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[Nehezir]

So basically everyone, those who favor digital never have HDD failures, their answer is to never delete games off your HDD and if you do, it won't be an issue to continue to re-downloading it, a move that doesn't need to be done by someone who fucking owns the game physically as they are not just going to the store EVERYTIME they want to play the game again, well you sir need to download it once its deleted every time, but hey


Every negative thing on digital is "hardly an issue" and nothing ever effects you apparently.

downloading games is largely a non-issue, and while HDD failures do happen we don't regard them as something to build around, given their relative rarity.
Whether or not someone else doesn't have to can be the plus it is because it honestly just doesn't swing things all that hard anymore. Preservation of data is something I'm on board with, though.

I don't know what kind of disk drive issues console gamers have to deal with so maybe ps4/xbox drives were just unstable dogshit. Hell if I know.

 

[Pagusas]

Resale value, deeper discounts, and more options to purchase games. Not to mention the ability to display your games and not having to worry about online stores closing.

Why would you want to “display your games”?

 

[DevilMayFlyForAWhiteGuy]

I think being able to sell physical games and also lend them to people are the big pros. Sure they take up space but if you need more space you can sell some of the games and recoup some dough from it.

I also think the industry pushing all digital is a bit short sighted. I've bought so many games from word of mouth and borrowing a friend's copy it's not funny.

 

[TKOFromTokyo]

Why would you want to “display your games”?

So that I can browse my collection and look for games I want to play just like you would with books in a bookcase. This isn’t a novel concept.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Tangibility. Feeling of ownership. Uses up less disk space. Isn't account bound and can be traded/given to others.

 

[Batiman]

I prefer physical but it’s getting hard for me to justify going that route nowadays

 

[EDMIX]

downloading games is largely a non-issue, and while HDD failures do happen

Non-issue, but admits HDD failures happen...

I would say that sounds like an issue vs a "non-issue".

I don't know what kind of disk drive issues console gamers have to deal with so

? The fuck are you talking about lol THEY USE THE SAME DRIVES! That isn't a "console vs PC" idea. Its not like drives die on console, but never on PC, or PC drives die or console drives don't or anything stupid like that and I don't even get how you've come to some conclusion that the issues being talked about are only from perspective of console gamers lol

I've never stated even once anything in terms of PC vs Console. I own both.... I've had HDD failures on BOTH as BOTH have the same fucking drives.

 

[DaGwaphics]

I remember being all pro physical at the start of gen 8. Then I ended up with 6 or 7 games on disk and everything else digital.

 

[Nehezir]

Non-issue, but admits HDD failures happen...

I would say that sounds like an issue vs a "non-issue".

I regard things that happen in the realm of "once in a blue moon" as non-issues, yes. Because I don't have to worry too much about 100% solutions. I can back things up on the internet if I actually care. or keep multiple copies across multiple drives. I enjoy redundancies.

? The fuck are you talking about lol THEY USE THE SAME DRIVES! That isn't a "console vs PC" idea. Its not like drives die on console, but never on PC, or PC drives die or console drives don't or anything stupid like that and I don't even get how you've come to some conclusion that the issues being talked about are only from perspective of console gamers lol

I've never stated even once anything in terms of PC vs Console. I own both.... I've had HDD failures on BOTH as BOTH have the same fucking drives.

huh? I thought microsoft was still using proprietary drives last gen?

 

[sunnysideup]

Mechanical drives are junk, they dont last at all. You cannot trust anything with them. I just had 4 tb of movies destroyed.

I have still have my vanilla ice cd that i got in first grade.

 

[wd40]

Physical games are so important. In my old fashioned mind I still consider stuff like Bugsnax or Thumper or ABZU as "PSN Games" and then the big hitters like Metal Gear Solid V and FF15 as "disc games". Yeah I know you can get them digitally too, but I've never bought a full price game digitally, and I've been playing since PS3. Huge file sizes, long downloads, way slower storage management, you can't even lend them to your friends, and 90% of the time it's more expensive. I literally don't get the push for digital, it just centralizes the ownership and selling of games onto one storefront, which is an awful idea if I've ever heard one lol

 

[sunnysideup]

Physical games are so important. In my old fashioned mind I still consider stuff like Bugsnax or Thumper or ABZU as "PSN Games" and then the big hitters like Metal Gear Solid V and FF15 as "disc games". Yeah I know you can get them digitally too, but I've never bought a full price game digitally, and I've been playing since PS3. Huge file sizes, long downloads, way slower storage management, you can't even lend them to your friends, and 90% of the time it's more expensive. I literally don't get the push for digital, it just centralizes the ownership and selling of games onto one storefront, which is an awful idea if I've ever heard one lol

its 100% corporate driven. Most of the shills here are probably company men. Or jealous mazda racers.

 

[DelireMan7]

The title of this thread is a blasphemy to me.

I get the appeal for digital but physical is just superior to me for many reasons.

Actually except for the "physical storage space", which I don't necessarily consider like a con, physical is just superior in every way for me.
I hear the argument "but I can get the games immediately whenever I want" but for me it's kind of a con. It leads to many compulsive buy because of the "digital sale". I heard so many times "I bought 5-6 games on sale on the store". Most of them will never be played or if the game is bad "it's not a big deal because it was only 5-10€". This not something that should be encourage for me.
After it all come down to our personal gaming habit. When I play a game, I play it exclusively for several weeks (till I beat it basically) and I take time to make some research on my next game to be sure that I'll appreciate it so I am fine with waiting 1 or 2 days to receive my physical copy. I derail a bit but I find this trend to "not be able to wait" unhealthy (all the hype for the fast loading time on next gen, disturbed me on this point. I get the improvement but in the end it's just few seconds of gained...)

So in the end to each their own. But I like to take time to appreciate my game and get "attached" to them. It's my pleasure to watch my collection and look through it, choose a game, take the box, open it and place the disc on the console.
If I dislike a game or it's nothing memorable and for so didn't deserve a place in my collection, I can get some money back from it.
Also I like the social dimension of it by being able to lend/borrow games.

 

[Nehezir]

if I want to be social I'll just buy my friend the damn game and digital offers that option in our increasingly international world. I think at this point, I chill with more brits and dutch than fellow Americans.

 

[wd40]

if I want to be social I'll just buy my friend the damn game and digital offers that option in our increasingly international world. I think at this point, I chill with more brits and dutch than fellow Americans.

fair enough, but most people don't have mainly international friends.

 

[DelireMan7]

if I want to be social I'll just buy my friend the damn game and digital offers that option in our increasingly international world. I think at this point, I chill with more brits and dutch than fellow Americans.

You got a point on that. I think digital should get more option like offer or resale.

 

[Farawayfromhell]

Collecting.
I don't see any other reasons now.

 

[Susurrus]

Games not being tied to my account is a huge fucking deal.

Honestly though, I just go where I can get the deals. I don't usually buy used games but usually easy to find deal either way. Though, just bought Tomb Raiser Chronicles Used for PS1 for a TR playthrough I want to, first used game I've bought in years but there's no reasonable new purchase due to age, and for some reason this one was the only PS1 TR game never listed on PSN in the US.

 

[Nehezir]

fair enough, but most people don't have mainly international friends.

Spend enough time online and you'll get there eventually. Get even a handful of them(or hell, out of state friends too) and your life can shift towards it more and more.

I like to be generous with my friends. Gifting is fun, and I'm generally fine with one in return. Digital helps make this more and more accessible.

You got a point on that. I think digital should get more option like offer or resale.

I'm on board with you there.

 

[Putonahappyface]

Why would you want to “display your games”?

To impress the ladies.

 

[Guilty_AI]

You got a point on that. I think digital should get more option like offer or resale.

Resale might be possible if NFTs become a thing

 

[Zeroing]

It would be great if we could deactivate the game from our library and resell it... But as long as we can't do that, Physical> digital anytime.

Resell it for bitcoins? I mean gaming companies are already greedy!

They would probably force you to be online all the time and choose how much your game is worth and shoving you whatever conditions they wanted...

wait a minute... I am having a deja vu

 

[Nostalgic Nightmare]

The only plus to digital is no physical space requirement - that is literally it.

• Convenience - Such a weak argument, as if it's worth giving up ownership of something because you cant click a few buttons to have it delivered or head to a store.
• Disc drive failure - Console could fail and so can the storage
• Discs can be stolen - So can your account if you fail to secure it properly
• Cheaper - Yeah right, just wait until they have you roped into their games as a service model

People continue to accept a lower bar because they are lazy. Today's consumers have spoken loud and clear that half baked games, zero day patches and DLC are worth their money - you get what you deserve . Go on, keep believing in the cloud, digital service based subscriptions, or any other marketing slogan designed to eat your wallet rubes.

 

[Genx3]

Tangibility. Feeling of ownership. Uses up less disk space. Isn't account bound and can be traded/given to others.

All of these plus the added bonus of digital purchases not randomly disappearing.

Had my 2009 digital purchase of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Reshelled randomly disappear from my purchase list.
Tried MS/Xbox customer support and they want me to show them the credit card purchase I made back in 2009.

Also the digital purchase list only went back to 2013 even though I've been making digital purchases on Xbox since 2003.
At worst it should have all my 360 purchases which started in early 2006.

They basically couldn't help me without me proving I purchased a game 12 years ago.
It should be on their servers but nope.

My $20 purchase gone and I'll never be able to play Turtles reshelled again.

Lessons I learned:
from now on I will log every digital purchase I make in a notebook with the date, time and CC I used.
Can't trust corporations with your purchases.

What else can one do?..

 

[xellos2099alpha]

i got crappy internert so

 

[Perfo]

Well retail is still generally cheaper and there's the thing you can try to sell things back. But to me retail needs to step up the game and make the packagings and contents a bit more attracting. Even a cardboard sleeve would be something... lately it's just cheap ass plastic goddamn

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Yes

 

[Kupfer]

I actually own goods that have a real countervalue.
I mean, it's a terrible balance sheet and you can invest your money significantly better, but for me it feels better to have something in hand.
Also, I love to look at my games.

 

[Banjo64]

I’ve just sold £300 worth of Switch games. Yes physical is still worth it as long as you aren’t spending £70 on FIFA.

 

[DeathFromBelow1122]

I don't get your argument. Physical copies are obsolete because you gotta install updates after you buy them? You also need to do that with digital releases, not to mention a lot of these updates install in the background while you're playing. On top of that, I have physical copies of games that I bought and played to completion without ever installing a single update, you just politely tell the console to not install the update and believe it or not, they just let you play the game!

 

[Dust-by-Monday]

Like how I have drive club on disc but it only has the base campaign and no weather effects. It’s pretty much useless. I was hoping they’d eventually release a complete edition.

By the way, how come when a greatest hits game comes out, they don’t update the disc to the latest version with it? That would’ve been nice.

However, there are a handful of games that are 100% complete on the disc with little to no bugs like TLOU2. The day one patch is basically for photo mode and it’s not really needed to enjoy the game.

 

[Kupfer]

By the way, how come when a greatest hits game comes out, they don’t update the disc to the latest version with it? That would’ve been nice.

I'm pretty sure thats exactly what they do. On console (PsP, Xbox360 ; these two I know for sure) they also put a console firmware on disc, so you have to update your console before playing.

 

[ViolentP]

Fear and being a nerd are the only reasons to keep physical media around.

 

[deathsaber]

Very little, other than the satisfaction of having "something on the shelf". But honestly, in the world of streaming tv, streaming movie services, Spotify/apple music, we just keeping having less and less reason to have a shelf at all..

As I'm sure is covered all throughout the thread- there is virtually no point to the physical disc anymore- the game doesn't play from it, it just installs version 1.0 from there, and that's usually overwritten by version 2.51331 which entirely downloads off the web.

But what if I'm stranded in the desert with my PS5 and no internet (but with electric for some reason), and I need to be able to play whatever? OK, not sure how much you'll be able to play with products that are increasingly online only (even when playing single player content)- and enjoy that broken version 1.0 that companies now purposely don't even bother to fully debug, when you can fix the game in the months that follow release.. Besides, who isn't online these days?

Yes, I still bought a disc-based PS5, but not because I love physical games- I actually prefer digital because you can have immediate access to game, they don't demand I swap discs or require the disc drive to noisily fire up periodically (which is the only noticeable noise my PS5 ever makes-)- but I still want to be able to have access to the best deals- sometimes that means digital, but a lot of time that still means physical, whether through a black friday sale, a clearance rack, a used game purchase from Gamestop/Gamefly, etc.

 

[Genx3]

Fear and being a nerd are the only reasons to keep physical media around.

Like I just stated in a previous post, Digital purchases can randomly disappear.

My 2009 purchase of TMNT Re-shelled on Xbox 360 disappeared from MS/XB servers and now I can't ever play that game again.

The worst part is the game isn't even in the store anymore.

So I was screwed out of my purchase and won't ever be able to buy that game again.

Had I bought a retail version (if available) I would still own it.

 

[ViolentP]

Like I just stated in a previous post, Digital purchases can randomly disappear.

My 2009 purchase of TMNT Re-shelled on Xbox 360 disappeared from MS/XB servers and now I can't ever play that game again.

The worst part is the game isn't even in the store anymore.

So I was screwed out of my purchase and won't ever be able to buy that game again.

Had I bought a retail version (if available) I would still own it.

I lost a case of Genesis games once.

 

[Esppiral]

Fhysical is often cheaper than digital even on realease date, you can TRADE It or lend It. So yeah physical over digital anytime.
I just feel bad for those that bought an Xbox or ps5 without an óptical disc and are trapped on those abussive digital shops ...

 

[Genx3]

I lost a case of Genesis games once.

OK you lost them.

In this case MS/XB lost a purchase I made.

See the difference?

 

[ViolentP]

OK you lost them.

In this case MS/XB lost a purchase I made.

See the difference?

Yeah. You and I draw our lines in different places.

 

[Captain Toad]

Like I just stated in a previous post, Digital purchases can randomly disappear.

My 2009 purchase of TMNT Re-shelled on Xbox 360 disappeared from MS/XB servers and now I can't ever play that game again.

I guess it's possible, since it happened to you, but it seems extremely rare and unlikely. I imagine the chance of losing a physical copy is higher than your digital purchase just disappearing.

 

[eddie4]

Yes, because all the games I finished playing, I sold, and got some money back. Can you do that with digital games? No. This only applies to console games, PC games are different.

 

[V4skunk]

Nintendo physical games is a must, especially 1st party!
The second hand value is off the charts compared to ps and xbox games.

 

[Dr. Claus]

Yeah. You and I draw our lines in different places.

Yes, he draws the line at anti consumer practices. You celebrate them.

 

[Ol'Scratch]

I enjoy physical games most of the time, because either I just like having them or I can find them cheaper physical, or just because I can resell them easier if I choose. The exception is usually fighting games like Street Fighter and KOF which I usually prefer digital.

 

[Woodchipper]

I don’t know about other countries, but here in Sweden physical games are about $10 cheaper than digital games. PS5 first party titles anyway, which is why I’ve now gone back to buying physical games, after not owning a single physical PS4 game.

 

[ViolentP]

Yes, he draws the line at anti consumer practices. You celebrate them.

Ya got me.

 

[Certinty]

I bought Deathloop at launch for £42.49 on disc.

I completed it.

I sold it today for £42.

Enough said about why I prefer physical media over digital.

 

[Fare thee well]

I mean I adapt to the times, but I'd go back to game stores in a heart beat for several reasons.

1) There is less game and computer part scalping bs with local distribution. If you want something badly enough, you can line up and eventually get what you need

2) Local economy support. Enough said there.

3) There was less bs about releasing early access and half baked games. There was more pressure to just sell the damn thing right at launch. You could always just back up patches onto physical backup too if that really bothered you.

4) No bloated 3rd party interfaces to run games.

And don't get me wrong. I love things that digital provides too (storefronts to puruse, constant live updates, increasing social interaction, user reviews, etc)

 

[On Demand]

I like owning things. It’s mine. I can do whatever I want with my things.

Leaving what you buy up to companies and digital infrastructure is something I will never do.

Who doesn’t want own what they buy? That goes without saying

 

[nivix]

All of these plus the added bonus of digital purchases not randomly disappearing.

Had my 2009 digital purchase of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Reshelled randomly disappear from my purchase list.
Tried MS/Xbox customer support and they want me to show them the credit card purchase I made back in 2009.

Also the digital purchase list only went back to 2013 even though I've been making digital purchases on Xbox since 2003.
At worst it should have all my 360 purchases which started in early 2006.

They basically couldn't help me without me proving I purchased a game 12 years ago.
It should be on their servers but nope.

My $20 purchase gone and I'll never be able to play Turtles reshelled again.

Lessons I learned:
from now on I will log every digital purchase I make in a notebook with the date, time and CC I used.
Can't trust corporations with your purchases.

What else can one do?..

I was having problems with the Master Chief Collection for a bit. They said I didn't own it, but I just went and checked and I randomly own it again.

Also just now, I went through my purchase history and it ends in 2010 for some reason. Earlier stuff is gone. And only points purchases are listed for 2010 and 2011. The games purchased aren't there.

I still have my old 360 sitting around collecting dust that has the old Turtles games, but I haven't turned it on in over a year. I guess I should do that and see if I can play them.