Are you ready to embrace a digital-content era?

[Sagacious-T]

Gaming is steering towards this direction whether you like it or not, just like television series, books, movies, and music. PC gaming shed its physical body years ago.

The western world is becoming a digital-society and the collector's market isn't strong enough to support physical media on it's own. Those rare games won't be quite so rare when they're all listed up online for discounted prices. Limited production on games like Xenoblade won't even be a problem anymore once the market is digital.

Personally, I'm totally fine with it as long as there's good value there. Not sure I trust Sony or Microsoft to do give me a fair shake though.

[Tooker]

I'd say I'm ready to utilize digital content, but not necessarily "embrace" it as a total way of life.  I still like having physical copies of my stuff, because it means I get that content when and where I want it. 

But I love the convenience of digital stuff too - it's great to be able to sit at the airport and go "Well, this book I brought sucked.  Lemme download something else for my Kindle."  And as someone who games on an iPhone a lot... that's all about digital.

[Eusis]

I'm actually most against it for books when we talk of going all digital. For movies/TV my main issue is being relatively feature barren compared to DVD/blu-ray despite the fact it shouldn't be a problem to throw in voice tracks/subtitles/whatever else, and music most can't tell the difference in sound anyway. Games especially, I have to admit they're essentially just programs and where they run from is arbitrary, there's freedoms to storing that program on a disc or cart that you don't get pure digitally, but the actual experience will be the same.

Books? They're the only one of those that only requires functioning hands/eyes and literacy, I can't deny the value of eReaders but just the same I think it'd be a tragedy if we went pure digital there and would need a dedicated device and electrical power to enjoy them.

Anyways, for all of these I do value being able to find the product years and years later, and to not worry about delisting making it inaccessible. Games are especially problematic as generational shifts could necessitate shutting down access to PS3, 360, maybe Wii in the future, it's why PC's a bit more preferable when done right (when done wrong we get D2D/Gamefly or Digital River.)

[Annubis]

I'm fine with a long transition period. I don't think the world is ready for a fully digital life yet.

[Sagacious-T]

I'm actually most against it for books when we talk of going all digital. For movies/TV my main issue is being relatively feature barren compared to DVD/blu-ray despite the fact it shouldn't be a problem to throw in voice tracks/subtitles/whatever else, and music most can't tell the difference in sound anyway. Games especially, I have to admit they're essentially just programs and where they run from is arbitrary, there's freedoms to storing that program on a disc or cart that you don't get pure digitally, but the actual experience will be the same.

Books? They're the only one of those that only requires functioning hands/eyes and literacy, I can't deny the value of eReaders but just the same I think it'd be a tragedy if we went pure digital there and would need a dedicated device and electrical power to enjoy them.

Anyways, for all of these I do value being able to find the product years and years later, and to not worry about delisting making it inaccessible. Games are especially problematic as generational shifts could necessitate shutting down access to PS3, 360, maybe Wii in the future, it's why PC's a bit more preferable when done right (when done wrong we get D2D/Gamefly or Digital River.)

If it wasn't for digital publishing, some books wouldn't even exist. Example, Wool by Hugh Howey was an online runaway success that sparked future stories. What would have happened if he had simply submitted it to Asimov's or F&SF? No one would have read it except a bunch of old dudes, and thus no book.

It's pretty nice how books have found this synergy of physical and digital. That's owed to the simplicity of a book. I haven't seen many indy games go from an online release to a mass-selling disc copy. Discs are nothing but vessels of data anyways; they don't offer a different experience. I swear by the PS5 generation most games will just be download codes in a box.

[Yggdrasil]

I'd just like to see a balance between physical and digital more often. There's no need in my opinion to totally get rid of physical media since that is always gonna have some sort of value anyway.

[Eusis]

If it wasn't for digital publishing, some books wouldn't even exist. Example, Wool by Hugh Howey was an online runaway success that sparked future stories. What would have happened if he had simply submitted it to Asimov's or F&SF? No one would have read it except a bunch of old dudes, and thus no book.

It's pretty nice how books have found this synergy of physical and digital. That's owed to the simplicity of a book. I haven't seen many indy games go from an online release to a mass-selling disc copy. Discs are nothing but vessels of data anyways; they don't offer a different experience. I swear by the PS5 generation most games will just be download codes in a box.

Oh yeah, my bigger problem is just the idea of going pure digital, but having both options tends to work best period especially for books.

In the case of games (and even movies) though, I do wonder. Optical media always has the edge for sheer storage space, and should it be possible to make use of something like HVD for games ever we'd have another leap frog ahead that isn't practical over DD as it currently is, connections aren't fast enough to pull terabytes down, and hard drives don't have the storage space anyway. But we do seem to be reaching a point where it's only so practical to be so big, so I'm guessing the bigger obstacle now is proliferation of fast, stable internet, and with how bad THAT'S been it's probably going to be a long generation to necessitate the PS5 doing pure digital.

I do hope that whenever Sony or even Nintendo bothers though it's a lot cleaner than that mess Microsoft left at our feet.

[Legaia]

I don't think I'll ever be able to completely stray from hard copies. There's just something great about being able to open up a game case, get that new game smell, flip through the instruction manual and write your own notes in it. Going completely digital takes away some of the experience that you should get with gaming. I mean after Netflix came out there just isn't much fun in going to the movie theater anymore. And did you ever have those Friday nights where you and your family would go to the local video store and search for your movies and get snacks and all that? Miss those days.

[Darilon]

Although I prefer owning physical copies, I do agree with what Thoren has said. The idea that you can get a game without worrying if it is still in stock is great. It also means that certain games will not skyrocket in price. Hopefully a more digital content era will allow more niche games to be brought to the west or even be created here. Things appear to be progressing like that so far and will hopefully continue to do so.

My only worry would be as new consoles are created will the digital content on previous consoles still be able to be used or be unable to be played as the network is no longer submitted?

[Sagacious-T]

@Eusis the internet connection bit is a good point. We have really slow internet in the states. But just like broadband took over dial-up, there's a good chance that fiber-optic internet or whatever's next being as big a leap. I don't think technology will be a big barrier. Harddrives can get bigger. Net speeds can get faster. Especially 10 years from now when the next-generation rolls in.

And who knows what newer technology will bring us with cloud-storage and streaming gameplay.

@Sise-Neg Most games don't even have real instruction manuals anymore. Just a little box art, a disc, and a paper insert.

[Kevadu]

Here's a funny story about digital books:

I've mentioned before that my Japanese has gotten good enough that I've started reading novels in Japanese (simple novels, sure, but still novels).  Unfortunately, importing books from Japan is kind of expensive.  The cheapest shipping option out there is SAL, which is super slow, usually takes several weeks before it arrives.  And even then, for a ~$6 book you can expect to spend ~$4 in shipping.  That's almost half the total price, it adds up.  And having to wait so long for books to arrive is pretty annoying too.

Naturally it occurred to me that it might be worth investing in an eBook reader.  That way I could completely bypass shipping charges and get the books instantly instead of having to wait weeks!  Not to mention that the prices of the books themselves tend to be lower priced.  It's win-win, right?  So I proceeded to spend weeks researching eBook readers trying to find one that would let me buy Japanese books while living in the US.

I couldn't fine one.

Seriously, there doesn't appear to be a single eReader or eBook store that supports that kind of thing.  Not only do they require a Japanese billing address (which I obviously don't have), most of them seem to go as far as doing a geo IP lookup when you're purchasing to make sure you're in the right country.  You could get around the latter with a proxy (but why should you have too...), but it's a lot harder to do something about the former.  There is no legitimate way that I can find for somebody living in the US to buy Japanese books digitally.  Apparently somebody wanting to read a book in something besides their native language is such a marginal case that book publishers don't even consider it.

Wasn't the internet supposed to remove boundaries between countries?  Not make them stronger...it's ridiculous that something as basic as wanting to legally import a book from another country--something that's entirely possible to do with paper--has become impossible in the digital age.

[Seultoria]

Here's a funny story about digital books:

I've mentioned before that my Japanese has gotten good enough that I've started reading novels in Japanese (simple novels, sure, but still novels).  Unfortunately, importing books from Japan is kind of expensive.  The cheapest shipping option out there is SAL, which is super slow, usually takes several weeks before it arrives.  And even then, for a ~$6 book you can expect to spend ~$4 in shipping.  That's almost half the total price, it adds up.  And having to wait so long for books to arrive is pretty annoying too.

Naturally it occurred to me that it might be worth investing in an eBook reader.  That way I could completely bypass shipping charges and get the books instantly instead of having to wait weeks!  Not to mention that the prices of the books themselves tend to be lower priced.  It's win-win, right?  So I proceeded to spend weeks researching eBook readers trying to find one that would let me buy Japanese books while living in the US.

I couldn't fine one.

Seriously, there doesn't appear to be a single eReader or eBook store that supports that kind of thing.  Not only do they require a Japanese billing address (which I obviously don't have), most of them seem to go as far as doing a geo IP lookup when you're purchasing to make sure you're in the right country.  You could get around the latter with a proxy (but why should you have too...), but it's a lot harder to do something about the former.  There is no legitimate way that I can find for somebody living in the US to buy Japanese books digitally.  Apparently somebody wanting to read a book in something besides their native language is such a marginal case that book publishers don't even consider it.

Wasn't the internet supposed to remove boundaries between countries?  Not make them stronger...it's ridiculous that something as basic as wanting to legally import a book from another country--something that's entirely possible to do with paper--has become impossible in the digital age.

That reminds me of a couple of years ago when I imported the first 10 books of the Full Metal Panic light novel series. The total was was around $125, with $60 of that being shipping from Amazon Japan. $30 just for shipping, and $3 for each book. If there were a legal way to get Japanese eBooks in the U.S., I'd be all over that shit.

On the other hand, I have no problem with getting Korean books for reasonable prices. I basically pay the same price and shipping isn't insane.

[Monsoon]

As someone that had to transport many, many boxes of books, games, and DVDs for a recent move, I am perfectly fine with more digital content. But I still like physical media. Sometimes.

[dyeager]

I buy digital wherever possible because I hate all the clutter.

[MeshGearFox]

I should get a copy of Xenoblade in case I ever get a Wiiu...