Gaming Forums > General Gaming

Digital games and you

<< < (2/3) > >>

Khushrenada:

--- Quote from: Adrock on February 27, 2022, 05:26:15 PM ---Every so often this comes up in other threads so I figured in my quest for a seemingly meaningless Silver medal I'd create a thread to discuss.

--- End quote ---

Now that's how you start a thread! 8)


Man, there's a lot to unpack and discuss with those questions. Too much for just one post.

For now, I'll just start be giving my background to the topic. When it comes to digital games, I'm mainly approaching this from a Nintendo background. With launch of the Wii, that's sort of when digital games became a real thing thanks to the Virtual Console. Of course, with the iPhone also coming out around this time and starting the smartphone ecosystem that continues to this day, digital games were also taking off on other devices. Obviously, there was Steam on PC as well. Since my computer gaming is almost non-existent, I never really bothered to consider any of that. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever actually been to Steam's website... As for mobile games, they all seemed so simple and one note that I never really bothered installing any on my phone and just stuck with my DS for handheld gaming. (That'll show those mobile game developers!)

With the Wii, I never did get anything off the Virtual Console. For the most part, the games originally being offered on it were ones I already owned along with the original systems so I never saw the need to double dip. Later as deeper cuts did become available, I did consider it. As an example, when Sin and Punishment 64 was released, I saw some benefit to digital gaming as it could possibly help games that would be hard to release now due to factors like retired systems and limited appeal. Yet, I still dragged my feet on picking these up. In a way, it sort of didn't seem like it was that urgent to get them anytime soon. When the Wii U came, a lot of those games made the jump to that console so I could just get it for that system once the Wii Shop ended. (And with the Wii U eShop soon to close, I still haven't picked up Sin and Punishment but I get the feeling it will soon be appearing on the Switch's N64 app so this procrastination may finally pay off!)

Digital Gaming did change a bit in my eyes with World of Goo. That got a lot of good reviews and praise and highlighted to me that Digital Gaming wasn't just about small arcade gaming apps like Solitaire or Doodle Jump nor was it just about selling physically released games through download. There were now games worth playing that could only be gotten digitally. And I didn't really like that. If you got a game you didn't like then there was the possibility you could always sell it off and recoup some or most of the cost of it and get something else. Now, what happens? Moreover, demos of digital games at this time were kind of rare. As such, digital gaming felt like a more risky monetary gamble and so I continued to drag my feet on getting anything from the WiiWare offerings.

In fact, by the time WiiWare finally shut down in early 2018, the only game I ended up purchasing from it was Fluidity mainly based on the recommendation of Mop it up. I finally started playing a bit of it late last year around September. It's.... ok. Haven't gotten back to it after getting 5 or 6 rainbow drops but I probably will later this year to at least complete my WiiWare section on Backloggery. In the end, the one thing I did find of benefit from digital gaming was additional songs for Rock Band 3. In that case, the DLC was worth it. I really enjoyed playing Rock Band then and can still get hooked by it again when I boot it up when the mood strikes. The only thing I didn't like about the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games was that there was often like 10% of the songs on a release I was a fan of and wanted to play. With Rock Band 3 and its DLC shop, I could now have a game which full of the songs I'd want to play and listen to over and over. Who cares if there were like 20 or 30 songs on the base RB3 game I didn't like when I've now got like 150 songs I do like. It was much easier to spend money on that because the songs were a known quantity. I already liked them and I knew the gameplay wasn't going to be anything different or something I didn't like so in that case, digital gaming made sense. A company didn't need to release a new game with a new tracklist over and over (*cough* Activision *cough*) when you could just release one base game and then keep expanding the library for that game on the system it played on.

Of course, DLC would soon develop a reputation of being a way for publishers to charge more money for a game by holding back features behind a DLC paywall but, at that time, DLC seemed like a smart thing for certain types of games and was the main way I was engaging in the digital gaming space.

More to come later.

Mop it up:

--- Quote from: The President on February 28, 2022, 10:16:37 PM ---(And with the Wii U eShop soon to close, I still haven't picked up Sin and Punishment but I get the feeling it will soon be appearing on the Switch's N64 app so this procrastination may finally pay off!)
--- End quote ---
Lucky for you it's already paid off, Sin & Punishment was among the launch titles for the N64 expansion!

Khushrenada:

Stratos:
Was die hard physical until Switch. Its a convenience thing since it is portable and I'm lazy on switching carts even when at home/docked. Also been a little at odds with my wife with it because she wants less stuff and honestly I'm more in agreement now. I'd rather stay physical for the retro stuff and keep modern things digital.

Also SD cards are getting cheaper. I have a 512GB card I got for like $60 and still have plenty of space. Will grab a 1TB+ card when I need more and once the price is sub $100.

Also wife is so pro-digital that she basically gave me a blank check (within reason) on digital purchases since it is a win for both of us. So I don't worry about saving my "fun money" from our budget for games.

lolmonade:
How do you feel about digital games?

I've come to appreciate digital games for how they spare me the space to store them.  I've realized just how little space there is for gaming stuff before it spills over everywhere, and I'd like my home to be clean & organized. 

That said, I'll usually buy Nintendo games physically, either because I'll want to keep it or trade-in since they tend to hold value a little longer.  Not only that, but I'm extra mindful about how I can be locked-out of my digital library without an internet connection.  That last one makes it tough to buy a full retail game digitally unless it's something I'd want to pop on at a moments notice.

Do you own any digital games?

Lots and lots.

Do you still buy physical games?

Absolutely.

What factors into your decision?


Availability of a physical copy vs something i'd want on the system.  Most indie games I like to play are digital only.

Is streaming an option for you?


100% No.  I tried Stadia and Luma in beta.  At best they were consistent but compromised graphics.  More often than not framerate hits or stuttering made most games unplayable.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page