You touch on many things I have in my War of Words article that responds to SpaceGhost2K, well besides gifts. lol

Now I never trade in games from my collection, nor do I buy used games. But I can see every advantage for others in having those options, so I’m all for keeping it. However, since Part II was written, Microsoft did something which is far worse. When they announced that Live would be cut from Original Xbox titles, it also meant that DLC and patches/upgrades would be cut off. You could see that as a small issue, considering there aren’t THAT many titles with that stuff on the original Xbox. But, let’s say all games were sold through DD. A few years after, Microsoft (or others) could do the exact same thing when they want to push you onto their next new platform. Only now it wouldn’t just be DLC you could no longer access, but the game itself. So not only is your game worth $0 in trade in value (again, wouldn’t affect me), but when you can no longer download it again in case you lose it or buy a new console, it’s total value becomes -$. Yes, you’ve actually LOST money, and that definitely WOULD affect me. To quote Mike, anyone who couldn’t figure that out, is clueless.

I feel I should add a bit about the worldwide job loss, because I really don’t think a lot of people would see how serious it could be. No store that sells games will have games to sell, no distributor to those stores has games to distribute, and no factory that makes games has any to make. That workforce has to be in the millions right?

Now about the publishers working with ISP’s. This would be completely feasible. It already happens in the UK, many broadband providers have had special deals with Microsoft with regards to getting free Live subscriptions and other 360 offers. Plus you can now watch Sky TV on 360, who also offer broadband services. They would line each others pockets so easily.

Moving on to what Boston said, about Sony and Blu Ray. At first, I agreed with it myself. I thought, yes he’s right, there’s no way Sony would go DD after bigging up Blu Ray so much. But then I reminded myself, this IS Sony. Look what they did with UMD, and how they failed with PSP Go *rolls eyes at USB* Yes it did fail which is good, but they still pushed it as ‘the way forward’ and nothing would stop them blurting the same crap again with the PS3 or next home console.

I have to talk about Sonic 4 now, as it completely relates to this. As you’ve probably seen, it’s back in 2D (how Sonic should be played) They’ve given fans what they wanted. However… you don’t need a double take to see that it says Sonic 4 Episode 1. That is certainly not something fans wanted. Now I’ve seen justification for this, such as Sega need a profit. What a load of rubbish. It doesn’t take a genious to work out that a new numbered Sonic title since 3 in 1994, would sell like crazy at retail today. People that still like Sonic would buy, people that went off Sonic with 3D will buy. It would be a cheaper priced retail game aswell, which appeals to potential new fans of the series. If I can work that out, why can’t SEGA? Making it DD and episodic only serves a single purpose, to rip us off now, and to take another step into a DD only age. They won’t say how many episodes there will be, and they won’t say how much they are. Imagine if we’re ‘lucky’ enough to get an episode for just 800 MS points, or $10. Then multiply that by a minimum of 4. Now if they are a success, they can choose to add more episodes, all of which should have made one retail game. In the end, you will end up paying twice the amount you would at retail, plus your episodes are worth 100% less than a retail game i.e. absolutely nothing. So people saying that it wouldn’t sell at retail, and think a DD version is an advantage to them (yes, like you Longboy) because they’re getting a ‘bargain’ – they need to think again. Then next year, there could very well be a Sonic 4 at retail, with a ton of extra content not available to download. Nobody should buy into this.

On to something less serious, but still yet another disadvantage to DD. Let’s think about occasions such as Christmas and Birthdays. How is a child supposed to receive a game from their older technology challenges relatives? Plus you’re taking away the happy moment of opening a present =( I know you don’t approve of gifts Mike, but many do lol, and nobody wants a digital download as a gift.

Right, I think I’ll close up. I know there are many things holding back DD for now. But if publishers want to move forward with it, then any problems can be EASILY ironed out. We (i.e. gamers, THEIR customers) can not let this happen. If DD only moves forward, then they get it better while we get it worse. It’s as simple as that!

Sorry internet, these things should leave my head…….

My View on the whole digital thing isn’t as deep and I’m not here for an argument, so please don’t start squirting your truth juice at me. I prefer a world where digital and physical were both always an option but if things changed here’s what I wouldn’t mind.

Portables (DS,PSP,Pony,etc) – DD Only -
This is the only platform I have no problem with being DD only. I have a PSP Go (STFU lol)and I have all my games, saves, and space for whatever else on it. When I’m suck on the bus for over 2 hours lately, it’s great to have all of my games with me. No more “D’oh I left Blah home” and when I want a game I download it in 5-10 minutes then play it. I know I could just go to the store but I’m not a fan of the Game shops in my area, so I would have to take the bus further out or bug someone for a ride. I mostly shop on Amazon for games now and I almost always pay under $57 for day 1 releases total including tax and get them on release day.

A must though is that there should always be a removal battery and external memory option (EX:SD Card) so that we can keep saves or whatever on it, also a way to transfer whatever data to it going through the device’s menu. If the device gets hit by a Kamehameha I want my saves backed up or stored on something, I worked on those and it’s mine! -_-

PC – DD only –
You buy it physical only to dump the contents of the disc onto your computer so why not just download it. My problem with DD on the PC is the security shit they’re putting crapping up my sexy computer lol. I’m a fan of steam but WTF do I need to install SecuRom for if a game requires steam to play Hur? Hur?!?!?…….. O_O There’s nothing else for me to say about this, I don’t see why not they just really need to work out the way they tie it to a user, there is waaaaaay to many programs on my computer just to make sure I have legit games. Keep in mind more than 1 is to much for me lol.

Consoles- Physical Media only -
Consoles are part of your home entertainment system and so is showing off your media collection when friends/family/Aliens/Robots come to visit. I enjoy having a collection of crap at times and it tickles my nerd bone a lil bit. Console games are lengthy so it’s not like I need to swap them out constantly and DD would make it more convenient, I just leave the disc in till I’m done. All I see digital download only on a console bringing to the table is expensive hard drives sold by the console makers (sure they would give us the option to put our own HDDs in….. not.)

The downside to DD is in the last bit of Mike’s post, this isn’t my blog so I should stop typing now but I won’t! Mainstream gamers know what they want so they would get a game no matter what. Everyone else kind of goes in a game store, looks at a few cases and buys a game. With DD a lot games would get over looked by people that don’t give a damn about game reviews, gaming sites, video game magazines to keep up with upcoming games.

Companies would have to advertise the shit out of games on T.V, billboards, etc to get word of mouth going or their screwed. This also kind of kills the low budget/up and coming company’s….. Not to mention all the Game Stores/Game Sections in stores closing taking a lot of jobs away from the youth.

So much more to type but I’m going to stop now before I start making less sense….. Oh and games would stay full price longer since stores aren’t competing and no resale value is sucky but I keep most of my games anyway…… I’M STOPPING NOW……..

On a side note: Yes my grammar sucks, it’s 5:11 AM and I haven’t slept yet. I’m not getting paid to think these dumb thoughts so leave me alone lol.

I do agree with the Internet bandwidth limitations, and also the fact that the so wonderful “Regional Lock” is already hurting me from getting most of the content I would like from Live (Netflix, 1vs100, Zune music videos & some XBLA titles).

And to end this up, let’s imagine for a moment that we could only get a game by DD. Based on the latest reports from game piracy, publishers would loose A TON of money by selling this way, if there’s always someone who can sell their product on the web at a cheaper price.

You also thought the 2nd DLC was better. The numbers and reviews prove you wrong, sucka. LOL

Go finish ME! LOL

I’ve bought a few games through Steam. It’s a painless process overall. My biggest issue is download times. Games are getting bigger and that means longer download times. With that said though, DD is something I could get used on the PC side.

Console wise, more people do trade in/sell games. So that will indeed be a problem for many. Personally, I’ve never sold or traded a game. The biggest issue I see is hard drives. They’ll either have to include massive drives out of the box or large drives at a cheap price.