I'm sure that's one of the major reasons EA has a boner for it.
The whole used game blockage fiasco still bothers me. I suppose future digital 'old' games will simply be cheaper.. But I always loved going into gamestop and looking around for games that came out two or three years ago for cheap.
I just bought a used PSP3k last night for 70 bucks, ordered some monster hunter titles offline for like what.. five dollars each?
I do like the downloads for handhelds though. Hopefully future handhelds will come with much, much larger storage cards.
Going 100% digital is not a smart idea, they seem to underestimate the amount of people that still have to deal with dialup or DSL around the country because high speed bandwidth is just not there yet, or ISPs that will throttle your bandwidth when you download too much. Which under this plan can happen easy if it became the norm, imagine looking at your internet usage in the month of November when so many big hits drop. And yea, like Kuishen is pointing out, there will be no 'used' game price anymore. EA has already made it very clear they aren't going to do sales like Steam does for Origin products, stands to say they will follow through with that on a digital distribution system for consoles as well. So if you want to wait over 6 months to play a game then maybe there will be a price drop by then? EA has already implemented the Online Pass system for their games already to gain money from used game purchasers, they just want your money, they can care less about anything else.
Consoles aren't really ready to go fully digital, simultaneous releases would make more sense for next gen, and then digital after that imo. Simultaneous releases would allow then to accurate see how popular the digital option would be also by comparing it to box sales.
I'd be fine with this if everyone followed Steam's example of regular game sales. Fuck paying full price on anything older than 5 months. Main reason I even buy from Steam is because shit is cheap. If I paid full price on something I'd require a DRM free version so I can at least play it a decade later in the offchance the service providing my 'license' to download and play it goes kaput.
Sony better suck it up also and allow HD swapping without needing a format. Lost so much god damn data when my PS3 Fat died because their backup utility is complete and utter shit.
What is it, Namco? WHAT IS IT?!
http://www.bandaigames.channel.or.jp/list/newtitle/
Seems so - http://andriasang.com/con1t9/jojo_ps3/
Atm Steam is a small segment of gaming sales. When transferring the entirety of video gaming to 100% digital distribution do you really think everybody is going to follow Steam's model? I wouldn't care as much if that was going to be the case, but EA has made it clear that that is not their intention as will most likely be the case with other companies. Also while I don't religiously follow Steam sales I rarely see so called "Triple A" titles on sale. The most I've seen MW3 on sale was for $10 cheaper than full price and I can get it for far cheaper used online or elsewhere.
As for the servers thing: In some cases you are correct, but what I was referring to were the numerous Single Player arcade games and DLC for single player games (a lot of which don't even HAVE a multiplayer function) that require online authentication from the service they are being provided from in order to play. What happens to those games when those services are taken offline? You're SOL. Having a physical copy of said games would remove that threat because they wouldn't have to be authenticated by the service, because the service wouldn't even be part of the equation. Granted this does not apply to all games and DLC distributed digitally but there are more than enough instances of this that should cause worry for when this generation of online service is taken offline.
The very fact that this is happening with physical copies of games that aren't that fucking old is frightening all by itself. Chrome Hounds was a full retail game that came out in 2006. In 2010 the online servers were taken offline, and since the entire campaign was online, you now can only play the training mission/s. 4 years? If you were unfortunate enough to pay $60 for it, you only get to play it for 4 fucking years? That is completely unacceptable when I own games that came out 20 years ago and the only person I can blame when they stop working is myself.
My intent here isn't to be a doomsayer despite my facetious comment at the beginning of my initial post, I just want people to be aware of some serious concerns that I and many others have when it comes to digital distribution and online services.
UK video game publisher Reef Entertainment today announced that Rambo: The Video Game will be playable on the show floor at this year’s Gamescom.
Reef Entertainment Commercial Director Craig Lewis said:‘We have been quiet since we acquired the Rambo license last August. During this time we have been dedicated to creating a videogame for consoles and PC that will allow Rambo fans and gamers across the globe to really get under the skin of Rambo and wield his iconic weapon-set in battle.’
We look forward to sharing more information about the game in the lead up to Gamescom.
http://www.arcsystemworks.jp/mnd/
Arc is teasing a new title.
Just Cause 2 MP mod is out
http://www.jc-mp.com/
Spoiler: show
make a new thread and call it General Gaming News II and lock this one, its too hueg
This is where you have a point. The companies that refuse to follow steams example are a problem. I've seen plenty of sales for triple A titles though. I got skyrim for 40 dollars not long after it was released. The summer sales start soon too, and it will come with a metric shit-ton of discounts.
All of this has nothing to do with digital distribution. Forced authentication for single player is DRM and has nothing to do with digital distribution. Likewise a game keeping its servers online for the game has nothing to do with digital distribution. Requiring something like steam to play a game does have to do with digital distribution, but it is a non-issue. (If you don't understand why already I can go into it for you.)As for the servers thing: In some cases you are correct, but what I was referring to were the numerous Single Player arcade games and DLC for single player games (a lot of which don't even HAVE a multiplayer function) that require online authentication from the service they are being provided from in order to play. What happens to those games when those services are taken offline? You're SOL. Having a physical copy of said games would remove that threat because they wouldn't have to be authenticated by the service, because the service wouldn't even be part of the equation. Granted this does not apply to all games and DLC distributed digitally but there are more than enough instances of this that should cause worry for when this generation of online service is taken offline.
The very fact that this is happening with physical copies of games that aren't that fucking old is frightening all by itself. Chrome Hounds was a full retail game that came out in 2006. In 2010 the online servers were taken offline, and since the entire campaign was online, you now can only play the training mission/s. 4 years? If you were unfortunate enough to pay $60 for it, you only get to play it for 4 fucking years? That is completely unacceptable when I own games that came out 20 years ago and the only person I can blame when they stop working is myself.
My intent here isn't to be a doomsayer despite my facetious comment at the beginning of my initial post, I just want people to be aware of some serious concerns that I and many others have when it comes to digital distribution and online services.