The Future of Digital "Ownership"

[RoleTroll]

This is primarily a problem for those who sell their games used. For those who are willing to pay $60 to play the newest Madden, losing $6 in trade-in value at GameStop isn't a big deal.

Then there's the hardcore crowd. Yeah, we'll end up repurchasing old games. But to some degree we're already doing that anyway (eg, Sega's classic collections on each console).

Can't wait to see if the WiiHD allows Wii users to access their VC/WiiWare purchases.

[RoleTroll]

I think it's less (though not no) greed than it is trying to play nicely with retailers. I suspect the first publisher to make its games cheaper through DD will instantly see reduced or eliminated shelf space at retail as retribution.

Screw the retailers. You can already purchase an album on MP3 for a substantial discount to a CD. Games should be no different.

[Dyne]

It has to do with how long they commit to keep the servers up, and it's not long (April 2010 maybe?). Since the whole game is essentially an online persistent world, those servers are critical to playing the game. It's a kin to Blizzard shutting down the WoW servers, but since it's a console game, I don't think people notice.

The game is perfectly fine without the tacked on "persistent world" bullshit.

[bVork]

What happens to all the Genesis games after the last Genesis dies? Ultimately, emulation is the only solution for the long-term preservation of a medium that depends on a specific piece of hardware. That's why it's so important. Already there are games on floppy disk that were barely rescued in time thanks to MAME. That's what's going to happen.

Of course it isn't legal, which is why I think copyright law needs to be reformed to expire sooner for items that are out of print. If copyright expires in 10 years after being out of circulation (as was originally intended... might have even been 7 years), then it's no longer a problem. The current bullshit is destructive.

That's pretty much what I was getting at with my "all hail the pirates" post. I don't trust companies to make consumer-friendly decisions when it comes to long-term support. Someday, Xbox Live will be turned off, and all the games will vanish into the ether - unless somebody has worked out a way to save them and emulate them.

[gameoverDude]

IMO, the DLC games should also be offered at retailer kiosks. Pick some games and have the kiosk burn a disc for you- with maybe a $5 service charge added.

Games on Demand is a joke. I'd rather go to a retailer to grab a hard copy, esp. if you can get it for 1/2 the GoD price. Someone isn't doing their homework.

Frogacuda is damn right about the Genesis situation. Not every game will be VCed. In the meantime, some Genesis (and for that matter SNES, TG-16) systems are bound to die. What happens when publishers start losing interest in putting out current console releases of 16-bit titles? Bingo. You're going to have to emulate someday.

Namco probably will rerelease Pac-Man CE until no one cares. Watch it turn up on Namco Museum for X720 & PS4.

[bVork]

Well, the Games on Demand thing is a joke because retailers would get very upset if you could buy games for less than they cost in stores, and Microsoft would like to not piss off Walmart and friends too much. I'm not even sure why the service exists in the first place.

[mollipen]

Games on Demand is a joke. I'd rather go to a retailer to grab a hard copy, esp. if you can get it for 1/2 the GoD price. Someone isn't doing their homework.

I'm at the point now where I refuse to buy a PSP game on UMD unless it's an import, or unless the game is never coming out digitally and I really, really, REALLY have to have it. Physical distribution for PSP is dead to me, and I want nothing more to do with it. There are just too many benefits to digital PSP games versus physical copies, even if I can't feel that point of ownership where I can hold the game in my hands.

Will I miss game stores where I can browse through vast libraries of physical copies from years gone by? Sure, absolutely. But more and more, games on physical disc/whatever are just feeling so pointless to me. Let me store all of my games on some sort of internal storage where I then don't have to have my house littered with game boxes.

(With the exception of DS, as the DS is the one thing where I still do love having physical copies.)

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

Digital Distribution is the devils work.
Physcal copies are better because various retailers have the ability to have sales and clearances. You don't have to wait for a specific company to decide when drop a price.

[Spike]

What will become of digital content we have already purchased when the hardware on which we purchased it is no longer supported?

You will need to rebuy them for the next system. There is no chance in hell that you will be able to carry them over to the next generation systems because then the platform owners need to design their future systems around their current systems.

I believe this is a key reason why both Microsoft and Sony both dropped support for backwards compatibility, so consumers are prepared.

[epmode]

Digital Distribution is the devils work.
Physcal copies are better because various retailers have the ability to have sales and clearances. You don't have to wait for a specific company to decide when drop a price.

Have you even heard of Steam? The sales in the PC DD space are out of control.

Digital distribution for consoles is another story.