Pretty much every game will be worthless if the servers that has the updated versions goes offline, now-a-day there's nearly no games that launch without major bugs or glitches, even frame rate problems and stuff. That's why I don't get all this physical version nonsenses...

My god that was the most drawn out article I've ever read. Before you judge me, read it. Or try to.

This is why i try to get most of my Switch games physical, i don't mind the smaller games being digital. Because once the online service shuts down, and for consoles it will at some point, you can't re-download them again

That was my complaint day-one of the "glorious digital future".

He doesn't want to go online because he would have to update his dashboard (system). He would lose the blades. For someone that has 3 xbox360 for so long one would think that he learned a thing or two. Every physical copy has dashboard software update on the disc. So you pop in GOW3 and dashboard is updated in order to play the game. I don't get this guy. What does he want? For all I understand digital games are not his problem.

When I go back to the 360 the Dashboard looks abandon. It's like a long party took place but eventually it came to end. Similar to Studio 54. Very few ads and it looks baron and run down. It feels like tumbleweeds are gonna cross my screen. I feel like someone returning to their childhood home. All those memories and now it's all gone.

No game is going to last forever considering nothing ships complete anymore. Once the patches are not available, game broken.

If you are an achievement or trophy hunter then the loss of taking the system (or game) online can be even more detrimental because many achievements/trophies are no longer obtainable. you can still play the games offline.

Well games in general now change they won't be the same in 10 years no matter what version you have unless you buy the disc and don't have your console online.

E. G gta 4 had 60 plus songs removed from the radio stations recently when it turned 10

On PC digital is past, present and future as we don't have generations like on consoles.

You think you've got it good on consoles well the PC has it much better and has had backwards compatibility for decades.

This is why digital is the future on PC as it is more widely accepted and advanced.

This article just made me miss the blade interface it was so much better than the boxes we got after it.

It was clean and had minimal advertising in comparison to the end of the generation which was 90% Mountain dew and doritios ads on the home screen

oh god more people crying about digital games, its the future get used to it

the day i couldnt get my cartridges to work on my snes without blowing into them, the day i couldnt get my ps1 or ps2 or ps3 or xbox og or xbox 360 to read a disc becuase the disc was scratched or the reader didnt work was the day i was praying for a digital future even in the snes days , instead we have people crying about going digital and holding everyone back becuase they have nostalgia, i hate people in general but the nostalgic ones are the worst

Just get your Xbox360 Jtag'd, bypass all the security.

If you bought DOOM on the arcade you are SOL. I tried & tried to download it again recently & it just says.
"You can't download Doom". I assume 1&2 were pulled by Bethesda?

OK, this article really tries hard to find flaws in something so it can stir the pot.

1) Your digitals are always playable on the registered console (online or offline). Yes, the console can break but so can the disk.

2) At this moment, you can play all you're purchased games that are tied to you're account if you are logged online.

3) if a server is shutdown (ex Paragorn) the game won't be playable digitally or physically.

I miss OutRun Online Arcade and Sega Rally Online Arcade on the 360.

It's also worth noting that the 360 only has a 35MB cache for patches.

So say goodbye to your DLC when the servers get closed because unless it's a large title update. The Xbox 360 will only hold around 10 games worth of patches.

DLC requires Patches to run.

Have said this to MS countless times. They don't seem to care.

now finally also the slowest kid begins to understand the fact that consoles and games are not made so that johnny got something nice to play. gaming is not a charity. money has to be made. servers cost money. but go on with these pointless rants.

With streaming you won't even get a license lol,these examples being made are funny as hell.
My cartridges wouldn't work,and servers cost money lol yeah that's very valid when it's an online game.

It's crazy how the consumer has changed to an empty consuming entity,shit even a petrock could be used as a weapon lol.

Yet these days games have DAY ONE patches. So not any sense to buy digital. Plus places like Gamestop are a con. I buy all games in digital now like on PC. Plus MS are doing great job of supporting 360 games on Xbox one with updates,

I prefer physical games for the reason that down the line in the future I will still have access to them. Digital games are way easier and more convenient though. Both have pro's and cons.

This is why physical will ALWAYS be better than digital.

It’s not the games that need downloading on the new machine, it’s your profile. Technically, there are apps on PC where you can create a new profile and then basically hack your licenses from one to the other, so the Games work. But legally, you need to get the console online to re-download and assign your profile to that machine. Then all the digital games will work.

I have over 900 digital games on my PS4 now and I’m happy buying digital. Unless Sony literally turns off psn, I’ll always be able to play them.

I have warned of this when it comes to consoles and it does scare me. There will be a point that collectors will pay LOTS for working consoles with digitally downloaded games before the service is terminated or the games are delisted. I say this because I attend retro game expos and this is the only way you will get to play digital classics like Scott Pilgrim VS The World. It's evident this was going to happen because of services such as XBLIG shutting down and my £10 worth of games permenantly becoming trials due to the games needing to be online to authorise and work. That's also a lot of developers work down the pan.

I must thank MS for being utterly fantastic this gen and enabling me to play nearly all my old XBLA games even if there is a newer HD rerelease. Sony should learn from them in this respect instead of just offering cross-play. This is the only way that digital games in consoles will survive and be played generations down the line or somebody is going to backwards engineer something like MAME.

People compare the way digital games are distributed like Steam. But Steam has no signs of changing and nullifying your games, you can even back up the games without downloading again I have no fear in nearly all my games being digital on PC, but on console it's a very scary prospect indeed.

Back up to hard drive...

Physical ftw

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AH

"MESSAGE!!!!!!!!!!" . Man this was and is common knowledge from the day these games went digital. It is and never was yours.

Why I stick to physical copies unless I can get a game for like $3-5 I don't care.....

Burnt me on movies on my PS3 back in the day. Turned it on to watch them and they're all gone. Called support and they asked if I had backed them up as id never be able to download them again. Never again with that kind of mentality. Fast forward years later and for some reason after they made a videos tab they were available once again for download.

Just a bit of my experience that helped to mold my future choices/purchases....

since most games need to download a huge day one patch and have a constant internet connecton anyway and physical disc are only used for the license key nowadays you might as well just get the digital version. i went full digital with Xbox One and never looked back. Not changing discs anymore is a huge game changer for my personal well being.

Physical copies don't last long with young children either....

So yeah

Idiots, stop asking for a digital only console

this is why i will always choose physical.

one thing to keep in mind above all those issues is that MS reduced the memory (RAM) footprint of the OS a number of times through system updates, that frees more memory for developers to use, a game that was designed to take advantage of a 450 MB RAM system for example is not going to work on an older OS where the total RAM available to games is 400 MB , those numbers are examples but the concept is there, that's why a lot of disc based games come equipped with the latest OS update at that time.

Q: if sanjeev purchases 2 digital games from the store, how many games does he own?
A: None.

Digital games are safe for the most part. Be wary about games featuring licensed characters like Marvel and TMNT. Those games tend to vanish.

All part of MS’s plan, make players game renters not owners and yes the only digital games I have are the free ones. Other than that all on disc.

Some of my 360 purchases are missing as well. It says not available or error.

Another reason to switch over to pc gaming. Sites like steam and gog are continuously adding classics that reach 30+ years back, the sheer volume of titles being brought back is staggering. With HDDs, installs and patches, consoles are almost the same now anyways. Its barely even a jump at this point, how many more generations will there even be?!

Also while not a popular opinion, piracy is a blessing years later for titles that publishers wont support, as things like authentication are stripped out, and changes like gta4's soundtrack are kept intact. You end up with a better version, that works. I know many that own games on disk, but download a pirated version when they want to play it again.

Do not be alarmed, what we have here is some "kid" who doesn't like change. What it comes down to it, It's a long drawn out write-up about how he loves the old 360 blades home menu and how he didn't want to update his system and thus locking himself out of authentication of his digital games...

The title of the article makes it seem like he was screwed out of his digital purchases but he basically screwed himself for not wanting to update his console. I remember when they did away with the blades menu and people were up and arms about it... 3 weeks later guess what happened.... They got over it!...

He talks about how he wants to play his old games when he's 80 yrs old and he's worried if he buys digital, he won't be able to dip into his nostalgia cause he'll be locked out....I'm sorry but if you make it to 80 you'd be more worried about running out of your senior diapers and how many pills you have left in your medicine box than playing a few rounds of street fighter 2 and rocket league.

My fear exactly. I buy my games to last me decades, not a few years untl the manufacturer decides he doesn't have to support a service anymore. Look at all those game servers being shut down, look at how easily Home on the PS3 got shut down, after millions of people spent a small fortune purchasing worthless digital tat. And they didn't take flak for it, people just accepted it. It would be a commercial suicide for Sony or Microsoft to do that, but if keeping the servers up for their old digital stores of past systems and their content outweighs somehow what they believe they would lose by terminating the stores in their older versions, they'll do it, you'll see. That's why it's preferable to just avoid digital games overall. We may be millions of consumers who have been tricked into buying into this modern trend which may ultimately prove to be a gyp.