You're all looking at digital downloads wrong!

[dgwillia]

9/10 times, unless its a gameplay issue (Thats resolved by playing from the HDD), or its an extremely rare game. I buy physical.

For one, if something happens to my system, I'd like to be able to say "Hey, atleast I still have all these games", instead of looking at a broken system that contains all my collection and wondering if I can even transfer them to another system.

Another thing is the price and resell ability. Sure, trade in prices might not be high sometimes (Though if your smart you can make a decent chunk back), but I don't see why we should have to pay the exact same price as a physical copy while the company is obviously saving money. (Sony is one of the few companies I see that tries to adjust prices for digital, or include pre-order bonuses)

The only time I can justify buying a digital game is if its on sale (Like the PS+ sales Sony does all the time), and would likely be just as cheap, or cheaper than I could ever find it instore.

Also, theres always the sale factor. I rarely if ever pay full MSRP for a game, unless its something niche or rare. Price matching, release day sales, game flipping, etc. For example, I see people leaping over buying Animal Crossing day 1 from the E-Shop. If all goes well for K-Mart shoppers, we only have to pay 30$ for it, plus can get a 15$ credit back instantly. Nintendo could never top that sale.

 

[TripleSMoon]

The flash RAM they use on SD cards deteriorates over time. It's not an infallible technology, hell, no storage medium is exempt from inevitable deterioration.

Argument scenario one: "Digital downloads are better than physical copies because they're more convenient"

True, they do have advantages over physical copies, but it's not without potential issues, servers shutting down, companies going under, etc. You could be out several hundred dollars' worth in games. Unless you could somehow download it once more, you'll have to repurchase said games. You should only have to pay for a game once and keep it and not have to buy it again. The companies got the money from said game once already, why should you have to pay for that same game twice?

Argument scenario two: "But you can always transfer them to another hard drive, online storage site or SD card."

Also a good point to bring up, but again, magnetic or flash-based storage devices are doomed to fail after so many years of use; It's impossible to keep said digital downloads stored forever unless infallible storage mediums are invented. There's no substitute for physical copies, and the other major flaw are internet connections.

Only a small percentage of people (at least in the US) have super-fast internet due to inconsistencies in the entire infrastructure. Those who paid for digital games will often download several gigabytes worth of data on a connection <128 kbps, which will take quite a while, and a lot of the time, those games have to be verified over the internet. For those who don't have gigabit connections, damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Couldn't you say the same for physical copies though? Like you said, no such thing as infallible storage yet. So why put more faith in older technology (discs) and not newer technology (HDDs)?

I prefer physical media myself, BTW. I just thought that was a while in your argument.

 

[the_randomizer]

Couldn't you say the same for physical copies though? Like you said, no such thing as infallible storage yet. So why put more faith in older technology (discs) and not newer technology (HDDs)?

I prefer physical media myself, BTW. I just thought that was a while in your argument.

Yes, I suppose one could, but the nice thing about physical copies is that DRM isn't usually as restrictive, and even if it was, it's (more or less) easy to circumvent, not that I'd know anything about that Online verification for digital games should only happen once. I don't have a good internet connection, so digital isn't an option, unless it's a Virtual Console game for the Wii U, which is 40 MB tops.

If I had my university's connection (100 mbps), then yeah, it could be done.

 

[Sicklyboy]

All 3DS games are stored on an SD card. I know that it's an example, but you can do MUCH better.

And the downloads are tied to that system via a system unique key.

 

[the_randomizer]

And the downloads are tied to that system via a system unique key.

Yeah, good luck with that when your console and SD card die. Poor sods

 

[Eerpow]

To use Australia as an example;
Nintendo charges $70 for new 3DS games... Physical wise, you can buy newly released games for about $60 or even as low as $50, and again, that's for new releases (you could also import, in which, you can get just about any pal 3DS game for $50 or less, new or otherwise)... Hard to justify buying digital at an optimal $25 difference :/ Additionally, there's the whole loss of collector's value, increased risk in losing those digital games should something happen to the 3DS and so forth.

Most people don't know this but if you ever have to buy a digital copy on the 3DS then don't buy it directly from the eShop if you want to save some money, there are places online that sell download codes really cheap. Your 3DS is EU regionlocked so purchasing codes from UK based online retailers shouldn't be a problem, they email you the code in like 5 minutes. That's what I'm gonna to do once we get Ace Attorney, if it's cheaper that is.
There has been rumors lately about Nintendo creating a single account system for both Wii U and 3DS, Miiverse is heading to the 3DS so maybe, just maybe that's finally when they decide to implement it, they've been so slow lately with updates and system changes and they've already implemented stuff we never thought they would. Let's hope they steer their babysteps towards that direction.

As it is right now though I wouldn't worry too much about the future of my digital purchases, the only time I wouldn't be able to do anything about it is if in 10 years the 3DS dies completely and if Nintendo stops replacing games anymore (they do that in cases of theft and hardware failure).
In case my 3DS got damaged I could probably 90% of the time still be able to system transfer my stuff over to a new unit. But yeah there still is a risk involved which is why I'm still never going full digital just in case.

 

[w!!]

I agree with the physical media as backups should something happen, and yes, you could possibily redownload all your games, but I think another advantage of physical media is the "fair use" ability to loan/trade the game to a friend, or just take it to a friends house and play it there. They're trying to do this with the whole "log into your account on the machine and you can play it on a friends machine" but that's a pain and who says i want to log into my account from their machine?

Anyway, digital downloads is the furture like it or not...