Post by: Pale on June 05, 2008, 12:42:51 AM
Digital delivery is one of the most popular buzz words in the game industry as of late. Allowing players to directly download games is a fast way of getting a product out there and it saves the costs associated with packaging and distribution. Those aren't the only benefits passed on to the customers though. It also helps cut down on the clutter, and I I'm not talking about the most obvious of ways.
Of course, games stored on a hard drive (or miniscule amount of internal memory) take up significantly less shelf space than games stored in DVD cases, but that's not what brought me to writing this post. If you are a serious gamer like myself, and by serious I mean wanting to play more games than you physically have the time to, you probably stress about the possibility of certain must play titles becoming rare before you get around to purchasing them.
Herein lies the problem. Taking a quick look at my own shelf, I see great games like Okami, Shadow of the Colossus, Xenosaga, Killer 7, Chibi Robo, and Prime 3, all of which are still safely wrapped in their original plastic. Why haven't I touched these games? Because I don't have the time to play them all. Why did I buy them anyway? Either I got a good deal, or I was genuinely worried I wouldn't be able to find them again. When you look at what happens to some games, like DDR Mario Mix or Pikmin 2, you begin to see why the possibility of rarity can definitely be a stress point for game purchasers.
Now when I look at online stores like the Wii Shop Channel, I breathe a big sigh of relief. I feel like I can legitimately say that I have every Virtual Console and WiiWare game. The only difference is that some, well most, will require a payment just prior to the first time I want to try them out. This is a nice feeling to have. I no longer have to monitor games on ebay until I stress enough to plunk down some of my cash, thus filling my closet with DVD cases. It's like they say, "Let your money work for you, not someone else."
The online stores aren't perfect though. Nintendo of Europe only put Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels on the VC for a limited time. Microsoft is going to start pulling down underperforming titles from Live Arcade. This trend will never benefit the gamers and we shouldn't stand for it. I thank the stars that NOA hasn't done anything like this with the North American Wii Shop Channel yet and I hope they never will. Sadly, if they do, I'll probably just binge buy almost every single game that was going down. Here's to hoping they aren't reading this.
If you have the same problem as I do, support digital distribution wherever you can! It's no fun paying money for something you don't even have the time to play right away.
Post by: Morari on June 04, 2008, 11:56:50 PM
Post by: Pale on June 04, 2008, 11:59:33 PM
But seriously, certain types of Digital Delivery are better than others. We should just hope for the better kind.
With WiiWare, the system will still play the games when it isn't connected to the internet, so your purchases are safe.
Post by: UncleBob on June 05, 2008, 12:57:31 AM
Digital Delivery (while not perfect) allows titles with limited appeal to be sold virtually *forever* to whomever wants to buy them.
Post by: animecyberrat on June 05, 2008, 01:16:53 AM
Oh sorry forgot to read the article, I'll go back and do that right now, I just read the title and wanted to say that.
EDIT:
Ok now that I read the article, I think I am the exact opposite, I see all these great VC titles and stress out over not being in a hurry to buy them in case they do disappear, cuz with physical copies, there is still the option of ebay long after the game is no longer a viable asset to the publisher, but like you said, once a game is no longer available for digital distribution, it is gone forever.
Post by: NWR_insanolord on June 05, 2008, 02:08:54 AM
I have never thrown anything away in my life, I do not believe in trash
You must have a hard time moving around in your house, and it must not smell very good.
Post by: Rize on June 05, 2008, 03:19:11 PM
Anyway, I solve the unopened game problem by simply opening them even if I'm not going to play them : )
Also, lately I've just been not buying games. I don't have GTA4 yet... I may never. Why bother when I'm slowly replaying Dragon Quest VIII and loving every minute of it?
Post by: Pale on June 05, 2008, 05:18:08 PM
Also, why on earth would Nintendo stop supporting the VC in the near future? I'm sure it will carry over to the next system.
Do you all still own film based cameras too? =P
Post by: Rize on June 05, 2008, 05:33:25 PM
If you were a TRUE pack rat, you wouldn't be able to tolerate digital delivery. What you have is grown-ups remorse. It's not that you don't have time to play the games you want to play, it's just that you don't care about them enough to play them anymore (because you care about other things more). If a game comes out that you *really* want to play, you'll find a way to play it. Meanwhile you buy all the games you would have played 5 years ago as if you would still play them if only you had the time.
It's complicated... I've been suffering from this problem for a few years now. The best way to cope is stop buying games. In the few cases where you truly want to play the game, you'll go buy it even though you stopped buying games.
Post by: Morari on June 05, 2008, 05:33:30 PM
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on June 05, 2008, 05:56:11 PM
Hardware wears out and breaks. Software can emulate old hardware on new hardware. Software can be moved from old formats to new formats. In the long run, only software is permanent.
Post by: NWR_insanolord on June 05, 2008, 06:04:05 PM
As for being able to play your games on a different Wii, the homebrew community is already able to switch out the flash memory of Wiis, so unless the flash memory is what's broken about your Wii you can buy a used one and swap out it's memory for yours if your Wii breaks at some point in the future when Nintendo won't fix it.
Post by: King of Twitch on June 05, 2008, 07:15:12 PM
Post by: ATimson on June 05, 2008, 10:27:23 PM
Digital distribution, as it is today, is all about taking power away from the users and giving it to the companies. That is bad regardless of the field.Most cases, I agree. There are exceptions, though: Valve's Steam , Amazon's MP3 offerings and iTunes' ever-growing "iTunes Plus" catalog... Hopefully the Nintendos of the world will soon get on the bandwagon and stop thinking all their users are cheats and pirates.
Oh yeah. This is the company that encrypts the saved game backups users can make for no reason, and keeps them from backing up online game data period instead of, oh, keeping the cheat-worthy stuff safe online instead. My mistake.
Post by: Pale on June 05, 2008, 10:43:39 PM
Post by: UncleBob on June 05, 2008, 10:45:08 PM
Post by: Pale on June 05, 2008, 11:12:29 PM
The only thing I hope for is that they will tie the games to accounts instead of systems in Wii 2.
Post by: Morari on June 05, 2008, 11:53:47 PM
Post by: NWR_insanolord on June 06, 2008, 12:20:27 AM
Isn't there already rampant piracy? Pirates will always find a way around counter measures. That's what they do. It's a challenge to them, to see if they can meet and exceed their "opponent". It's just how hackers work.
There's pircacy, but it isn't rampant. The blocks that are in place make it hard enough to do that it limits how many people actually do it. If the games were unprotected files that could be easily swapped to other Wiis all you'd need to do is download a few of them and take them to a Wii via SD card, and that would result in tons more people pirating.
No company, at least no sane company, is trying to eliminate piracy altogether, they realize that's not possible. What they're trying to do is make it complicated and hard to pirate, to make it so as few people as possible do it. That way the diehard pirates, the hackers you speak of, can still do it, but it would be way over the average consumer's head.
Yeah but you have to be reasonable here. Does anyone really believe there wouldn't be RAMPANT piracy if they allowed that?
The only thing I hope for is that they will tie the games to accounts instead of systems in Wii 2.
Something along the lines of the iTunes system maybe. Your downloaded music and movies are allowed on up to 5 computers and any number of iPods or Apple TV=Your downloaded games are allowed on up to 5 Wii 2s and any number of DS 2s.
Post by: Crimm on June 06, 2008, 02:17:40 AM
Do you all still own film based cameras too? =P
Well yes, four to be exact. Two pentax K1000, a Minolta Maxxum 7000, and something else. Granted, they're inherited but they're damn good cameras.
On topic, Microsoft plans to remove a bunch of titles from XBLA in the coming months (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10620&Itemid=2&limit=1&limitstart=0). This raises a new issue, this isn't a "used is hard to find" situation. This is a "there is no such thing as used." There are distinct disadvantages in play.
Post by: KDR_11k on June 06, 2008, 04:52:18 AM
Try to buy a Wii on eBay that has the game downloaded on it?Should be mentioned that the Wii EULA forbids reselling the Wii if VCV games are installed, you must wipe the whole console.
Post by: shammack on June 06, 2008, 08:08:45 AM
I wish companies would just realize that all DRM will eventually be broken, but I guess they think it buys them enough time or dissuades enough lazy people to make it worthwhile. But for now, I'm glad we can rely on rampant piracy, because without it, a lot of media would just be lost to the ages.
Post by: Nick DiMola on June 06, 2008, 09:15:43 AM
Some pack rats don't want to be saved. :)
Exactly the point I was going to make. I'm a pack rat that doesn't want to ever be saved. I love collecting games and having a huge library always available at my finger tips. I like to play with the original controllers on the original system and deal with all the quirks that they bring.
I think digital distribution can be a good thing especially for something like the VC. However, I never want to see that cross over as the main delivery method for new releases. I suppose some of that is happening now on the side with things like WiiWare, XBL and PSN, but I'm really hoping that stays exclusive for small titles that wouldn't have seen release otherwise.
Post by: vudu on June 06, 2008, 01:56:35 PM
It's complicated... I've been suffering from this problem for a few years now. The best way to cope is stop buying games. In the few cases where you truly want to play the game, you'll go buy it even though you stopped buying games.
Remind me again why we have a staff writer who doesn't play video games?
Post by: animecyberrat on June 06, 2008, 02:06:07 PM
I have never thrown anything away in my life, I do not believe in trash
You must have a hard time moving around in your house, and it must not smell very good.
I throw garbage away, but I don't throw anything out that I can reuse or find a purpose for latter on.
anyways yeah I am one of those people that saves every little thing I can for no reason at all, and video games is something I only recently begun selling off only because I have no alternative. If I was still working the last job I had where I could buy video games regularly, would have never sold a single game I have ever.
Digital Distribution is kinda a double edged sword. Sure the games are easy to load and manage and you can just download them anyold time, as long as the provider makes them available for download, but once they are gone, they are just gone, not coming back lost forever.
But with a CD/Cart,VHS, etc, you get whatever it is you paid for forever and ever. And since you can copy just about anything there is, except carts I guess you can't really copy those but it's gonna be a long time before every single NES cart on the planet just stops working, at least not in my lifetime I would think.
Post by: Rize on June 06, 2008, 04:43:25 PM
It's complicated... I've been suffering from this problem for a few years now. The best way to cope is stop buying games. In the few cases where you truly want to play the game, you'll go buy it even though you stopped buying games.
Remind me again why we have a staff writer who doesn't play video games?
I'm no longer a staff writer; I'm a contributing writer! That means I used be a staff writer but no longer have the time to write (or play) regularly. Anyway, my prior statements were slight exaggerations. I still play games, just not nearly as many as I used to.
Post by: Mario on June 06, 2008, 11:28:59 PM
What about the distant future? What if your Wii *does* break? I still play NES games on the original carts. If a game I like breaks, I can buy it on eBay for a relatively low amount. What will you do if you want to play a treasured WiiWare title 25 years from now? Try to buy a Wii on eBay that has the game downloaded on it?There will be no planet at all in 25 years at this rate, digital distribution saves the environment.
Post by: Morari on June 07, 2008, 01:58:50 PM
It's complicated... I've been suffering from this problem for a few years now. The best way to cope is stop buying games. In the few cases where you truly want to play the game, you'll go buy it even though you stopped buying games.
Remind me again why we have a staff writer who doesn't play video games?
I'm no longer a staff writer; I'm a contributing writer! That means I used be a staff writer but no longer have the time to write (or play) regularly. Anyway, my prior statements were slight exaggerations. I still play games, just not nearly as many as I used to.
The title above your avatar says differently...
Post by: SkiDragon on June 10, 2008, 12:04:46 AM
Post by: Rize on June 17, 2008, 02:05:10 PM
Post by: KDR_11k on June 18, 2008, 04:11:42 PM
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on June 18, 2008, 04:19:45 PM
Post by: Pale on June 22, 2008, 11:55:43 AM
Post by: animecyberrat on June 22, 2008, 01:37:56 PM
Post by: NWR_insanolord on June 22, 2008, 06:08:33 PM
Post by: Kairon on June 22, 2008, 07:12:14 PM
As such, I embrace digital downloads of games as long as I can store them on my end and do not require the internet to play them, giving me freedom to play them whenever I want in the now. Limited time play opportunities and having to be online to play games should be reserved for special experiences and MMOs only.
Post by: animecyberrat on June 22, 2008, 10:53:49 PM
