Ben-DutkaYou may recall the rumors that LittleBigPlanet would be available in both Blu-Ray and digital download form, although it soon became clear it would only release on the standard Blu-Ray disc format. But we may be shifting to a time when games will no longer be on a disc, and the debate continues to rage.
For Sony's part, while they're aware that digital download may be the wave of the future, they're not quite ready to take all their big-budget blockbuster releases and make them available for purchase at both the retail stores and at the PlayStation Store. According to 1Up, PlayStation Network senior director Susan Panico spoke about the topic at yesterday's Morgan Wedbush Securities New York MAC conference. Said Panico:
"One of the things we found, though, was that the Blu-ray disc experience for marquee games like that [LittleBigPlanet] currently just work better because the consumer wants to go in and get that physical product. They want to go in and get the extra goodies that they get on the disc."
But has anyone considered the possibility that there are long-standing retail relationships involved? Places like GameStop pretty much depend on Sony and other manufacturers for their very survival, and of course, people still do identify a new game with the brick-and-mortar retail experience. Added Panico:
"There's also there's also retailer relationships that we're really sensitive to, and making sure that we're balancing those with the digital distribution content. It's something we're continually looking at on a title-by-title basis."
So while certain titles like SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation and Burnout Paradise are available on the PSN, don't expect major releases like God of War III to show up as digital downloads. That day may soon come, but fully entrenched traditions don't fall easily, especially when it may not be embraced by veteran gamers… Who knows what tomorrow will bring? It'll be interesting; that's for sure.
well in a way its cool for sony to make downloadable copies of a game but only for its handheld system i personally would rather run around with plenty of games on my memory stick the way i do now wit cfw as compared to runnin wit a bunch of umds in a dam bag but wen it comes to my ps3 i much rather have the disc itself since i already have a problem with tryin to keep my hdd wih enough space for the dlc and installs for certain games ( mind u im currently runnin on 320 gb hard drive and all movies are on an external hd) so imagine the extra money we ps3 owners would have to put in in order to buy the digital copies of games and constantly having to uprade our hdd n lets not forget about poor gamestop i love all the extras they give out with games
Jesus Christ…use puncuation. Your comment was almost unreadable…actually I read about 1/3 of it and gave up.
LOL!
Q!
"i am home"
i really enjoy going to the store and buying a game. its just adds more hype to the game itself. and lets not forget the nice "New Game Smell". Everone loves going to the store and buying games. If we didn't many people would be out of jobs(like mentioned in the article)lets hope that sony sticks with disks but adds the option of downloads
AMEN!
There is something satisfying with handing over 6 crisp 10 dollar notes for a game; ain't there?
Q!
"i am home"
I prefer games on discs too, but it's also been a long time since I bought any game at full retail. I generally use Gamefly to rent the games and if it turns out any good, buy it for a much reduced rate (typically 48$) – even got a brand-new copy of Killzone 2 this way – can't beat those savings. Even if I cannot get some game from Gamefly, I just buy it from Amazon – no tax and free 2-day shipping for Prime members just can't be beat by any brick-and-mortar place.
Of course the bargain bins at Best buy are awesome-scored a new copy of Ratchet and Clank and Jak 3 for 5-10$ 🙂
Last edited by IonHawk on 3/16/2009 1:43:45 PM
lol i love goin to pick up my games and that feeling u get knowing u finally have the disc its awesome and its so funny cause so many people mention that amazingly great smell of sumtin new i was like that wen i got my ps3 it was so great lol
PSN: BXsHotBoi
i have plenty of games new and old so if u want to play add me and leave a message
ummm i would care less if gamestop went out of business. has anyone ever thought that the companys making these games could save money on discs, cases, instruction books, and so on by going DLC?
a lot of times when companys save money guess what…. consumers get lower prices. it may not be much… but any amount of savings in todays economy is helpful.
i wouldnt mind not having to step out of my house to buy brand new games. think about it. every new game could have a midnight release right on the store.
all true, but right now as of this moment, would you be able to buy, dl, AND be able to hold the memory needed and support for it? that's a lot of space for so few games
well i got like 200gb to spare so i would be good for a few games.
im just saying that i would like the choice of being able to DLC games if i choose to. you could either go to the store and buy the game or just go to the PSN store.
Seriously,the idea of deleting old games just to make up for nou ones is crap!
I love disc COLLECSHAN!(collection)
"lot of times when companys save money guess what…. consumers get lower prices"
What did you base that comment on? Sorry but Burnout is $20 on PSN and $20 in the stores. Consumers won't save diddly squat from digital downloads.
@Alienange
so lets see. the ps3 has gotten cheaper due to production costs that have come down over time. LCD tv's have gotten cheaper over time due to production costs coming down.
do i really need to go on?
You beat me to it Alienange.
Warhawk also sold for $40 online and on disc, as does Socom, sans headseats.
It would be nice if the companies passed on the savings to us, but they won't.
Also, I'd rather have the discs beacuse 10 years from now I want to know I can pull Killzone 2 off my shelf and play it.
I don't want to have to worry about my hard drive breaking and not being able to redownload my games because Sony is no longer supporting PS3 game downloads on the PS5.
In addition, the only way I can buy as many games as I do is by buying the bulk of them used. Downloads will prevent this.
@Orvisman
"In addition, the only way I can buy as many games as I do is by buying the bulk of them used. Downloads will prevent this."
DUDE!! no disrespect but you should not even be talking at all. do you realize you are part of the reason why we pay the prices we do now?
when you buy a used game the DEVS of that game get NO, NO, NO, NO money at all from that sale of the used game. when you choose to buy used games, all you are doing is supporting the store that is selling them. you are in NO way supporting the DEVS who spent years making the game.
im not saying buying used is always a bad thing, cuz there are times if you want something old that is not made anymore you can look for it used. BUT, to buy games used that are still being made, frankly IMO is a disgrace to the DEVS of the game.
Last edited by crapreviews on 3/12/2009 10:39:15 AM
mixedkidbox, weren't we talking about digital downloads and not manufacturing? Actually I think you made another point against DD. With products that are manufactured the prices do eventually come down. With digital downloads there is zero incentive to lower the price over time. Example? $30 for Shimmering Isles.
And if Orvisman wants to buy second hand games, let him! What's it to you? You actually buy into that bs about game prices being higher because of people buying second hand? If publishers are so upset, why not pull their products off the shelves of GameStop. That'd teach 'em. But they don't because it doesn't matter. People who buy used were never going to buy new in the first place.
@LimitedV
can you please tell me which game on disk is cheaper for download? for the PS3 of course no PSP games. burnout is the same, so is socom, and warhawk.
@mixedkidbx,
You have a right to believe what you believe, but I don't think buying second-hand games is what's wrong with the industry.
Honestly, I believe developers at the begining of this gen thought if they raised the price on games by $10 that would be another $10 million lining their coffers if they sold one million units. In other words, they got greedy.
Trust me, I don't feel guilty. Why sould I? If a game shows up used a week or two after it is released and I can save $10-$20 off the new price, I'd be stupid not to do that because I can get three used games for the price of two new games. Add in some extra discounts with coupons, coupled with my Edge card, or a B2G1 free sale, and my savings are magnified.
I used to buy all my games new; but because I buy tons of them, by the time I got around to playing some of them I noticed the prices were lower on new copies and even lower on used games. Factor in my importing proclivities, and I realized I could stretch my gaming dollar by waiting a few weeks to a few months to a year for games to show up used.
I came to this realization when the PS2/DC/GC/Xbox were fighting for my gaming dollar.
Furthermore, why should I feel guilty when developers are nickel and diming us to death for content and modes that should have shipped on the disc. Last gen, the Alaska and Pitt missions for Fallout 3 or the Tomb Raider DLC would have shipped on the disc.
And don't get me started on extra character skins or costumes (SFIV I'm looking at you) or modes (RE 5's multiplayer modes), which should definitely have been included on disc as unlockable incentives.
Like I wrote before, if I get nostalgic 10 years from now and want to play RE 5 or Killzone 2 or SF IV, I can take the disc off my shelf and fire up the PS3 (or PS 5 if it is backward compatible). But if the game proper, or DLC, is on my HD and that HD is broken, I've essentially lost all my games and DLC I've paid to own; and whose to say Sony will have the conetnt up on the PSN for me to redownload (even if they did, why should I have to pay for it again!).
By the way, I do buy new games; but I'm more selective these days.
For instance, it is very hard to buy used Japanese games because the big Japanese retailers won't ship overseas. And while I can buy new games from NCS or HMV Japan or PlayAsia, only the latter offers a handful of used games.
I also buy new PS3 games that I CAN'T wait for to show up used: LBP, Killzone 2, SF IV, RE 5 (probably Infamous, Uncharted 2, GoWIII, GT5). Hell, I bought 3 copies of LBP new: two for gifts.
@mixedkidbx wit 200 gb hdd u wouldnt get far cuz mgs4 would already bring u down to 150 gb and yes u can delete the game and download it wenever u want again but who wants to wait for a 50 gb download everytime they want to download a game they previously purchased and deleted from the hdd….yes we would probably get the games for cheaper but wat about all the people/companies that make a living off of selling video games if they all go out of business that wouldnt really be helping the economy we would just have a whole bunch more jobless people we do need to be sympathetic and understanding as well
i wouldnt mind redownloading a game that i deleted. most times after i finish a game i really dont go back and play it often, so i could easily free up space for games i do play and then when i feel like i wanna play a game that i deleted i could just download it.
i understand it would cost a lot of people jobs, but jobs are always coming and going with the times. yes the economy sucks now, but in the future the economy could be back to where it was or even better. times change. things change. life goes on.
im sure a lot of people are struggling like myself, but we just gotta look towards the future and hope for the best. you can't stop the process of evolving.
but you won't be able to have the option of being able to dl really old games. at some point the server owners will decide, hey this game isn't doing well let's get rid of it, and then boom it's gone forever. no way to go to gamestop or any other video store and hopefully find it in the used section or of ebay and such. i'm fine with it being optional, like it being a choice between disk or dlc, but pure dlc is definitely something no one wants
eh? MGS4s install memory is around 6gb
wait…sorry just got what you meant. My bad
I would MIND redownloading a game,it sucks,i waste all the time downloading one,then my hdd crashes or something,you think i would smile redownloading it?
Think about this Mixedkid:
Not everyone has broadband or DSL available in their area. I myself live in the boondocks and can't receieve high-speed internet, so in order to play online or download, I must travel 25 minutes to my aunt's house to use her connection.
And did you forget how strict the US is with download limits? If you hit that limit, you might as well have dial-up. I for one would rather any manufacturer wait until broadband ISP's are available to more people.
And just because YOU don't mind waiting to dl a 50 gb game doesn't mean others won't. And the thing you said about people losing their jobs was just plain ignorant. Like Obama said, "things will get worse before they get better". You might be well off right now, but millions of others around the world aren't fairing well at all in the economy.
EDIT: And all that "staying at home" stuff wouldn't help the already negative image us gamers receive. Going to pick up a new game might be a rare chance for some people to leave their house.
And I love going to a midnight release to talk to other gamers face to face about the anticipation we all have for the upcoming title. Exchanging gamertags or PSN ID's or what have you is alot of fun.
Last edited by PS3_Wizard on 3/12/2009 9:36:34 AM
@PS3_Wizard
who ever said i was doing well in this economy? i know i didnt. also you guys are acting like im talking about this happening right this very second. this is something that is in talks for the future, and in the future this is a very good possibility.
Obama also has stated that he plans to give more money to projects designed to get Broadband to areas of the US that don't have them now. He wants all americans to be able to have Broadband.
I agree RIGHT now may not be the best time. But we aren't talking about right this second. We are talking about the near possible future. Im sure in a few years a lot of you may feel a lot different about this.
maybe…I still like going to stores though, plus I get a employee discount at gamestop!
you americans still have download limits?
in the netherlands there just arent any more companies who offer a deal that includes a limit, you can get a 20mb/s limitless broadband internet connection starting from 25 euros a month
i thought the usa was so "up to date"…
@LegendaryWolfeh,
AMEN! That was exactly my point in my previous posts.
Fine with me, it's optional and makes the game better, so why not?
Besides it fits the game, keeps the game fresh and all.
Who doesn't love the Street Fighter pack?
And so looking forward to Kai(from Heavenly Sword)!!!!!
What's all this about Kai now?
She's being turned into a sackgirl!!!
Can't believe psxe hasn't reported on it… 🙁
Thats awesome!
ive already got her with the play.com preorder deal thing. only thing is is that i deleted the email with the coes by accident 🙁
call me old fashioned, but i like having the game on disc rather than dl
cause too much can go wrong with downloads
thats why its better to have a hard copy that will last forever….. unless you treat your stuff like crap
Yeah II rather have the game on disc myself.
Like getting 80% finished, only to have the power flicker.
Don't have the time to be downloading 50gb games!
Right! Besides i hate leaving my systems on for that long.
Imagine getting YLOD/RROD cause you were downloading a full huge game for several hours.
Don't do it yet, we need as many jobs (including retail) as possible!
Must… hold… physical product, smell fresh plastic, enjoy artwork, insert things into slots…
Seriously though, when I went in to buy KZ2 I had that natural buzz like "Is it gonna be here?" "Isn't it?" "Where are the 'K's? "ABCDEFGHIJ-K!" (I don't preorder, I'm addicted to that buzz) And bam! There it was, so pretty, begging me to grab it and run to the front.
It will be a generation or 2 before we have the storage capabilities to download all of our games.
I have over 8TB of storage space, you sure about that?
we aren't all you.
It works both ways, we aren't all you.
Everyone with 8TB of storage raise your hand… … right … that's what I thought.
I saw one hand…..@LimitedVertigo.
L7 383T
Im guessing your 8TB hard drive is an external one. But am I right in saying that you cannot run games from it, only music, videos and pics.