The lights are on
I hear a lot of people say things like: "The disk is dead", or "Digital distribution is the way of the future". But one GIO article says: "Discs Not Dead? Survey Says Physical Media Still Rules"(http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/08/03/digital-download-survey.aspx). So what makes us gamers prefer disks over Digital distribution(DD) or vice-versa? Well let's look at some things that separate the two.
CONVENIENCE
Now this could go either way. The case for DD is that, when you buy off the Internet, it's easier and faster. I can understand that. When you buy off the Internet you won't ever have to put a disk in CD drive and you don't have to go to the store to buy your game. On the other hand, when I bought Dragon Age: Origins off Steam, It took me eight hours(I'm not joking at all) to download the game. Now in all fairness that was a rather large game(20 GB) and I've gotten smaller games off the Internet that took a matter of seconds to install. But I'm going to assume that you want to buy at least some games that are bigger than World of Goo(100MB).
If Your downloading only small games from the Internet, then DD might be a good idea. But if you want a larger game, then Gamestop maybe for you.
SAFETY
Have any of you ever dropped a disk? How about knocking over your X-box 360 with a disk inside of it? Disk scratches suck. DD is said to solve this problem. They say if you buy your games online you don't have to worry about the disk getting scratched. Of course, there could always be a system wide crash at Steam and your account could get lost in the mix. I find it hard to believe they don't have backups in place though(but I'm not sure). And when was the last time there was a system wide crash at Steam?
So, if your careful, disk scratches shouldn't happen that much and, though I could be wrong, I don't remember any crashes that put thousands of people out of their games because some janitor stepped on a cable at the Impulse building.
SELECTION
OK, the selection for DD and retail is pretty similar when it comes to most games. You can get Left 4 Dead 2 on Steam or at Gamestop. It really doesn't make any difference. On the other hand, I don't think you can find the first Fallout game at Gamestop(I couldn't). You can find it on a cool site called GOG.com,that sells older games(that's been talked about in the mag). You won't find World of Goo or Braid at Gamestop either.
Now, what about the selection on consoles? I don't know if Sony or Nintendo do anything like this. But on the Xbox 360; Microsoft has put up a Games On Demand section. This section has some great games on it like; Batman: Arkham Asylum and Call of Duty 4. But they also have games like; Disney Sing it HSM3 and American Idol. And I can't help thinking there could be some better games in there place. Games On Demand has about 150 games on it. That's not bad,(there are some good games on it after all) but it doesn't really compare to the 1000's of games that are on Steam, Direct2Drive and other DD sites.
In other words, for selection, DD>Gamestop>console DD.
PRICE
Have you ever found a game at Gamestop for %95 off? I haven't. I did during the Steam summer sale though. Steam has a couple games on sale every week. With some bigger sales throughout the year(Like the giant Steam summer sale). Other DD sites have similar sale schedules like this too. I'm fairly sure sales like this are few and far between(But not %100 sure) at Gamestop. Also, I don't think I've ever seen a sale on XBL.
If you go on to XBL games on demand section, then you'll notice that all the games there are ten dollars more than at Gamestop or on Steam. Now, I don't know what Microsoft had in mind when they made this decision, but it seems that charging ten extra dollars just so you can buy a game at home, instead of driving five minutes to Gamestop, is rather ridiculous.
So, DD sales are in the plenty, But rare at game stores and nowhere to be found on XBL. Games are also more expensive on XBL games on demand than else were.
Well, that's all for now. Feedback is always nice. Don't worry you won't hurt my feelings, if you tell that my blog sucks and make me go on a roaring rampage of revenge (10 points if you can guess the reference) and kill 50 people with my thumb.
So, do you like DD or good ol' Gamestop better?
Gamestop. People without decent internet are gamers too. If DD takes over, I'll be the one killing 50 people with my thumb. Slow speeds and 200mb daily download limit = No online multiplayer, Xbox Live, or downloading games, or music, or movies, etc. On a more wider perspective, downloaded games don't have plastic to unwrap, releasing the new game scent. Then the first click of it opening, revealing a crisp game manual and fresh, untarnished disk.
taking the time to get up and stick a disk in the console has never been a problem for me, or waiting for a preorder to arrive. im very patient.
i prefer seeing the discs on the shelf, not sure why, but never want to see everything go digital
Personally I like to see my games on a shelf in a row organized I like something tangible that I can show
Gamestop has good sales, albeit not quite as often as i would like. I just bought a brand new assissins creed 2 for $20, normally $40.
@ xXxSKOLxXx/sealsaa
You make some very good points. I wish I thought of them when I wrote the blog.
@ PSychotic
He was to busy saving the world from the Combine to be in the photo.
@ everyone
Really? Can no one guess the reference? All right, It's from Kill Bill. But you all fail!
I will be sticking with hard media for as long as i can. If i pay for something, i want something in my hand. I dont want it in a system that only allows me to erase and redownload only so many times. Also, right now, my biggest complaint with digital download is the price. How is it that games on PSN cost as much to download as they are to buy at a store? i mean, they have cut out distribution costs, retail handling costs, and more in between. So how is the price the same? if i am paying full price, ill go get my hands on a hard copy.
New at GameStop is an option that blends the two categories. A pretty decent blog, and a topic I recently blogged on myself, check it out if you like.
The hard part is that a brick and mortar retailer like GS has the ability to take your old games, giving you the chance to use them as currency. DD on the other hand is an investment with zero return, financially speaking. Until the digital realm has a value-added ability like trading in, hard media will not go anywhere.
Pie in the sky dreaming: Maybe publishers could allow a consumer to 'sell back' a program they're done with, deleting it permanently from the storage media, while offering credit towards future purchases? Alternatively, offering a discount on sequels or spin-offs if a consumer accomplishes a 100% completion on achievements/trophies in the original game? DD is very much a beast in evolution. Exciting stuff.
Gamestop. I think that DD is great, and better from a quantitative stand point, but there's just something about the experience. Driving to Gamestop, finding the game (maybe not finding the game, then coming across it a year later; see Orange Box for PS3), then there's the long car ride back in which all you can think about is opening that bad boy up and starting a new file.
Also Bargain Bin Diving! All the games suck, which makes it all better! And they're cheap so you don't feel bad about buying them. And games from the Last Gen. So many good games, that i doubt you'll find online.
I like retail games (specifically Gamestop) better than downloads for most games. A disk is a physical thing you can hold, and you don't lose your data if your hard drive fries or your Xbox red rings. Also, you can buy an older game for less used at retail. That doesn't happen on XBL. Also, I can trade my games with friends. They can try it out and see if they like it before deciding to buy it.
I prefer buying games from the store if possible. If a game is download only (ie Braid) or its something like the Virtual Console then I use downloads. Wherever I get it new and not used is where I ultimately get my games though. Thus if its an old game, and I'm having trouble finding it new on store shelves, then I'll download.
I prefer actually having disks because Digital Distribution gives away our FEW remaining copyright law rights as consumers to publishers and distributors for the sake of "convenience".
Of course publishers love digital distribution: They get to keep tight content control AND they don't have to pay the overhead associated with production and shipping of physical material.
Until such time as copyright law is reviewed and our consumer rights are strengthened (not likely to happen so long as archaic groups like the RIAA and MPAA are out there), I will ALWAYS prefer to have a disk that I can continue to play 10 to 15 years later.
If you want to see some blowback about digital distribution, Google the Amazon issue when they realized books were up for the Kindle at wrong prices, so they just "deauthorized" the content for everyone without so much as a notice until after the fact, when they sent notices informing people of the problem and refunds. Or look at how Apple just removed all apps containing Google Voice at the same time the iPhone 3GS came out (which, looky! had it's own integrated Voice app), thereby breaking apps customers had paid for which used Google Voice.
Gamestop i mean yesterday i traded like 30 of my old ps2 games ,and i got like $70 bucks for them. So im ready to buy halo:reach with my gamestop card loaded up.