Tiger Claw TV&Radio

kickflipjr · Joined: 25 Nov 2010 Posts: 33 Location: Pittsburgh

Yeah, CF was talking about digital distribution on a recent podcast. I really don't see sony, nintendo, or microsoft going completely download only on the next gen consoles. Too many people have no internet or poor internet for it to work yet. I think one possible option is that they will release a download only console and disc based console side by side. Like the PSP3000 and PSPgo. This will help ease everyone into download only systems.

The game companies want download only because they will make more money because they do not make money on used game sales (only gamestop profits on that).

Another possibility is that smaller companies will lead the way with download only.

I think it is coming eventually.

Critical Failure · Yahurrr Joined: 25 Feb 2009 Posts: 1042

Welcome to the forums man!

Yeah no one really knows whats going to happen. They got some things to iron out before digital distro becomes a total reality. But the PSP Go taught us they are willing to risk failure to make it float. That makes me think they could pull some computer magic to make it come sooner. Maybe you could still download games from kiosks or something if you dont have internet like back in the Famicom Disk System days in Japan.

triverse · Joined: 21 Mar 2010 Posts: 396 Location: Arkansas

Digital distribution could happen sooner than we think really. I mean, right now, on most consoles, the majority of sales are the indie games (partially because the bigger companies have no problem with capital and putting out physical releases).

The PSPGo failed partially because it was viewed as a whole new system that had some form of backwards compatibility (you could repurchase your games and download them to it but it didn't offer anything specifically different or interesting than the regular PSP). There was no touch screen, there was no "phone capability" there were no extra features in the hardware for new, better games that couldn't have been done on the regular portable. That is something Apple does with their iPod series. They have a ton of different variations, mini, regular, touch, etc which all use the same music and cater to a different audience.

I wrote an article a few years ago about the viability of Sony releasing a Blu Ray-less PS3 that was download only (it even got a response from the head of PSN at that time and had nearly 2 million readers for that article).

If a company were to release a download only console/handheld they would pretty much experience lower sales, of course, but, it wouldn't be that bad. It is definitely viable and profitable. Just someone needs to do it, other than Apple.

I don't think we will have a digital only console soon though, companies look at things like the PSPGo and the poor sales and then drop it (look at how long it took to get CD drives back in the day for instance and how many CD only systems were released before the PSOne came along and showed it could be done).
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Hemrawc · Joined: 01 Mar 2009 Posts: 153

I think the next gen systems will have a download and a buy option. This is probably the best of both worlds for the game developers, not only will they increase their profits by the "city-folk" staying home and downloading the $60 titles, they can still rope in those with lesser internet services that can go down to their local game store and purchase a hard copy.

Dhalamar · Joined: 02 Nov 2010 Posts: 48 Location: Herrin, IL

triverse · Joined: 21 Mar 2010 Posts: 396 Location: Arkansas

If I could find my article about this, the one that got the attention of the PSN boss, I would repost it here for you guys to read. It was pretty much explaining how to get around these problems (then Onlive came along...).
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kickflipjr · Joined: 25 Nov 2010 Posts: 33 Location: Pittsburgh

This is how I feel on download content.

If I spend $12 on an album would I rather have a CD or an itunes download? (CD)

If I am spending $60 on a game would I rather have a disc or a download copy? (Disk)

Now, I do download games but that is because the cost is low on some xbla games. I hope the game publishers realize that $60 for a download-only copy of a game is ridiculous.

Critical Failure · Yahurrr Joined: 25 Feb 2009 Posts: 1042

retroman · Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 7:31 pm Post subject:

No, its because Paul needs the money from his divorce of the one llegged beast.
Glad I'm a frisby guy hehehehe.