Physical, digital or streaming?

[Magmavision2000]

I'm sorry for necroposting, but I'd like to update my opinion. I've gone from being "non-physical bad" to being 50/50 on both Physical and Digital. The reason why I had the problem with digital is because of the fear of games becoming lost. But I've slowly realized that's not the case and started buying more and more digital games (even though I still prefer physical), I even have more digital Switch games than physical. 

 

Streaming can still fall into a volcano though.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Magmavision2000

[digdugnate]

fwiw my stance on console games has changed over the years, too. 

 

i do prefer physical Switch games, but frankly the tiny cartridges are a PITA for me to swap in and out all the time.  For the XBox, if I buy a disc all I'm buying is a physical license key- you have to keep the disc inserted even though the entire game is installed onto the Xbox hard drive.

[Keatah]

14 hours ago, Magmavision2000 said:

Streaming can still fall into a volcano though.

Digital can go away as equally as does streaming.

Edited April 28, 2020 by Keatah

[Magmavision2000]

29 minutes ago, Keatah said:

Digital can go away as equally as does streaming.

At least with digital there's a chance of finding a system with the game on it. With streaming, if it's an exclusive, there's no way to save the game as it can't be downloaded. That's why some Sega Channel and Satelleview games are lost.

[Cobra Kai]

I can only speak as an Xbox owner, and I buy physical if possible but most of the indie games are digital, so thats fine I guess. What I don't understand, is why can't a physical game owner enjoy the same convenience that the digital owner has? I'm still installing the game on the hard drive of the console, so why does the disc have to be present to play the game? 

 

That is what I enjoy most about having digital games, not having to go through the process of inserting the disc and updating the key etc... Is this just another manipulation to get us to stop buying physical media? 

[Agamon]

8 minutes ago, Kobra Kai said:

I can only speak as an Xbox owner, and I buy physical if possible but most of the indie games are digital, so thats fine I guess. What I don't understand, is why can't a physical game owner enjoy the same convenience that the digital owner has? I'm still installing the game on the hard drive of the console, so why does the disc have to be present to play the game? 

 

That is what I enjoy most about having digital games, not having to go through the process of inserting the disc and updating the key etc... Is this just another manipulation to get us to stop buying physical media? 

No, it allows you to play a physical game on another person's console, but doesn't let you just temporarily share your copy with everyone you know and give them the game for free.

[Keatah]

On 4/28/2020 at 11:36 AM, Magmavision2000 said:

At least with digital there's a chance of finding a system with the game on it. With streaming, if it's an exclusive, there's no way to save the game as it can't be downloaded. That's why some Sega Channel and Satelleview games are lost.

 

IMHO a chance that's vanishingly small. I wouldn't be interested in any sort of lengthy ebay hunts or weekly baggie-chases around town to find console that might have what I was looking for. Could end up with a stack of crap where it takes 20 consoles to contain a still-incomplete collection. With no resolution in sight..

 

And you're having to deal with full consoles, special copy mods, complete hard disk drives, and certainly some DRM and server checks. Things designed like this aren't made for collecting, but instead money-making. And money-making only; for they are anti-collector from the get-go.

 

Cartridges, tapes, disks, and discs. All so much easier to work with, enjoy, and preserve for the future. It's part of the reason why those old consoles are still worth a little something. Part of the reason there IS a vintage gaming scene at all.

 

Anything from roughly around the PS2 era and later can become e-waste instantly when the servers go down or the parent company deems the lifespan is over. New consoles are little more than processors + graphics in a fat cable box.

 

You know.. I really don't give a shit about any of these newfangled distro methods. Don't care even if they use space-age satellite technology. Or 500gigbit lan or megastream crap. No. It's all too complicated for my infinitesimal brain and I'll stick with what can be easily backed-up. Like PC disks from yore. Or cartridges and roms. Or files on a hard disk that can be mirrored.

 

I do not care if the new graphics are sharper than 8K or have more colors than the real world outside. It's all.. all.. bleghh. I remember going over to an acquaintances place and recalling it took like 20 minutes to boot the PS-whatever, and then download like 285GB over the next hour. Took almost 2 ours from walking in the house to being able to play.

 

So.. No.. I don't think so.

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Keatah