Why digital distribution needs to take over.

[Sethzard]

Dumb idea, if people want it let them have it, but some of us like having hard copies

 

[Supreme Unleaded]

The problem with having games on hard copies is pretty obvious: it gets scratched. But did anyone think about the fact that digital distribution could significantly improve the quality of games? Think about it. When a hard copy of a game is put out, it is final. The company does not improve it (except for patches to get the game running well), but other than that, no changes to the actual game play are made. But with digital distribution, companies can freely update their software. For example, “Pocket God”, a game on the IPhone, is a game where you play God for a bunch of little people, and you can kill them in many ways. But the company allows people to suggest to them more ways of killing, and every update has something new added to it. (The game has had 27-ish updates).
Why not make all games like this? It seems only obvious.

I'm guessing you didn't read the "Experience Points" (well, I think it was Experience Points) on this actual subject.
Allow me to summerise.
Say you have a hard copy of an old game you used to play all the time, but for some reason you uninstalled it, you can easily re-install the game and play it again, just like new.
Now, say you had this same game, but only through Digital Download. If you uninstalled this game but a few years after it's release you decide to "dust it off" and play again, you can't, because the server that hosted the download has been shut down, so the money you spent on that game is now lost and you can't play it again, unless you buy yourself a hard copy, that is, if they ever made one.

Um, what the heck is Experienced Points?

And, to counter your statement: what if your disc is scratched?

You get it repaired. Lots of shops will repair scratched disk for cheap, there's one down the road from my house that does it for £2.

Anyway, I don't think digital distribution is the way forward, but that does not mean that it can exist side by side with hard copy. They both have their strengths and weaknesses.

I'm with you on the disk scratching. Everyones says that hard copies suck because of it however i bought a $5 disk cleaner years ago and it has saved me well over $500 on reparing disks.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

Whereas I have seen physical games get more and more draconic DRM, I have seen DRM rapidly disappear from places like Steam and GoG. Having a thing like Steam encourages an account based system, accessible anywhere without limitations, as opposed to the stifling DRM of physical copies. Your argument just doesn't hold water.

DRM evaporating from Steam? Steam is a DRM system, no matter how badly Gabe wants to convince us it's not. Account based systems have built-in limitations, such as access to the internet and the publisher still providing service.

Until Steam lets you download games, burn a backup, and install that backup without any authentication check then it's DRM.

 

[Mr. Purple]

Yea, ummm where have you been?
All games nowadays are constantly updated. It has nothing to do with how its distributed.
This way actually saves HDD space. ...a lot of it.

 

[BaldursBananaSoap]

No no no no no no, I'm a collection whore and I like looking at my pile of games, my pile of great games, and the games that suck get traded in......like Prototype 'cause they don't deserve to be beside my great games.............like Demons Souls.

Plus games eat up hard drive space quickly, and not everyone has the internet or a good connection.

 

[XJ-0461]

Well, I personally would have a number of problems with it.

1)Neither my parents or myself have a credit card. This would make legally buying games quite difficult.

2)My internet speed seems to be average at the best of times, hitting 3 bars at the most. I'm sure big downloads would be affected by this.

3)I just like having a hard copy of the game. It makes borrowing games from friends and rentals an easy possibility.

4)I'm paranoid, and fear that something could happen to all the games and saved data if I don't have a hard copy.

Those are my reasons alone, and I'm sure that many people out there share them.