Char Ell Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 A recent MSNBC article <link> notes how North American revenue from the sale of PC games at brick-and-mortar stores has declined from over US$1.4 billion dollars in 2001 to less than US$1.0 billion in 2005. Online game revenue on the other hand grew from less than US$200 million to US$1.0 billion during the same time period. Or in other words online PC game sales revenue surpassed PC retail box sales in 2005. What is your take on this trend? Would you prefer buying and downloading your PC games from the Internet over buying them on CD-ROM or DVD-ROM discs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reclaimer Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 Stick with CD/DVD. Cause it shows you have proof you have the game, and you can collect the boxes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Source Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 The movie industry was going to try this as well. I would prefer to own the package, cds, and manuals. If you had to download your software, it would give some people the feeling that there is no more freedom. Other words, you pay taxes for everything, you have to register software, you can't share music, etc... For years people recorded tapes, and no one really said anything. If we were limited to downloading our games and software, I would personally take it as a loss of freedom. Big Brother is once again trying to keep you under control. When I have to register my computer software, educational versions, I have to provide them with what operating system I use. I told them to get bent. That is personal information. If you have to get your software online, you have to give a company your personal information. At one point in our software and technology history, we didn't have to worry about beurocrat garbage. I say: Stick to CDs and DVDs. Let Freedom Ring! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Obi-Wan Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 I prefer to stick with CD-ROM and DVD-ROM media for my PC games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapNColostomy Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 I like the tangible aspect of ownership. Having the box, and instruction manual I can flip through at work, so I know how to play the game by the time I get to it, etc...But I'm not hell-bent on not buying and downloading a game. I downloaded Battlefield 2 Euro Force the day it came out. Still, I'd have liked to have the option to just get it in a store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jae Onasi Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 Retail. I like to pick up and look at my choices before buying. Some things I don't mind buying online. The nice thing is that with if I have a hard copy of the game, I can give it to another family member/friend when I'm done playing with it. I can't do that with a download. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JediKnight707 Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 I like buying it with a CD/DVD disc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingerhs Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 either method works for me, although i prefer getting the whole CD/DVD/Printed Manual/Box deal since that is something you can actually sell on Ebay when you get bored with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurora Merlow Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 I like buying CD's. It's just more of a package, you get proper manuals, maps etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 lolz...your a pack of hippies and/or fuddy duddys downoaded/stored content Its the way of the future...getting multimedia content directly into our home, be it games, TV, Movies, Music anything. Things like Tivo and hdd recorders are already inching towards this. In the movie industry, theres a move towards "day and date" when films are going to be simultaneously released in theatres and available at home eg. via cable subscription. I dont see it is a huge loss of freedoms in paying all that extra $$$ for distrubution and packaging. With that extra $$$ film companies can put more resources into making higher quality pictures and supporting new film-makers. mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Ell Posted April 2, 2006 Author Share Posted April 2, 2006 downoaded/stored content Its the way of the future...getting multimedia content directly into our home, be it games, TV, Movies, Music anything. Things like Tivo and hdd recorders are already inching towards this... I dont see it is a huge loss of freedoms in paying all that extra $$$ for distrubution and packaging. With that extra $$$ film companies can put more resources into making higher quality pictures and supporting new film-makers. Yes, digital distribution does seem to be the buzzword. My only big concern with downloading from the Internet is redundancy. Right now all I backup is any saved games that I want to keep. What if my HDD crashes or otherwise becomes unavailable or what if I want to reformat my HDD and reinstall the OS from scratch? Would I have to buy and download the game again? Would I have a code that would allow me to DL the game a second time, multiple times, or unlimited DL's? Or would I be required to backup the game installation file(s) I originally downloaded? Basically for me if I have to do my own backup of the game installation files then I would prefer to continue buying disc media. If the game distributor though allowed multiple downloads of the game then I wouldn't have to worry about backing up the game installation file(s) and I would go with the DL concept, especially because I assume this would not require the use of a play disc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 I like to have the actual CD as proof that I purchased the game. And, I like to have the manual, and I keep all the boxes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HerbieZ Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 lolz...your a pack of hippies and/or fuddy duddys downoaded/stored content Its the way of the future...getting multimedia content directly into our home, be it games, TV, Movies, Music anything. Things like Tivo and hdd recorders are already inching towards this. In the movie industry, theres a move towards "day and date" when films are going to be simultaneously released in theatres and available at home eg. via cable subscription. I dont see it is a huge loss of freedoms in paying all that extra $$$ for distrubution and packaging. With that extra $$$ film companies can put more resources into making higher quality pictures and supporting new film-makers. mtfbwya I beleive the recent film called Bubble did this or will do this. (Not sure on release date) But it will be the only film to be released in Cinemas, on DVD and on Pay per View on the same day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabretooth Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 While download system is real innovative and all, it's golden age is still in the future. Even now, more than half of the internet users in the world live on dial-up. That means downloading games is big, and hence downloading takes too much time. So right now, retail boxes are the best bet. Besides, how the hell else are you going to get those sweet-smelling manuals? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 And, I like to have the manual, and I keep all the boxes Ok the manual *may* be useful... but the boxes... Its not like theyre built to last Im 100% with GL(as per Time interview) on this : Digitise Everything It's also better for the environment.... [/tree hugger] mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabretooth Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 Ok the manual *may* be useful... but the boxes... Its not like theyre built to last Im 100% with GL(as per Time interview) on this : Digitise Everything Well I get plastic boxes, and they look quite durable... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedHawke Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 While download system is real innovative and all, it's golden age is still in the future. Even now, more than half of the internet users in the world live on dial-up. That means downloading games is big, and hence downloading takes too much time. I have to agree, until everyone has faster broadband access this isn't going to fly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Det. Bart Lasiter Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 I get the CD/DVD (preferably the DVD if there'll be more than 1 CD). However if it's something like Half-Life 2: Aftermath that'll only be available with Steam, then I'll be forced to download Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
†Saint_Killa† Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 CD's is the faster way. Not everybody has broadband and games today are really packing up huge sizes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Hard media please. The last thing I want is to pay for something and then get a "server not found" error. Or have my harddrive crash and lose the install package (and likely payment information). But for many things the download method is sufficient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingerhs Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 actually, i do like the current way Steam is set up. Valve has a nice program included with Steam that will backup your game cache files onto a CD or DVD (if you have a burner). if you want, you can also include the Steam installer which will allow you to play your games on any computer you want. hopefully, it will be the way most of these digital distribution services go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sitherino Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 Either, but I like to at least have one physical copy. Just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emperor Devon Posted April 3, 2006 Share Posted April 3, 2006 While I prefer downloading a game over ordering it, I would not like all future PC games to be downloadable. People would just make copies of the files and distribute them all over the internet for free, so the gaming companies would have to encrypt their games to protect them from being stolen. And if that happened, they probably couldn't be modded. That I could not bear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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