Anyone else going digital?

[SlyPeacH]

I've gone digital for my handhelds and for the home console multiplayer games.

[Blu]

I don't think there's any noticeable advantage to going digital other than saving space on physical copies. I think the only games I'll download will be Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, MUSHA, and a few other titles that I wouldn't invest the considerable cash for physical copies of the game to get on the Virtual Console.

[ZenErik]

I don't think there's any noticeable advantage to going digital other than saving space on physical copies. I think the only games I'll download will be Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, MUSHA, and a few other titles that I wouldn't invest the considerable cash for physical copies of the game to get on the Virtual Console.

If nothing else. Convenience?

Also, more of a personal thing, but I feel like I am buying smarter now that I am doing almost all digital. That is just me though. I guess I always felt the need to pre-order before. And half the time I wouldn't even get to playing all the games I pre-ordered.

[alienjesus]

I don't think there's any noticeable advantage to going digital other than saving space on physical copies. I think the only games I'll download will be Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, MUSHA, and a few other titles that I wouldn't invest the considerable cash for physical copies of the game to get on the Virtual Console.

I basically agree with this right now. I'm not opposed to digital games, I just fail to see many advantages to them right now (as a console gamer, I can see the appeal of Steam for PC gaming). As it stands, digital versions of games are generally more expensive than purchasing a physical copy from an online retailer (Animal Crossing was £10 cheaper than on the eShop this way), plus come with the added cost of purchasing extra memory every so often, driving the average price even higher. Couple this with the fact that I'm never sure how future-proof my digital collection is and I'm holding off buying only digital copies of games for now.

That said, I'm happy to buy digital only games from services like PSN and the Nintendo eShop. I'm not gonna miss out on awesome or niche digital only games just because of the reasons above. But whenever there's a physical alternative, I'll stick with that.

As the above poster said, I'm also willing to buy a digital copy of a retro game if it's significantly cheaper or easier to find than the physical ones. Having the chance to play Wild Guns for under £70 was nice.

[ZenErik]

Yea. I don't necessarily disagree about the downsides. Digital has a ways to go to appeal to console gamers.

The Xbox One had it right with the digital licenses. Before they went back on that policy. If they had kept that policy on digital downloads and went DRM free on disk games, all would have been good. That way I could sell digital games I didn't want. And all of you could still sell your physical copies without hassle.

While digital is sometimes more expensive than physical, I don't really have a major problem with that. And I do see the next generation of consoles offering more in the way of sales like Steam. But time will tell. As I said, I personally have been more cautious and smarter with my money regarding digital downloads.

I think the real thing here is that I needed to break my collecting habits with media: CDs, Blu Rays/anime, games, manga, etc. My bank account is thanking me for it. I had what I perceive as a small 'problem'. Not major. And not that has been rectified. I suppose I could go back to physical copies now and just use that same added caution, reluctance to pre-order, etc. But I feel better not lining my shelves with media again.

Though to be honest, I will probably end up filling those shelves with nendoroids over time. Those figures are just too cute. Even with figure collecting I have been a lot more cautious so I don't think it'd become an issue.

[Opa Opa]

Bumping this 'cause we've discussed it a little in the Xbox One thread. I'd like to talk about it some more without going off-topic there.

I'm really kind of torn on the whole digital vs physical discussion. Part of me loves getting games almost instantaneously via downloading; and not having to store physical copies is awesome considering I already have quite a few titles cluttering up the place.

On the other hand, the longevity of such services as PSN, XBox Live, and the Nintendo Network are questionable at best. Also, not being able to resell games sucks when you waste money on something you wind up hating.

I don't know... I will say this: Sony seems to be doing a good job with PS Plus. I'm tempted to finally get a subscription because every time I go on the store something is heavily discounted or free (well, "free as long as you pay the subscription", but you get the point).

I probably just repeated stuff that was said throughout this thread but I honestly didn't want to re-read it again.

[fastbilly1]

Well it is off to a shaky start already. Nintendo is slowly killing off the Wiis online functions. Microsoft has already killed the original XBLA, and they have already said that the 360 XBLA will not port to XB180 because of the architecture swap. I am hesitant to buy into any consoles digital distribution system heavily for this reason. Ill buy a game here or there, but the bulk of my console purchases will remain physically based.

PC gaming I have been completely digital for the last few years and I will admit it is a very nice setup. I never preorder, my games are always up to date, joining my buddies when they are playing a game is a snap, and mods/new maps keep games fun for many years. Now the difference is that PCs have had standardized architecture since the 90s. So I can run a game I bought in the 93 on my PC now if I really wanted to. Obviously I cannot take my SNES carts and play them in my Wiiu.

So I am cautiously optimistic, but I fear that every generation, or every other generation, we will lose all downloads until everything goes x86 based (or some other hardware standard).

[Damm64]

Maybe when i have a 5 mg internet conection. But now i love my phisical games. Got mad happy when i knew ducktales is gettin released IN A DISC.

[Nintendork666]

So Tomba! Is selling for like $80 on eBay right now and you can buy it for $9.99 on PSN.

Goodbye Tomba! I wonder what other treasures I can replace digitally. Faster load times, here I come!

[dogman91]

I prefer my digital games to be on analog tape. This is why I only collect Commodore 64. Screw all digital storage mediums like carts and CDs.