A new downside to digital downloads

[dsheinem]

You just can't replace playing a Cart based game on it's original console on a good old CRT tv.

it's this simple: there are trade-offs. for me, the decision is made on a game by game basis. Are some games best experienced on original hardware/medium? Yes. Are all games? No.

[Curlypaul]

I've got a few wiiware titles and a handful of games on steam, but it just doesnt feel like I own them. I agree that digital downloads are convenient but I'll be sad when consoles all go download only, and they will.

[Menegrothx]

I'm in this camp. I recently played FFIV for PSP on my PSVita. All possible because of it's digital nature. I even had this game on PSP UMD and didn't play it. It was the fact that I could switch between games on my Vita with no disc swap that got me to play it. If they made PS1 games playable on the Vita, I think I would revisit alot of those old games.

PSVita is still a very young system, but arent there emulators for the PSP that can do the same thing for free?
I've bought some PS1 games that I already own for my PSP through PSN out of lazyness, I'm more likely to finish a game when I play it comfortably lying on my bed with my PSP. I'm more likely to wander of to my computer or get bored and quit if I get stuck or switch games if I play it on the actual console

Did anyone even know that you can buy XBLA games on a physical format? Selections are limited but they do exist.

I've seen Splosion man/Limbo/Trials HD in a game store and kinda feel like buying it since I haven't played Limbo yet, but the 35e price tag feels kinda meh as I already have Trials on my Xbox 360 and I dont care about Splosion man.

I've got physical collector edition copies of Super Meat Boy and Trine 2 for the PC, those are both availalbe through XBLA if I'm not mistaken. Atleast SMB is.

[jay_red]

I touched on this in the OP, but it doesnt seem to be very discussed. My main concern would be that down the road you wont be able to stroll into the local Goodwill, or visit your neighborhood yard sale and find a hidden gem for cheap. If the digital format becomes more accepted, used games will start to die off like the developers want them to. There would be no more "find of the day" threads for all of us to brag in, and "Download of the week" doesn't have the same ring to it
In years when the current gen is considered "retro" and someone picks up one of the consoles will not have access to a huge library of games sold on PSN/XBLA when they are not supported anymore. The only way to possibly enjoy these games will to be to have an "illegally" (I use the term loosly) modded 360/ps3/Wii that will allow you to install games to the hard drive and completlely bypass their respective networks (Jtag 360, jailbroken ps3, soft modded Wii) And these options will not be available to the average gamer, as these methods require a bit of knowlege to make work.

[dsheinem]

And these options will not be available to the average gamer, as these methods require a bit of knowlege to make work.

To the average gamer? Maybe not. To people who want to play retro games? Absolutely. I doubt there are many people here who own retro consoles that don't do something extra via a replay cart or disc, a game genie, a modchip, a region mod, a memory card, some hardware hack, etc. Future retro gamers will do what it takes, just like current ones do.

[Stark]

And these options will not be available to the average gamer, as these methods require a bit of knowlege to make work.

To the average gamer? Maybe not. To people who want to play retro games? Absolutely. I doubt there are many people here who own retro consoles that don't do something extra via a replay cart or disc, a game genie, a modchip, a region mod, a memory card, some hardware hack, etc. Future retro gamers will do what it takes, just like current ones do.

Yeah I'm sure it'll eventually be like the oXbox. Slap a 2TB drive into a modded 360 and put every game ever put out for it on there.

[MrHealthy]

Games won't go digital only for a very long time. And the reasoning behind it is very simple. Download speeds are not fast enough, bandwidth caps are still around and storage devices are simply too small.

Sure there are some areas where you can get crazy fast download speeds, but the majority of the world is still very very slow in this regard.

And sure, some areas have really high, or no bandwidth caps. But again, this is not the norm. I personally don't have a cap (the average cap in my area is 60 Gigs a month), but in order to have no cap I had to sacrifice my download speed.

And then there is the issue of storage. While our storage capacities are ever increasing, it is still not large enough and cheap enough to support downloads only.

[Protronrob]

just because im wondering now, How long are the shelf lives of Cart based games?

i know they wont last forever but i have no idea how long circuit boards will last.

Some one with more electronic engineering knowledge than I would be helpful

[Jmustang1968]

just because im wondering now, How long are the shelf lives of Cart based games?

i know they wont last forever but i have no idea how long circuit boards will last.

Some one with more electronic engineering knowledge than I would be helpful

Carts can outlast us. The consoles have the shorter lifespan. As long as the metallic portion of the cart doesn't corrode it should last a good long time.

[MrHealthy]

CD's and DVD's should start dying before carts do. Hell, aren't certain disc consoles already experiencing it?