Poll: Are You Ready To Ditch Disks?

[TelHybrid]

It's not viable at all right now.

It would cut out a large market sector, such as the technophobic sector who don't trust downloadable games, and would cut out gamers in areas of poor internet reception. Hell even with good internet reception, I don't want to have to use it downloading games that will inevitably reach 30GB and over.

Not only that, but with consoles, hard drive space is limited. Well with 360 at least. The crappy overpriced proprietary hard drives with limited capacity aren't made for the large scale download market.

It would also put retailers out of business. Look at how many retailers refused to sell PSPGo.

Making digital distribution the only means of obtaining games is utterly fucking stupid at this stage, and anyone who thinks otherwise, really needs to learn a little tiny bit about the gaming industry, and business in general.

Edit: As someone who is partially a PC gamer, I can see why that gaming market would be ok with it.
Hard drives with large capacity are available and cheap, not shitty Microsoft proprietary ones. Steam is a service that almost gets it right (still a few problems with offline mode), plus the PC gaming market isn't technophobic.
A DD market is just about viable for PC gaming, almost. For consoles, no way.

 

[PurplePlatypus]

You know, I don?t give a damn about the disk, doesn?t really give me much more feeling of security. What I?ll miss is the box art, and the manuals with their artwork and bits about the story and characters.

I?m basically demanding that more digitally distributed games include the manuals in the form of PDF. I little more scrolling than just opening it up to look at but at least it would be there and I wouldn?t have to go looking for it on the internet.

 

[Icehearted]

This poll overlooks price fixing and out of control DRM, at least specifically, and those are two of the three biggest reasons why I've barely dipped my toe in that pond..

 

[Pearwood]

Not until they put Lucifer's Call/Megami Tensei Nocturne on psn.

 

[Tsunimo]

I like discs for now but eventually we are going to have to find something to replace them with, as games get more and more complex who knows how massive they will become...

 

[Enigma6667]

Only if they find a way to make the games refundable. Otherwise, no way in hell.

 

[MikailCaboose]

No. I'm just bred for a necessity to have the hard-copy of ANYTHING that I own. I feel more comfortable that way.

 

[mrpenguinismyhomeboy]

I think we should switch to digital. On the other hand, I also think we should switch to digital currency, digital music (we can have the purest form of the audio with .iso anyway. The quality wont be lost like they are with .mp3s and .mp4s), and digital food. I think Digital copies are far more environmentally friendly, because they consume less physical resources (although the amoutn of hard drives that will be needed to produce might undo all the resources supposedly saved idk SHUT UP), and I'm perfectly content with sacrificing a few liberties for the sake of the earth not fucking us over. GO GREEN. NAO.

 

[Scout Tactical]

I'm terribly sorry, are we console-primary gamers not allowed to have an opinion on digital distribution? One that the companies who, y'know, make and sell games to the console-owning crowd might have an interest in knowing? Given the differences in development and design for consoles and PCs, one might think a lump sum poll would actually be LESS useful to all parties concerned than one that focused on one major grouping or the other. But hey, that's just a console gamer's opinion. Probably worth nothing.

First off, thank you for being polite and knowing your place. Interestingly enough, against common prevailing opinion (and probably fact as well), I think console gamer opinions DO matter, if only a little.

That mentioned, what I was getting at was that digital downloading is an extensive and powerful medium that has had years to develop on the computer. Steam has only recently announced intention to expand to the PS3, and the Wii's closest thing to digital download is the virtual console, which is pretty much a joke anyway, since it is only used for games that aren't on a disc. Digital download only became available at all for the PS3 in 2008, and wasn't possible before that. By polling console gamers on this matter, you are effectively only getting the opinions of people who are using the LIVE Marketplace, and even then that hasn't had the time to develop the infrastructure that cloud programs like Steam have (not to mention Steam comes at no charge, while Live requires a subscription!)

PC gaming is getting to the point where discs are almost totally obsolete. I can't think of any critically acclaimed games released in the past year for the PC that weren't available via cloud (usually Steam, but even Blizzard has their own cloud account, so you never need a disc!) The consoles are far from this state, so really this poll is just asking how far the LIVE Marketplace is behind the curve of cloud computing in digital downloads.

I'm not insulting the platforms of the consoles, mind you: I believe that if they had the time, or access to third parties like Steamworks, they would be right up there with computers, but as of right now, exclusivity and lack of motivation to revise has left consoles in the dust when it comes to digital downloads.

 

[migo]

Steam is seemingly the only DD I trust so far. I've had problems with D2D, where their customer service was straight unhelpful and I suddenly had $50 down the drain. I'm not ready to abandon physical until I feel like I can trust more than one distributor.

Agreed, Steam is the only one I will ever actually trust with this sort of thing. Otherwise I want a Hard copy.

Steam is just as bad and unhelpful.

 

[micky]

id never use it, i just love having the physical game and seeing your collection of games it fun.

 

[Get_A_Grip_]

I don't have any space to keep non-physical copies of games and my 3mb broadband with a 20gb download limit is really not up for the job.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I'm not sure where I stand on this... I mean, there's just something magical about physical copies of anything. It's different than downloading it. It's why I would rather pay 3 extra dollars for a CD than buy one on iTunes. But then again... I've bought plenty of games on Steam and I think it was the best choice. Digital means no scratched discs and no install limits (on Steam, anyway) and if I have my computer wiped (which happens often) I don't have to round up my discs. I've got plenty of games that I've lost one CD to and now I can't play them anymore because I can't install them.

But as of right now, I'm not ready to give up hard copies of any kind. At least give us a choice.

 

[_Cake_]

I want something physical, be it a cartridge, disk, or whatever.

 

[georgelangham]

Ditched discs a long time ago, anything I couldn't get off steam I steal off Piratebay in ISO form (there own fault for not wanting to be on steam.)
Discs are uneccassary clutter, are damaged to easily and an outdated format in my personal opinion.
The only discs I buy are those which come with physical extras (as in a collectors edition of a game I really like, with something like a replica or a toy included. otherwise I personally stay the hell away from discs.)

Those with the argument that not having a physical copy means if your PC gets wiped your fucked are mentioning a null point.
Steam stores back-ups of all games you own (that you bought with steam) and If your smart you'd backup the rest of them onto an external hardrive or USB Flash Drive.

At least give us a choice.

although I'll say I'm pro choice, if you prefer the look and feel of discs then feel free to.


BTW Don't correct me on the spelling for Disc, that is the corect English spelling.
Disk is the americanised English, and to be honest in casual chat it doesn't matter whether you type English or americanised English, as long as you are consistent with which you choose.

 

[StBishop]

I think that discs will eventually be replaced by dedicated thumb drives.

But.. discs are cheaper for the company.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

Ditched discs a long time ago, anything I couldn't get off steam I steal off Piratebay in ISO form (there own fault for not wanting to be on steam.)
Discs are uneccassary clutter, are damaged to easily and an outdated format in my personal opinion.
The only discs I buy are those which come with physical extras (as in a collectors edition of a game I really like, with something like a replica or a toy included. otherwise I personally stay the hell away from discs.)

Those with the argument that not having a physical copy means if your PC gets wiped your fucked are mentioning a null point.
Steam stores back-ups of all games you own (that you bought with steam) and If your smart you'd backup the rest of them onto an external hardrive or USB Flash Drive.

At least give us a choice.

although I'll say I'm pro choice, if you prefer the look and feel of discs then feel free to.


BTW Don't correct me on the spelling for Disc, that is the corect English spelling.
Disk is the americanised English, and to be honest in casual chat it doesn't matter whether you type English or americanised English, as long as you are consistent with which you choose.

Yeah watch what you say about piracy on here... if I were you I would edit your post before the mods see because that kind of stuff gets you in trouble 'round these parts.

And I mean there are some people who wouldn't trade discs for anything and I wouldn't want to make them give it up because of what I prefer.

 

[NeutralDrow]

I'm certainly not against digital distribution, but I consider it a last resort for my own use. I like owning physical copies of the game.

 

[DirgeNovak]

I download quite a few games, but I generally prefer discs, because a)It generally doesn't require a lot of downloading, save for the occasional patch, and b)I can sell it if it sucks or if I can't play it anymore. Case in point: I replaced my desktop computer for a laptop, so most high-end games I can't play anymore. I can resell some of the discs, but I bought Fallout 3 and CoD4 on Steam, so I'm stuck with them even if I'll probably get their PS3 versions.

So yeah, keep making discs...

 

[bam13302]

already ditched them, the only disk i give a **** to keep is my Windows 7 x64 disk