I’m pretty shocked people still want physical media, but whatever. I think we can tackle the licensing and lock-in issues with digital medial without pearl-clutching physical media as if it weren’t riddled with its own problems.
Which problems would those be, exactly? Because I can still play Combat or Yar’s Revenge or even history’s most godawful version of Pac Man on my Atari VCS right now if I wanted to. That’s a 44 year old game at the time of writing, for anyone not keeping score at home.
Go try to play, I don’t know, Babylon’s Fall on your PS4 right now and let me know how that works out for you. Or try to track down a copy of Demons Age if you missed it when it came out.
B) DRM free already solves a lot of it for digital titles. Sony, Microsoft, etc are entirely uninterested in that. They wouldn’t be able to pull them from your library if so.
C) Removing physical media completely kills a used market. Dead Space is $20 on disc, $70 on the Sony store. Sony doesn’t want you to think about that though. Sharing becomes nearly impossible. Ironic, considering Sony’s stance for the PS4
The biggest thing is simply this: physical media offers protections from corporate abuse/greed. If digital media wasn’t abused by corporations, we wouldn’t have this issue. Physical media done correctly makes most of those abuses impossible. And, unfortunately, we can’t trust closed source corporations not to abuse us when money can be made. So without a forcing function through legislation, physical media is that forcing function/protection.
physical media offers protections from corporate abuse/greed
Does it though? It used to a long time ago but aren’t a lot of discs for games just blocked if you’re not connected to the internet to get required upgrades?
Even if that’s not much of a thing yet, I fear it will be.
That’s why I said physical media done correctly. Because, yes, if the game isn’t on the disc, it won’t work. Or if it forces a day 1 patch to even run because it contains parts of the code. Or the console itself requires the internet for some kind of DRM check. Those aren’t really physical media in my opinion. Or, at best, they’re anti-consumer locks/practices.
Is it perfect? No, the only innovation capitalism has brought us is continually more ways to provide less for a higher price. We’re always having to fight greed unfortunately.
Sure, in an ideal world, buying a key means its yours, but were not there. That’s my gripe. Today, you pay full price for a game. And next year the studio says, too fucking bad, its gone. Now you paid money for something that was taken from you. Its not pearl clutching, its an issue of ownership
I’m pretty shocked people still want physical media, but whatever. I think we can tackle the licensing and lock-in issues with digital medial without pearl-clutching physical media as if it weren’t riddled with its own problems.
Which problems would those be, exactly? Because I can still play Combat or Yar’s Revenge or even history’s most godawful version of Pac Man on my Atari VCS right now if I wanted to. That’s a 44 year old game at the time of writing, for anyone not keeping score at home.
Go try to play, I don’t know, Babylon’s Fall on your PS4 right now and let me know how that works out for you. Or try to track down a copy of Demons Age if you missed it when it came out.
A) what problems are you referring to?
B) DRM free already solves a lot of it for digital titles. Sony, Microsoft, etc are entirely uninterested in that. They wouldn’t be able to pull them from your library if so.
C) Removing physical media completely kills a used market. Dead Space is $20 on disc, $70 on the Sony store. Sony doesn’t want you to think about that though. Sharing becomes nearly impossible. Ironic, considering Sony’s stance for the PS4
The biggest thing is simply this: physical media offers protections from corporate abuse/greed. If digital media wasn’t abused by corporations, we wouldn’t have this issue. Physical media done correctly makes most of those abuses impossible. And, unfortunately, we can’t trust closed source corporations not to abuse us when money can be made. So without a forcing function through legislation, physical media is that forcing function/protection.
Well put.
Does it though? It used to a long time ago but aren’t a lot of discs for games just blocked if you’re not connected to the internet to get required upgrades?
Even if that’s not much of a thing yet, I fear it will be.
That’s why I said physical media done correctly. Because, yes, if the game isn’t on the disc, it won’t work. Or if it forces a day 1 patch to even run because it contains parts of the code. Or the console itself requires the internet for some kind of DRM check. Those aren’t really physical media in my opinion. Or, at best, they’re anti-consumer locks/practices.
Is it perfect? No, the only innovation capitalism has brought us is continually more ways to provide less for a higher price. We’re always having to fight greed unfortunately.
Sure, in an ideal world, buying a key means its yours, but were not there. That’s my gripe. Today, you pay full price for a game. And next year the studio says, too fucking bad, its gone. Now you paid money for something that was taken from you. Its not pearl clutching, its an issue of ownership