The Shrine

Speaking mostly about games, but I suppose this can apply to movies and such as well.

I see in gaming forums there are a lot of people that are as fanatical about having "physical copies" of their games as certain anime fans are about watching them in Japanese *cough-Eric*

What are thoughts on this? Ironically, it seems to be largely younger below 30 console gamers that have a sort of fanaticism about maintaining it, whereas most of us in our mid thirties and above, who should be most nostalgic about the physical media, seem to be much less interested in it now that there's a digital option. Now I haven't really done any scientific data collecting, I am just going on friends, co-workers, and gaming forums. I am guessing as well that if you go young enough, physical media may seem like a really old fashioned concept to them.

Obviously there are some people, such as AVGN, who have massive libraries of physical media... He even still maintains VHS.

For me, I dumped the collection of physical media because they take up space that can be better used. I don't like having shelves of stuff sitting around when that whole library can all exist on a single drive already hooked up to the console. Having everything locked down to a Steam, NID, or PSN account just keeps things all easily accessible in one place, and when I want to move them somewhere, it's a matter of taking the console or account, and everything is there.

If my data is accurate, I would suggest that older gamers may have experienced moving around massive collections of dozens to hundreds of games for a much longer time period than people below the age of thirty. Physical media may have a bit of a novelty factor to the younger audiences who didn't have the same sized collections as we did. Still others just may be resistant or scared of change.

I buy physical DVDs/blu-rays for movies and TV shows if the commentary is top notch (i.e. the first few seasons of Community, Mr Show, Seinfeld) or if I find a good deal on it and it isn't on Netflix (The Shield and Rectify, which ended up on Netflix literally, like, a week later).

For games I couldn't care less about a physical copy. The idea of not being able to play Deus Ex Human Revolution in 30 years if Steam somehow goes defunct just don't not bother me at all. More clutter, more trash thrown away, the expulsion of fossil fuels to get it to me/to get me to a store and back. It just seems like a gigantic waste. Accruing more and more shit to carry around with me just isn't appealing. I'm not really knocking collecting for those who are into that as a hobby, but I just never really got into that kind of thing.

As for kids - I remember how much of an imposition it felt like when I had to ask my dad to go to Comp USA or whatever equivalent to pick up a game - not only was he plopping down the money for the game but carting my ass over there. With Steam all they really have to do is maybe put in a $5 a week allowance into the Steam wallet or whatever or ask for them to put their credit card number in for a single purchase.

The biggest positive for me is that digital purchases can't, for the most part, be lost or damaged.

I see in gaming forums there are a lot of people that are as fanatical about having "physical copies" of their games as certain anime fans are about watching them in Japanese *cough-Eric*

*Boggle* I watch dubs all the time. Inuyasha, Cowboy Bebop, Psycho Pass. Perhaps you have me mistaken with somebody else? I'm fairly sure we've had this conversation before! Subs are usually just the most prominent and most available version to watch.

My wife bought me a copy of "Ni No Kuni" for the PS3 a couple of years ago. That's the last physical disc I have. Otherwise I've been buying games on the Steam and PlayStation stores.

I still buy physical copies whenever they are available, but at the same time, the amount of games that I purchase has decreased by a large amount. I think this year I have bought less than 10 games new, and probably will only get 2-3 more by the end of the year, even though there are many coming out that I would like to play. As a result, the size of my actual collection doesn't increase very much. As for why I prefer to buy physical copies, one I buy them through a friend of mine who owns a small game store to support him however I can, and two, I like knowing that 20 years from now, if I have to, say, buy a new Wii U, I can pop my disc in and still enjoy my game, where as if I bought it digital, those servers may no longer be available and I wouldn't have that option.

I want to see how this gen pans out before I fully support digital on consoles...

PC is always digital. Movies...I just rent digitally or download.

I will let you guys guess at my response to this.....

M'k'n'zy wrote:I still buy physical copies whenever they are available, but at the same time, the amount of games that I purchase has decreased by a large amount. I think this year I have bought less than 10 games new, and probably will only get 2-3 more by the end of the year, even though there are many coming out that I would like to play. As a result, the size of my actual collection doesn't increase very much. As for why I prefer to buy physical copies, one I buy them through a friend of mine who owns a small game store to support him however I can, and two, I like knowing that 20 years from now, if I have to, say, buy a new Wii U, I can pop my disc in and still enjoy my game, where as if I bought it digital, those servers may no longer be available and I wouldn't have that option.

That's another one, low confidence in library maintenance. My guess is that this will increase in time.

I do think that all gaming platforms will eventually use a Steam/iOS style system where the software will be maintained for download once purchased (even if it gets removed from the store), and will be available on all future device types (with steam, assuming your newer Mac/PC will be more capable than your last).

Julius Seeker wrote:

M'k'n'zy wrote:I still buy physical copies whenever they are available, but at the same time, the amount of games that I purchase has decreased by a large amount. I think this year I have bought less than 10 games new, and probably will only get 2-3 more by the end of the year, even though there are many coming out that I would like to play. As a result, the size of my actual collection doesn't increase very much. As for why I prefer to buy physical copies, one I buy them through a friend of mine who owns a small game store to support him however I can, and two, I like knowing that 20 years from now, if I have to, say, buy a new Wii U, I can pop my disc in and still enjoy my game, where as if I bought it digital, those servers may no longer be available and I wouldn't have that option.

That's another one, low confidence in library maintenance. My guess is that this will increase in time.

I do think that all gaming platforms will eventually use a Steam/iOS style system where the software will be maintained for download once purchased (even if it gets removed from the store), and will be available on all future device types (with steam, assuming your newer Mac/PC will be more capable than your last).

I get that, and Steam is pretty great, I won't lie, but thing like what happened recently with PT, where they took it down from the store, and even if you had downloaded it previously, you can no longer redownload it, don't inspire confidence. Granted I understand it was meant as a proof of concept for a game that has been canceled, and it was free, but there are a lot of people who are pissed because they really enjoyed it, and now if they have to get a new console, or uninstall it by accident, they can't get it back.

PC digital, console physical (unless it's a digital-only distribution).

Metal Gear 5 physical disk for PS4 should be arriving today :p (which I got new for $20 off retail! Zeus would be proud, that is, if he could ever bring himself to buy something that wasn't used :p)

Oracle wrote:PC digital, console physical (unless it's a digital-only distribution).

Metal Gear 5 physical disk for PS4 should be arriving today :p (which I got new for $20 off retail! Zeus would be proud, that is, if he could ever bring himself to buy something that wasn't used :p)

I rarely buy used anymore unless it's of Kijiji. I just preorder everything in June and get it 30% off new price or toss stuff into my Amazon cart and wait for a price drop

Even if Steam suddenly gets blown up by a bomb and you can't download any of your games, it's not any less reliable than just losing your CD/DVDs. Another problem with physical storage is that you run out of room for stuff after a while so you got to throw stuff away and of course whatever you thought you'd never play again you'll probably be looking for it 3 months later only to remember you threw it away. I have the same problem with my manga. I haven't bought anything in a relatively long time not just because there's nothing good and that I can get everything online for free. I don't even room to put my manga anymore.