News Console gamers prefer discs to downloads

On the whole EULA can't transfer games bought from Steam which also applies to other providers like direct2drive would be the option to transfer the game over to another Steam account where by the new user would be able to play it legally and your version would then become invalidated and removed from your account.

It would also mean that someone could purchase a game for you on your behalf, like birthdays, xmas, or any other occasion that fits receiving a game purchase and have it sent to your account to be downloaded and played. This would be particularly useful for those with long distance relationships with friends / relatives who could power up their computer on the special occasion and have a gift wrapped download waiting for them, lol

 

Warning, low-flying pigs!

 

Don't forget though, console drives are size limited due to greed, not reason. On the PS3, you can slot in a 1TB drive for under $100, provided it wants to fit a 12mm drive. On the 360? You're ****ed.

 

Physical discs for me, until I get faster broadband and the prices go down. I've bought a fair few things in the steam sales, nothing at full price so far though. My biggest issue is I bought L4D2 on the 360 at launch for less on the 360 than the steam PC price, seriously wtf?

On the 360 the issue is price and the fact the HDD is tiny, when it come to music and films, 7.99 for an album I can get a physical copy of from a shop for £9.99 is ridiculous, and movies at £6-£10 is alsoa joke when I can get it for free from the Bay with even less hassle. Also, adverts on digital downloads suck.

 

"What we really need is a digital distribution wholesaler. Imagine a service like Steam that would only sell games in units of 1000 or more. "

whata truly awful idea. this would take every advantage of digital distribution, and then chuck them in the bin.

 

Yes, because competition doesn't have any benefits. Oh wait.

 

thats something i worry about tbh how long will my games last me, i'm forever cracking open Farcry if it became unavailable i would be pissed right off

 

Trust. I dont trust digital copies to always be available. Take the Wii Virtual Console. I have only bought 5 games on there because I dont trust that they will be compatible with the next system or that they will work forever. I do trust that a physical Wii disc will continue to work, even if the console dies, I expect I can move it to another Wii.

Look at all those people who bought DRM'd music and then the DRM servers were shut down. They either lost the music and had to repurchase elsewhere or thier option was to burn the lossy music to a cd... and then re-rip it to lossy again, degrading quality, possibly severely.

For the PC, I trust a digital download only if it gives me the FULL game with no DRM. Otherwise... it could stop working at any time. All the games on my old Atari 2600 still work and I like to break it out once every couple years. I want to know I can do the same with games I purchase now for thirty years (especially if it costs more than 20 bucks)

 

Steam is the Way and the Light, period.

@B-T, please do not use the words Console. And Gamer in the same sentence!

@ Those sill paying per Gb, I would protest if I were you, a few protests outside of their home office will see some action, Internet access is a Human Right!

What I didn't get was the console kiddies who do not have internet connection, how the frack are they going to play? Single? BLARGH!!! Or against whomever they can find in the area?!

Yours in Steam PC Gaming Plasma,
Star*Dagger

 

To be fair, at some point Valve could enable resale / gifting / trading of existing purchases, perhaps with something like a 3/6/12 month cooldown, or fixed trade limit, as so to discourage multiple people to buy into a game then pass it around.

 

I still prefer discs. If only because I still have a copy later. I just resort to NOCDs after I install most of the time.

Regardless, STEAM is nice yes, but sometimes say you have a slow internet, it's not going to be fun to wait for that download.

 

Same here, only have mobile broadband so downloading 1 game would destroy my data allowance!.

 

Downloads are all very well, but there is still a large number of people in the UK who do not have fast internet. One customer of mine, living 5 miles away from a city, has only 0.25Mb ASDL connection, fancy a 2Gb download anyone? Living in a smaller community I doubt they will ever get fast internet as there is no profit to be made by providing it to this community, where as investment in the city to change from 10Mb to 50 or 100Mb strides ahead. Digital Britian? Really? Maybe for the cities and towns, but the rural community, who could benefit the most?

So DVDs should have their place.

 

I think most would pick physical only because their internet has a cap or it just sucks.
Personally for PC I choose Digital and phyisical for consoles.

 

Console gaming and physical media go hand in hand as the game resale industry depends heavily on the physical media and would cease to exist in a DD era. Also this gen of consoles still follows the original console model but next gen I see media going bye bye as consoles fully convert to PCs

As a PC gamer I love STEAM but I also love having a physical copy of some sorts to satisfy my "I got a back up copy just in case... feelings".

I started sticking all my games on USB flash drives (so I could play games at work on the weekend )

 

Download v disc

I would never trust a download not to be "removed" later by the source.
Material suppliers nowadays are megalomaniacs with very distorted ideas about their relationships with clients.

 

so, finally, once youve got rid of retailers and wholesalers so you can get the game from the source, you want to ADD THOSE LAYERS BACK IN artificially, so you can reap the benefits. good idea dumb ass.

 

Wow, not only is that statement untrue but you've managed to compound it with an insult. Good job.

Do you really think that buying a game from Steam is buying it from "the source"? Steam is a distributor, just a digital version of any brick and mortar retail shop. They buy their games from the publisher - just like every other retailer - how that makes them "the source" is beyond me.

I love Steam but, as it stands, the digital distribution market for PC gaming is severely lacking in competition.

Your (and a lot of other people's) comical 'lol steamz is awesome and all i needz' attitude is all well and good for now, that is until Valve put a foot wrong, then you'll all be crying for an alternative and more competition in the marketplace.

A digital wholesaler could seriously help bring about more competition and variety to the industry, giving smaller companies a platform on which they can compete. After all, this is capitalism, and if their product is no good or too expensive then nobody will buy it. It couldn't possibly do any damage to the status quo, but it just might improve it.

 

Thing is, there are alternatives they are just inferior so no one uses them I don't see how any artificial competition would fix that.

What we'd need in your hypothetical situation is for Valve to spin steam off and open the API up to others and allow them to pursue their own contracts with the major publishers.

 

I agree, as not only would the competition need to create a fantastic digital distribution system, but they'd also need all the bells and whistles Steam has (community, IM, etc etc etc). On top of all that, they'd then need to give people an actual reason to use it. Cheaper games? Exclusive games? All very hard stuff to pull off.

At the publisher I work for, when I'm actually in the office, the subject of Valve does pop up quite often. The general consensus is they will eventually open up some type of franchise or affiliate system sometime in the near future (imagine Steam acting as a Paypal for video games. You go to any online store of your choosing to buy a game, and they give you 2 options: the physical disc posted, or buying through their branded Steam store).

This works out great for Valve, because rather than put up with future competition, they simply bring the competition in house. It's similar to the early days of BT Broadband. First they sold their own service to customers, but then they started (or were forced to start) BT Wholesale, which allowed other companies to use their infrastructure, while still selling their own services if people want them.