The 360 is getting its first major update in a while, very soon, and we’ll be able to download Xbox 360 titles directly to our hard drives. Whoopty frickin do! We’re all screwed! And everyone that buys full size games at retail prices online is to blame.
While the list of games available on demand at launch are fairly crispy titles in most cases, we’re all about to take a run down a black diamond trail for gamers that involves us all paying more for games than we used to, while the price stays pretty much the same. We all know how this ends for us.
That’s because Gamestop, a company who depends largely on resale of used games to both entice customers and pad its bottom line, is going to find itself sitting on a pile of crap it can’t sell if its competitively priced online, without the need for a pesky trip out of our home lairs. I do not believe we are too far removed from games being available online at launch, just as with STEAM for the PC. The moment that happens, I reccomend dumping your Gamestop stock while smacking yourself squarely in the face with a board.
A bunch of gamers are going to dance a jig the day Gamestop announces its bankruptcy, however their cheers will be short lived as they realize we’ve arrived at an age of digital distribution. Where you pay the same price for games that you’re stuck with forever. This means your downloaded game collection, no matter how recent or vast, is worthless outside the confines of your Xbox 360.
Not cool.
I browsed the complete list of downloadable AAA titles in a strange game from Eoco.
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I look forward to the age of digital distribution – Games will be cheaper at launch, as well as being easier to get. Demand will drive prices up or down, much like the apple app store.
Yes the second hand market will crash but this will ultimately reward successful developers, and give us more great games down the line.
Now I just have to wait for this on PS3 *cough*
Seeing as Microsoft is going to be in charge of pricing for this… I doubt it’s going to be cheap…
First. I refuse to purchase their overpriced hard drive.
Secondly… Microsoft loves to charge for Free DLC (PC is getting L4D campaign for free… 360 people have to pay for it). If they’re that greedy over DLC, how much cheaper do you really think that they’ll price AAA games?
The only reason why steam works as well as it does is because there are constantly amazing deals to be had. Microsoft has never been that generous…
I wasn’t speaking in relation to MS, I myself use a ps3, but I was talking about the idea of dlg in general. Yes, MS is fairly ruthless, but if they fail to make any advantage to the end user with this new service, why would anyone use it. Without it being cheaper, nobody would bother. I also would feel you could just get an external hard drive and store games on that.
I don’t want an age of digital distribution, and I’m pretty sure digital distribution will never be more popular than retail.
Not everybody has their console connected to internet, let alone broadband internet.
Very few people have big enough hard drives to support their games.
Most people want a physical copy, and a cover to add to their collection.
Most people don’t want to wait many hours to download a digital copy of a game.
Unless servers use P2P technology, the servers will be tortured, which makes higher expences.
Combining all those, I don’t see how we can go into a age of digital distribution. Sure, PSP/DS games can get a simultaneous DD launch, and we all love the PSN/XBL titles, but for the AAA games? No way.
@Nizlop: I think you are a minority if you want full-sized PS3 games to be digital distributed. MGS4 almost didn’t fit on a 50GB Blu-Ray disc! Not that every game is that big, but I am sure very few want to download 20gb for 1 game, takes time, server capacity, and you can’t play it everywhere.
Is it true that microsoft aren’t actually allowed to use blu-ray?
If so, i can see why they’re pushing towards digital distribution. Everyone’s (slowly) moving away from DVD, what other option do they have for a format if blu-ray isn’t a possibility?
@ Viking, i think the problems you are listing will be overcome. Just like when songs started becoming available for download from itunes etc, and people complained about not having a physical copy, and download times. (Of course this was years ago)
I reckon digital distribution is inevitable. We just have to wait for technology to be able to cope with it realistically
The downsides of this for console outweigh the plusses…. I love it on PC, dont get me wrong, but this will kill jobs and unlike PC, consoles go away, so the library does indeed become useless…
The only advantage is if titles never go away… but since MS has removed games from it’s arcade, Im not betting on this.
Digital distribution is a better method, but not for a console. We have repeatedly seen a failure to deliver by both Microsoft and Sony when it comes to digital distribution (Microsoft with them taking back their games, tiny hard drives, and underpowered hardware. Sony with their abysmal download speeds, and poor online solutions.).
For PC’s however, it’s probably the best thing for gaming since VGA graphics. Limitless hard drive space, and fast and reliable network hardware simply make this the best platform for digital distribution.
steam sucks though. I got gary’s mod off steam and it dosen’t even fricken work and the sims 3 works off my laptop ok so it can’t be that.
I’m sorry to be insulting but Eddiemilz did you really have to ask about Microsoft using Blu-Ray? I mean it’s not like one of Microsoft’s main competitors in the console gaming market made it or anything. That would be wrong wouldn’t it?
MS isn’t pushing DD for us, the consumer/gamer. They’re pushing it for them. The more control they have over sale and resale of their product, the more profit they make (not that I mind a company making profit) and the less control we have over “our” stuff (this is what I mind.)
20 or 30 bucks for DD versions of games which I could buy a hard copy of for that much or less? Linked to a console that WILL break? Don’t think so.
Based on my limited experience with them, I think Steam is doing it the best of anyone today–but I also have never spent a cent with them. And I have not spent more than 800 points at a time on Xbox stuff. I will not pay full price for content that I cannot resell and that drastically limits how I can use that content, and while I don’t necessarily hope this new method fails, because I do like options, I hope it doesn’t do well enough to kill off the used market.
Music is different….songs are, what, .50-1.99 each? And a permanent hard copy can easily be created. Now, if they would do that with these DD games, let me create my own hard copy of it legally, that I could then resell (once, obviously) or play on more than one device (like taking it to a friend’s house) I might be a little more supportive.
Steam does this…. MS I doubt ever will
well xbox 360 could just go suck a fatty cock im sticking with my ps3 fuck bitch ass microsoft bill gates can choke on a horse dick and yes if your reading this fuck you too thats right i sed it fuck you my friend