The Big Bad Console Thread - Sway your Station with an Xboner !

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shitlord
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I think you vastly underestimate how much say Walmart and Gamestop have in the process
As that might be true, there will still be two different versions of the Xbox one so what exactly is your point?
Obviously MS still sees online retailers like Amazon as another way for them to generate money.

All you are saying is the Retailer has a stranglehold on the consumer, so change isn't even possible.

If you think that consumers will shun an all digital Xbox then you are out of touch.


Honestly what will probly happen is what I predicted when the Xbox one launched, they will drop the Kinect which will put there 2nd SKU at 399.

I wish they were braver tho ,and tested the waters on all digital. Having a disc drive is fucking usless, and I don't know anyone that likes swapping discs.
Rather have the Jukebox of steam.

So I hope the rumors are true because that would meen all releases on the Xbox one would 100% have a digital version whether the Studios likes it or not
 

Vorph

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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My point is that if Walmart doesn't want an all-digital console to exist this generation, then it won't. Just like digital releases will continue to cost the same price as physical releases even though there's absolutely no legitimate reason for it, besides "Walmart demanded it." Nothing's going to change there this gen.

Bottom line, nobody in the entertainment industry gives a fuck what consumers want. I sure as hell don't want all-digital yet anyway. I don't trust either Microsoft or Sony to run an all-digital business even remotely like the way Steam does.
 

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shitlord
9,833
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My point is that if Walmart doesn't want an all-digital console to exist this generation
I guess we will find out if that rumor becomes fact.

And it will never be an all digital run by MS and Sony, we can already see that with Amazon partnering up with Sony, and offering lower prices on digital games, and undercutting there Sony sales.


nobody in the entertainment industry gives a fuck what consumers want
Pretty sure MS planned to do an all digital console from the start, Mattrick even talked about that was there plans for the future before he got canned.
 

meStevo

I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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Thing is, I don't think it's just 'here's our all-digital console, go!' - it has to have supporting programs/incentives. I don't see it having any chance in hell if it has to rely on reliably high pricing on Xbox Live for all of your media. If that SKU ushered back in some of the benefits that were being worked on before all the PR SNAFUs, we got a digital trade in marketplace, reduced pricing in general, throw some bones to retail via thumb drives with install data or something.

I'd be interested in a discless Xbox, I'd still like to see the ability to play the majority of my library without managing a cabinet/drawyer of media, but it needs more than just a SKU. I hope the rumor has some truth to if and I look forward to what they try, because if anything Sony is better positioned for a move like this with things like the PSN store on Amazon already out there (Killzone and Knack $40, Injustice $35 atm too, matching PSN sales... though I'm not touching Knack until it hits $20).
 

Regime

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<Aristocrat╭ರ_•́>
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Slightly - but less per capita income in the region though - Rockville and the other outlying cities are some of the wealthiest parts of the nation. Maryland is the single highest income per capita states largely because of the population immediately outside of DC.

We're more than just a "people demographic" in the DC metro area.
Thanks for clearing it up for Dr. Google there.
 

Szlia

Member
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[A digital download only console is] 100% untested because no one has done it yet.
PSP Go.

The fact you don't even remember it along with its abysmal sales are good indicators that consumers were not exactly in high demand for that formula. Now maybe it was a victim of a pricing that was a bit too high and a PSN store that then was not very attractive with its offers, but it still tanked very very hard, even in markets where the PSP was very popular and continued to be after the Go.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
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My point is that if Walmart doesn't want an all-digital console to exist this generation, then it won't. Just like digital releases will continue to cost the same price as physical releases even though there's absolutely no legitimate reason for it, besides "Walmart demanded it." Nothing's going to change there this gen.

Bottom line, nobody in the entertainment industry gives a fuck what consumers want. I sure as hell don't want all-digital yet anyway. I don't trust either Microsoft or Sony to run an all-digital business even remotely like the way Steam does.
I'd rather own disks. Maybe I'm some exception but I don't want an all-digital console.

Edit: I always think one day if I have kids maybe they'll want to play my old video games (I keep all of them, never sell or trade in). How shitty would it be if your gaming library was digitally on a system and 20 years from now you were unable to access them because the servers are gone, that's always my problem with it.
 

Regime

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<Aristocrat╭ರ_•́>
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I'd rather own disks. Maybe I'm some exception but I don't want an all-digital console.

Edit: I always think one day if I have kids maybe they'll want to play my old video games (I keep all of them, never sell or trade in). How shitty would it be if your gaming library was digitally on a system and 20 years from now you were unable to access them because the servers are gone, that's always my problem with it.
"But dad I don't want you to make us play that crappy game on a ...*gasp* TV, I just wanna go back to my VR machine and ride dinosaurs with lasers."
 

Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
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Owning 3 disks on my PS4 after playing almost nothing but digital on my PS3 has convinced me I can do an 'all digital' system. I already do on my PC.
 

Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
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How shitty would it be if your gaming library was digitally on a system and 20 years from now you were unable to access them because the servers are gone, that's always my problem with it.
I would say the odds of that happening are slim to none. In the event Sony or Valve went out of business, I would imagine they would release the DRM on their services. I think the idea that those services won't be around in 20 years barely has a chance of happening.
 

Needless

Toe Sucker
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As nice as it is to have the ability to swap games without changing a disc is... i cannot stand running out of memory, having to delete and redownload a game if you decide you want to play it later. I only do this on my vita because its incredibly cumbersome to swap those cartridges on that thing. Which also sucks because the memory cards are 1000% too expensive for what they are.
 

mkopec

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I would say the odds of that happening are slim to none. In the event Sony or Valve went out of business, I would imagine they would release the DRM on their services. I think the idea that those services won't be around in 20 years barely has a chance of happening.
What are the odds of you even wanting to play a 20 yr old game 20 years from now. Will we even have desktops then?
 

Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
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Odds are in 20 years, you can download a game from today in about 12 seconds and play it on an emulator anyway.
 

Soygen

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As nice as it is to have the ability to swap games without changing a disc is... i cannot stand running out of memory, having to delete and redownload a game if you decide you want to play it later. I only do this on my vita because its incredibly cumbersome to swap those cartridges on that thing. Which also sucks because the memory cards are 1000% too expensive for what they are.
I have like 30+ games installed on my PS3 and still have a lot of memory left. That's not really a problem with 'all digital' but a problem with too small of a harddrive. My Steam folder on my PC has a massive amount of games installed. Harddrive space is the least of the issues, in my opinion.

Maybe I just don't have enough time to go back and play the hundreds of games I've played in the past, but 9 out of 10 times, once I beat a game, it's usually done for me.
 

Crone

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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Maybe I just don't have enough time to go back and play the hundreds of games I've played in the past, but 9 out of 10 times, once I beat a game, it's usually done for me.
I'm this same way with most movies and TV shows as well. It's why I over-analyze every game, in the beginning, and do research and look up guides etc, because I know if I mess up in the beginning, there is very little chance I'll ever go back to play it again.

Hearing of people on these forums going back and re-playing games over and over, putting hundreds of hours into them, just makes no sense to me. The most recent examples I've had such problems with has been Diablo 3 and getting through all the difficulties. Ugh. What a torture that was.
 

Man0warr

Molten Core Raider
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What are the odds of you even wanting to play a 20 yr old game 20 years from now. Will we even have desktops then?
Tons of 20 year old Nintendo games worth playing right now. They build their games with toys in mind, because they want people to be able to enjoy them 5, 10, 25 years later. At least we know Nintendo will never turn their consoles into digital-only internet required machines.

Going digital only is a terrible idea - because that signifies that an always online console is required. That would herald forms of DRM that no consumer would want - not to mention the USA's broadband infrastructure can't handle digital only right now (we are WAY behind most of the world in broadband speeds because we were early adopters and most of our lines are still copper). Digital only also requires huge storage increases on consoles because no one is going to want to download their 20-40gig games at 10mb/s, they are going to want them always installed and ready to go.

Not to mention there is still a huge section of the console crowd that buy consoles (over PCs, or other forms of entertainment) because they don't require an internet connection - these people are either too poor to have broadband internet, or what about all the kids in colleges with shit connections or overseas on Army bases.
 

spronk

FPS noob
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digital only doesn't mean horrible DRMs. Steam has already shown the way, a one time activation to bind a game to your account, and very limited ways to resell/give away that game. Thats the problem though, no console publisher wants to both go digital AND take the logical path down that road, which is that prices get slashed drastically after a time and are available forever (again, steam). XBL/PSN sales are still pitiful compared to steam sales, like I said earlier I bought over 50 games this winter sale/bundles on steam for under $40, about 1/2 of them AAA really good games (entire assassins creed series, all the tomb raiders, etc).

There is also the issue of resell/gifting games, I think Steam is pioneering some of the stuff there especially in Europe but its still very early and fuzzy.

right now I still prefer physical discs on console though as long as prices are still sky high, because the resell market is huge. I bought Killzone and NBA 2k14 for PS4 for $40 each on sale from amazon, played them, and traded them back to gamestop for $40 each (got steam GCs with the money) a month later. It seems unlikely you would ever be able to do something like that with a digital system. On the other hand I have never thought about reselling one of my PC games, it just stays in my massive Steam/origin/uPlay list, mostly because I usually pay 75-90% off PC games.

as we see online get more popular though I could see more and more gamers get 90% of their games from a paid subscription service like ps+/netflix/redbox/gamefly digital, but it will create a studio budget problem as publishers have to decide between trying to create that 1 game a person may buy a year or settle for the lesser (but steady) revenues of offering their game on a subscription service. Amazon is supposed to be getting into the console biz with an android device, would be interesting if they just offered their entire gaming library free with a Prime membership.
 

Selix

Lord Nagafen Raider
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There are only two things stopping me from being pro-all-digital, price and access. Steam has the right pricing structure but it is not available to consoles. PSN is pretty damn good but I still don't want to pay full price games 6 months after release. Also I don't like the idea of a service going down and losing access to games I've paid for. Not a major concern as I haven't seen this as an issue anywhere just yet but the possibility is worth noting.