Physical Game Disks

wentwood

Active member
Citizen
Regardless of the system never buy digital games.

I went on PS Store today and all Final Fantasy games are not showing up on my account.

I suspect that after a point being on PS Square Enix doesn't renew the contract for the games. This could be the case with other games on PS. All the games I own are physical disks for this reason for PS 2 and 3. Even if I don't have a system I still own the game.

Game disk owning is why I buy PS 3 and later games.
 

CoffeeHorse

Exhausted, but still standing.
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
No no, he's got a point. Physical is the way to go, either disks or on a hard drive in your physical possession.
 

Caldwin

Meow!
Citizen
He does have a point. Just look at how the old generation e-shops have closed or are closing, (Wii, WiiU). Other games like X-Men Arcade or Turtles inTime Re-Shelled that very soon after people bought it, they can no longer be downloaded.

I do have a few digital games, but I do make sure to keep the important ones downloaded just for this reason.
 

wentwood

Active member
Citizen
I keep physical disks for next chapter games in the main line franchises.

I own a PS Mini for PS 1 games. Those are on blue flash drives. I will buy the games not on the flash drives.

PS 3 forward is where I keep physical disk games. I own the main line games on PS 2 for next chapter games. (Started on NES and PS 1)

My main deal would be Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy. The two big draws for physical disks.

On PS2 I can play the first 9 Tomb Raider games and up to Final Fantasy XII on PS2 and PS Mini.
 
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Caldwin

Meow!
Citizen
I'll buy digital for a bunch of games I don't really want to have to go out and buy. There is a convenience thing to digital.

Like, I already owned Breath of the Wild physically for WiiU. So I don't feel bad about getting it digitally for Switch. I got Pokemon Scarlet physically, so Violet is okay as a digital buy. Saints Row is a great game and all, but not as high in esteem as...let's say...Final Fantasy. I can get that digitally. It saves on shelf space (and having to get up off the couch every 15-30 minutes to switch out disks/cartridges)

But things like Zelda, Metroid, Final Fantasy and others, these are franchises I'm a huge fan of and must have everything I can get as physical.
 

wentwood

Active member
Citizen
I play a lot of Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider mostly. On any system.

On my I Pad I caught up most of
Final Fantasy III NES and had cloud
data saved that game.
 

Princess Viola

Dumbass Asexual
Citizen
No no, he's got a point. Physical is the way to go, either disks or on a hard drive in your physical possession.
Physical discs these days are mostly useless considering patches and shit in all honesty.

Like as a PC gamer, I long ago switched to all digital for my games and I couldn't be happier. (I don't even remember the last PC game I bought physically with a disc tbh) I only keep an external disc drive around for watching DVDs (and even in then in a lot of cases, I'll just rip them).

And the fact is, that's where gaming is going. Digital is the future, look at the sales data.

He does have a point. Just look at how the old generation e-shops have closed or are closing, (Wii, WiiU). Other games like X-Men Arcade or Turtles inTime Re-Shelled that very soon after people bought it, they can no longer be downloaded.

I do have a few digital games, but I do make sure to keep the important ones downloaded just for this reason.
Bar extremely rare exceptions, I can't think of a single instance where a digital shop closes down means that you can no longer redownload stuff you bought.

Like yes, the Wii Shop Channel is shut down and you can no longer make new purchases on it, but I can still redownload the stuff I bought when it was still up and the same will apply to the eShop when it closes up later this year.
 

Caldwin

Meow!
Citizen
*goes to the Wii Shop Channel*

Huh! Well, okay. Still can't get the X-Men Arcade or Turtles in Time Reshelled on PS3 anymore.
 

Princess Viola

Dumbass Asexual
Citizen
Unfortunately licenses expiring is a thing that can affect all games, regardless if it's physical or digital.

Sure, I do get the argument that used copies of physical games will still exist - which is very valid (although it's also not uncommon for some 'delisted' digital-only games to still have download codes available for purchase - of course in some unlucky cases, the codes expired when the game was removed, but from what I know, in a lot of cases the codes still work). But if you're unlucky, those physical copies can shoot up in value once the license expires and no more copies are made. And let's not even get started on games where the license has long expired and is stuck on much older hardware.

Imagine trying to buy Out Run 2 on modern hardware OH WAIT YOU CAN'T it's never been rereleased after the arcade original and Xbox ports lol.

In an ideal world, of course, game licenses would never expire and anyone could purchase them for as long as the store remains available, but sadly that'll never happen.
 

Caldwin

Meow!
Citizen
Meanwhile I can still play my Festers Quest cartridge on Nintendo. Saw what you will, but one thing physical media used to have (back when the whole game was actually on the physical media and not just another way to authorize a download) is that you didn't just buy a license that can be revoked for whatever reason down the line. You owned that game and could always play it for as long as you owned the game and the system.
 

LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
It depends, but in a lot of cases, I'd rather have some of the game than none of the game.

'Sides, by the time it matters, I'm sure someone will have backups or something available somewhere for patches and whatnot.
 

Caldwin

Meow!
Citizen
Oh! Here's an argument for physical media; gift giving. Sure they could put in a way to gift games to other people digitally. But, at least on PlayStation, they haven't. I
 

Princess Viola

Dumbass Asexual
Citizen
Oh! Here's an argument for physical media; gift giving. Sure they could put in a way to gift games to other people digitally. But, at least on PlayStation, they haven't. I
Yeah that is actually very much just a Sony (and Nintendo) problem. On Xbox, there's been a 'Purchase as gift' option for digital games for a few years now, you just select someone on your friends list or enter their email address and bam it'll send them an email and a message on XBL telling them that they were gifted a game and they can click a 'redeem now' button to redeem it and add it to their account.

Same thing on PC, you can gift people digital games on the Microsoft Store (if you use that, for some reason), Steam, Origin, and GOG. Even itch.io (which is focused on indie games and developers) let's you purchase stuff as a gift.

The only major PC storefront I know of that doesn't have a gifting option is the Epic Games Store but also considering that the EGS launched in December 2018 and didn't even have a shopping cart until December 2021 (so yes, for the first literal three years of this store's existence, if you wanted to buy more than one game you had to literally buy them one at a time 🙄🙄🙄🙄 - honestly if it weren't for the free games, I wouldn't even use this one)

(What's absolutely messed up is Nintendo used to have a digital gift option! You could buy WiiWare and VC games on Wii and send them to a friend as a gift! Why did they take that away? I don't get it!)
 

Caldwin

Meow!
Citizen
The thing is, no matter what side you're on, the industry is trending more and more towards digital only. Like it or not (and I don't) sooner or later (and I'm honestly surprised it hasn't already) physical media (movies and music as well as games) is very likely going to become a thing of the past.

So really, Nintendo and Sony really need to figure it out.
 

Princess Viola

Dumbass Asexual
Citizen
Honestly speaking, I don't think physical releases for movies and TV shows will ever go completely extinct for two simple reasons: videophiles and audiophiles.

All streaming services: Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV+, etc. have to compress video for streaming and, while some are better than others, (Apple TV+, for example, is considered the best for 4K streaming IIRC), you're still getting lowered video quality compared to a 4K BD (in a lot of cases, '4K' streaming is actually streaming at bitrates comparable to a 1080p BD's bitrate). And let's not forget the audio here, just like with video having lower bitrate means the audio gets compressed and this affects audio much more than video (like honestly speaking most streaming services audio quality is comparable to DVDs). Meanwhile the majority of Blurays have entirely uncompressed audio, like I guarantee you some random BD from 2008 you have lying around will have better audio quality than the same film on Netflix or whatever in 2023.

And sure I'll admit that most people don't really care about all this! The video and audio quality you get through streaming services is good enough for them! But that's why I specified videophiles and audiophiles, because they're the two groups who do care about this. They're the ones who want to buy and will continue to buy movies and TV shows on BD because they want the best possible video and audio quality for the stuff they watch. That market will always exist and therefore physical releases of movies and TV will continue to exist to cater to that market, even if it becomes more and more of a niche market (just like how physical releases of music still exist but nowadays is heavily centered around vinyl over CDs, although of course CDs are still released just like how I expect regular BDs [or hell even DVDs for super budget stuff] to continue to get released).

Let's also not forget things that are available on home video but not on streaming. Like I have a copy of the 1981 Japanese movie Sailor Suit and Machine Gun on BD. That film's not on any streaming service. The only other options to watch the movie besides buying the BD are buying or renting it from either Google Play or iTunes. Which sure, I'll admit is a much cheaper option (I paid about $30 for the BD vs $3.99 to rent and $7.99 to buy on iTunes and $1.99 to rent and $9.99 to buy on Google Play) but you just get so much more content on the BD. I'll spare y'all the details of all the extra features on the physical release but I'll just say that there's actually two cuts of the movie: the 1981 theatrical release and the 20 minute longer 1982 Perfect Edition. The BD includes both cuts- the iTunes and Google Play release? Only the 1981 cut. So you're missing an entire cut of the movie by going the digital route!

But anyways, the point I'm really trying to make here (considering this is the gaming board) is that none of the above quality advantages of physical releases of home video vs streaming apply to video games. Regardless of if you buy a physical copy of a game or purchase a digital copy on the online storefront, it's all the same data you're installing and downloading onto your system. You're not getting better quality graphics if you buy a physical PS5 game vs if you buy it on the PlayStation Store, y'know?
 

Tm_Silverclaw

Active member
Citizen
People are forgetting that discs are deteriorating and becoming unusable, tgere is also the wear on the system parts themselves.
 

Caldwin

Meow!
Citizen
I have Gamecube and PS1 disks that are still in great shape. Wear and tear happens, but they can last a long time if you take care of them.
 


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