do you want physical disc next gen?

This question is for cows, sheep, and lems. We all know the hoopla when microsoft tried to do this. I can admit they went about it wrong, and shouldnt have announced it because it was obvious that it wasnt wanted. Thats not to say going all digital can have its benefits. Such as right now I have no way to sell the digital games I have purchased, hot switching games which was a really cool feature was nixed, familyshare, always on dynamic environment for devs, and cheaper prices like steam model?..... so do you want all digital next gen in 2020 or so? As a cow or sheep does this interest you on your preferred console? Lems are you upset that all these features are now not even mentioned?

Even if they go digital, I doubt you would see PC game prices

@lostrib: ok maybe but we dont know. Do u think physical should be option next gen?

Only if the prices drop.

Yes, I always want to have the option. With DD, you cant lend, trade, borrow or sell.

Yes, I want physical. Digital pricing is a rip off.

Besides that and far more importantly:

I'm a GAME collector.

I value being able to sell my games, rent games, trade games, gift my games, lend my games, buy used games, or borrow games from friends.

I DESPISE DRM and it's not welcome in my home. Even with Blizzard DRM games which I love, I wait months to get their games cheaper because of their damn DRM.

Going Digital =/= Cheaper prices. Those are different things. Going Digital COULD ALLOW for cheaper prices, but you are underestimating companies greed.

I understand software companies wanting digital, they gain SOOOO MUCH over the consumer.

You can even see today, Digital games sell for full retail price even though companies are saving on printing the disc, the case, the manuals, shipping the physical games, paying the retail middlemen their cut, but the companies still charge full price for digital games. Then we consumers have to use our own Internet service to Download the digital game, and we have to provide room on our HDDs to store the game we bought.

It's a rip off. They will always do this because some people are morons and pay the full retail price on digital $60 console games even though they lose their abilities to sell, buy used, borrow, gift, etc. Look at the 360 XBLA and PS3 PSN games, they aren't even compatible on Xbone/PS4. There is no guarantee new future console systems will support my old digital games of current gen. My 360 XBLA/ PS3 PSN games are stuck on those platforms. Years from now, when those PS360 machines are stolen or if they simply break down. I lose all those digital games tied to the machines. This is a legitimate fear as I can't expect the service for PS360 to go on forever. This isn't a concern with physical games.

Game sizes get larger every generation and this gen they are going to be standard 25GB-50GB. Why would I want to download 25-50GB Blu-Ray games one-at-a-time this gen? What about next gen when game GB sizes will double? Why would I put myself through all that deliberately? I wouldn't.

The problem is getting consumers to follow their lead in pursuing digital as the ONLY way to buy. Companies even pay employees and PR companies to post as consumers in forums to try and persuade consumers. It's a joke.

@Heil68: unless provisions are made

You know, I'd have no issue with getting scratch cards to replace discs. Think about it, Gamestop will sell games as normal, instead of getting a disc you get a scratch card. In the parking lot, you enter the code via an app for iOS, Android or Windows Phone, that attaches it to your account so by the time you get home, the game should be downloaded ready for you to play!

Depends, if my purchaches carry over, then sure. If all purchaches vanish Again? **** no.

Also they need to ajust prices somewhat.

Ill only go all digital if game prices are at least $10 cheaper for most games. Otherwise Ill probably get the disc version most of the time. Im not paying $60 for a digital copy of a game.

Yeah my internet connection isn't that great. I would hate downloading something 20gb+ in size and games are surely only going to get bigger by next generation. Also sort of just like having the physical copy of games anyway.

To all those saying they are a collector, how are your stacks of betamax, vhs's, 8 tracks and cassette tapes fairing?

:)

I got a few Betacam types kicking around.

This kind of attitude makes me sick.

However this a game site right? I don't recall any of those being games.....

I am a game collector, and my games from all the other generations are neatly displayed on shelves. They are fairing excellently.

You want all digital... that's great.. others like to own what they purchase.

:)

Unfortunately I think solidity makes the best argument against this. The problem is all these features ms was touting was because of drm. They simply cannot do it with physical put into the picture. Blue makes a good point too. I just dont know if you can take away a collectors right to own physical.

By next gen do you mean now, or after x1/ps4? I think if the games were reasonably sized and there was significant storage space it could be an option. But I still think pricing is an issue. But if the sold game discs that could fully install to the HDD, that would seem like a good option as well. I like having the ability to switch between games whenever I want without having to deal with discs, plus disc drives can be noisy

Exactly... MS tried to go the ALL DIGITAL route... I am SO GLAD that idea screwed the pooch. At least intelligence levels have not dipped below the acceptable line as an overall average just yet. I am hoping that physical media carries on for decades... *I was going to say when I die I don't care if it goes all digital* HOWEVER, my children don't deserve that.

For those thinking it is a good thing.... I am truly at a loss for words.

That being said... I will depend on the majority of my novel sales being e-book derived.... so I guess everybody looks at things differently even within different types of media. I am sure there are people out there who would never buy an e-book, or ONLY if they really want it and can not get it any other way...

YES.

I wouldn't exactly call it needed next gen. By then internet speeds/availability will be so wide-reaching that downloads will become a null issue. However, in doing so they need to lower prices to those similar to the PC. Take away packaging, shipping, storage, and disk manufacturing, and you have significant cost cuts for the publishers that they SHOULD pass along to the consumers. Whether that will happen or not remains to be seen.

Why does my opinion/attitude make you sick? :P

I'm simply pointing out that all formats become obsolete and if you think a generation (in age not consoles) from now kids won't look at the physical media you're collecting in the same way as they do all other dead mediums you're crazy. By all means collect what you wish but just know that physical media WILL at some point soon cease.

Physical.

Heh, here its on the other foot. I'd hate for paper books to die out (as I have mountains of them) even though 95% of my "reading" is now done via audiobook when I'm working out/driving/mowing/etc.

So you're right, we want to protect what we love.

I'm a collector, so I like physical.

The thing is there is an actual difference between the e-book and the paperback in the way they are displayed/experienced. A downloaded game and a disc copy of the same game give you the same experience.

Not really you get the same information in both (and e-readers now look more and more like a book).

You might argue that the difference between an ebook and paperback is a bit like a PC vs a console multiplat. Similar experiences but with personal preferences.

Pretty much every time I wen't DD on a game I've regretted it. These game companies want to be like how Apple is with the music market but there's a difference between a buying a 99 cent 20MB mp3 and a buying a $60 50GB game one is a convenience, the other is a hassle.

You get the same info but how you get it is different. For example, many people have trouble reading tablet displays for long periods of time, or they don't like the e-ink displays of things like kindle (which seem to be going out of style). But the game played from a disc and played from a download look exactly the same, there's no difference in the experience. They should open up the market with disc and download version like it is on PC, and see what happens

no but I keeping disc due to pricing reasons

@lostrib: Well thats coming already. I like that I can download a full-priced game on launch straight from PSN+, but what they need to do is let you pre-load it like on steam to avoid lengthy waits.

What the **** mp3 file are you downloading from itunes that is 20MB? also, it's 1.29

It seems like PSN/PS+ is getting towards the steam idea. But I think pricing for console games needs to be similar to that on PC before DD will take off, or allow competing stores selling digital codes to redeem and download

Hell, I don't want physical this gen. I had to insert a blu ray movie into my PS4 and X1 in order to see if the drives worked. So yeah, no for me.

@blue_hazy_basic: I have boxed snes games worth £500+ now imagine those being download only back then.

It's going all digital whether you like it or not. It's happening in many ways.

I'm kind of amused when people are so adamant about collecting things on a disk. You are concerned about keeping what is basically a disk cover. Once the game is installed and connected to the internet, that's it, you are just as screwed as anyone else. All it takes is a patch and the game barely represents what it was as initially bought on physical media..

Look at the mobile/tablet space you can't even play most games unless you have an internet connection (this sucks BTW)

I want physical because I like to collect my games and it just feels better when I can hold them in my hands. AlthoughI don't like disc based media, unless blu-rays load faster then games loading off of a hard drive. I actually like game cards or cartridges because they last forever can't get scratched and they load faster than discs.

While I have use DD quite a bit on my 360/PS3 I never paid retail for any. Live has great sales, last one I bough was dishonored for 9.00. Psn has many as well. But all digital is only possible if they start cutting the price. SolidTy nailed it dead on. So as convenient as it has been to not put one of the over 45 game's in that I have between the two consoles, no, I want physical as an option.

Dont care about physical disks anymore.. going to go digital based with the PS4 because digital is not only easier for me but it also saves me a lot of money by having select games being 10% cheaper online and not getting charged with tax

my internet connection (i am not calling it broadband) is so bad that its going to take me the guts of a week to download arkham city from steam. thats 20GB ish and thats leaving my laptop on all night to download (so the network shouldnt be busy). its the very best broadband available to me at the moment (BB is not one of those things i dont mind skimping on). its also capped at 60GB a month. its mobile broadband on a badly maintained and highly congested network. i think its so bad at the moment that its actually causing steam to crash :P.

this situation doesnt look like its going to improve.

so yes i very much want discs going forward. i still buy PC games on discs as much as possible for obvious reasons. anything to take a chunk out of my download requirements.

I want discs to be phased out. They are awful. Any system with disc-based media will not be reliable. There are a lot of moving parts inside, parts that are very fine and delicate. There's no sound I hate more than a console that might be a bit dusty freaking out trying to read a disc. I had a roommate with a launch 360 and the sound of that thing solidified my decision to get a ps3. It still used discs but bluray moves slower and makes less sound. (ps newer 360s are better I know)

There's only two choices I would support wholeheartedly:

1- completely digital (download, stream, whatever)

2- return of cartridge, perhaps through memory stick technology

It's really no different that the evolution of music from CDs to MP3 players.

@SolidTy: You said that perfectly, well done.

Guy hates CDs and wants to go back to cartridges...which cost more. Between this guy, Lotsrib, and Blue_Hazy, there is enough pitiful excuses for an entire year in here.

I want some form of physical drive.

Losing it would be a idiotic mistake. Publishers would more than love for everyone to go digital only, that alone means that it's not a good policy for the consumer. F*ck the corps, they make mountains of money already and from what I see they don't deserve even more.

hey, I said nothing of cost. The 3DS seems to get by on cheap-ish cartridges. A modern cartridge would look nothing like a SNES cartridge btw. We can fit 100s of gigs on a piece of plastic that could get lost in your pocket. Besides, we just don't know what the future brings for tech and pricing. What we do know is that discs always have to be rotated, and moving parts will always break down quicker.

You talk about price, but what about the price of having to replace your console? You will be lucky to have your disc based console last 10 years (more like 5 but let's be conservative). Oh but I guess that's just a pitful excuse to you (I don't even know what you mean with that garbage btw)

No point in going digital on console the price is the same and you need hard drive space and a internet connection. The console makers cut out retail,the shipping,the disc,the case,the manual and taxes, You don't even get extras and you can't even sell the game either. There is just too much drawbacks to buying digital on console.

Not to mention the many times the consoles have been hacked.

I will always prefer physical. Always.

I am the same way, I have hundreds of digital games on XBLA alone accumulated since 2005, hundreds more if I add in digital PC, Wii, PS3, handhelds, etc.

It's all about the deals, if a digital game is super low enough despite being digital, I'll bite. That said, I have found hundreds of physical games at retail dirt cheap as well and that's always preferred when I have the choice.

I am the same way, I have hundreds of digital games on XBLA alone accumulated since 2005, hundreds more if I add in digital PC, Wii, PS3, handhelds, etc.

It's all about the deals, if a digital game is super low enough despite being digital, I'll bite. That said, I have found hundreds of physical games at retail dirt cheap as well and that's always preferred when I have the choice, especially with consoles.

EDIT: Glitchspot double post, sorry folks. I changed the picture and post to spice up the boring double post.