I’ve been pretty much all-digital since… Steam came out. Outside of Switch games (I dont trust Nintendo with how they handle their NNID system. it’s just janky), it doesn’t really make sense for me to buy physical copies. The obvious benefit there is resale, but I can rarely afford new games, so by the time I either get them, or finish playing them, they’ve already dropped in value entirely
I like collecting physical copies of games I like and that I want to display on my shelves. For example, I have the entire Ace Combat franchise on disc, the collector’s edition of Ori and Crosscode, and a few artbooks for certain games that I love (Spyro, Plague Tale, Oddworld). I also bought the entire Resident Evil saga on xbox (Origins, R2make, R3make, R4master, R5master, R6master, R7 Gold, Code Veronica, Revelations 1 and 2) because I got most of them for cheap.
Digital storefronts are either for games that I didn’t care to have a physical copy of, or when a physical copy doesn’t exist. When I do buy digital, I usually buy on GoG when possible, as it’s the most future-proof option available. I do have a big digital collection on Xbox thanks to their generous Rewards program, but it got nerfed hard in the last few months, so I don’t think it will increase much in the future (I don’t plan on buying another Xbox console, and the MS Store on Windows sucks hard).
Cartridge-based? Physical for all 1st and 2nd party titles, digital for indie/3rd party unless I really enjoyed it or it had a worthwhile collectors edition. I’d say about an 80-20 split due to some games not releasing physical, and some that do but I also get digital for convenience.
Disc based? Probably just digital these days. Exceptions for worthwhile collectors editions and special runs (indie games etc.) Roughly 10-90 split because PC/steam is in this list and despite owning a launch day disc model PS5, I just ordered my first physical copy of a game (Baulder’s Gate 3 collectors) and the other collectors edition I bought was God of War Ragnarok which came with everything except a game disc (steel game case, digital code… sigh).
Do they even make physical PC games anymore? Last ones I bought were either discs that immediately downloaded an updated copy of the whole game, or the box just contained a download code.
For the switch I buy physical, but it may be the last console where that makes sense.
Yep, my thoughts exactly. The last "physical" PC game I bought was Mass Effect Andromeda, and it was just a box with a code. I still buy physical Switch games, though, but partially because I get them with Amazon reward points, which sadly aren't usable on digital items.
I'm despising the growing trend of devs/publishers not offering a physical option for consoles (looking at you, Alan Wake 2). I like having the disc on my shelf, especially if it's a series.
To be more specific: most often a game would run its physics calculation at the framerate it’s designed for, like 30 or 60 fps, and in case it displays with a higher framerate, try and interpolate the graphical data based on the physics calculations. It’s possible to make the physics run faster as well, but carelessly adapting things may make things go wrong (a good example is Quake 3, where your jump height changes based on the com_maxfps value).
A racing game that runs its physics at 60 frames per second can, at best, calculate time in 0.016666… second intervals. To have a precise 3-decimal-points clock, a game would need to run its physics calculations at 1000 frames per second.
(It is also worth noting that a game developer can try to interpolate a more precise finish time by looking at the last pre-finish frame position of the vehicle and the first post-finish frame position and calculating at what point “between the frames” the finish line would be crossed, but I don’t know how difficult and/or buggy actually implementing that would be.)
If you’re a little clever with interpolation, you don’t need to run at 1000s of frames per second! You’d just calculate how much time after the last frame it would take to cross the line at the last known speed and position.
I think the last console game I bought was Metroid Dread, but I leaned physical for those as well, because their digital storefronts are a single point of failure. I've witnessed first hand a friend of mine getting frustrated with a now-sunset Xbox 360 store, a problem I could see coming a mile away even when I was in high school when the console launched. On PC, if Steam disappeared tomorrow, I could pirate my entire library. If GOG gives me a week of lead time on their store going away, I could legitimately back up those games.
Digital is more convenient. I have shelves of old games and consoles that I'm working on culling rather than expanding, especially as someone who tends to move to a new apartment every couple of years. Physical often tends to be a false sense of security in the modern age of day 1 patches and other kinds of server dependency. DRM-free is actually what you want, unless you really, really enjoy the tangible aspect of the game. Outside of nostalgia, I don't think it matters to me.
On PC I’ll buy digital because worst case if it comes unavailable I’ll torrent a copy.
For consoles I am staunchly in the physical camp because it is more likely I’ll be able to play those games in 10 years when the maker has shut down their store.
I don’t really have a strict one or the other preference anymore.
Nintendo 1st party stuff I always buy physical, Dreamcast I collect for so that’s physical too but for Xbox I buy mostly digital when on sale. I guess for Xbox its different because I have Gamepass (the £1 upgrade deal they used to offer, still 18 months remaining, but I won’t renew) so I haven’t bought a new game in like 2 years now. The there is PC… My games are all over the place!
Plus with a family we just dont have the space to keep everything forever that we buy anymore.
I prefer roms and emulators above all else as I know that as long as I back them up I’ll be able to play them. Other than that I use steam for convenience as a linux only gamer but I’m all for gog and their DRM free stance.
As for physical. The hardware fails unless its a ps2 😄. So at the end you are left with a ton of discs and you Will have to rip them to play them. Also some games are just shipping unfinished on disc and need to download patches or whatever.
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Aktywne