Topic: Digital Downloads

So question for people, are you still buying physical games or have you gone digital. I got the Xbox One bundle that came with digital copies of games and honestly, I don't see myself going digital. The file sizes are enormous and take a long time to download even on a decently fast connection. Two games leave me with almost 2/3 of my hard drive space gone. I've always preferred physical media for films because of the far superior quality of bluray over their more compressed digital counterparts, but thought I could really get on board with digital games. Am I missing the big benefit here? Feels like a slower and clunkier way to get games so far, HDD space hoarding aside. Is there some benefit I'm just not seeing?

Personally I will NEVER go digital - even if they reduced the price to £10 cheaper than Physical. Part of the attraction of Physical is actually holding something, breaking the seal for the first time etc. I also try and buy collectors, limited or steel book editions too and like getting all the 'extra' content like art books or associated paraphernalia. I also like seeing my collection grow on the shelf. Its these things that Digital can never do or replace.

I have not gone 'digital' with any media. I still have over 1,000 CD's too as well as vinyl. I much prefer or hold and read a book than a Kindle and you cn never substitute that smell of a book either. I may well be 'old school' (or just old ) but I prefer to have something 'physical' to hold etc for my money.

A little of both actually. The main reason that I haven't gone totally digital is the fact that I trade in games that I don't play anymore towards the purchase of a new game and I can't do that with digital purchases.

Games that I know I wont trade in like Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition, GTA V, Mario Kart 8, I will sooner buy digital then say something like NBA 2K15, Tomb Raider etc. (unless of course they are at a really good price digitally) since those games I am usually good with one play through or they will have an updated version next as in the case of sports games.

Then of course games like Strider, Dust, or Virtual consoles games I will buy digitally because well you can't get them otherwise.

Digital all the way for me. I used to be quite attached to the 'old' way of buying a physical product and hoarding them but as time has passed I've slowly grown to accept and now love digital media. I've ripped all my CD's, DVD's and Blurays and only buy and stream digital films and tv shows now - bar the odd 3D film.

Same for games... As digital versions of 360 games have appeared in sales I've sold my physical copies on eBay. The Xbox One is my first digital only console and I love it. No more mountains of DVD cases to store in the living room. No more searching for that copy of a game that I know I have... somewhere. All my games are right there on my screen to browse through and I can load them up by voice command. If I get bored I can just load up another and another without having to get up off the sofa. Space isn't an issue as I've hooked up a 4TB HDD. Download times also not an issue (unless servers are v busy) as I've got 120mb broadband. Games download in about 15 - 30 minutes.

I admit digital games are more expensive (usually) and you can't trade them... I do what I can to mitigate this by buying the MS vouchers online at reduced prices but in the grand scheme of things I don't mind paying more for the convenience and pleasure that owning them digitally gives me.

Guess its a lifestyle choice... Like the fact that I own a gas guzzling V8 - I know I'm paying over the odds to run it but the pleasure i get driving it far outweighs the costs for me.

Positives and negatives on both sides. I like what BAM pointed out, the physical process and glee in buying, opening and playing a game is nearly a lost experience. @Stylon has great points on the other side of things, convenience in many ways being the kicker. I don't think many people line up at midnight for their most anticipated release anymore, it's much more convenient to pre-download the software and GO!

That being said, the memories of waiting in those lines and the excitement involved are just as prevalent in my mind as any moments within the game? "The times, they are a changin' " - Robert Zimmerman

The SMELL! I forgot about that, you are absolutely right! I remember the smell of the game manuals (back when most games came with substantial manuals.) I collect film physical media to see it grow on the shelf too. It is great to have extras in the box.

@Tasuki - Trade in and sale potential is another shortcoming of digital I hadn't thought of. Lending games to friends would fall in that too.
@stylon - Is that convenient for you if you have to buy 4TB external drive and wait 15 - 30 minutes to play a game as opposed to just popping a disc in? For films do you find the lower quality of the compressed digital editions negligible?
@HEADESTROYER4 - Not gonna lie, for big releases of franchises we love me and a friend sometimes go to those midnight releases to hang out and engage with other fans. Have actually met a few cool people through midnight launches for big games.

For sure, there are many downsides to the "digital revolution". I wish those events existed here but sadly I've watched nearly every privately owned boutique game store in our city of nearly a million people fail. I do like the convenience of launching titles by yelling at my Xbox from the next room, and I'm somewhat of a title-jumper who'll play a bit of this 'n a bit of that, so it's nice not to pop discs in and out. I remember when the Xbox360 was still in-utero and I just WISHED it had a 5 disc changer (silly, I know). There are SO many great points for physical games as well! I think it comes down to the game, a Sunset Overdrive or Shadow Of Mordor would be something that I know fam members and friends would love to borrow, in that case I'd go with physical. Will I EVER lend ANYONE the MCC, Titanfall or Destiny? No, do I want to change discs in those MANY situations where I casually flip to one of 'em, or even between, not at all.

@bobbypaycheque - Yes very convenient. That 15-30 minute wait is a once only deal... how long would it take you to go to a store and buy a game or order it online and wait for delivery? Also you can no longer just pop a disc in anyway... the first time you do it has to install. 4TB drives are pretty cheap now too.

I buy most of my films off the Xbox Video store these days and supplement that with Amazon Prime Instant Video and Now TV (Sky). The Xbox Video movie quality is indistinguishable from Bluray for me and the Smartglass enhanced ones are terrific if you like bonus material on traditional discs. The added benefit of having my movie collection in the cloud is it's available on all my devices, wherever I am. If I'm in a hotel and fancy watching a movie I get my Surface out and browse through my collection and watch one (Hotel wifi permitting lol). Amazon Prime quality is excellent too - only Now TV lets the side down as I think it's limited to 720p for some reason and the video quality does appear a little soft but I use that for watching TV Shows that I wouldn't want to purchase anyway.

I'm a collector, so I like having physical copies of games. That said, since you have to install the whole game anyway, and with the pre-loading feature, I can see myself why many people are starting to prefer digital, it is convenient. I thought it was pretty damn cool I was able to download REmake to my PS4 this week and now when the 20th rolls around it will unlock and I can jump in right away.

Both. If it's a new game I'm buying, it's generally a physical copy. If it's in a sale, download. I used to like the physical copy thing, my lp collection, then cd collection, movie collection, Now, all of those are digitized and I can't remember when I last played a CD (other than to rip it). Movies and CDs are on a NAS drive so available in every room in the house and the convenience of that for games also (should you have multiple consoles) cannot be understated.

@HEADESTROYER4 - I know what you mean, lending games is extremely convenient with physical copies.

@stylon - I get what you're saying. I'm spoiled as there are game stores a two minute walk in either direction from where I live so when I'm out and about getting groceries and the like it isn't an inconvenience to drop in a pick up my pre-order. I just think with digital it is easy to miss out on discovering something new. The employees at my local game store are great and often have suggested awesome titles I would never have picked up while just browsing an online store. For movies I have a home cinema set up so I can see the compression in digital versions of films so I still stick to BRD and enjoy the variety of cult films available on disc. I also just can't watch movies on my tablet, but I do watch Crunchroll on there while waiting or traveling. I guess I'm just old school and like to have the product in my hand and on my shelf where I can grab it at any time. My internet speed also isn't terribly fast so 15-30 minutes for a download is a pipe dream at this point. Question though, one day will the Xbox One servers stop carrying those digital games for re-download? As a bit of a collector this is my biggest fear with digital.

@Gamer83 - The pre-download feature removes a lot of the inconvenience, true.

@sorethumbed - I'll admit that the odd time a digital sale has been amazing I've bought a game digitally. Truth is though I almost always pick up a physical copy much later when it is dirty cheap. I listen to FLAC rips of CD's on my portable device but at home I get the disc and pop it in the machine, look at the album art etc. It's a process. I also just can't bear the thought of those HDD crashing and having to rip everything I own onto a new one. I own too many movies at this point to rip them all to a HDD.

Another gripe I have with digital games is the pricing granted they have sales on all the platforms like XBL, PSN, and eShop not to mention Steam and GoG.com but if you look at the normal prices some of them compared to the prices at say Gamestop or else where are too high.

Like for example I was looking to get Tekken Tag Tournament 2 on the Wii U it was a launch game for the Wii U so its about 2 years old so before I bought it I decided to shop around. I found it for $25 at Amazon, $20 at Gamestop so I figure I would check the Wii U eShop since I have a $5 dollar off coupon for it. $59.99 on the eShop no joke. Why would I want to pay double for the download when I can order it from Amazon or even take a rid up to Gamestop? WHy would a two year old game be $59.99 on the eShop and $20 everywhere else?

I have noticed it on XBL as well though I can't remember the game at the moment.

Digital pricing for new games is currently a bit of a joke. There is no real believable reason for this. @bobbypaycheque, I used to sit and look at album art but these days, accessibility is the issue for me now. I rip all my Cd's to Wav and films are ripped native (storage is so cheap now). I've got over 1000 albums and 200 movies at the touch of a button, all over my house. The Cd's are also all stored in the cloud. I think, short term, I will probably stick with the mix of digital and physical but eventually, once the pricing is right, I will probably wind up digital.

Part of the problem (I think) is that retailers have a lot of competition from each other. They want your business and therefore try and be the cheapest to get that. If they sold at RRP you would just go to the other stores that are selling the game cheaper. With online/digital stores such as the Wii U eShop or MS XBL store there is no competition and so can charge what they want so rarely sell games less than RRP regardless of age. It certainly doesn't make sense that Digital games cost so much considering there is no manufacturing costs (discs, boxes, printed materials etc), no store overheads, distribution costs etc.

Like I said I will never go digital but its not just about costs as I mentioned earlier. The slight benefit of not having to change discs, being able to get the games as and when you want and have pre-order games available at just after mid-night without leaving the house just doesn't matter to me. I have been gaming for over 35 years and I never once minded having to swap a tape/disc etc. I have attended mid-night launches in the past and enjoyed the experience, hype and buzz of the like minded people all there for the same reason. Nowadays I still enjoy the anticipation of waiting for a game to arrive but I have never wished I could have played it a few hours earlier. I also enjoy shopping around for the best deals I am also happy to wait for games. I rarely buy games at launch anyway and tend to buy games when they are at a price point that I am willing to pay. Physical games do seem to have a 'shelf' life and drop quickly. I know I have bought many AAA games (new not used) for less than any 'arcade/low price' small game you can find in the digital store.

As I have also said in another thread, I still have all my games from the Original Xbox onwards and they are all still boxed in pristine condition. I have never had a game fail or get lost either but I have had consoles fail - My original PS3 had YLOD - It was is so much easier to just replace the console than replace and re-download all my games. I also consider my gaming collection to be an Asset even though I never trade in my games. If I had to sell for whatever reason, I know my collection would be worth a LOT more as physical copies (especially as all are boxed with all inserts etc) than if they were all digital. If you sell to GAME (for example) an XB1 with 20 'AAA' digital games they will give you the money for the console ONLY - A console with 20 AAA Physical games would be worth LOT more. So not only do you end up paying more for your games digitally, they are essentially worthless - you spend hundreds on games and have nothing of any value to anyone (other than yourself)

In a few years time MS are likely to stop supporting and shut down the XB360's online options (inc Store) No doubt they will do the same to the XB1 after the replacement has been out a while. Whilst any physical game can easily be played if you replace the console, you cannot do this with any digital game - assuming you still want to play them with the newer consoles/games available.

I don't know about no competition, I would think that stores sell physical copies would be their competition.

By that I mean that there isn't a variety of online stores accessible though the console - you cant check a variety of different sellers in the online store to compare prices. Most (if not all) retailers have a rival store within walking distance. I know there are ways of buying digital games a bit cheaper by shopping around to either buy credit or even sometimes the code for the game itself but through the consoles own store itself there isn't any competition. Maybe they would be cheaper if retailers could also sell direct through the consoles in the same way MS/Sony/Nintendo do for example you go to the online store and find the game you want but opt to buy from MS, Game, Gamestop etc etc - whichever is the cheapest.

@sorethumbed - I'm a bit of a film nut, so my films on disc, almost half BRD, number in the thousands. At one point I was buying two or three films a week and did this for years. There is no way it would be cheap to buy enough HDD space to store it. I also only watch movies in one place, my home cinema. I know my situation isn't the norm but I just can't watch movies on a TV anymore. I love displaying the special editions (my current favorite is the Lawrence of Arabia 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition, so massive and so gorgeous) on the shelf and being able to watch any of my films in the best possible quality. My internet isn't terribly reliable and streaming looks awful on large screen sizes. For one to one rips of just my BRD's would require 40TB. For me I love streaming for TV shows! Netflix, Hulu and Crunchyroll are fantastic because I only watch TV shows once for the most part and the programs were meant to be seen on a small screen anyway. But you're right, it is all about the solution that fits the lifestyle so if digital is good for most people then it is great that those options are available now. The days of laserdisc were very different lol talk about high maintenance media.

@BAMozzy - You said it. You don't own anything with the digital copy. Once the servers are turned off if the system or HDD fails your games are gone. I've also been collecting for some time and have my games sitting neatly on the shelf in mint condition with inserts. I really miss the cool manuals that used to come with games

I remember when the philips laserdisc came out and the only thing available was a demo disc. For some weird reason, it was an Abba concert and yes, Lawrence of Arabia is one of the all time great films.

@sorethumbed - I was introduced to laserdisc because a buddy of mine moved here from Hong Kong where the format was quite popular. It was a massive quality step up from the tapes I was used to watching and was just unbelievable. But wow were they expensive.