Share this article: Digg.comFacebookGoogle BookmarksN4GGamerblipsdel.icio.usRedditSlashdot.orgStumbleUpon so making a DVD and creating all the box art and 20 page manual costs nothing does it? The only way I would use this download service is if the games were cheaper than in store. At least the 'hard-copy' games have potential trade in value. Isnt the whole point in digital distribution to make it cheaper for the consumer, its a non-physical item, so why is it the same cost as the physical alternative. Yeah, I agree 100% with zonf. What is the point of purchasing a digital copy of the game, when you can buy an actual physical one for the same price, or even cheaper 2nd hand? The whole point of this is to stop you selling your old games and thus, taking money off of Mircorsoft and the publishers. This simply isnt gonna to work, Microsoft, Sony even Nintendo to an extent have NO idea how to price their downloadable items.Old XBOX360 Games will come out around £15-£20 even though a second hand copy will be closer to £8-£10 and wont eat youre harddrive and you can trade them. God help us on the PSPGO! the console is over £100 overpriced! Didnt alot of this happen because how well Apple and the Ipod touch are doing with D/L games, well their games are about £3 each (and alot are free). This is my biggest issue, the price is almost aways the RRP, and the removal of a trade-in prospect is another reason not to buy.
I'm guilty of buying psychonauts on XBLA, and I've come close to buying ratchet and clank on the psp, but its £15. I can buy it for a tenner anywhere in Cardiff... bring down the prices please guys. I can only hope that this service fails miserably, because if its sucessful are we going to see the next generation as 'Download Only'.
If this happens it would be a disaster, a console market where Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have sole control over the prices of their games which they can manipulate to their own ends.
Gone will be the day of getting a great bargin on ebay, or letting your friends borrow your games. That's something I hadn't even considered... gamefreak 666,it will happen Sony have a cloud server already registered,you wont even own a virtual copy of a game soon, all you will pay for is the right to play the game. Keep all your old tech it will be very sort after in the near future Theres no way the uk could have a download only console. I downloaded morrowind yesterday at just over a gig and it took all night. Just imagine anyone with a crap connection like mine trying to download a 6Gb image. It would take 2 days! Digital britain my arse. I dream of a 2Mb/sec connection.
Does anyone remember the rumour that sony would be preventing trade-ins by tying discs to the console they were first installed on. This is the next step after that failed. One way around that is to make it downloadable in chapters. You could play the first part while the rest is coming through. As someone who never sells his gaming purchases, a download only console wouldn't bother me at all. Bring it on I say! :) I'm with everyone else on this. Download only games have to be much cheaper than their retail counterparts for the fact they don't have a resale value.
I've only ever bought a couple of second-hand games, so far, but I always trade-in games when I buy a new one. I'm sure this may be a thing of the past in the future. It's no stretch of the imagination to assume Sony and Microsoft will make their future consoles download-only games machines. They'll have complete control of pricing and make maximum profits, cutting out retail entirely and have greater control and better access to the money we spend on gaming.
I suspect download games will eventually drop in price in order to entice us. Only when they've killed off retail completely will the price structure start to rise. The begining of this new era has already started. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are going to have to work something out with the game retailers as well. Game, Gamestation, Gamestop etc aren't going to be best pleased if they have no software to sell and have to rely on hardware and accessory sales. The profit margins for hardware are pretty small after all. A lot of income comes from selling on pre-owned games now too. Frankly disgusting, I had my doubts about how expensive these games would be.
So Mass Effect etc... will be £40 then? That's still their RRP as far as I know. I can buy ME for £15 brand new in the shops.
I like the thought of being able to own a digital version of a game, but not at a premium price. Waste of time if you ask me. If your xbox bricks, try transferring the licences to another console. Your HD breaks, screwed. What would the only advantage be of downloading a game? It is cheaper than in the shops!
So what is the point? No advantage to downloading and lots of disadvantages. |