What is Digg?87 Comments
- drachemorder, on 10/10/2007, -3/+24My big problem is that you don't actually own anything. You go to the store and buy a game, you have a physical CD or DVD or cartridge or whatever. You get a thing. As long as you take care of it it's still gonna work a year from now, or two, or ten. I have games I bought ten or twenty years ago that I still play sometimes. But you buy a download, you get a couple electrons moving around in some wires. And they even rub it in your face: you didn't actually buy the game, just permission to play it. Not only that, but permission they could technically revoke at any time, for any reason, if they so chose. You know what, I ain't paying for that. That doesn't have any real value to me.
- eriksr, on 10/10/2007, -0/+19They forgot one: Pervasive digital distribution will give resellers like EB and Gamestop (and Wal-Mart etc.) a kick in the teeth. For the ***** service they've given me, their crappy-ass PC game sections, their scam of selling used games as new, and for letting irritating ten year olds hog the demo machines all day long, I say woo-*****-hoo!
- terminalpariah, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17My BIG problems with digital distribution:
The article touches on this: I love being able to hand a game to a friend and say "you are borrowing this, it is fantastic, go play it NOW," etc. If they love the game they'll usually buy their own copy. With digital distribution they either have to take my word for it, or download a demo (yes DD makes it easier to publish demos, but that doesn't mean devs are going to take the time to create them).
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One pro I can think of that isn't mentioned here is that you don't have to worry about backups! As long as your account isn't compromised, you can re-download any game you own. No worries about break-ins, fire, kids throwing up on your discs, etc. Of course, as soon as we're used to DD I expect we'll have to pay a fee to redownload... - doctorperv, on 10/10/2007, -3/+14I can't wait till games start coming out on Blu-Ray and the downloadable version is 20GBs. Thanks I'll just go to the store and pick it up.
- Akaji, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11You've basically summed it up, but I'd also like to add - micro payments and patches. Patches encourage developers to release games before they're ready; as for micro payments, well... there's nothing better than paying more money for a $60 half-finished game that you already bought, right?
Edit: Damn you, Digg! Stop stealing my line breaks! - deadsQuerl, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10I love Steam. Fast downloads, don't have to drive out to get it, if I want it at 2AM in the morning I can get it, etc. It's just way more convenient.. recently some THQ games came out, and I bought Company of Heroes and it's amazing.
I think the best thing about the digital distribution is patching/updating. As more developers take advantage of it they'll be able to issue fixes and patches much easier instead of people having to go searching online, downloading executables and all that crap. Start up Steam and it automatically checks for any updates, downloads them quickly, installs and I'm ready to play. - evilesttoast, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10It said VIDEO GAMES retard.
- Miche1987, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11But then you'd have to sell all of your games at once; you could not selectively choose games to sell while keeping games you still want.
- kcpwnsgman, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8I would say Steam determines if this is viable, after all, they have support for god knows how many games now
- TheMeatball, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8The game demos thing is the biggest plus. When I was a young jobless lad I used to download PC demos and keep myself entertained for weeks without spending a dime.
I do this all the time on the Xbox 360 Marketplace too. - phenious, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Steam allows you to gift friends a day of playing their games so they can try out the whole game for a day for free. Pretty much solves them trying it out. Seeing as I always lost my CD Key/cases I like the digital method. I have bought starcraft too many times which is still my fault.
- Rfriaz, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8What I like about digital distribution in regards to Steam is that whatever computer I go on to, I can download the game to it. I'm the kind of guy who misplaces CD keys, often more consistently than I misplace the actual CD/DVD. It's also easier to impulse buy when I can click through Paypal and download on the spot... >.>
- nihility, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Good thing the publisher can preload it over the period of a few weeks before the game is actually released.
- terminalpariah, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8Huh, Digg ate a bunch of my comment... probably for the best. :P
- kevinmotel, on 10/10/2007, -3/+9another con is that if the company goes out of business you lose the games. i can still play dreamcast if i so desire
- mookiemookie, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8I hate re-downloading. If I want to reinstall a game I bought 2 or 3 years ago, I've got to hope the game company is still in business, go back to their site and remember a login and password from way back when, and then download and hope that my activation code still works, or else I have to email tech support and hope they'll give me a new one.
Forget it. I buy DVD roms and DVD roms only. Simple and no hassles. - psg188, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8Steam has been doing it for a long time and I love it, you can install steam and reinstall any games you want on any computer that you have credited with your account.
- DarKnight90, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7Agreed I love having all my PS2, GC, XBox, Wii, and XBox360 cases lined up neatly in there shelf (same with books and movies too). I just love collecting, this takes the fun out of it.
- MEGAMERICAN, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Steam allows you to give people passes to others to try out full games for 10 days. I don't see digital distribution as a problem for trying out games.
Not only that, but you could let your friend use your account while you aren't using it. Although you should only do this with people you trust for obvious reasons.
Personally I had my main account compromised for sharing it with someone I didn't know very well. He changed the password and was not responding to my e-mails. I e-mailed steam and they reset the password within a few hours.
Digital Distribution has a lot more Pros than Cons. - PawtucketPat, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7Steam should be the model that all digital distribution services go by.
- JediPrime, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6The Pros far outweigh the Cons, imo.
- BlackCow, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5You can with steam.
- spyrochaete, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4With Steam you can install all your purchased games on as many computers as you like. If you have 12 computers and 12 friends they can all log in as you and everyone can play a game as long as no 2 people play the same game. This is what Steam told me when I asked and I've taken full advantage of it without issue.
As far as lending goes, Steam is a heck of a lot better than disks! You and your friend can both have the game installed on your computers. As long as only one of you is playing it at one time there is no problem. If you were to loan your disc to your friend you wouldn't be able to play (legally) until he gave the disc back! - kcpwnsgman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5well I have to point out, on Steam, a friend of mine said that I should play Red Orchestra, and he had a free 10 day pass to the full game I could use, if they could make it more widespread, and with more games, (IE, each purchase gets 1-2 passes) then it would solve that problem with sharing a game, but not breaking copying laws and such.
- WaltJay, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4"Pro: Lower Game Prices
For instance, if you look at Valve’s Steam service, game prices are lower than retail prices."
This guy hasn't been to Steam lately. The prices look like MSRP to me. - Phyltre, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Very true. Another sad part is all the multiplayer games that have had their online communities/servers shut off--it's pretty much impossible to enjoy those games ever again.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Those cons are totally outweighed by the pros
- NinjaBoy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4WTF? and install is an install. It doesn't matter if you install from cd or from a download or from even a usb stick.
- spyrochaete, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Sue all you want. You won't get anywhere. All digital download services call you a "Subscriber" not an "Owner".
- Topher06, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3The point missing is that with a dedicated digital distribution system, DEMO's of the game should be more widely available. Many games coming out for the PS3, for instance, have demo's available on the PSN. Then you can tell your friend to try the demo instead of handing him the game. Its not quite the same, but I know the content producers would rather your friend buy the game and finish it then it be given away for free. There will be other creative ways to get your friends interested in the game, one such way is to get your friend to download a free version of the game that allows them to play in multiplayer mode with you online. It might be limited by time but it should peak your friends interest to play the same level of the game your playing. After all, content producers WANT exposure so they are not going to limit the gaming experience to exclusively those people that bought the game.
Patches are a necessary evil. I mean, I don't like a game released before its time either, but at the same time perhaps we all could be enjoying Duke Nukem Forever rather then waiting for the developers trying to make it perfect. Games are going to be released with bugs so rather then wait 5 years for a game to be released and it STILL requires patches release the game sooner and then have a good turn around of fixing issues found in the field. How many patches were released for HL2 through Steam since its release? For the first few months after release I would notice that Steam was updating HL2 files on almost a daily basis, but it did so in the background so everytime I played the game I never knew it had bugs or never encountered any.
Lastely as for re-downloading, as long as backups are allowed to be made onto physical media I have no problem with exclusive digital distribution. Even many years after HL2 was released I can still install the backup I made then wait for Steam to get it up to date which is still a lot quicker then having to download the entire package again. And bandwidth is always speeding up so eventually downloading an entire game won't be a hassle, as long as there is a system for you to obtain the download after puchase, unlike companies like Apple that tell you to f*ck off if you loose the original downloaded file even though they have a record of every file you bought and downloaded. - knowitman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4While DD has its advantages, I still prefer to have a physical disk/cartridge of the game. It gives me freedom of mind about HDD space and such. It also makes the games more portable. I can take the game to a friend's house and play it.
- BlackCow, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3"Con: Slow Download Speeds "
I disagree, Steam has really fast download speeds. You can let friends borrow a game but you have to trust them with your steam password. Maybe if they implemented a "Loan game to friend" option, but that probably wouldn't happen. - airstrike, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2@ jedikv
"But you buy a download, you get a couple electrons moving around in some wires. And they even rub it in your face: you didn't actually buy the game, just permission to play it. Not only that, but permission they could technically revoke at any time, for any reason, if they so chose."
And where did you get that idea from? Do you really think Steam could remove Counter-Strike from my computer without giving me any notice or dealing with the consequences? The digital model works much better than the old way. It's the same as online music stores. I don't see Apple randomly deleting their user's mp3s. - jedikv, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The only saving I see is that its in $ and therefore I can buy it for 1/2 the price in £. There is no real economic advantage to Digi Distros for the consumer as far as I can see.
- Guspaz, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3And internet connections are getting faster and faster, on average. To use Montreal as an example, while pulling a 20GB game over a 1mbit DSL pipe a few years ago might have been impossible, the standard speed of DSL from Bell is now 5mbit, making it merely painful. Of course, as you mentioned, if you preload a game (as Valve likes to do), then it's not a problem.
And now, today, ADSL2+ service is available in Montreal, with real-world speeds of up to about 16mbit. Assuming the distribution service could provide that sort of bandwidth to an end-user (and with the right software they can, see BitTorrent), we're talking about three hours for a 20GB game. That doesn't even need to be preloaded. It's still usually faster than going to the game store, especially considering the hassle with games being sold out on launch day. And with a pre-order, that 3 hour download time is trivial. - Technopope, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4With no physical copy, limited console storage space will be a problem. This is already the case for some with the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Wii due to preloading of content, downloadable games, demos and media.
Does anyone really want to limit the number of games they can have at one time due to hard drive size limitations? - Speciou5, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2They forgot the biggest one - the amount of control the publisher can put on their game (pro for them, con for you). They can instantly patch a hot coffee fiasco, force you to log in with correct account information, sign on third parties to deliver content to you, track patterns for research, and etc.
And really, the publishers are going to be the ones who decide how to ship their game. All this stuff, (along with the profit they can make by transfering less physical copies, and the ability to publish unfinished games), really makes digital distribution sound pretty good to them.
It's not all evil corporate stuff though. Small developers will be able to have more exposure (they can sell their games directly to you if they can't afford a million dollars to make boxes) and programmers can make ongoing updates much easier. - andydumi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Another thing that is cool, at least with Sony's PSN is that any purchase can be shared with up to 4 other people for free. Sort of like buying 5 licenses to install it.
That way you can actually give a game to a friend, and share the cost if you are so inclined. In an interview with Phil Harisson of Sony recently he said the point is to get these small PSN games into as many hands as possible, and that is why this sharing mentality is allowed on their network. - juicebag, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3How is it a pro that they don't take up space. I like showing off an enormous collection of games around my room.
- kirstpo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The download time is not so much the biggest problem, it's the hard drive space and memory capacity. A 20gb game on a ps3 will only fit 3 times on it's 60gb hard drive. That's the main reason having downloadable content is a poor idea. After you fill up memory capacity, you will have to delete the game and redownload it if you want to play it again which will take some time.
- Toast1185, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Only if it's online. I can play geometry wars all day long if Xbox Live tanks, it's stored on my HD
- spyrochaete, on 10/10/2007, -0/+23D Realms started a digital download service called Triton in time with the release of Prey. They decided to cancel Triton and eventually joined up with Steam instead. 3D Realms mailed every Triton subscriber a boxed copy of Prey. Is that classy or what?
- dillibob, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2i dont know why everyone is saying patching is a bad thing. the majority of computer games work just fine when they're released. every game has bugs in it, even ps3 and 360 games. the difference is with pc games you can download patches to fix bigs
- deadsQuerl, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Even if they don't lower the prices, I'd much rather see my money going right to them instead of Wal-Mart/other retailers.
- nephilimx, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1biggest problem that every other services except stream and direct2download has failed, infact u can go to atari.com download a pc game which needs unlocking via payment, then patch them with a file easily found via google
The services are easier then p2p pirating - spyrochaete, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1It is a shame that you can't buy or sell used games via digital distribution, but I've gotten a refund for a game from Steam.
I bought Outrun 2006, downloaded it, and installed it. The game worked for a couple of minutes before freezing my whole machine and making awful whirring noises. This was the only game that didn't work on my machine. I emailed Sega's support department and got no reply for 2 weeks so I emailed Steam asking for support or a refund. Steam credited the refund to my credit card and removed the game from my account. This was only the second refund I'd been given on a piece of software in 20 years. - jedikv, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I disagree - the fact that I cannot sell/lend (easily)/return games or buy pre-owned games (which most of my Xbox/PC and 360 library consist of these days) plus:
"My big problem is that you don't actually own anything. You go to the store and buy a game, you have a physical CD or DVD or cartridge or whatever. You get a thing. As long as you take care of it it's still gonna work a year from now, or two, or ten. I have games I bought ten or twenty years ago that I still play sometimes. But you buy a download, you get a couple electrons moving around in some wires. And they even rub it in your face: you didn't actually buy the game, just permission to play it. Not only that, but permission they could technically revoke at any time, for any reason, if they so chose. You know what, I ain't paying for that. That doesn't have any real value to me." - drachemorder
Too right I would rather have something tangible for the money I pay. I don't mind Digi Distro just dont get rid of physical copies from stores. - jeepnut24, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I like to collect, and collecting the bits from a DD game just wouldn't work well. Ill just stop gaming if they go full DD as I enjoy the cover art, letting friends borrow titles, and displaying my collection to much to go DD.
- dillibob, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1steam actually encourages modding
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1How are you going to copy everything over?
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