Comments on: Comment Poll: Digi Downloads

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By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:24:35 +0000

I bought every game I could online. Some games were not available online in my region: Crysis (it was offered later), Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed (I think it was offered later), Dead Space (it became available this year). There might be one or two more, but, if so, they are not GfW — they do not appear on the Games folder.

Now, contrast that to online. There was some stuff I bought on GoG, Impulse and that Penny Arcade system I can’t recall the name for. I don’t think it’s more than a dozen all together. Plus a few direct purchases, such as World of Goo.

Then there’s Steam. This was a big year for Steam as far as I’m concerned. Many games became available on my region, many games became available at all, and I had a new computer capable of playing a lot of games I stayed away from before. So, in a sense, there was a slant. Still, I now have over 90 titles on Steam, ALL of which, with the sole exception of Half Life 2, where bought on Steam. And I think over 40 over those where bought in 2008.

This year started a bit more balanced. There was Crayon Physics Deluxe, Mirror Edge and all the Ghost Recon stuff (great weekend on Steam :). On the non-digital side, there was Infocom stuff on eBay and The Witcher on a regional ebay-like site. Money-wise, non-digital is prevailing, as both The Witcher and the Infocom stuff were rather on the expensive side. I doubt this trend will persist, though… :-)

By: cjlr

cjlr — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 19:52:56 +0000

Heh, I picked £300+ but only because I automatically read it as $300…

No digital downloads for me, but that’s only because I don’t have a credit card. Although, even if I did, there isn’t much I would buy – mostly things that are unavailable in plastic-disc-and-dead-tree edition (expansions for GCII, EUIII…).

I’m rather paranoid and skeptical about relying on a digital handshake in order to actually obtain something I’ve bought. It means that you need an internet connection, for one, and that every step in a long chain of communications goes perfectly. And all of it is valid only so long as the service is maintained. I’d rather just have a disc, thanks (even if, as I can never get over, one once exploded in my drive). Plus, I just like having a nice, printed manual.

And finally… Is there any reason not to pirate the stuff, in the case of older games? XCOM and a few others on Steam, or, for that matter, all of GOG…? In most of those cases the original publisher and developer have ceased to exist anyway. Five minutes with DOSBox and your favourite file-sharing client, and you’re set.

And, bizarrely, I have this old Interplay box set, which I believe was a 15th anniversary compilation of 15 titles: Fallout, Descent, and Battle Chess, among others… And my favourite racing game ever, Whiplash (which I think was originally Fatal Racing in Europe). I think it was about $10 at a Business Depot back in the last millenium, and even my nine year old brain could recognize what a deal it was. And it turns out that these are more or less the first batch of games GOG got their hands on (and they’d try to charge you > $50! But to be fair, you’d get a lot of pre- and sequels thrown in too).

By: spacedoubt

spacedoubt — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:29:27 +0000

How about the question “Would you buy via digital download if you had access to a credit card?”

I don’t know about other people, but I do feel like I’m missing out. =(

By: Eschatos

Eschatos — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:08:43 +0000

STALKER: Clear Sky because of you guys, and one or two others I don’t remember.

By: Morte

Morte — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:06:14 +0000

Whilst I would prefer to buy by download (it should be quick, cheap and low hassle) I tend to buy games as discs in boxes because:

- It’s usually cheaper. Mail order boxes get discounted far more aggressively than downloads. This is madness.

- Steam takes a week to load and tries to take your life over once it has.

- I’ve heard a few too many gripes about download services like D2D being slow with getting their versions of patches out for games like Neverwinter Nights.

So the games I’ve bought by download this year are Space Rangers 2 (a weekend special), EVE (unavailable on disc), and various bits of Guild Wars (noted for their slick infrastructure).

By: Hmm-Hmm.

Hmm-Hmm. — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:43:33 +0000

I wonder, is digitally purchasing a game without having to download it -at that specific point in time- still considered a digital download? If not, maybe you should’ve used ‘online purchase’ or something.

‘nyway, I purchased Aquaria and Defcon from Ambrosia, of whom I’m a rather devoted customer ever since Escape Velocity. Which you wouldn’t know of because you’re a bunch of non-Mac using heretics. *ahem*

By: solipsistnation

solipsistnation — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:05:23 +0000

These days Steam (and to a lesser extent GOG.com) has become my purchasing platform of choice. Best Buy gives me a headache and I have to drive across town, whine whine whine. But if I can download a game, I will, unless there’s a pretty cool special edition like the Fallout 3 Pip Boy thing. Overall, though, digital downloads are the way to go.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:11:09 +0000

Kings bounty, Space rangers 2, World of goo, Sins of a solar empire, Fallout 1+2, Tomb raider anniversary, Xcom, Beyond good and evil, Children of the nile Alexandria, Hinterland, all digital, that i can remember + LOTRO and WoW subs at various times. i got fallout 3 thru amazon tho. Ugh, well i’ve just realised i have too much disposable income.

By: KindredPhantom

KindredPhantom — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:45:27 +0000

Now ask how often i actually play the game i have bought and downloaded digitally.
It is common for me to buy games on steam and not play them or only play them once or twice for a bit then not touch them again.

By: Rei Onryou

Rei Onryou — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:09:10 +0000

Interesting…I’ve spent about £150 on digital distribution and about £150 on retail.

As for RPS recommendations, there’s WoG, the X-COM collection and several wonders from the Steam sale.