In your mind when did the switchover from CD to DVD software distribution occur?

[Locut0s]

I remember when DVD drives first started to make serious inroads into the PC market (I actually couldn't quote you a date though). Around that time when prices were just beginning to fall they began to give birth to the concept of the HTPC. However at that time they had little use except as movie players and for a select few who were lucky enough to own a DVD+-R they could be used for backup. One day I remember browsing the shelves at the local future shop and coming across the first game I'd seen released entirely on DVD. Wow that was cool looking I thought, and was probably the death of the game as it was too early. At the beginning people just couldn't see the possible need for the amount of storage DVD offered. Fast forward to today and every console uses DVD sized or greater storage media, game DEMOs are tens of Gigs in size, and DVD has become the distribution media of choice for most mainstream software. But does anyone remember when the transition was taking place. It just sort of seems to have happened.

 

[Fayd]

when i bought world in conflict.

then i realized internet distribution > DVD's, so steam > all.

 

[schneiderguy]

2005-2006? IIRC that's when games started to default to DVDs instead of CDs.

 

[SunSamurai]

Couldn't see the need for them? Bullshit. Did you ever play FF7?

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: SunSamurai
Couldn't see the need for them? Bullshit. Did you ever play FF7?

Yea seriously. There have been many games throughout the years that have needed the storage size of DVD for a long time before DVD came out.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: SunSamurai
Couldn't see the need for them? Bullshit. Did you ever play FF7?

There has always been such a need for select titles. I was referring to the tipping point where almost everything went dvd. Most people probably didn't think Windows and other software titles like office suits would be released on DVD any time soon.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: schneiderguy
2005-2006? IIRC that's when games started to default to DVDs instead of CDs.

This seems about right to me.

 

[fleabag]

Yeah I bought Farcry on CD over DVD because I wanted the ability to backup the CD as Backing up DVDs wasn't possible/difficult at that time. I still prefer CDs over DVDs in a lot of cases. (I made a pun)

 

[SunSamurai]

Originally posted by: Locut0s

Originally posted by: SunSamurai
Couldn't see the need for them? Bullshit. Did you ever play FF7?

There has always been such a need for select titles. I was referring to the tipping point where almost everything went dvd. Most people probably didn't think Windows and other software titles like office suits would be released on DVD any time soon.

No. There has never always been. PS1 gave way to it around 1997.

I dont think there will be anything after BlueRay in terms of optical storage unless it is solid state. Flash memory seems to be the future for baseline storage. In five years or so I much rather get 2 64GB flash cards than some optical drive. Those things just scratch too each to store that much data on.

 

[l0cke]

Call of Duty 2 had a special DVD "collectors edition", so around that time.

 

[Fayd]

Originally posted by: SunSamurai

Originally posted by: Locut0s

Originally posted by: SunSamurai
Couldn't see the need for them? Bullshit. Did you ever play FF7?

There has always been such a need for select titles. I was referring to the tipping point where almost everything went dvd. Most people probably didn't think Windows and other software titles like office suits would be released on DVD any time soon.

No. There has never always been. PS1 gave way to it around 1997.

I dont think there will be anything after BlueRay in terms of optical storage unless it is solid state. Flash memory seems to be the future for baseline storage. In five years or so I much rather get 2 64GB flash cards than some optical drive. Those things just scratch too each to store that much data on.

except flash media doesnt overcome the inherent feature of optical media, in that it's write-once. after that, it's read-only.

edit: i guess i should say the more logical reason, in that optical media can be written as fast as the stamping machine can get them through. it's just mass-manufactured plastic rings on a stamping machine. easy and cheap.

whereas solid state media, even if the unit cost comes down to stupid low levels, still has to be populated by the same method as the end-user is gonna access it. read: slow. thus, this ridiculously increases the marginal cost of distribution.

it's unlikely we'll outpace the need for optical media in the next 5 years. maybe next 20-30.

edit: but imo, by that time, the standard for distribution will be through the internet. not just for the PC, but for all games. (i'm not sure where consoles will fit in 20-30 years from now.)

 

[EagleKeeper]

M$ provided the MSDN on DVD as an option in 2000

 

[Sea Moose]

i still think mini disk is better

 

[shortylickens]

In my mind, never. They never made a full transition to DVD's. Some things still come out on CD (amazingly). The PC world should have made the switch first, but they got beat by the PS2. Even after the PS2 most PC games were still coming out on CD, it was embarrasing. I seem to recall the first DVD games were special editions of The Journeyman Project and Baldurs Gate 1. After that, nothing for a long time.
The excuse was always that DVD drives are too expensive, but thats bullshit because they were always cheaper than a mid range 3D accelerator, which eventually became a requirement if you wanted to play video games.

As for other software, it took even longer for the switch. Kind of sad.

 

[villageidiot111]

I bought an HP in 1998 that came with a dvd player and I haven't looked back.

 

[XZeroII]

I remember the switch from floppies to CD. I remember buying a game and sad that it came on CD because I didn't have a player for my computer yet. The game was Jurassic Park.

 

[Lonyo]

2004 for games. Woo UT2004.
(I live in a progressive place called Europe)

 

[Barfo]

Originally posted by: Locut0s
game DEMOs are tens of Gigs in size

Right :roll:

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Barfo

Originally posted by: Locut0s
game DEMOs are tens of Gigs in size

Right :roll:

They are when you get them from Pirate Bay :^P

 

[Gothgar]

Originally posted by: lxskllr

Originally posted by: schneiderguy
2005-2006? IIRC that's when games started to default to DVDs instead of CDs.

This seems about right to me.

I'm going to have to say this

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
In my mind, never. They never made a full transition to DVD's. Some things still come out on CD (amazingly). The PC world should have made the switch first, but they got beat by the PS2. Even after the PS2 most PC games were still coming out on CD, it was embarrasing. I seem to recall the first DVD games were special editions of The Journeyman Project and Baldurs Gate 1. After that, nothing for a long time.
The excuse was always that DVD drives are too expensive, but thats bullshit because they were always cheaper than a mid range 3D accelerator, which eventually became a requirement if you wanted to play video games.

As for other software, it took even longer for the switch. Kind of sad.

The reason the PS2 switched first is because they knew for a fact that every PS2 had a DVD player in it, so publishers weren't cutting off part of the market by putting a game on DVD.

There was no reason for PC game publishers to require their customers to have a $100 piece of hardware that didn't even make the game any better. Non-game software took longer to change because it could easily fit on CDs. It's not sad, it's logical.

 

[Dark4ng3l]

I remember some games having special editions that came on DVD instead of CDs. Right after that it seemed to me that every single game would come on DVD. I noticed it because my computer had no DVD drive(it was an extra 30 or 40$ when I bought it and I was never going to watch DVD movies on my computer). I think the complete switch occured some time probably in early 2006 because I have my warhammer 40k dawn of war on CDs and FEAR on cd and those I bought in late 2005.

 

[Safeway]

Slowly. I have FarCry on CD. When I filled out the system information surveys, they all asked if I had a DVD player. I would assume that once 99% of those surveyed had DVD drives, they switched over completely.

 

[MotF Bane]

I wouldn't know. My switchovers were various downloaders.

 

[Hacp]

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: SunSamurai

Originally posted by: Locut0s

Originally posted by: SunSamurai
Couldn't see the need for them? Bullshit. Did you ever play FF7?

There has always been such a need for select titles. I was referring to the tipping point where almost everything went dvd. Most people probably didn't think Windows and other software titles like office suits would be released on DVD any time soon.

No. There has never always been. PS1 gave way to it around 1997.

I dont think there will be anything after BlueRay in terms of optical storage unless it is solid state. Flash memory seems to be the future for baseline storage. In five years or so I much rather get 2 64GB flash cards than some optical drive. Those things just scratch too each to store that much data on.

except flash media doesnt overcome the inherent feature of optical media, in that it's write-once. after that, it's read-only.

edit: i guess i should say the more logical reason, in that optical media can be written as fast as the stamping machine can get them through. it's just mass-manufactured plastic rings on a stamping machine. easy and cheap.

whereas solid state media, even if the unit cost comes down to stupid low levels, still has to be populated by the same method as the end-user is gonna access it. read: slow. thus, this ridiculously increases the marginal cost of distribution.

it's unlikely we'll outpace the need for optical media in the next 5 years. maybe next 20-30.

edit: but imo, by that time, the standard for distribution will be through the internet. not just for the PC, but for all games. (i'm not sure where consoles will fit in 20-30 years from now.)

I'm sure that's why the Nintendo DS uses flash to store its games. Obviously, the distribution costs are too high.