PC has no physical media = Steam FTW , PS/Xbox have no physical media = OMFG WTFFF

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DR3AM

DR3AM

Dreams of a world where inflated review scores save studios
Why is there a double standard with physical media on consoles vs PC when PC hasn't had physical discs in 20+ years.

Next gen consoles will most likely not and should not come with a build in BR drive to keep cost down.

Digital is the future. It saves the environment from plastic cases. #savetheturtles
 
No thank you. I will keep buying physical games on console.

Also, downloading hundreds of GB of data is not free. You are using data centers, storage space, internet infra etc... all of this has a cost and requires energy to run. A physical game has a single initial cost, then it is done.

Add the fact that games get bigger and have more lazy patches requiring huge downloads (because of the digital approach to delivering these), and the question about this being less expensive "for the planet" isn't exactly obvious to me.
 
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Wow another troll thread by a poster who makes a million troll threads. You're unoriginal and uninspired and it's time to get a new shtick because yours is worn out.

youre-really-fucking-boring-lame.gif
 
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Sales on steam are a lot more frequent, and sites like Greenmangaming make it even cheaper to buy games.

Also when was the last time Steam was down and locked you out of playing something?

PC also let's you play your 15+ year old games easily barring some minimal workaround like having to run a really old game as an administrator or patching it. Consoles are only backwards compatible so long as they continue to make that decision.
 
physical media is pointless. when I lose access to my digital games then physical owners will be left with a piece of plastic that has half a broken game on it. No more patches or DLC.

There has been zero point in physical since 2006. The sooner it fucks off the better :)
 
V1LÆM said:
physical media is pointless. when I lose access to my digital games then physical owners will be left with a piece of plastic that has half a broken game on it. No more patches or DLC.

There has been zero point in physical since 2006. The sooner it fucks off the better :)
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This is a lie though. But I understand you need to lie to push your narrative.
 
I get your point, but physical media is something consoles should hold on to as a benefit against PC. Just because the alleged MR likes to cuck themselves with DRM, doesn't mean we need to follow.
 
V1LÆM said:
physical media is pointless. when I lose access to my digital games then physical owners will be left with a piece of plastic that has half a broken game on it. No more patches or DLC.

There has been zero point in physical since 2006. The sooner it fucks off the better :)
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You can play like 99% of games that are worth a crap physically without any patches or downloads necessary. You really just have 0 idea what you're talking about which isn't surprising in the least.
 
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cireza said:
This is a lie though. But I understand you need to lie to push your narrative.
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it's been a long time since discs came with the full games on them. since PS3 we need patches and dlc to get the best and full experience.

But yeah sure I'm lying to push my narrative :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
Bruh, this again. How hard is it to understand that consoles are usually a closed platform, meaning you are forced to buy games through a store operated by the platform holder, while on PC there are multiple options to buy those games much cheaper.
 
V1LÆM said:
No you can't. As soon as you put a disc in these days you have to update it.
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My entire library of physical ps5 games say otherwise. None of them required any update besides hogwarts legacy. Metaphor didn't, persona 3 remake didn't etc etc etc the list goes on and on but keep spreading misinformation.
 
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V1LÆM said:
it's been a long time since discs came with the full games on them. since PS3 we need patches and dlc to get the best and full experience.
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That's a false dichotomy though. You need all kinds of shit on PC to get the "best and full experience". Let's not get started on the hoops you have to jump through to play some games decently on PC (especially older games, which need compability mods/fixes). A decent number of PS4/PS5 (and especially PS3, lol) games you can play decently just with the disk, i'd say upwards of 80% (ideally that number should be 100% ofc, but again, PC isn't better here).

ProtoByte said:
but physical media is something consoles should hold on to as a benefit against PC
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They're not a "benefit against" PC, lmao. At best they make these wall gardened jails slightly less restrictive. Any game you buy on GOG for example you can copy on as much phyical storage (CDs, BDs, even floppies!) as you like. Sure there's some online always bullshit, but then again, that obviously is much more of a problem on consoles.
 
V1LÆM said:
How am I?

You just contradicted yourself with your edit!

BTW "The Answer" for Persona 3 was included on the PS2 disc. Not on the PS5 disc.
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You're original argument was that physical ps5 games can't be played on disc for the ps5 without required patches. Persona 3 remake can be played on the ps5 disc without any patches. You're talking about 'The Answer' as a gotcha when it's an expansion and not necessarily to playing the base game. You're moving the goalposts because you're entire point has no legs to stand on.
 
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Hero_Select said:
Sales on steam are a lot more frequent, and sites like Greenmangaming make it even cheaper to buy games.

Also when was the last time Steam was down and locked you out of playing something?

PC also let's you play your 15+ year old games easily barring some minimal workaround like having to run a really old game as an administrator or patching it. Consoles are only backwards compatible so long as they continue to make that decision.
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Let's not forget that Steam has also updated its client multiple times, basically locking you out of your purchased games if you're running an older Windows version. They could've made some offline client to keep supporting older OS's, but they didn't.

GOG is pretty much the only service that handles it well. You don't have to upgrade to Windows 10/11 and there are no DRM's so all games are ready to be installed offline.
 
I was all for physical on consoles.
However they keep making it harder and costlyer to make a physical collection, just to have half digital products anyway, requiring Dlcs, subscriptions and gigantic patches, and after the price increase on PSplus I gave up on it.

However...

If I'm going to transition to digital, it's gonna be on Steam. Bigger library, better prices, better interface, better backwards compatibility, free online and cloud saving, and as it's on PC it comes with mod support.
It's a closest thing to a collection beyond having a physical one.
 
There's no double standard. There's expectations for PC gamers and expectations for console gamers. When physical PC games started going away people were plenty upset about that too.

You act as though ovens and microwaves are the same thing because they are both appliances that heat things.
 
A lot of it is because physical PC games were pretty annoying - you had to install them manually, they frequently came on 5 discs by the time Steam started becoming relevant, and patches were annoying to go retrieve and manually install. Steam (and digital distribution on PC more broadly) did fix that, and it was a big improvement. Console games have always been far more streamlined in how they work, even in this current era of unfinished trash shipping in the box. Going digital doesn't feel like it's providing any real benefit by contrast.

I'm digital on both consoles and PC, but man do I wish physical media was still a viable thing. If only Switch 2 had rewriteable carts.
 
DR3AM said:
Why is there a double standard with physical media on consoles vs PC when PC hasn't had physical discs in 20+ years.

Next gen consoles will most likely not and should not come with a build in BR drive to keep cost down.

Digital is the future. It saves the environment from plastic cases. #savetheturtles
Click to expand...

because
A: on PC you can either get DRM free versions of games on GoG and some on Steam or the Epic Store even
or B: you can in most cases eventually get a crack to remove the DRM.

once you have a DRM free copy of a game, it is easily preserved and useable without being dependent on any online store or specific system.

the only way to do what I just said on a console is to do often complicated jailbreaks that involve either a soft mod or even a hardware mod.
and even then you are often limited to a specific piece of hardware that will eventually stopped being made.

as it stands, console games can only be properly preserved through very complicated means, and by most lamens only through piracy and emulation on a PC.

while every PC game bought on GoG will probably work without much issue on any PC 20 years from now, and can easily be copied onto multiple HDDs, SSDs, SD Cards, Discs etc.
and for those who can't, eventually they will be by downloading usually a simple to apply modification for them.
 
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No double standard for me, it sucked. At least I buy from GOG every time I can. No resale value but no launcher or risk od the game being removed from the store bullshit.

On Console I buy only physical on Switch when it exists and will do the same on Switch 2. When i'll old and senile, if my son is uninterested in gaming he can bag in a few thousands by selling the collection if so he wants.
 
Steam lets you create a backup of any game in your library, which you're then free to transfer to Blu-ray or any other physical medium of your choice.

od-chan said:
hat's a false dichotomy though. You need all kinds of shit on PC to get the "best and full experience". Let's not get started on the hoops you have to jump through to play some games decently on PC (especially older games, which need compability mods/fixes). A decent number of PS4/PS5 (and especially PS3, lol) games you can play decently just with the disk, i'd say upwards of 80% (ideally that number should be 100% ofc, but again, PC isn't better here).
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I play retro (as in 90s to mid-2000s and older) PC games almost exclusively. I can't even remember the last time I had to spend more than five minutes to get a game to run. And even if it routinely took longer than that, it'd still be less of a hassle than having to own legacy hardware or rebuy games you already own just so you can play them on the latest console iteration - assuming they're even available.
 
I hate having to rely on the internet to install a game or having to open a launcher (at GoG is better here). The moment every PC started going on Steam's dick, I started pirating them and buying the console versions.
And by idea of my gf (can you tell by the plant?) we have this tiny shelf where indeed physical games are used as decoration (and yes, I did pay extra for the lenticular version of DD2 but worth it for me as a collector):

2jkvozg.png


If consoles too kill physical, I will only buy games if they are 1/10 of their current prices. Which will never happen, so it's down to finding another hobby or full-on piracy, which I do not take pleasure in saying but that's how I feel about megabytes on some cloud.
 
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DR3AM said:
Why is there a double standard with physical media on consoles vs PC when PC hasn't had physical discs in 20+ years.

Next gen consoles will most likely not and should not come with a build in BR drive to keep cost down.

Digital is the future. It saves the environment from plastic cases. #savetheturtles
Click to expand...
John Candy No GIF by Laff
 
One saved gaming (Steam) one is killing gaming slowly for alot of people. PC gaming was in dire straights before Steam.

One is fully backwards compatible and your games continue to be available and work for the most part. At least in theory.

Physical game boxes with a only code or mega fucking patch to play should be illegal and people who sell them should be sent straight to hell.

Physical media isn't some out dated CRT. Although a nice CRT still is awesome.
 
@OP

When people are confronted with cognitive dissonance, they often go to great lengths to preserve their existing beliefs. This often involves rationalization, applying double standard, or ignoring, or even downplaying contradictory facts.
NeoGaf is a wonderful playground tp observe these things. You find all sorts of console / pc wars and culture wars here. My bet is that you will not find an self reflective response in your thread. :)
 
LazyParrot said:
I can't even remember the last time I had to spend more than five minutes to get a game to run
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It's not about the time commitment though, it's about having to rely on external ressources, other than the base game itself, like patches. We're just talking simple matters of facts here.

LazyParrot said:
it'd still be less of a hassle than having to own legacy hardware or rebuy games
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You're conflating a lot of things here, slow down. Why would I need to rebuy my games in this scenario? Disc Rot lmao? And yeah, it's definitley more of a hassle to own a PS3 for PS1-PS3 games and then a PS5 for PS4 and PS5 games (for example), that's kind of the nature of the beast. You're not wrong, but that's really a different discussion.
 
Digital PC prices are a lot lower, you have multiple outlets to buy digital games, various CD Key sites also provide huge reductions on games.

Digital console prices are insane and you are locked to the PS Store only.
 
DR3AM said:
Why is there a double standard with physical media on consoles vs PC when PC hasn't had physical discs in 20+ years.

Next gen consoles will most likely not and should not come with a build in BR drive to keep cost down.

Digital is the future. It saves the environment from plastic cases. #savetheturtles
Click to expand...
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