Do you guys prefer buying PC games digitally or getting it from retail I know some like having a hard copy for their collections
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Do you guys prefer buying PC games digitally or getting it from retail I know some like having a hard copy for their collections
I use to buy mostly physical back when I really got into pc gaming in late 2007 but my preference shifted over the years now I almost always buy digital copy more convenient and cheaper when on sale I can't say I miss having a gamebox to display or having to install from a disk for each new game. Even for consoles digital is more convienet but the prices are kept high compared to steam.
Do you guys prefer buying PC games digitally or getting it from retail I know some like having a hard copy for their collections
TheFadeForever
In a perfect world I would prefer a physical copy but the retail market on PC games these days means much higher prices, and more DRM.
Digital. All my games are either Steam, Origin or Uplay.
I do have a couple of physical copies which I have digitized. I might throw or give those away.
I will by my last collectors-edition in November for a game in 2014.
For new purchases I generally buy a physical copy, for anything older I usually go digital off of Steam. Â The reason I do this is because of my ISP and their crappy monthly bandwith caps - I only get 120 gb a month so downloading 10-20 gb games isn't really an option.
I mostly get digital copies on steam sales and dlcs.
For day 1 Purchases and good games, i prefer physical, not only cos it's more charming than just another name on a list, but mainly because my dsl is quite slow, and some games that are like 18-30 gb take so so long to download. Steam install from disc takes long though.
Digital copies all the way for me. I move a lot so it would be tomfoolery to own many physical games. This is also why I got out of console gaming and into PC gaming. Digital things are so much cleaner! I prefer movies and music in digital format as well. Strangely enough, I don't prefer digital books, though. Physical books all the way!
Ever since the industry made it so you can't resell your PC games, I've gone mostly with digital distribution.
I'm actually new to PC gaming and was wondering what was the pros and cons to both sides. I downloaded Bioshock Infinite from steam and it was a whopping 16 gigs and took 4 hours to download. Do physical copies take up that much time and space too?
Physical copies are faster to install but about the same in terms of size. I just like digital because I can buy and get games at any time without having to wait till my next grocery shopping day, and with PayPal, paying for them is a snap, instead of having to go to the bank (I don't use bank cards - for security reason).I'm actually new to PC gaming and was wondering what was the pros and cons to both sides. I downloaded Bioshock Infinite from steam and it was a whopping 16 gigs and took 4 hours to download. Do physical copies take up that much time and space too?
thetravman
space yes, exactly as much, but ofcourse the install would be faster from DVD. probably 10-15 minutes. Steam is very good if you have a proper connection. i could download a 16gb game in less than an hour, since Steam has so good servers you can use your whole bandwidth. the true benefit with Steam for me is the fact that you can download your games to any computer anywhere. you just need to install Steam and login. I also managed to snap my Battlfield 1942 game disc in half when trying to take it from the gamebox's discholder-thing. yeah, pretty random, but it won't happen with Steam :) i still often buy physical copies, because you can use the game key in Steam to add the game into your library. this requires that the game is available through Steam too. it's kinda like getting 2 in one. same thing worked with Battlefield 3 + Origin and Diablo 3 + Battle.net. But with online games in general, you would be better off downloading the latest client from the server anyway, instead of installing from DVD and after that downloading some +10gb update on top of that. physical benefits then? installing is a bit faster. you can install and play singleplayer games even without internet. they often have more or less cool booklets and what-not (especially limited editions), and they look good in your bookshelf. that's about it. oh, and one more thing. if the online service where you bought your games from would ever shut down for good, you would lose all your games. it's not like it's gonna happen with big players like Steam, though, so i wouldn't worry about it. it's just good to know this.I'm actually new to PC gaming and was wondering what was the pros and cons to both sides. I downloaded Bioshock Infinite from steam and it was a whopping 16 gigs and took 4 hours to download. Do physical copies take up that much time and space too?
thetravman
The retail stores don't have a good selection of PC games, but for me it's more because of the digital sales. IÂ can only speak for my circumstances, but I don't have much extra money every month after paying the bills. I have around $50 a month to spend freely. That money is then split between entertainment (like games) and saving for the future (like car repairs). Game sales let me experience more games. I can't really do that at retail. By the time a game would get low enough in price, it would be removed from the shelves and replaced with new games coming out.
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