a good example of this). I just dont think that market is there YET.

 

[rckaratekid]

They may make it to where you stick a little chip into a memory card and copy the game to the memory card in order to play it, instead of wasting money making discs.