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Posted: Mar 09 2012 11:40 am

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/03/09/rumor-next-xbox-won-39-t-have-an-optical-drive.aspx

Posted: Mar 09 2012 11:42 am

Unless there's a huge price drop in games, pass. I'm not paying $60 for download-only games.

Posted: Mar 09 2012 11:52 am

They'll likely justify the cost with some sort of server upkeep.

Posted: Mar 09 2012 11:58 am

I think if they go disc-less, they'll have to compete with services like Steam very directly, which could be very bad for them.

Posted: Mar 09 2012 12:08 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

I think if they go disc-less, they'll have to compete with services like Steam very directly, which could be very bad for them.

Honestly, not sure about that. Steam makes a huge profit off of Windows users. They may put Steam's balls in a vice if they give them problems.

Posted: Mar 09 2012 12:32 pm

I am assuming that foregoing an optical drive would probably impact used game sales, which certainly would be very tempting to maximize or expand the industry's financial gains. I guess we'll have to wait for further details to arrive, but I personally enjoy having a physical copy of the video games I purchase.

Title: an horse Joined: Feb 26 2012 Posts: 169

I agree and disagree. I personally am a Linux user. I had to install Windows again for Photoshop etc. and was like; "fuck it" and installed steam. I realised I already had an account and still the same email. Turns out I had registered my Half-Life and Counter Strike years aga and forgot. I'd lost all those disks. Got my games back! Cloud based saves and all that shit is awesome. I'll never scratch those copies or lose them. Bought quite a bunch on PSN too. It's definitely the future. But then again, owning a physical thing you can hld and display on your shelf or whatever is so substantial.

Maybe not this next gen but it will hppen.

Joined: Aug 04 2009 Posts: 2515

The thing is i don't really like downloading stuff but i do it.

I dislike it because i don't actually own the games but i do like it because it can be quicker than getting stuff delivered to my house.

The thing also is with PC games nowadays anyway i have bought a few PC games - physical copies and i have put them in to install them - i get the game data from the disc but i still have to register the game to my steam account.

So is there really any point in having physical copies for these games? I still have to use steam to play them, it's still restricted in that respect.

Posted: Mar 09 2012 01:42 pm

I buy PC games on Amazon because they're cheaper, then I input the CD key into Steam and toss out the package. Am I doing it right?

Title: an horse Joined: Feb 26 2012 Posts: 169

I remember years ago reading an article where this computer scientist suggests that by playstation 6, consoles will be more like a fucking chia-pet. Like, bio-organic material motherboards that 'grow' with updates and evolve. That is some creepy Pokemon shit.

Posted: Mar 09 2012 02:07 pm

Hm. I used to say I preferred having a physical copy of something in my hands, and yet now any CD I do happen to buy gets ripped and then collects dust on the shelf. The vast majority of my music is digital. No hard copies.

I suppose after a time not having a hard copy of the game wouldn't bother me so much either, especially when they don't put any effort into the little booklet manuals that come with them. They used to be some 20, 30 pages long and had all this background information and instructions. Now they're like two pages and all health hazard warnings or copyright information.

Title: an horse Joined: Feb 26 2012 Posts: 169

Remember the times when you went to the store - read the booklet of the game as mum drove you home - pouring over every page. I especially remember the Metroid and EuFOURia booklets fondly.

Posted: Mar 09 2012 02:26 pm

Well, if they use something like SDXC cards, which you can buy ones that hold 64GB for around 60 bucks, then you could still have physical copies of games. What would be multi-disc games would just be a higher capacity SDXC card. As far as I know they go up to 128GB.

Posted: Mar 09 2012 02:30 pm

Lasher wrote:

Remember the times when you went to the store - read the booklet of the game as mum drove you home - pouring over every page. I especially remember the Metroid and EuFOURia booklets fondly.

I remember reading the Felix the Cat booklet and thinking it was important. Beat the game like 4 days later.

Posted: Mar 09 2012 03:29 pm

I agree that digital copies are almost certainly a faster (downloads versus shipping) and safer (digital copies and cloud storage versus wear and tear) approach to game distribution. However, as Lasher mentioned, sometimes having the actual copy in your hands and taking in the artwork is an awesome vibe.

I won't make a fuss either way, though.

Posted: Mar 09 2012 04:17 pm

Only thing I wouldn't like about digital only is that I buy a lot of games used because they are cheaper. Sometimes I can save 20 bucks or more on Amazon for a barely used, new-ish game. I do like Steam though because they are always running sales that drop prices of games down to ridiculously low prices and if I buy something there I can always download it again and not have to worry about scratched discs. I just don't see Microsoft running those kinds of sales though, and I'd be hesitant to buy the system because of that. Certainly would hurt places like Gamefly and video stores that rent games to not have physical games to rent out for one of the major systems too.

Joined: Apr 09 2008 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 3112

It really depends. If it was digital-only, you may be in trouble. You'd basically be required to have a broadband connection just to play the console, and considering how shitty broadband service is in the US (I live just outside a huge college town and can't get cable internet), you're losing a lot of customers without good connections who just want to buy a game off the shelf and play it. Then there's the issue of selling M games to minors and stuff (yeah, there are parental settings, but how many families actually use those?). I really don't see it happening.

I've always wondered if it would be cost-effective for companies to use Micro SD cards or something instead of discs. The packaging could be smaller and cheaper, and you won't have loud-ass disc drives reading at the speed of smell.

Posted: Mar 09 2012 05:36 pm

Ah yeah that's something else. My Dad uses Comcast and has a cap on his bandwidth. Imagine how that would go over when you download a game and Suckcast turns your cable internet into 56k for the rest of the month because you exceeded your bandwidth limits. I think the cap is really fucking low too and games tend to run from 5-14 GB these days on the computer, so I imagine it would be close to that for a console. Pretty easy to blow right past that cap with a couple games.

Posted: Mar 09 2012 05:46 pm

as someone already said, wont happen next gen but probably the one after that.

the PSPGo is a great example of how the download only system wont do well in todays market.

Posted: Mar 09 2012 05:58 pm

Downloaded games may be convenient, but one thing I don't like about them is that you can't lend, borrow or trade them with friends. You can do that with physical copies without necessarily breaking the law, but you can't give a copy of a downloadable game for someone to try out in their own home, which kinda diminishes a social aspect of gaming IMO.

Posted: Mar 09 2012 08:34 pm

This could either be genius or system suicide, depending on how it's implemented. I mean, if the system's got an optical drive, that means people won't be able to watch Blu-Ray/DVDs or copy CDs onto the system. Shit like that is sure to make the RIAA and MPAA spitting mad, and I don't think that even Microsoft can compete with their advertising/infotainment manipulation arms. Personally, I think we've got about another ten-twenty years before physical media's a thing of the past anyhow (which neatly lines up with Shadowrun, but that's just an aside).

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

I feel like I predicted this a few years ago here on the forums.

Posted: Mar 10 2012 10:45 am

There is some serious shinning situation going on here. Very Happy

I'm too lazy to read the article but download only games are stupid because you need a creditcard. And you know what? Not everyone owns one. What i also don't get is, whats the fucking problem with having discs for your computer? Is that too much afford for the customer to put a fucking disc into his PC? Pseudo-innovativ bullshit, thats what i think about this.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

They aren't getting rid of media. They are getting rid of optical media.

Read the article and see "removable solid-state storage card" which would effectively be a SD card. No one bitches about the DS or Vita games coming on solid-state storage.

Eventually we'll be going VDI.

Accept it now and you'll be ok.

Posted: Mar 10 2012 01:50 pm

GPFontaine wrote:

They aren't getting rid of media. They are getting rid of optical media.

Read the article and see "removable solid-state storage card" which would effectively be a SD card. No one bitches about the DS or Vita games coming on solid-state storage.

Eventually we'll be going VDI.

Accept it now and you'll be ok.

I was trying to point that out in an earlier post.

@om*d wrote:

Well, if they use something like SDXC cards, which you can buy ones that hold 64GB for around 60 bucks, then you could still have physical copies of games. What would be multi-disc games would just be a higher capacity SDXC card. As far as I know they go up to 128GB.

I can't think of many games that are on more than one dual layered blu-ray disc, which holds about 50GB, so SDXC cards would be the way to go if you ask me.