I absolutely prefer HARD DISC copies at all times, I honestly don't know why people don't considering you're paying the same price. What people tend to forget is that after a while lots of these become collector's items, and can potentially be worth a good amount, or even for bragging rights. The ONLY time I download is if the game is ONLY available through PSN (Wipeout HD is one I own), or if it's add-on DLC for an already existing hard copy of a game. Even for people who aren't collectors it makes sense to buy physical (I am a collector myself). With physical copies you can do the following:
1) Lend them to friends, have them lend you games
2) Play them on other systems in case your system breaks down and you need to buy another, or if your HDD crashes
3) Sell them online for a good profit later on
4) Trade them in for new games or cash (you obviously can't Gamestop trade in your HDD copy, right?)
5) Buy used if it's cheaper and more practical
6) Help support the integrity of gaming as a culture overall. With more people supporting digital, game companies will care less and less about putting longtime features in games because they figure people wouldn't be able to play them practically anyway (such as offline coop play for 2 to 4 players; watering down of game difficulty; watering down of game lengths/content - companies will figure that downloading is so much easier than going out and buying a copy or waiting for it in the mail, so they can make money faster from people's itchy trigger fingers if they cut back on game development budgets... trust me they'll think of any way to milk us for higher prices with less quantity, food companies and restaurants do it already)
I'll settle with the very MINOR inconvenience of having to go out and buy a game, and then get the disc and insert it when I want to play, because being a gamer since the old school Nintendo days, I have an appreciation for real stuff. At least if you own a physical copy of a game you know the material on that physical copy CANNOT be tampered with. How easy will it be for game companies to start BS'ing us with changing of features and content in games every time we have a system update? Given the direction of bullcrap this country is moving in, don't be surprised if game companies start knickling and diming gamers, plus cheat them out of things due to various rights and terms of agreements, all because the customer technically does not OWN a physical copy of a game. They've already done it plenty with DLC content, what's to stop them from doing it with a game that is in itself a piece of DLC content!?!
Don't be fooled! Avoid digital when possible! This may seem paranoid, but honestly in this current day you really can't trust much of anything anymore.
Log in to comment