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Ice-Pick Lodge forums • Games on physical CD vs. Digital format games
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PostPosted: 14 Mar 2012, 17:36 
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I was wondering if there are still people who prefer having their games nicely sitting on a shelf rather than downloading and intalling them directly from Steam or whichever other means..

In my country the game industry is almost inexistent, and there is actually no market for game publishers, since (what follows may sound somewhat funny) the internet conexion is usually unlimited in bandwith, ISP don't block access to p2p sites, download/upload rates are high(a mean of 5 MO/s), salaries are not very good, and also I'm not aware of any legislation to prohibit internet piracy. So, when you want a movie or a game, you download it.

This is what I did with Pathologic and a lot other games. I downloaded it, played it, really-really enjoyed it. But, because I highly enjoyed it, it came to me a strange idea: to buy a physical CD. That was the moment when I realised the value of actually owning an original copy of a game in physical form, with all the artwork, the cover, the leaflet, eventually the box and so on..

Well, that doesn't mean I won't download games from p2p sites :shock: but at least I'll try to fetch some used(if new are not available anymore) copies of the games I highly enjoyed.

Right now, I'm temporarily in France, and here, the market is highly developed. I just ordered about 12 good old adventures (mostly in french) that I already completed, just to have them in my library. Games like Faust - Seven Games of the Soul, Ring - The Legend of Nibelungen, Cryo's Atlantis I and II etc.

I think Cargo! comes only in digital form?! That is a shame, when I think that The Void, in Russia, had a colour set distributed with the box of the game... But, that, I think, depends on the publisher...


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PostPosted: 14 Mar 2012, 21:43 
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Location: not where you're from

I almost thought we're from the same country based on your description, except we do have laws against piracy :) (not that they're actually enforced, thank gods).
Personally, I don't buy CD's because I'm a "green" type of person: the fewer physical things I buy, the better I feel. I absolutely don't mind paying for good games (*after* playing them, as you do), but I've only bought digital versions so far. I do have a physical original that was a gift (good old King's Quest VI!) and I must admit it's heartwarming to see a reminder of a game that I enjoyed on my shelf, but I'll stick to my no CD policy for now.

I'm not sure how useful/relevant this reply is, but it's nice to see some chatting going on around here :D


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PostPosted: 15 Mar 2012, 15:12 
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Oh, it's useful, it's relevant. That's the point, discussing the issue. I am really curious what others think, especially when 'others' are people who appreciate games like Pathologic and The Void.


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PostPosted: 18 Mar 2012, 15:49 
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Well, as a long-time gamer I think I'm probably quite old-fashioned about it all, but I still haven't bought a single digital copy of a game. I don't think it will last for long though - there are things which aren't available physically in Poland, where I live, or even at all, so I think soon I will give in. I feel reluctant about it, because somehow I feel a physical copy is more permanent and gives me more freedom when it comes to deciding what I do with it (even though I'm well aware of the fragility of CDs and DVDs).

I don't actually care much for the material aspects of physical copies, unless they're really nice, i.e. some good art and/or a pretty and actually useful manual. However, as it's all rather costly for the publisher, nowadays it's just the disc(s) in the box, with all the manuals and other stuff in pdfs. I'm actually grateful we're not getting the cardboard monstrosities that were popular 15 years ago, but I wouldn't mind getting games in smaller packages, like music CD jewelcases instead of the larger DVD boxes, if there's no physical aspects that require a larger format. I own a lot of games, and they really start taking up too much shelf-space.

I like owning original copies, and since I can afford them, I usually buy them. However, as there aren't too many things that I really need to play brand new, I often wait for games to get cheaper - sometimes it takes a few months, usually a year or two or three, but as the price drop can get so significant, and as I have always a few things in line and never enough time to play them all...

I would only settle for downloads if I would have to go out of my way (in terms of money too) to get what I want — mostly some elusive oldies which I missed out on due to having owned only a Mac in my youth (don't ask). Nowadays, though, there's plenty of easily accessible digital shops, and I'm left with no excuse save my (only partially?) irrational reluctance for things digital.

I see that Steam's been mentioned. I had to download it when I got Dead Island and quite frankly I've been amazed at its success. I admit, it makes a few things easy and convenient, but it's ugly, clunky, and probably not only unnecessarily inquisitive but also intrusive. But the fact that I need it running to play the damn game is an insulting crime and probably as bad as or worse than all the CD-in-drive-checkers or even the old "insert word X of line Y on page Z of the manual" routine. I mean, come on! Why should we settle for something so backwards? Am I missing something?


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PostPosted: 20 Mar 2012, 16:56 
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Where I have a choice I'll go for a physical copy.


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PostPosted: 01 Apr 2012, 15:59 
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I'm all for digital format games (download only games), just because it's simply more environmentally friendly. Plastic just sucks. I don't need more reasons. Yeah Steam can be annoying, but I can easily overlook that, to be honest.


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PostPosted: 13 Apr 2012, 16:13 
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If given a choice I would always buy a physical copy over a digital release: even if it costs me more.


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PostPosted: 25 Aug 2012, 12:53 
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I still prefer physical copies.

The only digital games I buy are DRM-free stand alone .exe files. If you purchase a game through a game manager client such as Steam or Origin you do not actually own the game- you own a licence to play the game. The owners of those game clients often force people to have an internet connection in order to play the game and can lock players out of their games by disabling their account. It is not worth buying a game if someone else could hold it to ransom.

Plus physical copies are easier to manage (assuming you have a house to put them in) and look nicer on a shelf.


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PostPosted: 25 Aug 2012, 16:08 
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Give me beautiful digipac instead of plastic case or makes some freaking great booklet - and i'll buy immediately!!


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PostPosted: 12 Jan 2013, 08:58 
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Дорогие Други! Поздравляю всех форумчан с Рождеством Христовым! Желаю здоровья, благополучия, иметь возможность видеть свой путь и идти его не сворачивая!
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PostPosted: 12 Jan 2013, 10:19 
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Дорогие Друзья! Поздравляю всех форумчан с Рождеством Христовым! Желаю здоровья, благополучия и возможности видеть свой путь и идти по нему, не сворачивая!
Fixed :)


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PostPosted: 23 Apr 2014, 14:41 
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I do prefer games to be in the hard drives as it is much faster and easy to play. I never download all these junk to my system to loose a good space of the memory. Instead using them in a CD drive is efficient for me.





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