Before I go off on a tangent, I hope everyone saw the-
~Circle Jerk~
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/08/10/g4-jack-thompson-yell-at-each-other/
-from G4's "round" table discussion with Jack Thompson.
This is a discussion that deserves at least an hour of television time and they give it about six minutes. Completely meaningless and it does nothing but make Adam Sessler look like a crazy bullying goon. GameDaily CEO Mark Friedler makes an EXCELLENT point that it's all about good and bad parenting and not video games, Jack says "that's not the point at all" and then the whole segment gets cut off. As if they were afraid to even go there, when going there is exactly where they should go. Jack has nothing he can stand on if you hit him with a "government raising our children" commentary.
I applaude G4 for trying to take on someone like Jack, but next time they need to give more than a half-hearted effort.
Finished-
~Black~
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/black/player_review.html?id=347449
-posted a review.
For some reason I played about 3/4 thru Black and then stopped. It only took me about 2 days to polish it off and post my review. Good game, not super-collosal, but a very good "weekend rental" game.
Currently I'm playing Indigo Prophecy and REALLY digging it. I'll post a review when I finish, but I can't help but think that this style of gaming would come off incredibly well on a Wii. Wii could be the second coming for point and click adventure games in general if they are of the same caliber as IP.
I also picked up Shadow of the Colossus for $20, but haven't even broken it out of the shrink wrap yet.
Now, onto the rub of this entry, a world without physical media and, more importantly, used games. I was thinking about this the other day and, for as much as I really enjoy the idea of digital distribution (done right), I can't help but think that it could become a very bad thing for the industry (if done wrong).
I personally don't really use the used game market at all. I might pick up a really good deal at Gamefly, but in general I see the used game market for what it is, a scam for gamers like me. Now, I can see where it can be a pretty good deal for a ceratin type of gamer, the gamer who buys a game at release, plays it in a marathon session, beats it, and turns it back around to the store, used, for a maximum return, but that's just not me. I buy the occasional "must have" game like a MGS or a Final Fantasy or what I like to call "keepers", but those games that I would typical buy and then "flop" back to the store are not the games I consider "must buy". By the time I come around to wanting to play those games the return on investment is practically nonexistent. 6 to 12 months after release I can either trade it in for pennys on the dollar or the price has dropped to the point where I can buy it new for $20 (or less).
But that's one of the MAJOR problems I can see with DD, without that used market, we could see a big dip in those early buyers if the powers that be don't pass along the savings to the user.
If there were no used market, would those first day buyer still buy the game at $50-$60 if he/she had no outlet to flop the game back to? Would gamers like me (outside of the occasional keeper) even see a price drop under a structure like this? A structure where a Sony controls the price and all means of acquiring their product?
I personally think that, unless the reduction of cost for DD is passed onto the consumer, it could be a death rattle for any game other than a super-mega-triple-A type game. New gaming would have to become more of the equivilent of going to a movie for most gamers. Maybe not as low as $10, but something in the $20-$30 range sounds pretty good. It would have to get down more towards impulse buy territory in order for someone to be able to live with a poor choice in game. No one would be (or at least I would hope) willing to make a $60 mistake.
And by "most gamers" I mean those kids, tweenagers, and single moms who don't have a lot of extra income for a $60 download that they would own, but have no real outlet for resale. A non-physical media world sounds like it would cool, but there are dangers that come with it. Some very real "cutting off the nose to spite the face" financal dangers.