Digital download or Physical Media?

[Slim Jim]

Sorry if theres a thread on this already I looked but couldn't find nothing.

I was planning going to digital downloading on Xbox one and PS4 but was wanting to know first does downloading the games digitally take up more space then a disc version of the game?

[AndyD]

Digital up more space. A decent size game is between 10-25gb to download on PS3.
Expect that to increase by more on PS4

With PS4, digital is optional + you can upgrade the HDD

On Xbone, if you buy physical you still HAVE TO download the game onto the HDD because of that DRM crap. Also, you can't upgrade the Xbone HDD. 500gb is your max and that's it

[Bizdady]

Originally Posted by AndyD

Digital up more space. A decent size game is between 10-25gb to download on PS3.
Expect that to increase by more on PS4

With PS4, digital is optional + you can upgrade the HDD

On Xbone, if you buy physical you still HAVE TO download the game onto the HDD because of that DRM crap. Also, you can't upgrade the Xbone HDD. 500gb is your max and that's it

I got Uncharted 3 from the PSN plus free game and if I wanted the 3d it would have been about 40 gigs, take in consideration that you need at least double that free space so it can install. Im glad the PS4 will have a swappable drive but I think ill be sticking to the physical media.

[Steelmaker]

Typically I buy physical media, especially if it's a hot new release like The Last of Us or Bioshock Infinite. However if it's a cheap or older title that I get an impulse to play, I'll just log onto PSN and download it.

[Captain Kirk]

It takes too long to download larger games. My download speeds aren't bad, but a game 20 to 40 GB is going to take a few hours.

[img eL]

Give me the physical! Don't want no hard drive failures of DEATH!!

[bobbydrugar]

Put me down for Physical media as well.

There are just too many issues with digital download.

1.) It will (on Both systems) consume massive space to download Whole next gen games to the HD.
2.) (On the Xbox One) The 500 GB hard drive is as of yet not user replaceable and 500GB will not amount to much storage for Next Gen titles (probably less then 20 Games total could be as few as 10 Games) Once you run out of space you will have to play the what game do I want to delete today game and if you ever want to play that game again you will have to remove something else and wait for the game to download again.
3.) Internet bandwidth for me would be an issue. case in point I downloaded Blaze blu on the ps-vita last week (approx 3.3 GB) and on my bandwidth took nearly 6 hours. If that had been a massive current gen 20+GB game well I probably could have ordered it via amazon 2day shipping and been playing faster then the download. (of course thats just the bandwidth I can get in my area of San Francisco of about 3mbps)

So yeah for me physical media is the only way to go and PS/4, and niintendo Wii u will be my only systems this upcomming gen (already have the Wii u now we just need some games )

Hope that helps
T

[xXI GaMe IXx]

Originally Posted by Serendipity

It takes too long to download larger games. My download speeds aren't bad, but a game 20 to 40 GB is going to take a few hours.

Good thing the new systems will let you download only a small portion before your can start playing.


For the record Im going digital too

[xXI GaMe IXx]

Dont mean to hijack the thread but what about picture quality?


Will a downloaded game look inferior to playing it off the bluray disc? (sorry if stupid question)

[JTStarkiller]

I never experienced anything like that. Digital and blu-ray games looked the same to me.

[tarvis]

Originally Posted by xXI GaMe IXx

Dont mean to hijack the thread but what about picture quality?


Will a downloaded game look inferior to playing it off the bluray disc? (sorry if stupid question)

That happens with video due to compression. Which is not directly related to video games. Video games may have compressed video, audio, textures, etc. But that isn't a result of being downloaded.

[jsteinhauer]

I used to be adamantly against digital games for many of the reasons stated. It takes me 24 hours thereabouts to download a typical full game. With two PS3's, that's two days. What I like is that if I happen to be sitting there watching TV with the wife, and she falls asleep on the couch, I can turn on the PS3, get my game save from the "cloud" and start playing my game without getting up and retrieving my disk from the other room, undoubtedly waking her up whereupon she will claim to be watching the TV and resting her eyes.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

I always pick physical media over download if there is the option and will continue to do so with PS4. More freedom, less hard drive space taken up, etc.


But with Xbox One the hard drive space issue is moot since the games fully install on the hard drive regardless of whether you buy a disc or download it directly.

[tarvis]

Originally Posted by Bizdady

I got Uncharted 3 from the PSN plus free game and if I wanted the 3d it would have been about 40 gigs, take in consideration that you need at least double that free space so it can install. Im glad the PS4 will have a swappable drive but I think ill be sticking to the physical media.

The Playstation 3 requiring space for the install file separate from the game is an issue with the Playstation 3. Not with digital media. And the reason that The Last of Us has its own download application rather than using the default Playstation 3 download method. Digital downloads on the Playstation 4 should work like The Last of Us.

[img eL]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

But with Xbox One the hard drive space issue is moot since the games fully install on the hard drive regardless of whether you buy a disc or download it directly.

That is something XBox will have to change, but still faster than downloading from the internet. Here's to super fast ripping speeds

[Captain Kirk]

Originally Posted by xXI GaMe IXx

Good thing the new systems will let you download only a small portion before your can start playing.


For the record Im going digital too

That's still going to be causing you to wait at least 2-6 hours in most cases. It will be worse for more populated areas, especially if you use DSL. Rural areas will be in a similar situation due to the fact they don't have as strong of internet due to being densely populated. You can drive to a store and buy it in much faster time frames.

Until T1 internet or something similar that allows faster speeds becomes more readily available and affordable I don't think going all digital is a wise idea just yet. Hell, there's still people using dial-up out there.

[tarvis]

Originally Posted by img eL

That is something XBox will have to change, but still faster than downloading from the internet. Here's to super fast ripping speeds

It depends on how you look at it. It takes me about 30 minutes to download most games from Steam. It would technically be faster to install it from a disc if I had it, but you also have to take into account the fact that most digital downloads can be pre-loaded. So not only is the download fast, but I have access to the game before I would if I were to go to a store to pick up a physical copy. Typically 9 PM PST release day.

Ultimately it's a matter of convenience. For me, digital downloads are more convenient. For others, it's physical. That's fine.

[Trogdor2010]

I like digitally downloaded games. With Steam being mostly painless when downloading games and their awesome sales, the majority of my game collection is digital. I have a PSvita with a 32GB card, and haven't bought a physical game for it yet.

I still like having physical media as well, and I frankly despised digital downloads before because of quality concerns. Now I kind of like having digital copies since they are just as good quality as physical copies.

I would like they have blu-ray quality downloadable movies available from other vendors other than Kaleidescape and torrent sites. You'd think by now there would be a download client for that purpose.

[xXI GaMe IXx]

Originally Posted by Serendipity

That's still going to be causing you to wait at least 2-6 hours in most cases. It will be worse for more populated areas, especially if you use DSL. Rural areas will be in a similar situation due to the fact they don't have as strong of internet due to being densely populated. You can drive to a store and buy it in much faster time frames.

Until T1 internet or something similar that allows faster speeds becomes more readily available and affordable I don't think going all digital is a wise idea just yet. Hell, there's still people using dial-up out there.

I have 130MBPS so its pretty fast. However, I can see where some people would run into issues.

[Blu-Generation]

Digital or Physical?

Both. I prefer options.