I love my pretty packaging, so this is a tough thing for me to say. But if Nintendo and Sony want to keep up with portable gaming, probably the best thing they could do is do away with physical games and go strictly with digital downloads. Some people will throw a fit over this, but in time, they'll get over it. I think, if given a proper chance, we'll find that it is much more cost effective for developers and consumers, and also much more convenient.
I'm kind of sentimental about some things. For instance, I'm a sucker for "collections." I like keeping all my games together in their pretty little packaging and I have a sort of sentimental attachment to them. Sure, I downloaded FFVII on the PS3, AND downloaded a back up ROM on my PC, but I will always have those CDs - in their case, with the instruction manual - sitting on my shelf.
I don't have these kinds of attachments to digital downloads. It may a great game, sure, but it's just a file on my computer or console. It lacks the physical property needed to have any kind of "value."
But times are a' changin. Everything is going digital. Music made the jump first years ago with iTunes (well, technically it began with Napster, but that wasn't legal...), and while some of us were slow to make the switch (I didn't get into buying Mp3s until last year when I discovered Amazon sold Mp3s), I'd say it's for the better.
Sony made a big move with the PSPgo and making a big chunk of the PSP library available for download. Though I've been very resistent to the idea of downloading my PSP games, I can't say my reasons are grounded in anything based on logic. Why did I recently buy the UMD of Prinny 2 instead of downloading it? Packaging.
But in the portable world, there are so many advantages to digital media. The biggest of which is cost efficiency for developers and consumers, convenience, and security.
One thing that I have noticed about PSP games available on the Playstation store is that games that are sold as downloads ONLY are always cheaper than games that have UMD counterparts. The reason for this is simple: the over head needed to cover manufacturing, distribution, and warehouse expenses are eliminated. I know that the bandwith and servers needed to make these games available online comes at a price, but I am sure it costs a lot less. Let's also not forget that if the game doesn't sell, money hasn't been wasted on a game that is now taking up room in a warehouse somewhere (or buried in a land fill).
Because of this cost cutting, a game that might sell for $30 to $40 can now be sold for $15 - $20. This is very beneficial for consumers, who might find themselves more likely to buy said game. The ultimate end result being that the consumer is happy to have acquired said game for a cheaper price (and possibly use savings to buy other games), and the developer is happy because they were able to make their money back and start profiting off the game much more quickly.
On the issue of convenience, it is very nice to be able to switch games by simply exiting the game I am currently playing and then booting up another. That is much better than having to remove the UMD, dig out my case of UMDs, swap UMD out with the one I want, then load up the other UMD. Same goes for the DS, which requires the extra step of actually having to shut down the DS and then turning it back on in order to switch games. Those UMDs and DS cartridges are also taking up precious space in my backpack.
What about security? Yes, this is, in fact, important. What if your backpack gets lost or stolen with all your games in it? Tough luck, you're not getting them back unless you repurchase them, and in some cases you might have a hard time even finding a copy if it's an older game. If the games were downloaded, however, all you need to replace is the console itself. Assuming there is a proper account system in place (like PSN), you can simply redownload the games without having to repurchase them.
Sony already has embraced this concept, but Nintendo has made no such move. This is unfortunate, especially considering the fact that DSi could very easily support the purchase and download of DS titles. While the PSP runs into the issue of file sizes (some PSP games can be over a gig and seem to average over 500 megabytes), most DS titles are under 100 megabytes, and rarely get over 200. A 2 gig SD card can easily hold a lot of games.
We could also make the argument about competing with the cell phone gaming market, but I really have a hard time getting into that argument. I doubt games on cell phones are a serious competitor when it comes to people who are interested in REAL games. Maybe we'll talk about that another time (or Patrick will talk about it soon...)
2 comments:
I agree with you 100%. Another reason that games available online are more expensive is a bunch of lawsuits that went down when Steam came out, which were basically there to keep the brick & mortar stores from getting ZOMG PWNED! Penny Aracde even made a strip about it, http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/10/15/, see?
Two things I'd want to see regarding digital downloads: No internet required to play the games. I don't know if the PSPgo required an active connection or not but that would be counterproductive if portables required internet like some PC games did (the publishers ended up removing the internet requirement in a patch). I also know in Rock Band 2 and Lego Rock Band you can't use your DLC if you're not actively connected to Xbox Live. Which is lame.
Two: A way to move your copies from regular to digital without having to re-purchase the game. I haven't run across this issue with PC games, so I'm going to use a movie example. If I want to watch Anchorman on my portable devices, even though I own it on DVD, the powers that be would have me buy a digital copy instead of allowing me to procure a legitimate digital copy without paying for it again. DVDs offer "digital copies" now but every one I've gotten only lets you download it once, so if you lose the file you're screwed - this doesn't cut it. It also doesn't apply to older movies, like Anchorman, that pre-date the "digital copies." Essentially, I don't want to have to re-purchase all my DS games as "digital media" if Nintendo did something like this.
Note that you can currently get a 32GB SDHC card for around $25 on amazon - that's enough to store a bunch of games on either system, and you save that much money already on the first 2-3 games you buy. Amortization!
Cell phones could be a good platform for "real" games, but they need better controls first.
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