Retail vs Digital

So I'm having a really difficult time trying to decide whether to go retail or picking up a hard drive and going full digital from here on out. Both options have their pros and cons leaving me rather frustrated with what would be best. The biggest plus I see for retail is the chance of finding games on a weekly sale at a store. I doubt the eshop will see very few, if any at all, temporary sales on games. However, the digital deluxe promotion is a plus for going digital and I sort of think that would be bad to miss out on. What have you all decided to do and why did you make that decision?

Both. eShop only games if they appeal, (for example Nano Assault Neo, Puddle so far. Trine 2 once it's out)

Retail games where possible.

I like buying and selling retail games, you can save a lot of money. With digitally distributed games it is a one-way-street with money - which really sucks.

But I dismiss all the convenience that digital distribution brings, such as not needing to find the disc, quicker load times etc - because the value is bad.

I'm going retail. I can sell my games when I'm done with them, I can get them on sale, I can display them, and I can lend them out.

What a coincidence. I just researched this topic and wrote an article about it on my blog listing this pros and cons of buying retail vs digital. Check it out! http://filmgamesetc.com/retail-or-download-pros-cons-of-buying-physical-versus-digital-copies-of-games/EastMagi

Good post.

I bought Darksiders 2 digitally, and I regret that. I really like to own the physical copy of a game. Digital is of course better for the system itself, but part of the magic is missing.

I prefer retail. I only use digital for games that are digital only or if I've been looking for a game for ages and just can't find a retail copy anywhere. It doesn't help that digital copies cost more than retail, and you technically get less for your money (no disc, no box, no "manual"), you also can't trade it in when you're done or even worse if you end up disliking the game, and it's really not that convenient.
Companies try to claim that digital games are "on demand" yet for the average family, the amount of time it takes to download a full retail game you could have walked to the shop and back and be playing it before it's even half downloaded, and here in Europe it's even worse because Nintendo's main EU HQ is in Germany, who are stupidly strict about age ratings, you can't download 18+ rated games before either 10 or 11 PM (I can't remember which), so despite been 24 I can't decide in the middle of the day "oh I'd like to get ZombiU" and just download it, I have to wait or walk 10 minutes and buy a retail copy for £10 less than it costs on the eShop.

retail as long as its cheaper..full rrp on digital is just ridiculous. That's what you call price gouging.

i'm going to buy all the online multiplayer games digital....everything else will be retail..

i made an exception for nintendo land because i feel that should be installed on my system permanently :P

i'm going to buy all the online multiplayer games digital....everything else will be retail..

i made an exception for nintendo land because i feel that should be installed on my system permanently :P

KBFloYd

I do it on a per game basis, as I've been doing on my 3DS. If it's a game that I know I'll always want to keep (and the retail version isn't much cheaper at the time) than I'll go digital. Most Nintendo games I will probably download. Sonic Racing and Black Ops 2 I got retail as I can sell them when Mario Kart/ Modern Warfare 4 come out. Although of course Black Ops 2 isn't available digitally anyway. Also just one point on something that bugs me. Why are download games called digital? I'm pretty sure retail games are digital too, they are just stored on an optical disc.

I do it on a per game basis, as I've been doing on my 3DS. If it's a game that I know I'll always want to keep (and the retail version isn't much cheaper at the time) than I'll go digital. Most Nintendo games I will probably download. Sonic Racing and Black Ops 2 I got retail as I can sell them when Mario Kart/ Modern Warfare 4 come out. Although of course Black Ops 2 isn't available digitally anyway. Also just one point on something that bugs me. Why are download games called digital? I'm pretty sure retail games are digital too, they are just stored on an optical disc.

AlmightyDerek