"GameStop Enters Sellout Talks"

[Flojomojo]

Kosmic -- I don't know the answers to your questions, but I see some "good old days" assumptions in them. I know music has always been hit-driven, and that selling albums wasn't always the primary sales driver. Singles have always been important -- except when CDs were being pushed hard (and people were buying them).

 

Vinyl and streaming seem to be the main media for music for now. Vinyl to collect, streaming to discover and play on the road. Kinda (very roughly) like video games, with cartridges in place of vinyl and downloads in lieu of streaming.

 

Franko -- GameStop next to a "cash store" is grim. But I know many people who treat GameStop as a pawn shop, too. I'm honestly torn as to whether this is a good service, or just exploitative of people without much money.

[Tanooki]

Given the pitch Gamestop gives, even when it's a polite non-pushy employee by design is definitively exploitative which is why they have such a negative rep. Those who know don't bother unless they can game the system so well that ebay isn't much of interest with their odd credit boosting days and bonuses that swing around. For someone who just needs money, it's a victim culture that gets lately mocked with the buyout story with lots of memes like 'Gamestop up for 2B offer for buy out' I'll offer then 2.05.' It's trolling, but it's picking at what they do best at their worst to people who are in a worse spot. The difference from the cash store is, they just have a set interest rate. Gamestop will give you $2 and sell an item for $20 which is a nastier kick in the teeth.

 

And I get where kosmic is coming from, he's pretty right about it, a little past viewing, but not really given it really is happening with vinyl at least and streaming chewing up album sales.

[jhd]

You're simply holding the initial retail version of the game, if years down the road the online patches disappear, you're not going to have the updated title anymore should you pop it in a fresh console, or the game was uninstalled due to storage etc//. All you're going to be left with is version 1.0 of that title with none of the bug fixes that followed.

 

Several years ago, I purchased a (used) PC game at a thrift shop. The original game CD was present, of course, but the previous owner had thoughtfully downloaded the various patches and updates, and saved them to a floppy disk -- which was included in the same box

[jhd]

Unless you make PS2 era your cutoff point for game disk purchases, a complete game on a disc isn't a thing anymore. All modern console game discs I own have received numerous updates/patches.

 

This is actually my preferred solution; my PS 2 is the most recent dedicated gaming device that I own. I am quite happy with the absence of mandatory online connectivity, and I have yet to discover anything unplayable due to bugs.

[Tanooki]

Id mostly agree but patches were extremely rare on wii and to a lesser but very uncommon level on wiiu too because Nintendo refused to allow HDDs or expanded storage options of any good size.

[keepdreamin]

 

This is actually my preferred solution; my PS 2 is the most recent dedicated gaming device that I own. I am quite happy with the absence of mandatory online connectivity, and I have yet to discover anything unplayable due to bugs.

 

Some of my favorite games of all time have been this generation. I don't mind the downloads, the final products have been amazing.

[eightbit]

I really like what I have seen with the Switch thus far as patches are not mandatory. You can download the patch or update (I usually do) but you do not have to in order to play the physical title. As a matter of fact, there is an option to downgrade the game to a prior version in the Switch settings to match the version other players are using....I guess to keep the online side of things fair. But nothing is forced here. You can live with a totally offline Switch and physical games if you wanted to. Not that I do, but nice that this is an option.

 

Of course there are two or three games that do not follow this standard (as I mentioned previously) that I have not purchased and will not.

Edited July 4, 2018 by eightbit

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

This is actually my preferred solution; my PS 2 is the most recent dedicated gaming device that I own. I am quite happy with the absence of mandatory online connectivity, and I have yet to discover anything unplayable due to bugs.

Okay, I got one for you. Final Fantasy 11 on a PS2 Slim. In 2018.

[eightbit]

Sometimes I hate when bugs are fixed. I had to work through that insanely difficult end of Odyssey because the whole "frog swimming through space" bug was patched!

[keepdreamin]

Settling for an offline Switch and non-updated games sounds like the gaming equivalent of living with an outhouse instead of utilizing the convenience of modern indoor plumbing.

[Tanooki]

Well it's not, you're just being foolish saying that in most games cases so far. There have been a select few that were released in a way that really did need it, or required it just to work (like LA Noire, Wolfenstein.) Most of the library out of the box work great or at the worst very well where it shouldn't bother people or even really be noticed while playing unless you're the OCD types who sit and stare looking for uneven frame rates to complain about or happen to come across some oddball bug.

 

The switch offline isn't the gaming equal of a porta potty vs indoor plumbing at all. It's more like the difference of pre-HDD based games with patches vs those that do for better or worse and that's just fine. The lack of internal storage on Nintendo devices have forced developers untli the Switch to do things right the first time.

[pacman000]

"Settling for an offline Switch and non-updated games sounds like the gaming equivalent of living with an outhouse instead of utilizing the convenience of modern indoor plumbing."

 

Having to download games is like having the city call you to say "we're shutting down the sewer; you'll have to dig a septic tank."

[keepdreamin]

Downloading a patch to have the latest greatest working version is akin to digging a septic pit? A patch that doesn't require any physical labor or gas money to go get? Some of ya'll need to work on analogies.

 

It's more like being able to pay your water bill online. Sure you can write a check, mail an envelope, and walk to the mailbox. But why?

[Andromeda Stardust]

Sometimes I hate when bugs are fixed. I had to work through that insanely difficult end of Odyssey because the whole "frog swimming through space" bug was patched!

Did you use the hop in mid air, or the dinosaur to lift the frog out of the water? I used the dinosaur to do it. Sorry, but I can't even get past the lava poles much less do the rest of the area eff that.

 

I still have a screengrab of the 8-bit Rosalina sprite on the back of the tower. I wish they'd put the real Rosalina behind the tower as an Easter Egg to congratulate Mario (as in the Mario Galaxy 2 grand finaly galaxy) instead of just an 8-bit sprite, but at least they paid proper homage. She's still my go to girl in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

 

I also tried to capture a video of the ascent where Mario talks to Hatty and collects the triple moon at the top, but it got corrupted. Attempts at repairing the video in the avidemux editor was unsuccessful. Apparently, in the bugged videos, the first h264 keyframe is set to an astronomically long time period.

 

Speedrunners got royally screwed over by this patch btw. Now they have to uninstall the update snd use v1.00. Someone figured out a way to glitch through the Grand Finalie in Galaxy 2 by using infinite flutter kicks with Yoshi, but it's even more difficult and longer to pull off than playing through the normal way.

 

These patches also prevented cheating in the jump rope challenge so no more 99,999 high scores on the leaderboard.

[Andromeda Stardust]

"Settling for an offline Switch and non-updated games sounds like the gaming equivalent of living with an outhouse instead of utilizing the convenience of modern indoor plumbing."

Having to download games is like having the city call you to say "we're shutting down the sewer; you'll have to dig a septic tank."

Some of us actually prefer roughing it. When my uncle and I went backpacking in the Appelatian wilderness, we dug a hole in the ground with a garden spade, shat into the hole, then buried it. TP is biodegradeable so we buried that too.

 

Overall it was a fun and rewarding experience. The mountains were beautiful. Like playing the old Atari with little rectangles, beeps, and farts. Wouldn't have it any other way...

[80s_Atari_Guy]

Downloading games is like going into a Ford garage and asking

 

Do you have the latest Focus, and can I test it ?

 

Only to be told.

 

"No sir, we don't sell retail cars anymore.", "You now have to go online, click on the car you want, pay for it, wait for it to be built, then go and pick it up yourself."

"While online, you'll have many options for your car.", "From Basic model, to Standard model, to Special Edition model, to Super Gold Account model, right upto our Ultimate model"

"Also, You can no longer test-drive our cars.", "While, warranty will last as long as we say so."

"Every time you want to start your car you will have to contact us FIRST, just to make sure you are the real owner."

"Things like extra seats (Besides your own), a car radio, a spare wheel, a tool for the wheel lock nut, and a spare key set are now DLC, and you have to pay extra for it"

"And lastly, our latest model will come out 6 months from now making your model worthless."

[pacman000]

"Downloading a patch to have the latest greatest working version is akin to digging a septic pit? A patch that doesn't require any physical labor or gas money to go get? Some of ya'll need to work on analogies."

 

Sure. Both transfer responsibility from a service provider to a user, both create an extra cost to the user.

 

I'm probably going to get out of my house sometime anyways; stopping at a game or video store adds little to my trip. Buying a bigger hard disk or renting a faster internet connection does cost more.

 

"It's more like being able to pay your water bill online. Sure you can write a check, mail an envelope, and walk to the mailbox. But why?"

 

Poor web design; too many sites are bloated & slow. I don't want to deal with that.

[Shawn]

Id mostly agree but patches were extremely rare on wii and to a lesser but very uncommon level on wiiu too because Nintendo refused to allow HDDs or expanded storage options of any good size.

 

While the Wii might have been limited in storage by Nintendo (users could mod this problem away), the Wii U could have huge external HDD's and Nintendo promoted that feature.

[Osgeld]

the wii will support SD up to 2 gig, which is the max for SD anyway, and SDHC upto 32 gig

 

considering the content one would put on a stock wii, I think 32gig is fairly decent

 

 

 

If you have updated your Wii console to Wii Menu 4.0 or higher, then your Wii console is compatible with SD Cards that are 2 GB (Gigabyte) or less, and is also compatible with SDHC Cards (so-called High Capacity SD Cards) up to 32 GB

Edited July 4, 2018 by Osgeld

[Tanooki]

While the Wii and WiiU were capable of larger sizes (2GB and 32GB+ext HDD up to 2TB) and were promoted, developers at that rate didn't have the cajones to trust people to dig into that at least. Nintendo has a partial list on their own site and the updates seem to in basically all the games were just after the fact tweaks, but not finishing off shoveling out beta ware as a final package with zero day or later fixes. The one stand out is kind of Breath of the Wild with the frame rate, but again the game is smooth enough to play when it arrived anyway so it's more of a comfort fix and then the added DLC double package later as a total option. Wii though was another thing, almost no updates at all of either kind, rarely did something pop up that released with a bad enough glitch that required a fix because they had the concern many would not buy a SD card and the system only came with a 1GB Kodak card so they relied on the 512MB inside minus what the firmware used.

[eightbit]

Settling for an offline Switch and non-updated games sounds like the gaming equivalent of living with an outhouse instead of utilizing the convenience of modern indoor plumbing.

 

 

Really? Do you have any instances that you can provide in which a particular Switch game that was not updated plays like an outhouse experience but when updated plays like you have a bidet? If so, call out one please. I have not found one in my 79 thus far that play any differently updated or not, aside from the aforementioned Monopoly with its load times decreased/fixed with an update. All other updates were generally to add DLC and a few to crush unintentional "bugs", like ones that help users cheat in the game.

[Andromeda Stardust]

While the Wii and WiiU were capable of larger sizes (2GB and 32GB+ext HDD up to 2TB) and were promoted, developers at that rate didn't have the cajones to trust people to dig into that at least. Nintendo has a partial list on their own site and the updates seem to in basically all the games were just after the fact tweaks, but not finishing off shoveling out beta ware as a final package with zero day or later fixes. The one stand out is kind of Breath of the Wild with the frame rate, but again the game is smooth enough to play when it arrived anyway so it's more of a comfort fix and then the added DLC double package later as a total option. Wii though was another thing, almost no updates at all of either kind, rarely did something pop up that released with a bad enough glitch that required a fix because they had the concern many would not buy a SD card and the system only came with a 1GB Kodak card so they relied on the 512MB inside minus what the firmware used.

Wii-u botw got all the dlc pack that switch did. Mario u got luigi u add ons. Treasure tracker got updates for the toad amiibo. Smash bros got abunch of new content. Mario Kart got four new cups, new drivers and cart parts. Some updates were free, others paid. So wii-u definitely got a lot of post release content for a lot of games that went beyond bug fixes.

[Tanooki]

It's still not necessary to enjoy the games out of the box, or impacts them in a way that harms or ruins the experience either. It's post release fluff and I was talking in general about updates that makes the games work like Sony/MS do, the v0.8 style beta releases out of the box to fix them when you get home to a few GB download.

[Andromeda Stardust]

It's still not necessary to enjoy the games out of the box, or impacts them in a way that harms or ruins the experience either. It's post release fluff and I was talking in general about updates that makes the games work like Sony/MS do, the v0.8 style beta releases out of the box to fix them when you get home to a few GB download.

I'm aware. I have noticed though a lot of Switch games are getting day one patches now. For what, I don't know, but it gives me pause to think the game on the card may not run in exactly the same way as we remembered it if purchased in the future sometime after server sunset.

 

And there are great stuff added to games yes. Breath of the Wild was a complete game out of the box, but now I'm thrashing about Hyrule on a motorbike. Nintendo has a way of making games better than we imagined they could be. Your "best game ever" just got better. 200cc mode in MK8 (Wii-U) was just thrown in just because they can, and everyone got it fof free. Granted it's on the actual Switch card, but not every game in Switch's library will get the reissue or goty treatment.

[slab0meat]

Downloading games is like going into a Ford garage and asking

 

Do you have the latest Focus, and can I test it ?

 

Only to be told.

 

"No sir, we don't sell retail cars anymore.", "You now have to go online, click on the car you want, pay for it, wait for it to be built, then go and pick it up yourself." -- Why would a "Ford garage" still exist if it wasn't there for selling retail cars? Simply to tell people to do it online? Weird.

 

"While online, you'll have many options for your car.", "From Basic model, to Standard model, to Special Edition model, to Super Gold Account model, right upto our Ultimate model" -- OK. true for many, many things in today's world

 

"Also, You can no longer test-drive our cars.", -- Demos exist for many games

 

"While, warranty will last as long as we say so." -- This is true. You're told what the warranty is before you buy. It's as long as they say it is, unless you buy an extended warranty. Which is also as long as they say so, and you agree to.

 

"Every time you want to start your car you will have to contact us FIRST, just to make sure you are the real owner." -- I can play plenty of games offline, I'm not sure what the point is

 

"Things like extra seats (Besides your own), a car radio, a spare wheel, a tool for the wheel lock nut, and a spare key set are now DLC, and you have to pay extra for it" -- Those are horrible comparisons... maybe compare items that actually ARE pay-for-upgrades?

 

"And lastly, our latest model will come out 6 months from now making your model worthless." -- You're actually trying to say that games are worthless in six months if a "newer model" comes out? Silly.

 

 

Someone said it above... some people really need to work on analogies.