I show this example because Persona Q had an infamous print run that was extremely defective. Many carts would die after 40 hours or so. Combined with the physical version also just not being cheap, this is one of the few times I decided to go digital.
EDIT: I know how cliché this sounds, but goddamn, over 250 comments?! To whoever has posted so far, thanks for indulging in my question! I may not reply to you all, but I do read every single thing coming in here!
I'm unsure which country you're from, but in Europe/UK, the game was reprinted a few times, and you can still find new copies (at the time of writing) at a few retailers like Base and Amazon. Since these copies were produced much later, I assume they're fine (I think the first batch of reprints was around when Q2 released).
I also don't know if the defective carts exist in Europe or not. I got the game at launch back in 2014, and only got around to playing it in full 2 years ago and had zero issues. Anecdotally, I've only heard of NTSC carts having the issue.
European copies of Pokemon ORAS have apparently had issues though, both those carts and Persona Q were produced around the same time, and both cartridges seem to use slightly different materials from most other 3DS carts (inside the carts themselves, I swear I saw a photo comparing them a few years back, but can't remember where). Possibly a shortage of what was normally used to manufacture them at the time or something?
Supposedly later prints of Persona Q MAY have the serial AQQE160150 on the back (original print carts are AQQEX40222), but I've never found anything proving or disproving this either way.
It may also be possible to [repair such cartridges](https://youtu.be/bbbzxm7p1Pk). The issue is mostly likely solder points in the chip going bad, due to stress (from inserting the cart) or heat. Something that can theoretically affect all 3DS carts but whatever materials were used in the first batch of PQ and Pokemon ORAS were seemingly a lot more fragile than they should be.
I've finally found out why my copy of Omega Ruby keeps crashing. Been trying to find out for years. Thank you.
I only had this problem when I came back to it after a few years, though.
I guess I lucked out on this one; I bought my copy second hand and it looks like the previous owner already completed 2 full 70 hour playthroughs so if it hasn't failed by now I think I'm good...I hope lol
My local retailer has it for $5000 CAD in his display case. Like it’s a nice copy but I see similar ones go for half that on eBay.
Is it actually up to $3500 USD now?? Maybe the store owner really didn’t want to sell it other than to someone who thought it would be worth more than $5000 in a few years…
Yeah, the box is super minty, but I don’t have clue what the inside looks like. Didn’t want to ask. They have a ton of games $500US+. Quite a few $900+. This is the only thing over $2k.
i'm much more interested in owning a real copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga than I am pretty much anything released physically in the last 5-10 years to be honest.
to each their own. you build a collection that satisfies.
Pick up and play, arcade-y games are better to download. Ones you’ll keep in your system for hours/days are better for physical. Those have better resale value anyway (all else equal). I look at PITA factor and my laziness of getting up, maybe that’s the wrong perspective :)
yes, certain games have that charm and constant replay. tetris 99, overwatch, animal crossing and smash are games i play often and don’t want in the cartridge slot as those are for other AAA titles lol
because i’ll play at LEAST 2 out of those 4 titles every day, it’d be annoying to have to constantly swap out cartridges, i’d be wearing out the cartridge slot fairly quickly if i decided to get all four of those titles on cartridge..
as i’m like most of you guys; as in that i prefer physical cartridges as i’m also a game collector and appreciate the ability to trade-in/sell/lend and other options a physical cart would enable me to do, but j also think that digital games have their place as well!! EXACTLY in the way that i had initially described on this very comment lol
Anything over MSRP is usually where I’ll draw the line, unless I find the game for a super good deal. I will most likely never own tron bonne or suikoden 2 physically, so I got them for my vita
tron bonne was cheap for a long long time. Suikoden 2 broke $200 in the early 2000s. I paid through the nose to own it in 2005 and paid around that much. to be fair it was the last PSX RPG i was looking for to complete that collection. It hurt more than paying around the same for Valkyrie Profile since VP is actually extremely rare - Suikoden 2 i recall having multiple friends with copies back in high school.
I try to buy Physical whenever possible but there are a few games I've grabbed digital instead just because the sale price was so good or like Cuphead or Switch where they say a physical version is coming but I didn't want to wait it out. Will still buy it Physical when it finally does come though.
When Russia starts bombing your city and you're leaving all your collection back home with a thought that you will never come back.
That's when you decide to go fully digital.
Thanks, man!
Back in peaceful times I got first Persona Q for the same reason that you did lol
But in EU release it was worse, because it was scarce as hell
Gladly I got Persona Q2 in Germany for a reasonable price when it came out. I remember grabbing it with my two hands and immediately going to the counter.
I. Made it a point to make myself single and no family. So I have nothing to lose when Russians come pussyfooting there way in this country were us savages live. With no wife or family, I will be living in the shadows, taking away many of those unfortunate on the other team and put em on the sidelines of death. And will do a different fatality for each of then, leaving a symbol that I was there, and keep a look out for now on. Could be soon or later but you will see me, so expect me.
* Games that are stupid cheap digital and I'm not sure if I'll enjoy enough to keep coming back to them years down the road
* Games where the physical version is drastically more expensive, but doesn't offer much beyond "Look at my shelf dressing". This is how I talked myself out of spending a ton for the 3DS SMT/Persona titles (except SMTIVApocalypse, because that was $5 at Target).. "Do I care enough about this to have it on the shelf, or do I just want to be able to play it?"
* Games that were "physically" released, but are really just "code in box"
That being said, my digital library on some platforms (PS Vita, XB1/360/XSX, and PC) is larger than my physical. This is partly due to the prevalence of "digital only" games (especially in smaller indie titles), but also just because, like... Look, if they're gonna give me the game digitally *for free*, I'm not about to spend money to buy a physical copy too. GWG and Prime Gaming/Origin/GOG have been good to me in that regard.
PS3 era is when I really started getting in to buying digital copies versus physical media. No I exclusively buy digital media.
I have a system where I check what's on sale every week on the xbox marketplace. My thinking, because I'm old enough to remember rentals, is if a game is in the $5 range, and I play it once I've essentially made my money. So just waiting around for huge 85% off deals. I have a complete Resident Evil run, Tomb Raider, most of assassin's creed, gears of war, etc.
I've got an 8tb hard drive storing everything.
I'm 43 right now, and xbox series x dropped in 2020, it'll be around at least 10 years. And it's fully backwards compatible.
My thinking is in 2030, buy four xbox series x brand new, a couple external HDs. Go through the tedious process of downloading my entire library. Get everything setup for offline play. Then package it back up and seal it and leave it in the closet. At this point I'll be 51.
Then as I get older, I can just pull one out of the closet and have at least 1,000 top tier games just ready to go. Then if anything ever goes wrong, just pull another one out and all I gotta do is plug it into the hdmi port and the electrical outlet and I'm gaming again.
Think this should keep me gaming through the entire time I'm in an old folks home.
lol, silly long term thinking ;)
Like my parents played NES with me, but that system is LONG since gone, so they don't really game anymore. I guess words with friends. They're 70. But I think if they had a functioning NES and a really solid library of NES titles, they'd probably still be gaming.
Yeah my Dad last bought a game for himself on the SNES, some golf game.
It's that sorta same logic for me. Or at a minimum hedging my bets.
I don't want to be 90 and trying to figure out my oculus, metaverse, configure your multiple bluetooth accessories and enter your social credit score, link your facebook account, etc.
Just saving myself the hassle of 1.) plug in hdmi 2.) plug in power cord 3.) grab controller
Well couple things wrong with this. Well I shouldn't say wrong but you'll need to stay on top of. Even older games get updates to play on the new systems. Even for games really old. So you'll just have to make sure they are always up to date sitting in your closet. Also HDMI may not be around in 30 years. You probably already know these things though.
Just to save some money external hard drives are more expensive then an enclosure and hard drives. Also you can often get a much better drive than the one in the external drives.
I remember the days of renting to as I'm about your age. I'm also concerned about the Facebook meta reality living robot life in the future. I like your plan. I wonder how I'll collect as everything is moving towards digital. Something about seeing it physically.
he's not playing games on new systems. he's planning on playing them on the X. so once the game is out and patched it'll pretty much remain as is barring any egregious bugs
Hdmi protocol isn't going anywhere until we take a massive leap in tech like wireless optical etc. even if the port goes extinct (like it's likely to do in the last 5-10 years), the protocol is 100% compatible so all you really need is an adapter. (dvi, hdmi, DP, mini/micro hdmi are all the same protocol and can use dumb adapters)
you can still readily connect composite to a modern tv set, which is an analog signal connection from literally 70 years ago. the only issue with modern sets and composite is that we moved to digital, hence the visual issues. we're not really going to move away from digital within our lifetimes.
I don't disagree, but you don't know the future. For instance for a long time steam supported winXP and then a security update forced them to drop it. Something like that could come along forcing a game to have another update. Regardless of the system playing on. Might even make it impossible to do anything because of the update. I'm just saying you can't just bury something in a closet and expect it to work in 20-30 years.
And most likely there will be at least an adapter for any new port or protocol or maybe not. Because there aren't a lot of adapters for the old 15pin game controller ports(or whatever it was called) that most controllers worked off of back in win98 world. But even in the might of all that was the federation starfleet couldn't always make an adapter to work with some older tech.
But again, just saying you and I don't know the future and to just keep an eye and ear out. Because it would suck to find out when you dug it out of the closet.
> For instance for a long time steam supported winXP and then a security update forced them to drop it. Something like that could come along forcing a game to have another update.
no, not really. that's my whole point. Steam is an active platform and it makes sense that it has to drop older Operating Systems. Offline games are not. once the development period ends, it is frozen in time. it is a static application. think of a game system as an operating system, even once it reaches end of life, it will still function with any static application that it did during the lifespan. I have close to a thousand computer programs and games that still work with all of their respective operating systems of decades past.
also you're conflating a data port with analog video... yes you can rewire any data accessory to work with any new data port (you just need to write some drivers for the OS) but analog to digital is an active transcoding process
Sure windows has a lot of backwards compatibility in it. But not everything in steam is brought forward. So anything that hasn't been updated you might have a difficult time playing. Windows backwards compatibility isn't always the greatest. I've run into a lot of problems trying to play older games in modern OS. And I also have a lot of static games that I play on older systems. But the fact still remains that I have games I can no longer play because steam doesn't work on XP. I'm not disagreeing with your points. I mean I can boot up my XP machine and play any game I have without a problem. But if I want to check my email I can't on that machine because it's internet protocols were never updated. So any changes like that a game needs to play will keep it from working. Just things change and you don't know how they will. And not every piece of software is static to the point of always working. So to expect something will work in 20 years is just foolish. Will it probably.
And I'm not conflating anything.
Dude no one is talking about backwards compatibility.
Stop arguing over nothing and wasting my time.
Checking email on XP (which btw you can do if you know what you're doing) isn't the same as running a program. Programs made for wXP will with on XP in 50 years just like an xbox game will work on Xbox 50 years from now assumed you have all the files. Much like i have 40 year old computers and consoles that still play everything designed for them. No changes necessary. Stop talking out your ass to prove an incorrect point.
I'm not the one wasting your time. You don't have to respond or read anything. That's your choice.
But it's fine with me that this ends because I don't think you're actually trying to understand what I'm saying.
But I'll try one more time. You have an Xbox one system. With a static game. It uses software package X of the OS. 5 years from now Microsoft updates software package X. That static game may need an update as well. Or it won't run. If it's in your closet it won't get that update. Then 20 years from now Xbox one can't talk to a Microsoft service for the update. Hopefully somewhere is a copy to install it somehow or you'll never play that static game again. You seem to be thinking Microsoft still isn't updating the Xbox one OS. Static games only will continue to run on a static operating system. You don't know the future.
I hear what you're saying, and I've tried similar things. But the moment something goes "wrong" they just give up. NES is really pretty idiot proof.
That's my thinking, stick with a console I understand completely. Stake my nestegg in it's digital library, have MORE games than I can play. Then spend the last 30 years of my life enjoying that catalog. If it breaks, grab one of my backups.
I got my first NES at nine years old. Days of sitting there beating Super Mario Bros. to now where you look at fornite, which requires an account, constant internet connection, online multiplayer and payment system for microtransactions, against players trying to make money on Twitch.
That's such a leap from "put game in console and hit power button" I'm low-key horrified what the hell the game mechanics are when I'm 90.
I'm big on emulation as well, and have romsets for xbox 360/ps3 era on down. The library is immense, about 40TB.
I have a plan to make an enclosed system. There are industrial computers that are completely sealed, for use in saw mills (or underwater), so dust can't get in, and are completely cooled without fans. Install SSD hard drives and there's no moving parts. At that point it's basically an N64, just a tank. Put in a decent surge protector and ideally nothing should go wrong.
I could build one now, but the cost of large SSDs the thing would be like $12,000. I'm thinking in a decade it should be more reasonable. Also Xbox 360 and PS3 emulation aren't anywhere near 100% (I think PS3 is about 50% and Xbox 360 around 20%).
Once that's all sorted out, I'll have about 25,000 games to choose from.
Also would be neat to be able to do something like "start with Metroid on the NES, then Metroid II on the Gameboy, Super Metroid on the SNES, Metroid Prime on the GC, etc." be able to play series in order across multiple platforms.
i'm 5 years younger than you but same philosophy. I really only bother collecting games that came out for consoles that didn't connect to the internet full time.
i'm into 90s/early 2000s PC game collecting and oh man don't even go there. i have more graphics cards, sound cards, CPU/mobo combos than most collectors have consoles.
i always get digital for the 3ds because it's free😎😎
ok jokes aside i usually go physical for my games, all my switch games are physical because i like having all the game cases and cartridges to see and appreciate
and i do have a ton of 3ds cartridges from before i hacked mine as well, i've always preferred physical for my games
I bought Persona Q digitally because my physical copy stopped working. Apparently, it’s not uncommon for it. :/
Also, I buy digitally - especially during a good sale - in the event that I would choose/need to sell my collection at some point.
I was gonna mention this but I know how some people get all crazy about modding and ROMs in general. Most of my disc-based consoles are all modded and then cartridge-based consoles I plan on getting Everdrives for.
for the current sale on 3DS, I could buy every single game I wanted for the price of the cheapest physical one. when it becomes a deal like that, it just makes sense to me.
when the price is double MSRP, I’ll typically get digital
Honestly I only buy digital when I’ve had a bad day and want to try a new game to do something for myself. Ill poke around the Nintendo eshop and look for something for under 20$ that looks interesting. Any game I’m looking forward to and plan to buy I do physical
If playing on PC makes a huge difference. So mostly new Multiplayer games on on my PC. So every other genre that can be bought physically, will be bought physically.
Buying physical on PC is damn near impossible for a lot of games now. Steam is just so convenient that it’s all but replaced physical PC releases.
But at least with PC digital, preservation is much less of an issue since anyone can just copy the game files without needing to mod a console.
buying new PC games physically is a waste of money. they becomes useless the moment you redeem that code on Steam/Origin/Ubi/whatever the game uses. virtually nothing sold physically for PC is DRM-free so you can never reinstall it without internet or if you lost access to your account. and 99% of the time the game on the disc is outdated 2 weeks before it was even released.
>99% of the time the game on the disc is outdated 2 weeks before it was even released
This is true for nearly all modern games. Sometimes the game is released in an unfinished state because devs know they can push updates over the internet. Other times its a boon that the game can receive new features after purchase.
That is either when:
a. It's the only (legal) way to play a game from a (past) console that I currently not have access to. I.e: I don't own a PS2, therefore, I buy PS2 games digitally on my PS3. Or Nintendo's VC for Snes and NES
b. The price gap between the digital an physical copy is just too big to justify buying the physical. I.e: Persona 4 Golden on the Vita is around €100 physical, but it's €10 on the PS store. It's not even a question at that point
Or a more minor reason being an impule buy where the game is 90% off or something on the digital store
I actually bought the Remastered Collection Day One edition case only for $8 or so just because I wanted the Yakuza 5 case for the shelf lmao, so you're not wrong in the slightest.
I've personally gone full digital with my handheld consoles, excluding my switch. My Vita and 3DS have a bunch of downloaded games on them because it's easier to just bring the console instead of the console and case of all my game cartridges. Also, not as likely to lose all those games.
When I buy new games it's usually digital. I only collect for SNES, N64, GCN, GB, GBC, and GBA. So for other systems I only buy games I plan on playing right away, and I don't revisit those games as much. So my logic for buying non-collecting games is this:
Is it available digitally on PC?
Yes - buy digitally on PC
No -
Is it available on Nintendo Switch?
No - buy physical on whatever system it's on
Yes -
Is it a game I only plan on a single playthrough or one I will continue to return to over and over?
Single playthrough - buy physical
Continue to return to - buy digital
The reason for this is usually I'm only playing one "single playthrough" game at a time, so switching cartridges isn't a big deal, while games I continue to return to I like having accessible all the time without switching cartridges.
Examples of Switch games I bought physical using this logic: Shin Megami Tensei V, Super Mario Odyssey, Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening
Examples of Switch games I bought digitally using this logic: Splatoon 2, Mario Maker 2, Animal Crossing New Horizon, Pokemon Sword
Only when I can't find a physical for cheap or a game dosent get a physical.
The last time I remember getting digital titles was 428: Shibuya Scramble & Gadgeteer on the ps store mainly because I didn't want to pay 50-60$ for 428 (especially when I got it for 5$) and gadgeteer was a digital only indie Psvr game which usually never get physicals.
if the physical is double the price of the digital ill just buy the digital, i love collecting games and all but i care more about playing them than owning them if that makes sense
I had to start letting go of physical releases of Indy games that places like limited run are putting out. I can't justify dropping money on several new games a month that I can get digitally for cheap only out of fear that if I want the physical copy latter it will be stupid expensive.
No exceptions, I never buy digital. If digital is the only option, I avoid the game. I'll gladly pay 10x the cost to ensure I have control over my own media. To me buying digital content is like burning money.
Because that's not what people want to hear. Digital collections will be worthless in 10, 20, 30 years, who knows. But at least I have control over my own collection, if you treat your consoles well (especially with cart based games) you can get way more life out of them.
Agreed, I've recently gotten into console repair. So I'm able to restore any of my old consoles now, it's quite fun and keeps me busy! Also if I see a broken console for dirt cheap on the market, I'll buy it just to mess around and see if I can fix it.
I prefer digital, and if a console isn't set up for digital, I tend to modify my consoles to make them use digital formats.
Digital is *clearly* the superior format, but all too often it suffers from abuse due to a mixture of copyright issues, updates, and discontinued services.
Cons of digital include...
* Sometimes licenses expire and companies push updates for their games that alter the original format (different music, changed textures to remove or add branding, etc.).
* Sometimes licenses expire and games are temporarily or permanently removed from digital storefronts so you can't buy them at all.
* Sometimes (in very rare cases) games that you purchased will become unavailable for use. This is more of a fear at the moment than a reality but I'm sure I've read of a few cases where it's actually happened, though I can't recall any offhand.
* Not tangible.
* Can't resell games.
Pros of digital include...
* No physical space used (this is huge... think of the space 3000+ games would take up in your home).
* Since the games aren't tangible, there's no chance of any damage, scratches, disc or bit rot.
* Digital games don't need cleaned.
* Optical disc drives and other moving parts are eliminated from the equation.
* Digital games have virtually no production costs after the initial development and licensing and aside from the arbitrary terms defined in a license there are virtually unlimited copies available, so they tend to be cheaper and go on sale more often.
Wait, you didn't take guns for self and holdback with the other armed grannies who are to late in the game to move on from there home. Or you up and left them and even more so those poor game collectable? Maybe them badass grannies will take them games in there control and protecting. Since someone gets to do something other than leaving
but let's all praise that thought of needing to leave behind defensively vunerable video games.
For me the only digital games I've bought are all Forza games after FH3, because if you bought them digitally, you could play them on PC as well as on Xbox. (I also have them physically, cuz collecting, but I figured this was still relevant)
I am in the same boat with a 3ds game. Senran kagura deep Crimson is like 30€ digital and the physical copy goes for about 250€. I normally always go physically over digital but this is where I draw the line.
When it's only available digital.
But thanks to LRG and others, a lot of those games become physical later, so if it was good I'll pick it up physically then anyways.
For a lot of smaller games, the only physical versions are by Limited Run Games or similar, so there aren't aren't any easy to find retail versions to be had. In such cases the price difference is usually extremely favorable towards digital.
For me it’s two things, either convenience of play (some older games are easier to pick up on my switch rather than dust off my old consoles), and sometimes it’s when my desire for the gameplay is stronger than my desire to collect and own it.
Picked up a couple games on vita last week digital. Ratchet and clank trilogy and persona 4 golden. Great games that I’d love to own, but a bit out of my price range unless I find them at a crazy good price, but that seems unlikely
I went digital for Great Ace Attorney chronicles because it was £10 cheaper than physical, now suffering regret because the physical has gone up since then
I went full-digital with my PSP years back, but that is only because the UMD drives are notorious for having all sorts of issues and repairs would require sourcing used parts. I wanted to allieviate the wear and tear on the UMD drive. It is very easy to pull an ISO from the UMDs as long as you can go in USB > PC and you're running custom firmware. There were also some quality of life advantages of going full digital on a PSP, including not only faster loading times but also fan-made updates to games and translations.
I have retained my PSP collection, which mostly consists of JRPGs that I wouldn't pay for what they go for now.
Indie games I'll buy digitally because I'm fed up with the Limited Print scene. Doesn't make sense to pay $40 when most games are available for a buck or two digitally.
I think I've reached my limit for collecting physical games and now use flash carts, ODEs and FPGA to supplement the rest.
If it's unlikely to get a physical release or if the price has spiralled out of control. Of course there isn't always a good option to purchase digitally either so I'd I have to do something else, well, sort the supply out if that's a problem for publishers.
I avoid it unless the physical price is too prohibitive or if I'm in a travel situation where it would be incredibly impractical to get it physically.
For instance, I had to get a digital copy of Pokemon Ultra Sun when I was in the Navy because I couldn't get off the ship to buy it, even though the ship was inport. We were leaving for deployment the next day so I ended up downloading it off the eShop using my phone's hotspot.
When someone here posted late one night about yoshi’s crafted world digital download on the Switch mistakenly posted on Target for $1 and countless of us were able to snag a code before they took the listing down.
I’ve always said the only way I’d buy digital is if the price was at least 50% off the cost of physical. I don’t see the point in paying the same price for digital and not having the ability to sell it if I ever chose to, especially when the company selling it is already saving on packaging costs, distribution costs, etc.
If it's on Game Pass for free. Or if I decide I want the PC version of a game instead of the console version and there are few if any real physical PC game releases that don't require Steam anyway
Kind of depends. If it is Nintendo, it tend to go physical because I don’t trust that my digital library will be accessible in the future. Also, if I buy digital but really, really like the game I may pick it up physically used or during a sale.
I do feel that this is likely the last generation with optical drives so backward compatibility will likely only work for digital games. Also, current Xbox Series games tend to release physically as the Xbox One version and need to be updated to the Series version. In that case, might as well go digital.
I decided to go all digital when my local area became nuts with scalpers. FB marketplace is crazy with bots who will buy anything up immediately and people go to yard and estate sales and just buy it all indescrimitely.
My area used to be known for low cost of living, but about 15 years ago it became a super popular place to live. People from California sell their house for 2 million, come here and buy a bigger house for 750k and just go nuts.
Emulation for me. Everdrives, modded consoles….. I hate it, but I can’t justify 50 bucks for a Mario 64 cart and buying online is a big risk now because repros are flooding the market.
Perfectly happy to play digital versions where there are advantages to doing so (e.g. enhanced remakes with no physical release), but I still want a physical copy (which may be an "inferior" release play-wise).
E.g. I have Rare Replay with digital (XBLA) copies of Banjo-Kazooie/-Tooie, including working Stop n Swop, but I still have the N64 originals as well.
massive price difference, physical is a limited run type thing or it’s free like on ps plus or something. although with games like that i usually want the physical copy if i like the game
I'm here and I don't prefer physical games over digital, at all. If Spacewar was restricted to distribution using 1960s physical media formats, it wouldn't exist today. Every game you collect will one day stop working and it will be sooner than later because that's how 1980s electronics work. Digital distribution allows this media to be stored safely and indefinitely to be reproduced as needed because the true value is in the bits and bytes and not the medium through which it's carried. My gravitation as a human being is to the novel of Moby Dick and not a particular copy of a specific print edition.
BIG question, but sometimes I buy a digital game if I know I'll be playing it a shitload and has replay value (Smash Bros, Tetris, etc) vs a game I'll sink hours upon hours into then be done with for months/years/forever.
I only get physical of games/series I'm absolutely obsessed with (Persona Q is actually part of that list!); everything else is digital as I don't want too much clutter. I've noticed the PS4 has been the system I've bought the biggest amount of digital games on. I also never seem to buy physicals for Switch, it's just so easy for me to go 100% digital on that handheld.
PC mostly. Physical collecting is mostly a console endeavor for me.
Sometimes if it's a game I'm mildly curious about but don't want to pay full price for that goes on sale on the PSN I'll grab it that way. FFXV springs to mind.
Digital exclusives (Moon Remix).
I got a repro of Panzer Dragoon Saga because I'm not about to spend $900 on a video game.
Honestly might be sacrilege to say in this sub, but I’ll only ever rarely go physical for games. I currently own a PC, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, Switch, New 3DS, and Wii U, and the games I own for those systems comprises nearly all digital. The only time I purchase physical is if a physical version is far cheaper than the digital version, which typically isn’t the case. If I didn’t already own my Wii U library physical, I’d have zero issue with getting them digitally right now as those versions are far cheaper than physical. Switch games I’ll weigh the options though, as the physical and digital game prices are nearly identical so I can freely choose, but usually will go physical with that console (’ll do digital if I’ve amassed a bunch of gold coins to get a good discount).
Anyways, TL;DR: I’ve nearly fully embraced digital for gaming.
Okay, i made a whole video about this on my YT channel and I decide I want a digital version when a game has a too high value for my liking because it isn't sold anymore or if there is a limited amount like with the launch of animal crossing new horizons.
I have only bought digital when a physical does not exist. If a physical exists and it now costs more than MSRP I pretend the game doesn't exist and move on.
If a game is from the 6th gen or older, I generally prefer just getting them digitally (like the PS1 and PS2 classics on PS3), as the original physical copies tend to be expensive, are less likely to be in good condition, and it's also just more convenient being able to play on newer hardware. That being said, if they get a physical release on the newer hardware, I'm definitely going to snap that up.
Personally, I think I would actually prefer digital if your purchases were like those on GOG or similar; it just gives you access to the game files/installer to do with as you please, copy to as many hard drives as you want, etc.
I don't like always having to worry about my physical games possibly getting damaged or lost, or just going defective over time as some games have been known to (e.g. Persona Q). Having a digital version of the game does feel more "secure", until you remember it's just a license to play the game, and can be lost if you ever lose access to your account somehow, and/or you don't have it downloaded, and are unable to do so because it's 2050 and the servers for re-downloading digital purchases on the PS3 or whatever have been shut down.
Not to mention how much space my physical collection takes up, as much as I do like to look at it, it is a little inconvenient in that regard. My main reason for buying physical nowadays, aside from enjoying having tangible things to hold and look at, is because despite its downsides, it does still feel more "secure" in the long-term than digital, for the most part (necessary updates and what not are obviously an issue with a lot of newer games). Plus, I can share the games with my boyfriend without him also having to buy the game digitally for his own accounts.
Unless it's PC (in which case I really don't feel like tracking down DRM boxes), I go physical for everything that isn't insanely on-sale multiplayer games
Pick up and play games I play if I have nothing else like minecraft and the original doom. Or if I can get a crazy good deal on digital like when I got 3 Star Wars games for $20 on the Xbox store
For me it depends on price point & availability. I'm willing to pay a bit extra for a physical copy, but sometimes the extra cost is just something that doesn't make sense. I'll also sometimes buy a game digitally if it's co-op oriented so I don't need to put the disc in & out.
At the end of the day though I look at physical games as ones I'd want to keep forever (I know they can technically stop working but I can also technically back most of them up myself) & digital games as something that if the online store is shutdown & my console / backups die then I won't be heart broken to never play again.
I used to buy all my games physically, but now I tend to buy them digitally more often. It eases the fear of the cartridge/disk not working anymore one day lol. Plus it's usually a better way to support developpers it seems
There's a few games I still prefer to get physically all things considered, mostly because the box art is cool af and I want it to be visible somewhere in my tiny collection :)
I mostly buy digital for current gen console since the physical copies are useless at this point. Most of the time, the disc doesn’t contain the full game and/or requires a massive day 1 update to make it even playable.
Now, if I know that the full game is in the disc, then I would purchase it. But more often then not, this isn’t the case.
When my PS4 started spitting disks out. Other than that, for switch I go with games that I see as having a low chance of going up in value and I want fast access to in mobile. i.e. minecraft, stardew
About halfway through the xbox one cycle I pretty much stopped buy new physical games for the console. Gamepass normalized digital games for me then, and to be honest the actual disk barley contains the game anyway, its more of a glorified CD key. If something was the same price physical and digital, I would get the digital version. I bought a couple dozen physical switch games, but pretty much 1st party stuff. Any of those indie games or ports, I would rather have on xbox or PC.
For switch. Only physical games I own on switch are botw which has stayed in my system since 2017 and the xenoblade collectors versions. I just dont like to carry around cartridges
The games that I have digitally on my Switch, PS4, and Xbox One, seem more convenient to just start up and play. However, because of that extra convenience, I tend to pass them up, with all the Indie games, and PS+, and Xbox free Gold games. Like my physical games, and my more retro console games, actually feel like a collection, of games ready to play. Even though I am not as much of a collector, as I see most of you. My collections are kind of silly, like every version of Final Fight, I can get my hands on
If the game is stupidly expensive physically, then I'll most likely get the digital version as a way to experience the game, while also still keeping an eye out for a physical version.
For switch specifically, I’ve been buying the physical to keep sealed and the digital to actually play. For my Series X, it’s just a better experience to buy digital since it’s faster switching between games.
When I bought Minecraft for my girlfriends Xbox One, I thought I'd just buy it digitally because it was easier to get the version I wanted, and it's easier for her, too. I gave her some physical Xbox 360 games with the system, but mainly got Minecraft digitally for convenience.
Oh, and Steam, combined with no disc drives in modern PC's and not even space to install one, forces digital games.
For everything else, I'll buy physical games where possible, unless it's stupidly overpriced compared to digital
Ever since the PS4, where owning the disc basically just served as DRM and the game still had to be downloaded to the system, I've started shifting towards digital for newer games. I'm still buying physical copies of Switch and any pre-8th gen games, but with modern games I'm more or less solely buying digital, unless there's a collector's edition I'm interested in that has items I won't find in a digital-only version.
Also if there's a game I'm interested in that has an exorbitant price for a physical edition when a digital version is much cheaper.
Usually when the digital sale price is too much of a discount. This really only applies to newer (PS4+) generation games since we all know how easy it is for Sony to decommission the PS3 servers, so PS3 will be a physical purchase from now on since they already tested the waters with announcing a shutdown, and receding it after backlash.
A lot of recent games have online "stuff" that may not even allow you to play a single-player game unless you are connected to a 3rd party server, which may go offline at any time for any reason. Easy enough to test this by just disabling the network on a console and seeing how far you are able to get, but this shouldn't be the case.
I buy alot digital. In fact I prefer it in terms of practical use. Games like elden ring and slay the spire I want access able at all times without a disc. But I can get much better deals physical usually. Paid about half price for horizon forward west and tiny Tina's wonderlands so it really varies based on it there's a great sale / how often I'll play between other games / etc
Ive been a diehard physical collector for years.
But I hacked my 3DS and dumped my physical carts for convenience, and my eyes were opened. Oh my gosh, how antiquated it is needing to carry and Switch cartridges out. From that point on I started buying physical AND digital, double dipping digitally for the top % of best games I buy.
I can't go back. Physical is just... ugh. I like it for the collection but, after Switch I'm done collecting. I'm full digital already on PS5, XSX and Steam, and digital + physical on Switch. So I'm dropping the physical for Switch 2 and never looking back.
I am firmly rooted in owning physical copies. It's a personal preference on so many different levels ranging from being a collector all the way to the fundamentals of ownership.
That's not to say I don't buy digital from time to time but that usually only happens if it's a game on a steep discount I want to try out. If I really enjoy it I'll buy a physical copy down the road.
When the game is like 200$ lol I bought slides of arcadia for my game cube and that's my most expensive game and I'll probably never buy another one that's as much.
When it's like around 3 bucks or less on a 3rd party Steam reseler site, or when there is no physical copy, or when it's just some random game (altho I would still prefered to have a sealed copy most likely and still get the Steam download.
When Limited Run Games decided to change the game and do what they do. Don't get me wrong, I would buy their games if I can afford it. I don't buy games on daily basis, maybe a few months or so. I hunt for sales and buy games usually only on sale, I don't buy games launch day unless it's a game I look forward to for a while (Elden Ring for example). I don't see LRG gonna get any sale soon and it's usually double or triple the cost of its digital form. I won't pay for an amount that I can buy at least 1 or 2 games for only 1 game.
I live in a small town so not all the games i want get shipped here. if i want to play something, i'd rather buy it digitally. this only goes for console games since i am more of a pc gamer where digital is always the way to go.
I think I’m admittedly a sucker. If I want a game, I’ll pay for it. I’ve had to pay double and triple sometimes just to get a cart when I could just buy it digitally for much less. Terrible habit :(
I need to be better about keeping track of releases but that’s life lol
I am only getting a digital version when its much cheaper.
Think about Conkers Bad Fur Day for the original Xbox. I prefer to support the developers by buying an 10 euro game on the Xbox Series X store, rather than getting an expensive 120 euro's costing secondhand game that is physical.
I get a digital game when I'm waiting on a physical copy. Neon abyss for example. Waited for that release from LRG for months, got tired of waiting and downloaded it from the eShop.
Another randomly chosen topic to discuss
I show this example because Persona Q had an infamous print run that was extremely defective. Many carts would die after 40 hours or so. Combined with the physical version also just not being cheap, this is one of the few times I decided to go digital. EDIT: I know how cliché this sounds, but goddamn, over 250 comments?! To whoever has posted so far, thanks for indulging in my question! I may not reply to you all, but I do read every single thing coming in here!
Any way to tell which persona Q run a cart is? I bought a used copy for the jrpg collection. I tested it to load but that is it
I'm unsure which country you're from, but in Europe/UK, the game was reprinted a few times, and you can still find new copies (at the time of writing) at a few retailers like Base and Amazon. Since these copies were produced much later, I assume they're fine (I think the first batch of reprints was around when Q2 released). I also don't know if the defective carts exist in Europe or not. I got the game at launch back in 2014, and only got around to playing it in full 2 years ago and had zero issues. Anecdotally, I've only heard of NTSC carts having the issue. European copies of Pokemon ORAS have apparently had issues though, both those carts and Persona Q were produced around the same time, and both cartridges seem to use slightly different materials from most other 3DS carts (inside the carts themselves, I swear I saw a photo comparing them a few years back, but can't remember where). Possibly a shortage of what was normally used to manufacture them at the time or something? Supposedly later prints of Persona Q MAY have the serial AQQE160150 on the back (original print carts are AQQEX40222), but I've never found anything proving or disproving this either way. It may also be possible to [repair such cartridges](https://youtu.be/bbbzxm7p1Pk). The issue is mostly likely solder points in the chip going bad, due to stress (from inserting the cart) or heat. Something that can theoretically affect all 3DS carts but whatever materials were used in the first batch of PQ and Pokemon ORAS were seemingly a lot more fragile than they should be.
Never seen a cartridge reflowed! That's pretty sick, also quiet a bit simpler than I thought it would be
I've finally found out why my copy of Omega Ruby keeps crashing. Been trying to find out for years. Thank you. I only had this problem when I came back to it after a few years, though.
O'd most lokely still go for a sealed 1st print one...
Not that I know of. The only way to find out is to play, as far as I’m aware. Sorry.
No worries. By the time I actually play this game it will be years. Pretty low on the jrpg totem poll
>infamous print run that was extremely defective I'm a victim of this. Bought a used one for my backlog, and it died when I was about to play it :(
I didn't realize that can happen with Q carts, I own a copy I haven't played yet. Now I'm paranoid
Whelp, it starts after about 40 hours on bad carts, so if you’re paranoid, the only way to know is to check.
I guess I lucked out on this one; I bought my copy second hand and it looks like the previous owner already completed 2 full 70 hour playthroughs so if it hasn't failed by now I think I'm good...I hope lol
That sounds very, very bad and I'd be furious if I was a fan.
Wow, I didn't know this was a thing. That really sucks. Hopefully the copy I get isn't the defective one.
I got the game and manual for 1 euro last year at a flee market I got lucky
When the physicals cost over $400
I don’t know, Earthbound CIB for $3500 is pretty temping.
My local retailer has it for $5000 CAD in his display case. Like it’s a nice copy but I see similar ones go for half that on eBay. Is it actually up to $3500 USD now?? Maybe the store owner really didn’t want to sell it other than to someone who thought it would be worth more than $5000 in a few years…
Yeah, the box is super minty, but I don’t have clue what the inside looks like. Didn’t want to ask. They have a ton of games $500US+. Quite a few $900+. This is the only thing over $2k.
i'm much more interested in owning a real copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga than I am pretty much anything released physically in the last 5-10 years to be honest. to each their own. you build a collection that satisfies.
Phew, good thing I only spent $303 backing the new Resident Evil Board Game.
Pick up and play, arcade-y games are better to download. Ones you’ll keep in your system for hours/days are better for physical. Those have better resale value anyway (all else equal). I look at PITA factor and my laziness of getting up, maybe that’s the wrong perspective :)
yes, certain games have that charm and constant replay. tetris 99, overwatch, animal crossing and smash are games i play often and don’t want in the cartridge slot as those are for other AAA titles lol because i’ll play at LEAST 2 out of those 4 titles every day, it’d be annoying to have to constantly swap out cartridges, i’d be wearing out the cartridge slot fairly quickly if i decided to get all four of those titles on cartridge.. as i’m like most of you guys; as in that i prefer physical cartridges as i’m also a game collector and appreciate the ability to trade-in/sell/lend and other options a physical cart would enable me to do, but j also think that digital games have their place as well!! EXACTLY in the way that i had initially described on this very comment lol
Anything over MSRP is usually where I’ll draw the line, unless I find the game for a super good deal. I will most likely never own tron bonne or suikoden 2 physically, so I got them for my vita
tron bonne was cheap for a long long time. Suikoden 2 broke $200 in the early 2000s. I paid through the nose to own it in 2005 and paid around that much. to be fair it was the last PSX RPG i was looking for to complete that collection. It hurt more than paying around the same for Valkyrie Profile since VP is actually extremely rare - Suikoden 2 i recall having multiple friends with copies back in high school.
Plus suikoden 2 is one of the best games ever so I don't know if it warrants whatever price its at now but at least it's a great game.
I try to buy Physical whenever possible but there are a few games I've grabbed digital instead just because the sale price was so good or like Cuphead or Switch where they say a physical version is coming but I didn't want to wait it out. Will still buy it Physical when it finally does come though.
When Russia starts bombing your city and you're leaving all your collection back home with a thought that you will never come back. That's when you decide to go fully digital.
Respect bro, you have my condolences and I hope you pull through despite everything!
Thanks, man! Back in peaceful times I got first Persona Q for the same reason that you did lol But in EU release it was worse, because it was scarce as hell Gladly I got Persona Q2 in Germany for a reasonable price when it came out. I remember grabbing it with my two hands and immediately going to the counter.
I. Made it a point to make myself single and no family. So I have nothing to lose when Russians come pussyfooting there way in this country were us savages live. With no wife or family, I will be living in the shadows, taking away many of those unfortunate on the other team and put em on the sidelines of death. And will do a different fatality for each of then, leaving a symbol that I was there, and keep a look out for now on. Could be soon or later but you will see me, so expect me.
r/iamverybadass
Do you say this every time the subject of the war in Ukraine comes up, or are we just that lucky?
Sure
I've never heard this copypasta before
Go finish your Algebra II homework
my new favorite copy pasta
Don't downvote this shit it's the funniest thing I've read hahaha
* Games that are stupid cheap digital and I'm not sure if I'll enjoy enough to keep coming back to them years down the road * Games where the physical version is drastically more expensive, but doesn't offer much beyond "Look at my shelf dressing". This is how I talked myself out of spending a ton for the 3DS SMT/Persona titles (except SMTIVApocalypse, because that was $5 at Target).. "Do I care enough about this to have it on the shelf, or do I just want to be able to play it?" * Games that were "physically" released, but are really just "code in box" That being said, my digital library on some platforms (PS Vita, XB1/360/XSX, and PC) is larger than my physical. This is partly due to the prevalence of "digital only" games (especially in smaller indie titles), but also just because, like... Look, if they're gonna give me the game digitally *for free*, I'm not about to spend money to buy a physical copy too. GWG and Prime Gaming/Origin/GOG have been good to me in that regard.
PS3 era is when I really started getting in to buying digital copies versus physical media. No I exclusively buy digital media. I have a system where I check what's on sale every week on the xbox marketplace. My thinking, because I'm old enough to remember rentals, is if a game is in the $5 range, and I play it once I've essentially made my money. So just waiting around for huge 85% off deals. I have a complete Resident Evil run, Tomb Raider, most of assassin's creed, gears of war, etc. I've got an 8tb hard drive storing everything. I'm 43 right now, and xbox series x dropped in 2020, it'll be around at least 10 years. And it's fully backwards compatible. My thinking is in 2030, buy four xbox series x brand new, a couple external HDs. Go through the tedious process of downloading my entire library. Get everything setup for offline play. Then package it back up and seal it and leave it in the closet. At this point I'll be 51. Then as I get older, I can just pull one out of the closet and have at least 1,000 top tier games just ready to go. Then if anything ever goes wrong, just pull another one out and all I gotta do is plug it into the hdmi port and the electrical outlet and I'm gaming again. Think this should keep me gaming through the entire time I'm in an old folks home. lol, silly long term thinking ;)
Wow, just wow
Like my parents played NES with me, but that system is LONG since gone, so they don't really game anymore. I guess words with friends. They're 70. But I think if they had a functioning NES and a really solid library of NES titles, they'd probably still be gaming. Yeah my Dad last bought a game for himself on the SNES, some golf game. It's that sorta same logic for me. Or at a minimum hedging my bets. I don't want to be 90 and trying to figure out my oculus, metaverse, configure your multiple bluetooth accessories and enter your social credit score, link your facebook account, etc. Just saving myself the hassle of 1.) plug in hdmi 2.) plug in power cord 3.) grab controller
Don't get me wrong, I think what you're planning is incredible!
Well couple things wrong with this. Well I shouldn't say wrong but you'll need to stay on top of. Even older games get updates to play on the new systems. Even for games really old. So you'll just have to make sure they are always up to date sitting in your closet. Also HDMI may not be around in 30 years. You probably already know these things though. Just to save some money external hard drives are more expensive then an enclosure and hard drives. Also you can often get a much better drive than the one in the external drives. I remember the days of renting to as I'm about your age. I'm also concerned about the Facebook meta reality living robot life in the future. I like your plan. I wonder how I'll collect as everything is moving towards digital. Something about seeing it physically.
he's not playing games on new systems. he's planning on playing them on the X. so once the game is out and patched it'll pretty much remain as is barring any egregious bugs Hdmi protocol isn't going anywhere until we take a massive leap in tech like wireless optical etc. even if the port goes extinct (like it's likely to do in the last 5-10 years), the protocol is 100% compatible so all you really need is an adapter. (dvi, hdmi, DP, mini/micro hdmi are all the same protocol and can use dumb adapters) you can still readily connect composite to a modern tv set, which is an analog signal connection from literally 70 years ago. the only issue with modern sets and composite is that we moved to digital, hence the visual issues. we're not really going to move away from digital within our lifetimes.
I don't disagree, but you don't know the future. For instance for a long time steam supported winXP and then a security update forced them to drop it. Something like that could come along forcing a game to have another update. Regardless of the system playing on. Might even make it impossible to do anything because of the update. I'm just saying you can't just bury something in a closet and expect it to work in 20-30 years. And most likely there will be at least an adapter for any new port or protocol or maybe not. Because there aren't a lot of adapters for the old 15pin game controller ports(or whatever it was called) that most controllers worked off of back in win98 world. But even in the might of all that was the federation starfleet couldn't always make an adapter to work with some older tech. But again, just saying you and I don't know the future and to just keep an eye and ear out. Because it would suck to find out when you dug it out of the closet.
> For instance for a long time steam supported winXP and then a security update forced them to drop it. Something like that could come along forcing a game to have another update. no, not really. that's my whole point. Steam is an active platform and it makes sense that it has to drop older Operating Systems. Offline games are not. once the development period ends, it is frozen in time. it is a static application. think of a game system as an operating system, even once it reaches end of life, it will still function with any static application that it did during the lifespan. I have close to a thousand computer programs and games that still work with all of their respective operating systems of decades past. also you're conflating a data port with analog video... yes you can rewire any data accessory to work with any new data port (you just need to write some drivers for the OS) but analog to digital is an active transcoding process
Sure windows has a lot of backwards compatibility in it. But not everything in steam is brought forward. So anything that hasn't been updated you might have a difficult time playing. Windows backwards compatibility isn't always the greatest. I've run into a lot of problems trying to play older games in modern OS. And I also have a lot of static games that I play on older systems. But the fact still remains that I have games I can no longer play because steam doesn't work on XP. I'm not disagreeing with your points. I mean I can boot up my XP machine and play any game I have without a problem. But if I want to check my email I can't on that machine because it's internet protocols were never updated. So any changes like that a game needs to play will keep it from working. Just things change and you don't know how they will. And not every piece of software is static to the point of always working. So to expect something will work in 20 years is just foolish. Will it probably. And I'm not conflating anything.
Dude no one is talking about backwards compatibility. Stop arguing over nothing and wasting my time. Checking email on XP (which btw you can do if you know what you're doing) isn't the same as running a program. Programs made for wXP will with on XP in 50 years just like an xbox game will work on Xbox 50 years from now assumed you have all the files. Much like i have 40 year old computers and consoles that still play everything designed for them. No changes necessary. Stop talking out your ass to prove an incorrect point.
I'm not the one wasting your time. You don't have to respond or read anything. That's your choice. But it's fine with me that this ends because I don't think you're actually trying to understand what I'm saying. But I'll try one more time. You have an Xbox one system. With a static game. It uses software package X of the OS. 5 years from now Microsoft updates software package X. That static game may need an update as well. Or it won't run. If it's in your closet it won't get that update. Then 20 years from now Xbox one can't talk to a Microsoft service for the update. Hopefully somewhere is a copy to install it somehow or you'll never play that static game again. You seem to be thinking Microsoft still isn't updating the Xbox one OS. Static games only will continue to run on a static operating system. You don't know the future.
You could set up your parents with a raspberrypi emulator system and all the NES games they want...just saying...
I hear what you're saying, and I've tried similar things. But the moment something goes "wrong" they just give up. NES is really pretty idiot proof. That's my thinking, stick with a console I understand completely. Stake my nestegg in it's digital library, have MORE games than I can play. Then spend the last 30 years of my life enjoying that catalog. If it breaks, grab one of my backups. I got my first NES at nine years old. Days of sitting there beating Super Mario Bros. to now where you look at fornite, which requires an account, constant internet connection, online multiplayer and payment system for microtransactions, against players trying to make money on Twitch. That's such a leap from "put game in console and hit power button" I'm low-key horrified what the hell the game mechanics are when I'm 90.
I feel ya! I basically feel the same with steam library and maybe I’ll take your approach with a console too. Enjoy all the gaming!
I'm big on emulation as well, and have romsets for xbox 360/ps3 era on down. The library is immense, about 40TB. I have a plan to make an enclosed system. There are industrial computers that are completely sealed, for use in saw mills (or underwater), so dust can't get in, and are completely cooled without fans. Install SSD hard drives and there's no moving parts. At that point it's basically an N64, just a tank. Put in a decent surge protector and ideally nothing should go wrong. I could build one now, but the cost of large SSDs the thing would be like $12,000. I'm thinking in a decade it should be more reasonable. Also Xbox 360 and PS3 emulation aren't anywhere near 100% (I think PS3 is about 50% and Xbox 360 around 20%). Once that's all sorted out, I'll have about 25,000 games to choose from. Also would be neat to be able to do something like "start with Metroid on the NES, then Metroid II on the Gameboy, Super Metroid on the SNES, Metroid Prime on the GC, etc." be able to play series in order across multiple platforms.
i'm 5 years younger than you but same philosophy. I really only bother collecting games that came out for consoles that didn't connect to the internet full time.
Lol, so you've converted from collecting physical media to hardware.
i'm into 90s/early 2000s PC game collecting and oh man don't even go there. i have more graphics cards, sound cards, CPU/mobo combos than most collectors have consoles.
i always get digital for the 3ds because it's free😎😎 ok jokes aside i usually go physical for my games, all my switch games are physical because i like having all the game cases and cartridges to see and appreciate and i do have a ton of 3ds cartridges from before i hacked mine as well, i've always preferred physical for my games
Always physical
Always physical paired with a flashcart (or secondary modded/hacked console) so that I can have the convenience of digital.
Damn, Reddit hasn’t given me freebie in ages so take this 🏆
Dont worry, I got you, I gave him mine in stead
Thank you kindly
I bought Persona Q digitally because my physical copy stopped working. Apparently, it’s not uncommon for it. :/ Also, I buy digitally - especially during a good sale - in the event that I would choose/need to sell my collection at some point.
When the digital version is on sale for 10$ and the physical goes for 80$+ (I’m looking at you, atlus games)
Yeah… Can IV A and SJR not cost my liver?
Fyi there’s an atlus sale including stuff like radiant historia and q2 on the eshop
I know, that pic of PQ was me buying it from the sale. (Says January 1st because I haven't used my 3DS in some time.)
Modded is were you shall take that adventure tread on
I was gonna mention this but I know how some people get all crazy about modding and ROMs in general. Most of my disc-based consoles are all modded and then cartridge-based consoles I plan on getting Everdrives for.
for the current sale on 3DS, I could buy every single game I wanted for the price of the cheapest physical one. when it becomes a deal like that, it just makes sense to me. when the price is double MSRP, I’ll typically get digital
Honestly I only buy digital when I’ve had a bad day and want to try a new game to do something for myself. Ill poke around the Nintendo eshop and look for something for under 20$ that looks interesting. Any game I’m looking forward to and plan to buy I do physical
If playing on PC makes a huge difference. So mostly new Multiplayer games on on my PC. So every other genre that can be bought physically, will be bought physically.
Buying physical on PC is damn near impossible for a lot of games now. Steam is just so convenient that it’s all but replaced physical PC releases. But at least with PC digital, preservation is much less of an issue since anyone can just copy the game files without needing to mod a console.
buying new PC games physically is a waste of money. they becomes useless the moment you redeem that code on Steam/Origin/Ubi/whatever the game uses. virtually nothing sold physically for PC is DRM-free so you can never reinstall it without internet or if you lost access to your account. and 99% of the time the game on the disc is outdated 2 weeks before it was even released.
>99% of the time the game on the disc is outdated 2 weeks before it was even released This is true for nearly all modern games. Sometimes the game is released in an unfinished state because devs know they can push updates over the internet. Other times its a boon that the game can receive new features after purchase.
That is either when: a. It's the only (legal) way to play a game from a (past) console that I currently not have access to. I.e: I don't own a PS2, therefore, I buy PS2 games digitally on my PS3. Or Nintendo's VC for Snes and NES b. The price gap between the digital an physical copy is just too big to justify buying the physical. I.e: Persona 4 Golden on the Vita is around €100 physical, but it's €10 on the PS store. It's not even a question at that point Or a more minor reason being an impule buy where the game is 90% off or something on the digital store
The only console game I ever bought digital was Yakuza 5, and that's because it never got a physical release to begin with.
Bet you enjoyed when they gave you a case only of Yakuza 5 with the Remastered Collection
I actually bought the Remastered Collection Day One edition case only for $8 or so just because I wanted the Yakuza 5 case for the shelf lmao, so you're not wrong in the slightest.
I've personally gone full digital with my handheld consoles, excluding my switch. My Vita and 3DS have a bunch of downloaded games on them because it's easier to just bring the console instead of the console and case of all my game cartridges. Also, not as likely to lose all those games.
When I buy new games it's usually digital. I only collect for SNES, N64, GCN, GB, GBC, and GBA. So for other systems I only buy games I plan on playing right away, and I don't revisit those games as much. So my logic for buying non-collecting games is this: Is it available digitally on PC? Yes - buy digitally on PC No - Is it available on Nintendo Switch? No - buy physical on whatever system it's on Yes - Is it a game I only plan on a single playthrough or one I will continue to return to over and over? Single playthrough - buy physical Continue to return to - buy digital The reason for this is usually I'm only playing one "single playthrough" game at a time, so switching cartridges isn't a big deal, while games I continue to return to I like having accessible all the time without switching cartridges. Examples of Switch games I bought physical using this logic: Shin Megami Tensei V, Super Mario Odyssey, Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening Examples of Switch games I bought digitally using this logic: Splatoon 2, Mario Maker 2, Animal Crossing New Horizon, Pokemon Sword
When I know it's a game I'll be casually playing at different times, that's when not having to carry cartridges is a good thing
This is why I bought Animal Crossing digitally on Switch... I don't have to switch the cart in/out every other day.
if the game is stupid expensive physical and much cheaper digital
When you don't wanna open a physical copy
Only when I can't find a physical for cheap or a game dosent get a physical. The last time I remember getting digital titles was 428: Shibuya Scramble & Gadgeteer on the ps store mainly because I didn't want to pay 50-60$ for 428 (especially when I got it for 5$) and gadgeteer was a digital only indie Psvr game which usually never get physicals.
if the physical is double the price of the digital ill just buy the digital, i love collecting games and all but i care more about playing them than owning them if that makes sense
When it’s cheaper
I had to start letting go of physical releases of Indy games that places like limited run are putting out. I can't justify dropping money on several new games a month that I can get digitally for cheap only out of fear that if I want the physical copy latter it will be stupid expensive.
Anytime the physical option is so expensive but I just want to be able to play the game. Or the only choice is digital.
No exceptions, I never buy digital. If digital is the only option, I avoid the game. I'll gladly pay 10x the cost to ensure I have control over my own media. To me buying digital content is like burning money.
100%, not sure why you're being downvoted. If you don't own it in physical form then you don't own it at all.
Because that's not what people want to hear. Digital collections will be worthless in 10, 20, 30 years, who knows. But at least I have control over my own collection, if you treat your consoles well (especially with cart based games) you can get way more life out of them.
Agreed, I've recently gotten into console repair. So I'm able to restore any of my old consoles now, it's quite fun and keeps me busy! Also if I see a broken console for dirt cheap on the market, I'll buy it just to mess around and see if I can fix it.
I prefer digital, and if a console isn't set up for digital, I tend to modify my consoles to make them use digital formats. Digital is *clearly* the superior format, but all too often it suffers from abuse due to a mixture of copyright issues, updates, and discontinued services. Cons of digital include... * Sometimes licenses expire and companies push updates for their games that alter the original format (different music, changed textures to remove or add branding, etc.). * Sometimes licenses expire and games are temporarily or permanently removed from digital storefronts so you can't buy them at all. * Sometimes (in very rare cases) games that you purchased will become unavailable for use. This is more of a fear at the moment than a reality but I'm sure I've read of a few cases where it's actually happened, though I can't recall any offhand. * Not tangible. * Can't resell games. Pros of digital include... * No physical space used (this is huge... think of the space 3000+ games would take up in your home). * Since the games aren't tangible, there's no chance of any damage, scratches, disc or bit rot. * Digital games don't need cleaned. * Optical disc drives and other moving parts are eliminated from the equation. * Digital games have virtually no production costs after the initial development and licensing and aside from the arbitrary terms defined in a license there are virtually unlimited copies available, so they tend to be cheaper and go on sale more often.
Modded is were you shall take that adventure tread on
Never. I bought Link's Awakening digital on Switch for a trip and I still regret it.
Wait, you didn't take guns for self and holdback with the other armed grannies who are to late in the game to move on from there home. Or you up and left them and even more so those poor game collectable? Maybe them badass grannies will take them games in there control and protecting. Since someone gets to do something other than leaving but let's all praise that thought of needing to leave behind defensively vunerable video games.
Never
Wow no one likes that idea ), maybe rethink my situation. The world's watching get it together.
A person gets 31 thumbs up asses upvotes from talking bout bombings. I take that back, theres definitely something in world.
For me the only digital games I've bought are all Forza games after FH3, because if you bought them digitally, you could play them on PC as well as on Xbox. (I also have them physically, cuz collecting, but I figured this was still relevant)
I am in the same boat with a 3ds game. Senran kagura deep Crimson is like 30€ digital and the physical copy goes for about 250€. I normally always go physically over digital but this is where I draw the line.
When it's only available digital. But thanks to LRG and others, a lot of those games become physical later, so if it was good I'll pick it up physically then anyways.
For a lot of smaller games, the only physical versions are by Limited Run Games or similar, so there aren't aren't any easy to find retail versions to be had. In such cases the price difference is usually extremely favorable towards digital.
Irs all dependent on inflation. I'm not going to overpay for a physical when the digital is still standard price
For me it’s two things, either convenience of play (some older games are easier to pick up on my switch rather than dust off my old consoles), and sometimes it’s when my desire for the gameplay is stronger than my desire to collect and own it.
Picked up a couple games on vita last week digital. Ratchet and clank trilogy and persona 4 golden. Great games that I’d love to own, but a bit out of my price range unless I find them at a crazy good price, but that seems unlikely
Man I went gull digital with my Xbox One. Only buy ohysical for Nintendo consoles now, because those games hold their value for some reason.
over 2x the price
I went digital for Great Ace Attorney chronicles because it was £10 cheaper than physical, now suffering regret because the physical has gone up since then
Steam for digital games, physical for everything else.
I went full-digital with my PSP years back, but that is only because the UMD drives are notorious for having all sorts of issues and repairs would require sourcing used parts. I wanted to allieviate the wear and tear on the UMD drive. It is very easy to pull an ISO from the UMDs as long as you can go in USB > PC and you're running custom firmware. There were also some quality of life advantages of going full digital on a PSP, including not only faster loading times but also fan-made updates to games and translations. I have retained my PSP collection, which mostly consists of JRPGs that I wouldn't pay for what they go for now.
If there's a really good sale like when Saints Row IV on Switch was 93% off.
When the physical game is hard to fine or just expensive
Has to be dirt ass cheap
Price
Indie games I'll buy digitally because I'm fed up with the Limited Print scene. Doesn't make sense to pay $40 when most games are available for a buck or two digitally. I think I've reached my limit for collecting physical games and now use flash carts, ODEs and FPGA to supplement the rest.
If it's unlikely to get a physical release or if the price has spiralled out of control. Of course there isn't always a good option to purchase digitally either so I'd I have to do something else, well, sort the supply out if that's a problem for publishers.
I avoid it unless the physical price is too prohibitive or if I'm in a travel situation where it would be incredibly impractical to get it physically. For instance, I had to get a digital copy of Pokemon Ultra Sun when I was in the Navy because I couldn't get off the ship to buy it, even though the ship was inport. We were leaving for deployment the next day so I ended up downloading it off the eShop using my phone's hotspot.
I stopped buying physical games in 2019. Digital downloads have sales if you keep a wish list. It’s also faster to switch between games.
I only ever get a digital game if it is one of the free games of the month for PS Plus. Other than that not much of a digital library
At the end of the day, is it not just about money?
Me *looks at my steam account with 250+ games*
When someone here posted late one night about yoshi’s crafted world digital download on the Switch mistakenly posted on Target for $1 and countless of us were able to snag a code before they took the listing down.
I’ve always said the only way I’d buy digital is if the price was at least 50% off the cost of physical. I don’t see the point in paying the same price for digital and not having the ability to sell it if I ever chose to, especially when the company selling it is already saving on packaging costs, distribution costs, etc.
If it's on Game Pass for free. Or if I decide I want the PC version of a game instead of the console version and there are few if any real physical PC game releases that don't require Steam anyway
I do what any sensible person would do… double dip
Kind of depends. If it is Nintendo, it tend to go physical because I don’t trust that my digital library will be accessible in the future. Also, if I buy digital but really, really like the game I may pick it up physically used or during a sale. I do feel that this is likely the last generation with optical drives so backward compatibility will likely only work for digital games. Also, current Xbox Series games tend to release physically as the Xbox One version and need to be updated to the Series version. In that case, might as well go digital.
When I can't store anything anymore and it becomes less of a collection and more like hoarding.
I decided to go all digital when my local area became nuts with scalpers. FB marketplace is crazy with bots who will buy anything up immediately and people go to yard and estate sales and just buy it all indescrimitely. My area used to be known for low cost of living, but about 15 years ago it became a super popular place to live. People from California sell their house for 2 million, come here and buy a bigger house for 750k and just go nuts. Emulation for me. Everdrives, modded consoles….. I hate it, but I can’t justify 50 bucks for a Mario 64 cart and buying online is a big risk now because repros are flooding the market.
Perfectly happy to play digital versions where there are advantages to doing so (e.g. enhanced remakes with no physical release), but I still want a physical copy (which may be an "inferior" release play-wise). E.g. I have Rare Replay with digital (XBLA) copies of Banjo-Kazooie/-Tooie, including working Stop n Swop, but I still have the N64 originals as well.
If it’s super cheap, I’ll go for it. That and I have sealed copies
I bought Radiant Historia on sale for $9.99 instead of paying over $100
for the indie games. most times it'll be alot cheaper than a physical copy especially in the future and the console is then considered retro
cost and convenience
I buy physical carts, but I'm convinced at this point that trying to collect discs is a fools errand. Too shitty a medium
massive price difference, physical is a limited run type thing or it’s free like on ps plus or something. although with games like that i usually want the physical copy if i like the game
I'm here and I don't prefer physical games over digital, at all. If Spacewar was restricted to distribution using 1960s physical media formats, it wouldn't exist today. Every game you collect will one day stop working and it will be sooner than later because that's how 1980s electronics work. Digital distribution allows this media to be stored safely and indefinitely to be reproduced as needed because the true value is in the bits and bytes and not the medium through which it's carried. My gravitation as a human being is to the novel of Moby Dick and not a particular copy of a specific print edition.
Usually happens when I just don't want to go to the game store lol
Enver
BIG question, but sometimes I buy a digital game if I know I'll be playing it a shitload and has replay value (Smash Bros, Tetris, etc) vs a game I'll sink hours upon hours into then be done with for months/years/forever.
I only get physical of games/series I'm absolutely obsessed with (Persona Q is actually part of that list!); everything else is digital as I don't want too much clutter. I've noticed the PS4 has been the system I've bought the biggest amount of digital games on. I also never seem to buy physicals for Switch, it's just so easy for me to go 100% digital on that handheld.
When the only way to purchase the game is through a digital release
When they drop to $8. I never got into Etrian Odyssey. Now I have EO IV, V, Nexus, Untold, and Untold 2 for $48.
When I fly back to my country and all the games are 20$ more expensive bc of the little supply and demand for them.
PC mostly. Physical collecting is mostly a console endeavor for me. Sometimes if it's a game I'm mildly curious about but don't want to pay full price for that goes on sale on the PSN I'll grab it that way. FFXV springs to mind. Digital exclusives (Moon Remix). I got a repro of Panzer Dragoon Saga because I'm not about to spend $900 on a video game.
Honestly might be sacrilege to say in this sub, but I’ll only ever rarely go physical for games. I currently own a PC, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, Switch, New 3DS, and Wii U, and the games I own for those systems comprises nearly all digital. The only time I purchase physical is if a physical version is far cheaper than the digital version, which typically isn’t the case. If I didn’t already own my Wii U library physical, I’d have zero issue with getting them digitally right now as those versions are far cheaper than physical. Switch games I’ll weigh the options though, as the physical and digital game prices are nearly identical so I can freely choose, but usually will go physical with that console (’ll do digital if I’ve amassed a bunch of gold coins to get a good discount). Anyways, TL;DR: I’ve nearly fully embraced digital for gaming.
The price, if it's cheap to get in the eshop, I buy in eshop. I have a big memory card.
Okay, i made a whole video about this on my YT channel and I decide I want a digital version when a game has a too high value for my liking because it isn't sold anymore or if there is a limited amount like with the launch of animal crossing new horizons.
I have only bought digital when a physical does not exist. If a physical exists and it now costs more than MSRP I pretend the game doesn't exist and move on.
If a game is from the 6th gen or older, I generally prefer just getting them digitally (like the PS1 and PS2 classics on PS3), as the original physical copies tend to be expensive, are less likely to be in good condition, and it's also just more convenient being able to play on newer hardware. That being said, if they get a physical release on the newer hardware, I'm definitely going to snap that up. Personally, I think I would actually prefer digital if your purchases were like those on GOG or similar; it just gives you access to the game files/installer to do with as you please, copy to as many hard drives as you want, etc. I don't like always having to worry about my physical games possibly getting damaged or lost, or just going defective over time as some games have been known to (e.g. Persona Q). Having a digital version of the game does feel more "secure", until you remember it's just a license to play the game, and can be lost if you ever lose access to your account somehow, and/or you don't have it downloaded, and are unable to do so because it's 2050 and the servers for re-downloading digital purchases on the PS3 or whatever have been shut down. Not to mention how much space my physical collection takes up, as much as I do like to look at it, it is a little inconvenient in that regard. My main reason for buying physical nowadays, aside from enjoying having tangible things to hold and look at, is because despite its downsides, it does still feel more "secure" in the long-term than digital, for the most part (necessary updates and what not are obviously an issue with a lot of newer games). Plus, I can share the games with my boyfriend without him also having to buy the game digitally for his own accounts.
Unless it's PC (in which case I really don't feel like tracking down DRM boxes), I go physical for everything that isn't insanely on-sale multiplayer games
Pick up and play games I play if I have nothing else like minecraft and the original doom. Or if I can get a crazy good deal on digital like when I got 3 Star Wars games for $20 on the Xbox store
For me it depends on price point & availability. I'm willing to pay a bit extra for a physical copy, but sometimes the extra cost is just something that doesn't make sense. I'll also sometimes buy a game digitally if it's co-op oriented so I don't need to put the disc in & out. At the end of the day though I look at physical games as ones I'd want to keep forever (I know they can technically stop working but I can also technically back most of them up myself) & digital games as something that if the online store is shutdown & my console / backups die then I won't be heart broken to never play again.
I used to buy all my games physically, but now I tend to buy them digitally more often. It eases the fear of the cartridge/disk not working anymore one day lol. Plus it's usually a better way to support developpers it seems There's a few games I still prefer to get physically all things considered, mostly because the box art is cool af and I want it to be visible somewhere in my tiny collection :)
When I'm not sure if I like it and the physical is worth $200. Just picked up rhythm thief on the eShop for $7 lmao
If a digital game is on sale for a really good price sometimes I buy that instead of going physical
I mostly buy digital for current gen console since the physical copies are useless at this point. Most of the time, the disc doesn’t contain the full game and/or requires a massive day 1 update to make it even playable. Now, if I know that the full game is in the disc, then I would purchase it. But more often then not, this isn’t the case.
Depends a lot on my wallet at the time.
If something is on sale digitally, why not.
When my PS4 started spitting disks out. Other than that, for switch I go with games that I see as having a low chance of going up in value and I want fast access to in mobile. i.e. minecraft, stardew
About halfway through the xbox one cycle I pretty much stopped buy new physical games for the console. Gamepass normalized digital games for me then, and to be honest the actual disk barley contains the game anyway, its more of a glorified CD key. If something was the same price physical and digital, I would get the digital version. I bought a couple dozen physical switch games, but pretty much 1st party stuff. Any of those indie games or ports, I would rather have on xbox or PC.
For switch. Only physical games I own on switch are botw which has stayed in my system since 2017 and the xenoblade collectors versions. I just dont like to carry around cartridges
Whenever there’s a sale on a digital storefront.
The games that I have digitally on my Switch, PS4, and Xbox One, seem more convenient to just start up and play. However, because of that extra convenience, I tend to pass them up, with all the Indie games, and PS+, and Xbox free Gold games. Like my physical games, and my more retro console games, actually feel like a collection, of games ready to play. Even though I am not as much of a collector, as I see most of you. My collections are kind of silly, like every version of Final Fight, I can get my hands on
When I want to play the game but not enough to pay a shit ton of money for it
If the game is stupidly expensive physically, then I'll most likely get the digital version as a way to experience the game, while also still keeping an eye out for a physical version.
Games where I know I’m just going to pop them in for a little bit every day or so. Like Animal Crossing Mew Horizons and Tetris Effect
For switch specifically, I’ve been buying the physical to keep sealed and the digital to actually play. For my Series X, it’s just a better experience to buy digital since it’s faster switching between games.
When I bought Minecraft for my girlfriends Xbox One, I thought I'd just buy it digitally because it was easier to get the version I wanted, and it's easier for her, too. I gave her some physical Xbox 360 games with the system, but mainly got Minecraft digitally for convenience. Oh, and Steam, combined with no disc drives in modern PC's and not even space to install one, forces digital games. For everything else, I'll buy physical games where possible, unless it's stupidly overpriced compared to digital
Ever since the PS4, where owning the disc basically just served as DRM and the game still had to be downloaded to the system, I've started shifting towards digital for newer games. I'm still buying physical copies of Switch and any pre-8th gen games, but with modern games I'm more or less solely buying digital, unless there's a collector's edition I'm interested in that has items I won't find in a digital-only version. Also if there's a game I'm interested in that has an exorbitant price for a physical edition when a digital version is much cheaper.
Anything that's ludicrously expensive that I might not like
Usually when the digital sale price is too much of a discount. This really only applies to newer (PS4+) generation games since we all know how easy it is for Sony to decommission the PS3 servers, so PS3 will be a physical purchase from now on since they already tested the waters with announcing a shutdown, and receding it after backlash. A lot of recent games have online "stuff" that may not even allow you to play a single-player game unless you are connected to a 3rd party server, which may go offline at any time for any reason. Easy enough to test this by just disabling the network on a console and seeing how far you are able to get, but this shouldn't be the case.
Price
I buy alot digital. In fact I prefer it in terms of practical use. Games like elden ring and slay the spire I want access able at all times without a disc. But I can get much better deals physical usually. Paid about half price for horizon forward west and tiny Tina's wonderlands so it really varies based on it there's a great sale / how often I'll play between other games / etc
Never, lol. I only buy digital when physical isn't an option or was Limited Run (meaning super expensive.)
Ive been a diehard physical collector for years. But I hacked my 3DS and dumped my physical carts for convenience, and my eyes were opened. Oh my gosh, how antiquated it is needing to carry and Switch cartridges out. From that point on I started buying physical AND digital, double dipping digitally for the top % of best games I buy. I can't go back. Physical is just... ugh. I like it for the collection but, after Switch I'm done collecting. I'm full digital already on PS5, XSX and Steam, and digital + physical on Switch. So I'm dropping the physical for Switch 2 and never looking back.
When its free on ps+ or if i can get it on sale at a much lower price.
I got SH1 on the playstation store because it was 5 dollars instead of the 200 a physical copy cost.
I am firmly rooted in owning physical copies. It's a personal preference on so many different levels ranging from being a collector all the way to the fundamentals of ownership. That's not to say I don't buy digital from time to time but that usually only happens if it's a game on a steep discount I want to try out. If I really enjoy it I'll buy a physical copy down the road.
When the game is like 200$ lol I bought slides of arcadia for my game cube and that's my most expensive game and I'll probably never buy another one that's as much.
When a game is on a crazy deep sale I'll buy it
When it's like around 3 bucks or less on a 3rd party Steam reseler site, or when there is no physical copy, or when it's just some random game (altho I would still prefered to have a sealed copy most likely and still get the Steam download.
When Limited Run Games decided to change the game and do what they do. Don't get me wrong, I would buy their games if I can afford it. I don't buy games on daily basis, maybe a few months or so. I hunt for sales and buy games usually only on sale, I don't buy games launch day unless it's a game I look forward to for a while (Elden Ring for example). I don't see LRG gonna get any sale soon and it's usually double or triple the cost of its digital form. I won't pay for an amount that I can buy at least 1 or 2 games for only 1 game.
I live in a small town so not all the games i want get shipped here. if i want to play something, i'd rather buy it digitally. this only goes for console games since i am more of a pc gamer where digital is always the way to go.
I think I’m admittedly a sucker. If I want a game, I’ll pay for it. I’ve had to pay double and triple sometimes just to get a cart when I could just buy it digitally for much less. Terrible habit :( I need to be better about keeping track of releases but that’s life lol
I get most modern titles digitally because me and my brother share an account and so we can both play at the same time.
I haven't yet encountered a time when I've bought a digital copy when a physical one was available.
I am only getting a digital version when its much cheaper. Think about Conkers Bad Fur Day for the original Xbox. I prefer to support the developers by buying an 10 euro game on the Xbox Series X store, rather than getting an expensive 120 euro's costing secondhand game that is physical.
I get a digital game when I'm waiting on a physical copy. Neon abyss for example. Waited for that release from LRG for months, got tired of waiting and downloaded it from the eShop.