Digital vs. Physical

  • Thread starter ell470
  • 28 comments
  • 951 views

Do you prefer downloading your games or having disc, box & boxart?

  • Digital!! Gameboxes are just in the way!

    Votes: 9 18.4%

  • Physical!! I want my games on display!

    Votes: 40 81.6%
  • Total voters
    49
ell470

ell470

it figures!
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ell470
Hello everyone! I'm having trouble sleeping and my mind just wandered off...

I listen to a lot of gaming podcasts & I'm starting to feel like an old dinosaur. I prefer to have physical copies of all my games, I love having them all on display in alphabetical order on shelves in my livingroom. But from my impressions gamers are leaning more and more towards just downloading their games.

Which type are you? And why? :)
 
I almost never buy digital, unless a game is only available that way (PC indie titles) or it's a legitimately transient and online-centric experience (Guild Wars 2). It's not about having them on display, it's about owning access to the game at any time, with or without an internet connection, forever. I don't want to "lease" a title from an online service that will one day disappear, stuff up hard drive space with games I might not be actively playing, or connect to the internet to authenticate a singleplayer game.

As long as I have an option, I will always sacrifice shelf space (or invest in CD/DVD wallets :) ) for the right to use the software I paid for on my own terms.
 
Physical copies all the way!!!

There are certain games i haven't bought as they are digital download only, i prefer to actually own the game instead of "leasing" it! Some download only games require access to the internet or a server with that come a million problems (simcity as a great example) that you just wouldn't find in a boxed game!

And also if i own a physical copy of the game i can sell it if i chose to :)
 
I prefer physical. That way if I want to trade in or sell the game, I can. With digital, you cant once you have it downloaded.

The only time I buy digital, is if it is only available in digital. For example. Crysis 1 on the 360 was only available via GOTD.

Another example of the only time I go with a digital copy is when the game is free. Example: Dead Island was free this month for gold members so I downloaded it via digital copy.
 
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100% physical every time. Firstly you feel like you are actually getting something tangible for your money and secondly its nice to have some possessions stacked on a shelf. You 'see' your collection like music and book lovers used to and it gives a home some personality.

Also think about this and digital content.... consoles will break, hard drives will get corrupted, passwords will be lost, online services will close..... but if you have it on a disc chances are you will be able to play it again sometime in the future. Think 20 years from now for example.

Think of how terrible it would be now if all the retro media out there were not simply a matter of plug and play.

Robin.
 
Robin.
Also think about this and digital content.... consoles will break, hard drives will get corrupted, passwords will be lost, online services will close..... but if you have it on a disc chances are you will be able to play it again sometime in the future. Think 20 years from now for example.
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My thoughts exactly!
 
I love the convenienve of digital but much prefer physical media of all forms.
I dont own an e reader,tho i read alot.
I only download free games.
Ive barely purchased digital music

I do wish the gaming industry would follow suit with the movie industry and include a digital copy with the physical disc.


Im a guy. I like stuff..
 
Digital all the way for me. I like the convenience of an all digital library. Plus I can have the game on multiple consoles and just sign in and it's there.
 
Licensing is another issue. I'd like to buy GTi Club on PSN, but I can't.

I'll have a third and maybe even a fourth cockpit set up some time this year, but what if the ability to purchase Daytona USA is removed? As of now I can run two from one account, but I'd be pretty disappointed if I couldn't buy one or two more licenses. Almost borders on my current license being (maybe not legally but) morally breached, that I can't play with friends online.

Kind of gets to the point where I might have to set up a few accounts to buy a few licenses in advance, just in case. In some respects and at a certain point, it becomes farcical.
 
Physical copies much better, I buy digital only when I'm too lazy/don't have enough time to look for similar deals with a physical copy.
 
Bogie 19th
Digital all the way for me. I like the convenience of an all digital library. Plus I can have the game on multiple consoles and just sign in and it's there.
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I see what you mean. I know there are pros to going digital, but I don't know... I really like my boxes & discs :)

The best would be if we got a digital copy free with every physical purchase as @Caz said :)
 
Physical all the way for me. Like most of the other posters said, the only time I buy digital is when it is only available in digital format or I get a hell of a deal, like Puppeteer for $7 instead of the $35 or so the physical copy is asking.
 
Physical! But not to display them. The only reason is that I don't have a credit card nor do I have a PayPal account.
 
I'm not massively favoured to one side really. It's handy to go digital when you wan't a BIG game on release (e.g GTAV) as you won't have to pre-order to guarantee yourself a copy of the game, as digital copies are infinite. I suppose it's also handy if your someone who cares about the environment, as no material are used to make a digital copy.
But owning physical copies means you can lend games to others, trade it in if you want and some people just prefer having an actual product they can see/touch and even collect.
 
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It would have to be a physical copy. Not only is it tradable/refundable but it is nice to have SOMETHING. Like for example I always buy a cd over a digital copy for the fact I then have it. It is only a tiny bit of space in the house saved by getting a digital copy!

Plus if per say my playstation broke it is a lot easier with physical copies than messing around with digital copies somewhere on the ether

kikie
I suppose that digital games are cheaper than physical.
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Just to add to this, yes on PC but on playstation they bare substantially more expensive. I am not willing to pay £60 for a PS3 digital game. No way!
 
kikie
I suppose that digital games are cheaper than physical.
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Not in EU PS Store, every game I buy physical that releases the same day on the store is ~14$ cheaper than it's digital version.

@kikie
I quoted you before I saw your follow up post :)
 
If the Xbox One store was cheaper than physical I'd happily go digital. I've got Forza in the disc drive and FIFA on the hard drive which is a handy combination.
 
Physical. Like most of the other posters I only bother downloading when I have no other choice. I'd like to download Outlast for my PS4 but its over 4Gigs, which would put me over my data limit. Hopefully, there is enough to download TLOU DLC in a timely manner.

Man, how nice are physical copies!? You don't have to deal with any of this
 
Most things, physical. Digital for anything but music is only used when required or when more cost effective. Music, though, I do through iTunes for when I only want one or two songs by an artist, which is what normally happens, but if I find a CD I like most of, I'll try to find a physical copy.

One good thing is that most services have a system that saves the purchases, so you can re-download them if something happens. iTunes is unlimited, and so are PSN DLC packs, but I imagine there is a limit on full games.
 
Hopefully one day, both.

I'd like the ability to buy a physical disc, install the entire game, and then not have to worry about entering the disc anymore. This way I get the best of both worlds. I have the luxury of having the game instantly available on the HDD, but I also have the disc somewhere in case I need to reinstall or sell and my bandwidth doesnt take a 50GB hit. Hopefully soon technology allows them to tie a disc to one PC/console (but can be deactivated easily) so this becomes possible.
 
Yah, I really don't get why you have to keep the disc in the Xbox one when you have the game installed. Surely it could be done by certificate so you install it and then verify you own it.
 
The irony of the XBone is how they ticked off one part of the gaming community with the draconian DRM scheme, backtracked on their plan and screwed over the gamers who were looking forward to disc-free play, and ultimately failed to win back some of the consumers in the first group anyway.
 
I prefer buying the physical copy of a game because I have a REALLY slow internet connection and it will take forever for a game to finish downloading. Plus I like to display my games for others to see :P
 

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