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News Console gamers prefer discs to downloads

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by CardJoe, 5 Jul 2010.

  1. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

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  2. B1GBUD

    B1GBUD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Accidentally Funny

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    Of course they do, it's much easier to sell on a physical game.... ebay anyone?
     
  3. johnnyboy700

    johnnyboy700 Minimodder

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    Yep, resell will be a significant reason.
     
  4. memeroot

    memeroot aged and experianced

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    I think the love of media will decrease significantly in the near future... I personally cant stand dvd's and cd's now... such a shame the quality is not there yet with downloaded media (and I'm looking at you compressed audio tracks!!!)
     
  5. Flibblebot

    Flibblebot Smile with me

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    I think a large part of the problem is that console hard drives are more space-limited than PC drives, not to mention the fact that if you change consoles, there's no easy way to see (a la Steam) what games you've purchased so you can download them again.
     
  6. shoxicwaste

    shoxicwaste Minimodder

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    I prefer digital - look at steam, i don't see console gamers getting the deals PC gamers do - i remember buying GTAIV for £5 in November 2009 it was still £35.99 for console :O
     
  7. mrbens

    mrbens What's a Dremel?

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    You can buy WAV files from most online mp3 stores now.

    I've always hated physical media.

    So much nicer to have everything on one PC instead, like all my cd collection and games from Steam which don't need the dvd in the drive to play even tho it's all been installed to the hard drive anyway! I haven't bought a boxed game for years and never will again.
     
  8. d1ck0

    d1ck0 What's a Dremel?

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    I've got 95 games in my valve folder, equating to 240gb of data !!, I wouldnt have room for all them dvds and cd's !!! :)

    Plus during the last week the steam servers got a hammering in the sales !!! , I dont mind wasting £2 on a game if it turns out to be cr@p !!.
     
  9. tad2008

    tad2008 What's a Dremel?

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    From the half dozen or so people I know that use consoles, being able to trade in old games and get a discount off new titles is probably THE biggest reason. They also tend to swap and share titles, something that is not possible with digital distribution.

    As a PC user I prefer to have a physical copy of the game, though I do use steam for the odd title like Mass Effect 2 along with discounted older titles. Having a physical copy of the disc means a re-install in case of a hard drive failure is simple, having to download all my games again would take months and have my ISP slapping me with charges far in excess of the games worth.

    If it became possible to back up the digitally distributed files and or for ISP's to give us truly unlimited broadband with no usage caps then I would be more comfortable making the move to digital download options on a larger scale.
     
  10. Veles

    Veles DUR HUR

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    I actually prefer using steam to a disk for PCs, but for consoles I want the disks.
     
  11. steveo_mcg

    steveo_mcg What's a Dremel?

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    errm available from day one i think....
    https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8794-YPHV-2033
     
  12. erratum1

    erratum1 What's a Dremel?

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    I'm not going to download games on a 2 meg line, it's painful enough just downloading 1-2 ghz demo's. I would pay a little extra somewhere to have the minimum speed raised in the uk.
     
  13. Blademrk

    Blademrk Why so serious?

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    +1.
     
  14. BlackMage23

    BlackMage23 RPG Loving Freak

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    Price is the biggest thing for downloadable content.
    While Steam is good when it has a sale, I always find that a new game is cheaper from play then steam
     
  15. pimlicosound

    pimlicosound What's a Dremel?

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    I'd like to support digital sales on console on principle, but the current execution is rubbish.

    1. PS store doesn't sell full, new games at all, as far as I can tell - only smaller games and PS1 re-releases.

    2. Xbox Live offers a few games, usually a year or two after release.

    3. Prices are about £20 on Xbox Live, usually twice as much as the same game costs on disc

    The problem, of course, is that there's currently no free market in digital sales on console - they must all go through the official store. I don't think we'll see much improvement until we can sort that out.
     
  16. RichCreedy

    RichCreedy Hey What Who

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    i dont mind wether its disk or digital download, so long as i can get it when i want
     
  17. NuTech

    NuTech Minimodder

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    A friend of mine pointed out something quite interesting about Steam too. We like to marvel at their 'amazing' sales, but if you actually remember back when brick and mortar shops sold a lot of PC games, their sales were always equally good or even better. I cannot count the amount of times I found a great recent release in their bargain bin for £3-£5. /nostalgia

    Similar to what people often bitch at Microsoft about is they don't offer regular bargain sales on Xbox Live Arcade either, and when they do the deals aren't even that great. I think it was only last week that they had one of their first good meaningful sales, and even then the game selection was relatively small.

    I think a big problem is incentive. While digital distribution saves a lot of money logistically, it also means that there is no 'inventory' to clear out. And I suppose that they don't want a lot of their customers getting into a habit of only buying DLC when it's on sale. Ensuring there is no competition helps too.

    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. Etailers would then buy virtual 'stock' and try to sell it through the same interface to customers. You would log on, find a game you want and then see all the e-tailers offering it. Obviously you would pick the lowest price (unless some of the e-tailers offered reward card based incentives or similar), then check out. As games lose popularity, they could then start dumping inventory at much lower prices.
     
  18. DbD

    DbD Minimodder

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    I also prefer steam. Game disks become rapidly out of date - you may not need the disk but you often end up with gigabytes of patches that you have to remember to update every time you install, and then find the patches that have appeared since you last installed, hacks to get some old game to actually install on windows latest os. That's if you haven't lost the disk, the manual with the key on, and the disk still works.

    Then there's the annoyance of actually having to physically put the disk in the machine when you want to play.

    Steam I buy it and it automatically stays up to date. Move PC and I just copy the steamapps directory over and all my games are installed, fully patched and up to date instantly. No disks or keys to loose, no need to keep sticking it in the PC to play, no lengthy re-install. Simple.
     
  19. yakyb

    yakyb i hate the person above me

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    My gaming PC currently does not have a Dvd drive in it
    hasnt had one for 4 months
     
  20. yakyb

    yakyb i hate the person above me

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    oh in addition,

    i just wish i could register all my old Boxed games on steam (farcry , crysis, Mass effect etc)
     
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