"The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry"
Just watched that yesterday. Still one of my favorite films of all time.Sam Posten said:"The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry"
Yeah, this sounds good.. but it doesn't work that way. My parents live in a town where there is no cable TV service, let alone hope of real broadband internet. At population 1,000, it's just a farm community. The nearest "city" to them is 40 minutes away and it's population 18,000. To get to a community with more then 50,000, you have to drive about an hour and a half, minimum.Sam Posten said:Here's the thing, progress requires pain. Everyone gets pissy when apple kills off the floppy or skips Bluray to go all digital downloads but if you look BACK in time you realize they were the right decisions. The alternative is to keep yourself tied to the past and never break free from it.Look, I sympathize that vast swaths of the world doesn't get broadband Internet. But if we CATER to that population then we will never have the consumer outcry and political motivations to fix that bullshit all the while hampering the millions who do. Does that make those people unwilling pawns? Perhaps yes!
I would argue that when someone lives with their face stuck in an iPad or cellphone they make their would much smaller.Sam Posten said:"The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry"
but isn't increasing sales of material goods also rushing us towards the hellscape of a future presented in WallE?TravisR said:I don't care if it makes me a luddite but as far as I'm concerned, everyone downloading everything is just another step in man rushing towards the nightmarish hellscape of a future presented in Wall-E.
This is what quite a few have.. but let me say something about Hughes.. the lag is HUGE. Plus, you're missing one part of the equation:schan1269 said:" If you can't get a home land line, what's your hope of getting broadband, really?"
http://www.hughesnet.com/?page=Plans-Pricing#gen4
I was talking about the human interaction but touché.DaveF said:but isn't increasing sales of material goods also rushing us towards the hellscape of a future presented in WallE?
Looking at my growing collection of download-only audiobooks, eBooks, mp3's, podcasts, Mac software, and iPhone games, I realize that I'm not just accepting digital only, but prefer it increasingly to physical copy.For console games, the only reason I don't want digital only is I think it's impractical to sell 50 GB downloads. Or at least, it's no more convenient. It would be faster and easier to drive to BestBuy and back than to download BioShock Infinity+1 (an 8 hour download best case on my 15 Mbps service)That said, I think pleas of the sort "they can't go digital only, it's not fair, some of us live in the boonies with only carrier pigeons for communications" is misguided. To me, that's like saying its no fair that Tesla only sells a $50k electric vehicle since not all of us can afford it. If MS or Sony thought they could make more money digitally by cutting out the have-nots with no broadband, they'd do it. Perhaps I make a strawman argument; see prior paragraph, and I agree that the money requires physical media for Blockbuster AAA games.And practically...I'm one of those with Verizon Fios, fiber to my home, 30 minutes from the birthplace of the Internet....and I'm increasingly frustrated that I can't watch YouTube videos during prime time. I've got doubts Netflix would work well, and I see this problem hitting large game downloads. In Summary: I want digital distribution, but guess it's impractical for next-gen blockbuster games. And I'm more annoyed by $60/yr Gold to do interesting things than any of the digital vs physical concerns.Morgan Jolley said:I think digital is great as something that coexists with other methods of buying games, but all digital is kind of a bad idea. Sony tried it with the PSPgo and it didn't work. MS wasn't really trying it with the One any more than Nintendo is with Wii U or Sony is with PS3/PS4. There's still a market for vinyl records and CDs alongside MP3s, so there will always be a physical market for games, too.If console games wanted to get anywhere close to digital-only, they would need to incetivize digital purchases over physical ones. Sony did that on the Vita (10% off for digital versions) but it's a LOT easier to wait 6 months and get a physical copy of a game for half price than it is to wait a couple years until there's a good sale on a digital game. They've gotten better at reducing digital game prices, and PS+ offers tons of games for free digitally, but I don't think its good enough.
if we were worried about WallE we'd not be online on a forum discussing how to buy expensive things... But we can invoke 1984 on the digital stuff and probably agree just fineTravisR said:I was talking about the human interaction but touché. Anyway, I've gone off topic enough so I'll drop it.
I think the problem, though, is far more complex.DaveF said:Are all new releases for sale by download? I've looked for several older games that are not available by download. So my experience is download is exception, not the rule.But, while I may not agree 100%, I understand Sam's point. To flip it around: if Apple required all iOS software to first be sold on physical media (with download an afterthought) and installed every iPad with a slot-load DVD, the computing world would be very different right now.If a next gen console eschewed physical media, the design could be different. The mechanics could be different. The stores, distribution, and consumer experience could be very different. It is a consequential decision to have both options are available.
Because I already agreed completely with that.mattCR said:I think the problem, though, is far more complex. ...The reference to iPad marketing/etc. is fine, also. but remember, the "big" downloads on iPad are all under 400Mb, for the most part.. most are in the 1-10Mb arena.. so someone with a 384k connection or bandwidth usage limitations is fine.Downloading something like, say, The Last One is 34Gb on the Sony PS3. It will be bigger on the next gen consoles. Even at 60Mb/s here, I'm talking hours to download it all. Someone on a 384k connection? Impossible.
DaveF said:For console games, the only reason I don't want digital only is I think it's impractical to sell 50 GB downloads. Or at least, it's no more convenient. It would be faster and easier to drive to BestBuy and back than to download BioShock Infinity+1 (an 8 hour download best case on my 15 Mbps)
Yes. And that's why small indie games are download only (even dialup can download, and cost to retail on media is too high) while the multi-GB big-studio games are still sold retail on disc (never underestimate the bandwidth of a cargo container). I think its nothing more than an infrastructure issue. When home broadband in the US universally allows for 50GB "Bioshock Infinity+1" downloads, the disc for gaming goes away. Unlike with reading and books, nothing about physical media enhances the experience of gaming. It only detracts. (cf the great wailing and gnashing of teeth over Nintendo N64 sticking with cartridge while Sony PS lept to CD.)Morgan Jolley said:Gaming is a market that tries to appeal to the broadest category possible. You NEED millions of customers.
And crazy. Don't forget crazy!We've long ago established that I am unabashedly anti-choice.