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[The Take Out Bandit]

With all the hardware makers pushing for on-line distribution this generation, what is the licensing model like?

I ask, because if it's like iTunes that will surely suck since console gamers have no means of backing up data.

Once you pay for a game and it's registered to your account, should your HD take a crap on you; can you DL it again or do you have to shell out for it once more?

I'm both excited that we'll finally have something akin to the Simple 1500-2000 model in the West (when I get a P$3 in 2010), and afraid because I can see these companies implementing a one price / one download model.

 

[D-Back]

on xbox live, your downloads are tied to your account, so you can re download them whenever you want. However, the games are also tied to your xbox 360, so if that dies, then you can only download/play a game you purchased if your signed into your live account.

 

[StoOgE]

on Xbox 360 you can download it again for free. You can even download it to a friends Xbox 360.

The game is saved to your system ID and your Xbox Live username. So, you either have to be playing on the original Xbox 360 it was DLed to OR signed in with the Live username that bought it. So you can download it to your buddied 360 and play the full version there when you are signed on to Live.

 

[TekunoRobby]

Microsoft has implemented a system that ties all your purchases to your account. XBL keeps an detailed report on everything you download and purchase. Once you've bought it once its free for you to download as many times as you want, so far.

I believe Nintendo has stated something similar for their VC system.

 

[Rlan]

In a similar question, with Steam, once you have a Steam account and logged in that you've bought the game, if your computer kills itself and you lose the disc, can you redownload it again, or does it differentiate between bought and downloaded?

Also, if you have Half Life 1, can you upgrade to HL: Source for no charge?

 

[soul creator]

random piece of trivia: somewhere in the account management settings, there's an option to view all of the items you've downloaded on that xbox live account. I think I'm at like 250 pieces of content so far...

 

[sugarhigh4242]

i'm worried about that stuff a lot.

DRM is a cancer. And hard drives fail.

Loading up a whole lot of content i can't control to a hard drive doesn't sound very exciting to me.

That's why i'm clinging to hard copies as long as i can.

 

[D-Back]

In a similar question, with Steam, once you have a Steam account and logged in that you've bought the game, if your computer kills itself and you lose the disc, can you redownload it again, or does it differentiate between bought and downloaded?

Also, if you have Half Life 1, can you upgrade to HL: Source for no charge?

with steam, it registers your cd key, so yeah if you lose your disc, you can redownload it as many times as you want.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"In a similar question, with Steam, once you have a Steam account and logged in that you've bought the game, if your computer kills itself and you lose the disc, can you redownload it again, or does it differentiate between bought and downloaded?"

With steam it logs the CD Keys to your account. Like I bought HL1 years ago, put the CD key into Steam and now I can download HL1 whenever I please via steam.

 

[sugarhigh4242]

In a similar question, with Steam, once you have a Steam account and logged in that you've bought the game, if your computer kills itself and you lose the disc, can you redownload it again, or does it differentiate between bought and downloaded?

Also, if you have Half Life 1, can you upgrade to HL: Source for no charge?

You can re-download anything you've registered. I have to admit, it is a convenient system. But i'll never stop buying the DVDs. I prefer to have them.

 

[disappeared]

I've always been mainly against digital distribution. It's cheaper on the developer's end (no discs, boxes, and/or manuals to print and package) but it seems so artificial. Most gamers seem to like having a physical copy of the game to add to the collection on their shelf, so what good is a bunch of binary sitting on a hard drive? I'll always be skeptical of the whole thing.

 

[Rhindle]

I've always been mainly against digital distribution. It's cheaper on the developer's end (no discs, boxes, and/or manuals to print and package) but it seems so artificial. Most gamers seem to like having a physical copy of the game to add to the collection on their shelf, so what good is a bunch of binary sitting on a hard drive? I'll always be skeptical of the whole thing.

The binary is the same whether it's sitting on your hard drive or on a disk.

Moreover, this system allows you to play your game on any 360 anywhere anytime you feel like it, without having to carry a disk around with you.

 

[disappeared]

The binary is the same whether it's sitting on your hard drive or on a disk.

Moreover, this system allows you to play your game on any 360 anywhere anytime you feel like it, without having to carry a disk around with you.

Except you missed where I said many gamers enjoy having physical copies of their games sitting in a nice collection on their shelf. Of course it's more convenient storing games on a hard drive, but that doesn't mean it's automatically better.

 

[Jonnyram]

Nintendo has also stated that VC stuff will be tied to your account and can be downloaded again after you delete it, though I think Nintendo has less choice as the storage is a lot smaller than 360's HDD.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

Y'know I'd like to see Sony release some official emulation stuff for the PSP. An official TG-16 emu would freakin' rock!

 

[Victrix]

Except you missed where I said many gamers enjoy having physical copies of their games sitting in a nice collection on their shelf. Of course it's more convenient storing games on a hard drive, but that doesn't mean it's automatically better.

So burn a copy

Your issue with DD is rather superficial

It really is better - but only if the DRM and licensing issues are done in a sane and consumer friendly manner.

There are a lot of ways to make it suck, like the inability to loan/trade/sell a game once you've purchased it. Or 'return' it if it doesn't run on your computer.

Even farther, what happens if the game is tied to the service - if the service goes down, what then?

The DRM and license issues all have the potential to suck a lot of ass. From a publishers standpoint, they'll be happiest if you have to buy the game, can't trade it, sell it, loan it, return it, and have to buy it again if your HD dies, or you want another copy for another computer (say, your laptop) They can conceal that evil by 'granting' you some fixed number of downloads before you get charged again (gee, thanks).

Microtransactions are another pit of black evil, much like in-game ads, that have lots of potential for gross abuse, and frequently little benefit for the consumer. What happens when the next big moddable game comes along and they strip the tools because they can sell the content themselves via XBL? Cross-platform Vista/360 games are going to become very common, and publishers would be insane to ignore the thousands of (****ing retards) happy people who bought horse armor and overpriced maps for FPS titles.

Then there are companies like Stardock, where you can buy the game, download it as many times as you want, install it wherever you want, and it doesn't even check for a CD. Yay! So it can be done in a very friendly and cool manner, or it can be done in a manner that rapes consumers with no recourse.

 

[thetrin]

The Live model bodes well. If you get a new 360 (I picked up a JP 360), you can transfer your gamertag over to that machine, and redownload everything you purchased under that account. I`ve experienced zero hiccups, and I hope Sony follows through with a similar set up.

 

[Illuminati]

You can re-download anything you've registered. I have to admit, it is a convenient system. But i'll never stop buying the DVDs. I prefer to have them.

Steam lets you backup any game you download to CDs or DVD.

 

[disappeared]

So burn a copy

Your issue with DD is rather superficial

It really is better - but only if the DRM and licensing issues are done in a sane and consumer friendly manner.

There are a lot of ways to make it suck, like the inability to loan/trade/sell a game once you've purchased it. Or 'return' it if it doesn't run on your computer.

Even farther, what happens if the game is tied to the service - if the service goes down, what then?

The DRM and license issues all have the potential to suck a lot of ass. From a publishers standpoint, they'll be happiest if you have to buy the game, can't trade it, sell it, loan it, return it, and have to buy it again if your HD dies, or you want another copy for another computer (say, your laptop) They can conceal that evil by 'granting' you some fixed number of downloads before you get charged again (gee, thanks).

Microtransactions are another pit of black evil, much like in-game ads, that have lots of potential for gross abuse, and frequently little benefit for the consumer. What happens when the next big moddable game comes along and they strip the tools because they can sell the content themselves via XBL? Cross-platform Vista/360 games are going to become very common, and publishers would be insane to ignore the thousands of (****ing retards) happy people who bought horse armor and overpriced maps for FPS titles.

Then there are companies like Stardock, where you can buy the game, download it as many times as you want, install it wherever you want, and it doesn't even check for a CD. Yay! So it can be done in a very friendly and cool manner, or it can be done in a manner that rapes consumers with no recourse.

And there's that too.

But if wanting to have my entire game collection on my shelf is a weak excuse against DD, then so be it. I guess I give weak excuses.

 

[singularity]

The Live model bodes well. If you get a new 360 (I picked up a JP 360), you can transfer your gamertag over to that machine, and redownload everything you purchased under that account. I`ve experienced zero hiccups, and I hope Sony follows through with a similar set up.

But who says it'll last. What happens when the 720 comes out? Is it going to be backwards compatible, allowing you to download your old games again? Or is it going ot be "backwards compatible" like the 360. What happens when the 360 is no longer supported? Will they charge you again? Will the content expire?

If you have a hard copy, then you have it as long as it and the player isn't broken. My SNES still works and all those games I bought 15 years ago still work.

With digital distribution... well, it hasn't been around long enough to know how things will work ten years from now. What if a company goes under? Or a service?

That's the inherent risk with digital distribution right now: past the current generation, it's uncertain.

 

[thetrin]

But who says it'll last. What happens when the 720 comes out? Is it going to be backwards compatible, allowing you to download your old games again? Or is it going ot be "backwards compatible" like the 360. What happens when the 360 is no longer supported? Will they charge you again? Will the content expire?

If you have a hard copy, then you have it as long as it and the player isn't broken. My SNES still works and all those games I bought 15 years ago still work.

With digital distribution... well, it hasn't been around long enough to know how things will work ten years from now. What if a company goes under? Or a service?

That's the inherent risk with digital distribution right now: past the current generation, it's uncertain.

Dude, you are talking to the biggest advocate of brick and mortar sales in the world. I love boxed copies of games, and I love a shelf full of boxes. I was just saying that the 360 model bodes well for what we will inevitably see in the future.

 

[Barry Lightning]

I ask, because if it's like iTunes that will surely suck since console gamers have no means of backing up data.

NO MAN! IT'S THE FUTURE! IT IS WHAT YOU WANT! DO NOT FIGHT IT! YOU ARE INSANE FOR THINKING OTHERWISE!

or so many will have you believe...

 

[Grayman]

I will always want boxed copies. If I can't grab my system and have it working after a nuclear war I won't pay as much for games as i do today. My nintendo and ancient PC games still work. With digital distribution there is a chance of getting ****ed and having nothing.

Another problem is bandwidth. At least with both my broadband ISPs in my area if I were to download a full bluray game they'd cut off my service or charge me near double for the month and from then on. That isn't even to mention the time it takes to send that many gigabytes of information.

 

[trancejeremy]

Then there are companies like Stardock, where you can buy the game, download it as many times as you want, install it wherever you want, and it doesn't even check for a CD. Yay! So it can be done in a very friendly and cool manner, or it can be done in a manner that rapes consumers with no recourse.

It doesn't check for a cd, but it does keep track of what computer its running on. You have to be connected to the internet when you start a game after it has been patched so it can update its database. Which can be a hassle.

Just getting a patch for their games can be nightmare-ish. You can either install their buggy piece of #%##%, Stardock Central, or go through a rather annoying website to get it.

You also can't really sell the game. You can sell the disc, but the person buying it can't really use it unless they buy their own serial number/license.

Personally, I'd rather have a cd check myself.

 

[The Faceless Master]

so if your 360 breaks, does MS authorize the new one to play the games you bought offline, or will the availability of an internet connection and xbox live being down hinder you from playing games you bought?

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

NO MAN! IT'S THE FUTURE! IT IS WHAT YOU WANT! DO NOT FIGHT IT! YOU ARE INSANE FOR THINKING OTHERWISE!

or so many will have you believe...

The main problem here being console gamers have fewer back-up options available to them. On my Mac, I can just make a bootable clone of my entire hard disk to keep my data safe. Or I can burn my pr0n to DVD for future wanking.

On a P$3/Xbox2/Wii - not so much.

 

[nicholasbrutal]

The rights management on Live arcade games is a bit screwy. The game is yours as long as it remains on the console it was originally purchased. If your hard drive shits itself, you can replace the drive and re-download the game using the gamertag you originally purchased it with at no charge.

If your consoles takes a dump, that's another story entirely. The game can be re-downloaded, but you no longer have the same right to play it. Only YOU can play that game. No longer can other users on that console partake. Which is pretty much bullshit and quite frustrating. But it's laid out in play language before you purchase the content, so there's not much room to whine.

 

[kenta]

Are we protected... from stairs? In houses? Are you asking if we have a Strong Digital Defense?

 

[CrapSandwich]

I believe I'll refrain from downloading paid content from XBLM after thinking about this. Buying stuff from XBLM is essentially putting an expiration date on your software purchases, purchases that you should own and be free to do with as you see fit.

This stuff is un-American and I won't stand for it, by Job. No I won't.

 

[relyt9]

I believe I'll refrain from downloading paid content from XBLM after thinking about this. Buying stuff from XBLM is essentially putting an expiration date on your software purchases, purchases that you should own and be free to do with as you see fit.

This stuff is un-American and I won't stand for it, by Job. No I won't.

Yep, old news. They screw you over pretty good. Kinda like if you liked GRAW, that's all over if you don't have Ch. 2. It's just impossible to get a game going. Same way with Chromehounds, they overpowered the downloadable content so if you're in a game with someone that's dl'ed said content, you'll get your ass raped 9/10 times. I hate the fact that they're making us buy new content so that we can play games that we already shelled out 60$ dollars for. Oh well, that's business for you...

 

[aku:jiki]

or will the availability of an internet connection and xbox live being down hinder you from playing games you bought?

Yes. It sucks.

 

[Hayami]

publishers should charge less for DD, then have the option to order through the net barebones packaging.