Retail is doomed if it doesn't go digital.

The day all games go digital is the day I quit gaming.

BioShockOwnz

That would be stupid, not being able to play games on your friends consoles and stuff. That would be ridiculous altogether.Innocentguy757

You've been on the digital front lately haven't you?

If all games are 20 dollars cheaper and they come out with a 100 TB drives for next gen systems im down

What the hell? Retail isn't doomed if it doesn't go digital. If publishers want to stop supporting the used games market, they should send the bulk of their product to national chain stores that DON'T buy back games.

Sell your game through Walmart, K-Mart, Target, Circuit City (oops, lawlz....), Best Buy, etc. After that, persue new opportunities to sell your games. Sell them directly through your website, or put them on Steam. Forget Gamestop and EB Games. See how long they last without your product to sell and resell.

It's not like the customer's getting shafted. The games cost the same at Walmart as they do at Gamestop.

I rather own the hardcopy of the game. But if the games goes down $ 20 bucks in price I'm kind of down for DD.

jasonharris48

The day all games go digital is the day I quit gaming.

BioShockOwnz

exactly. i like going out and seeing other people buying stuff and doing stuff.

its like digital distribution is for hermits(not pc gamers) who don't leave there house the whole day

i just hope they can keep pirates under control and watnot. other than that gamestop beware

there will be big problems. like imagine if halo 4 comes out at 24:00 and 7million users go to download it the server will crush at 00:01 .

also consoles must remain simple and casual friendly,many people dont have online availability. you buy a console and a game and put it in and play,you dont want to wait for a download..... .(thats why i dont like installs on consoles too.they should be optional)

also why is retail doomed if it doesnt go digital?i think sales are great right now for good games(and casual ^%$#^% like wii fit).so you want basically for the companies to have lower production costs?heck they are gaining tons of money and most dont deliver nothing,those that deliver get their sales.the only good games that sell bad are jrps .

i want my collection too and console gaming shouldnt change.catridge-dvd -blue ray -yellow ray i dont care as i can go buy it ,hold it in my hands anxiusly till i get home ,put it in my console and beat the cr$@% out of it

hard copies will always be the majority of sales on consoles, on PC it will be less

Digital distribution is growing ever more on the PC. Seeing as how consoles are becoming more and more like PCs, they will surely welcome digital distribution with open arms, right?

[QUOTE="Animal-Mother"][QUOTE="BioShockOwnz"]

The day all games go digital is the day I quit gaming.

BioShockOwnz

Yup, I'm very passionate about my collector "status". :P Once I can't have a hardcopy, I'm through.

Digital Distribution needs this or at least non bandwidth constricting internet providers (stupid Rogers) before it will fly. Rogers gives you a 60GB monthly limit, and then charge you $2 per extra GB, which would rendered HD movie and full game downloading pretty much useless.

The day all games go digital is the day I quit gaming.

BioShockOwnz

I WHOLE-HEARTEDLY agree.

Retail is doomed, along with people's weight. Wait people are already obese. NVM

I doubt anyone will quit gaming even if DD became the thing. People are willing to put up with RRODs, Live fees, installs etc. people will whine but adapt eventually. Most of the problems we now have with DD like download speeds and hdd space will be solved at some point, if not then there's no chance DD would take over.

And if done right it brings many good things with it - no disk swapping EVER, faster loading times, less noise, ability to play all your games on any console that you can go online from, cheaper games etc. And downloading a game before playing might sound like a chore now but it's very possible that in the future you can play the game while it downloads, sorta like streaming a video, it's already being done on pc.

If everything became DD what would be the point of even leaving the house besides to buy groceries? Ugh...i want it to say with hard copies damnit.

Digital Distribution needs this or at least non bandwidth constricting internet providers (stupid Rogers) before it will fly. Rogers gives you a 60GB monthly limit, and then charge you $2 per extra GB, which would rendered HD movie and full game downloading pretty much useless.

navstar29

High Street retail validating digital distribution market. It's growing, people, it's growing! :o

A major problem with digital disturbtion is how do you prevent developers and hardware makers from bleeding you dry with purchases. Suppose you purchase a game from an online shop and install the game onto your system, only to have your system die from hardware failure a few days later.

Now, lets assume that the cost of shipping and packaging a game are removed due to it being sold digitally. That means only the costs of development, licensing and advertising still apply, most likely placing the price point of an average game between 20 to 40 bucks. Meaning that most developers could take advantage of this by forcing you to rebuy all your downloaded games again.

Even if previsions exist for you to redownload DLC for free on current systems, that could easily change once mainstream premium titles enter the mix. Developers seeing a chance for additional money may force Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo to make games over a certain price point unavailable to redownload for free without the express permission of the publisher or developer.

Also, there are other variables that exist before digital downloads will ever become the main way to release games. Supposing the next gen has different hardware configurations for each system, will you be allowed to transfer your game to any upgraded hardware you may buy?

Sony: Digital releases as standard could be five years away. :D

Just out of curiosity, do you people who seem so adamant against DD for games use MP3s or own iPods? Because you dorealize that it's the exact same thing, don't you? Just wondering.

myke2010

Actually, it isn't for a lot of folks. I still own hardcopy CD's of my music [uncompressed, thank you] that I can turn into my mp3's. No DRM, if my HD crashes I just re-rip it to mp3.

This, IMO, is much more like reinstalling a game on CD [if PC] or the current hardcopy of a game than digitial distribution [which would be similar to iTunes' aahc which has DRM as part of it, is device-specific, and disappears when my HD crashes].

I don't see digital distribution taking over significantly until everyone has broadband [and isp's settle what kind of caps/etc they will put on service].

The day all games go digital is the day I quit gaming.

BioShockOwnz

Me too. I love collecting.

[QUOTE="BioShockOwnz"]

The day all games go digital is the day I quit gaming.

Republican11

Me too. I love collecting.

I read the article and agree with him, the retail stores get on my nerves anyway, they charge loads more for the second hand games then they should.

At the same time, the reason why people turn to second hand games is because the publishers charge far too much for far to long, when it comes to console gaming.

This wasn't a problem for me last gen when games came out online at £29 and just eventually got cheaper.

But this gen publishers and developers are to blame, games cost a minimum of £39 at launch.

Game the UK store will charge £29 for any good second hand game only selling the crap for less.

Personally I hope the publishers push high street game stores under, I hate them so so much.

Im perfectly happy buying my games from places like Amazon.co.uk or Play.com.

But he said he has nothing against the consumer reselling their games, but its the business partners he rightly has an issue with. Would you like someone who was suppossed to be a business partner to sell something you made, at profit while you get none, at the same time you are marketing that product with them and helping them.

On digital downloading, I still prefer the physical copy though and will not be happy with digital downloading.

Hope it's a while away yet. Fastest conncetion I can access is 1.5Mbit. Even then if I download from a non-Australian server it's more like 800-500Kbit.

Also before it goes mainstream there need to be some kind of laws and industry regulations brought in especially for these kinds of services. Currently they are running in retail law gray zones and loopholes and consumers don't really have all the rights they should when making a digital purchase.

[QUOTE="BioShockOwnz"]

The day all games go digital is the day I quit gaming.

Me too. I love collecting.

[QUOTE="killerfist"]Same here. And I don't think the one has to replace the other. They can go hand in hand, digital purchases should stay as an option imo. jaisimar_chelse

[QUOTE="jaisimar_chelse"] [QUOTE="killerfist"]Same here. And I don't think the one has to replace the other. They can go hand in hand, digital purchases should stay as an option imo. killerfist

[QUOTE="killerfist"]

[QUOTE="jaisimar_chelse"] meh, u guys can pay for online and DLc but hate DD :?jaisimar_chelse

Digital downloading an entire game would take forever, you would need massive storage space and your games would be stuck on one console. What if you wanted to take your games to a friends house? What if your console breaks...then you lose your entire collection of games.

Digital downloading an entire game would take forever, you would need massive storage space and your games would be stuck on one console. What if you wanted to take your games to a friends house? What if your console breaks...then you lose your entire collection of games.

Tyrant156

Until I have no other choice (and then I might stop all together) I will always buy retail. I'm a collector.

too many people prefer hard copies for DD to kill it

[QUOTE="Tyrant156"]

Digital downloading an entire game would take forever, you would need massive storage space and your games would be stuck on one console. What if you wanted to take your games to a friends house? What if your console breaks...then you lose your entire collection of games.

jaisimar_chelse

it's just not practical. Tyrant156

[QUOTE="Tyrant156"] it's just not practical. Jandurin

[QUOTE="Jandurin"][QUOTE="Tyrant156"] it's just not practical. Tyrant156

People, as we get more "green" in this world, it's obviously going to go digital. Think about how much trash movies and video games create, and how much less we could have if we just kept them in their digital form? There's absolutely NO reason for a physical copy.Jandurin