Sony to make big push with full game downloads?

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: thilan29
Hopefully you can redownload anything you lose...I've heard certain things from PSN can't be redownloaded. Is this true?

Purchased movies cannot, which is the biggest deterrent against people who want to use the service. Content like DLC and games can be redownloaded up to 5 times I think.

 

[JackBurton]

This would be AWESOME! I'd much rather have the game downloaded so I don't have to swap out discs. It really gets annoying.

 

[tatteredpotato]

Originally posted by: peritusONE

Originally posted by: thilan29
Hopefully you can redownload anything you lose...I've heard certain things from PSN can't be redownloaded. Is this true?

Purchased movies cannot, which is the biggest deterrent against people who want to use the service. Content like DLC and games can be redownloaded up to 5 times I think.

If I may say so, I think I prefer the XBL way where if it's not the original console you just have to be online to use it (although I hear there's ways to change the original console now).

 

[Hyperlite]

That would be very cool. I've often though they need to implement this for game rentals as well.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: ObscureCaucasian
HDD space will still be an issue. Price per gig will be substantially lower than on an Xbox360, but the cost still exists.

It's not too bad. You can get a 500gb drive for $100. That means it costs about $10 to store a game like MGS4. That's still cheaper than $20 for the blu-ray.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...01309740009&name=500GB

 

[herkulease]

This is a pipe dream. its gonna take the average user, days if not weeks to download 25gigs to 50gigs. Who's gonna foot the bill for all the bandwidth?

 

[SneakyStuff]

This idea is fantastic, but there is one huge problem!!! ISPs are beginning to establish bandwidth caps, downloading huge files like that will be sure to push some users close to that cap combined with their other internet usage.

 

[BD2003]

As much as I'd like to download games, I really like the box and displaying it in my living room, but I'm not a fan of swapping discs. I'm hoping there's a pay extra for download and we'll send you some goodies option.

Still though, Id expect it to become the norm. Games simply wont be 25-50gb, at least not the download versions. Dont believe sony's blu-ray bullshit that games need that much space.

But even still, retail wont go away. Moms cant gift downloads as easy, and not everyone has super broadband or wants to download that much.

There's a good future for downloads IMO as long as they follow the steam model of lowering prices on older games.

 

[thegimp03]

There's also the huge problem from the point of view that download speed on the PS3 is ridiculously slow! I've tried all times of the day and night, wired and wireless, and I still get screwed. I downloaded about 2 gb in game demos the other night and it took more than 4 hours, when I could normally download 2 gb on my pc in less than an hour. I don't know how I would feel about leaving my PS3 on for two days straight to download one game.

 

[mmntech]

Originally posted by: SneakyStuff
This idea is fantastic, but there is one huge problem!!! ISPs are beginning to establish bandwidth caps, downloading huge files like that will be sure to push some users close to that cap combined with their other internet usage.

That's the problem. I know my ISP has a 60gb/month cap on their 5mbps plan, which I have. For $60/month, you get a 100gb cap at 10mbps. I share my internet with three other people so that 60gb cap can get eaten up quickly with that kind of heavy downloading. It's all well and good if you have stuff like FIOS, except it's not available in Canada, and in most parts of the US AFAIK.

Call me old fashioned but I still like the physical disc. I like the idea of owning something tangible as opposed to having the game on what's basically a long term lease. A DVD or BD is more reliable in the sense that if my HDD fails, I don't have to redownload anything; or encounter the risk of the game being removed from the server. A BD is a better investment IMO. Now, if I could copy disc based games to my hard drive and play them without the BD, that would be something. I understand the 360 can do this with some titles. I don't see why the PS3 can't.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: me123
This will kill the resell market.

If you can download the game for half-priced, why would you buy a used one? And when you buy a new game, how much can you resell it to a retailer for? Certainly not more than half of what you got for it originally.