Comments on: Good-bye games in boxes? Xbox 360 to get full game downloads

Gamestop might be king of the hill today, but it could be Tower Records tomorrow. After its E3 press conference, Microsoft announced during a press lunch that full game downloads will be available on-demand starting late summer.

[Rittmuller]

This has nothing to do with making things more convenient for gamers and everything to do with shrinking the used game marketplace. As many 360 owners are feeling the economic pinch they are less likely to run out and purchase new games vs. waiting for the title to hit the used game rack at Gamestop. I myself have restricted my game purchases to used-only in an effort to keep entertainment expenses down even though I still have job and make good money. It just does not make sense to pay full price where there are alternatives available to me. If eventually games are only downloadable then that puts an end to the used game market (but will likely give rise to more efforts to pirate said games).

[sorahl]

i agree with Rittmuller and want to add that I see little point in a download version of a full featured game for the the same price i can buy the disc for.
Plus they have incredibly overpriced the cost of larger hard drives for the hard drive for the 360.
At this point I'm still stuck with a 20gb hd and i've had to replace (via warranty/out of warranty free replacements) 2 360's who got hit with the Ring of Death. I should add I bought my 360 on the first night.
I would like to add a second 360 to my network as an MCE extender and also I would like to get a larger HD. but not at the prices they are charging, nor when the 360 has a less than 2 year lifespan.
I love my 360 i just need better quality/value for money..not to get charged same as prices for less product.

[Benigna-Marko]

Dude this is just abasolutely insane. Buying things at the same price that is offerred at a discount store makes no sense. Sort of where is the deal here. I will have to wait until the prices go down.
Benigna Marko

[noahjwhite]

I have to agree with the above posts. A downloaded game should be considerably (at least 20% cheaper) than buying the full "boxed" version. I also agree that this model will only lead increased piracy. I don't know a lot about piracy but it seems to me that cracking a down-loadable game would be much easier than installing a mod-chip and doing whatever else needs to be done.

[rafusee2]

Doesn't downloading big, full size games take up a lot of harddrive space? I'd much rather buy a disc and save space on my hard drive for more games, and whatever else I have on there.

[dongato77]

I know for the PS3 the games you buy online are cheaper then buying them at retail maybe by 10$?? I would be nice for Microsoft to do the same for the 360 owners once they go this route. It should cost less! To this date I can't believe how expensive the hard drives are for the 360. Why can't they just allow you to use any hd or laptop hd like the PS3?? I am just glad I own both systems so I get the best of both worlds I guess lol.

[hysonmb]

If they allow us to write the games off to another device, like an external hard drive, this would excite me. I'm already just a couple of installed games away from filling a 120GB HDD and I have the media for those. I'm looking forward to the disc-free console world (On-Live is looking nice) but with no cost incentive and limited / EXPENSIVE 360 hard drive space, there is no real benefit. Sure, we don't have to interact with the outside world to get our hands on the games so there are no lines or midnight launch parties. That and there won't be anymore, "Sorry, our truck didn't come in today, try back on Friday." when a new title hits. But that may be acceptable considering the potential problems with downloads. Unless they allow pre-loading, we'll have thousands of people trying to download a game at one time and it would be faster to just run to the store unless you just can't get out of the house.
Good idea, theoretically, but it will take some tweaking to make it a viable replacement for the current model.

[frodo8723]

say hello to downloaded games and say goodbye to your hard drive space!

[bmwpc]

This is what happended to the music and video business. Once you make a product that is priced too high, limited in it's availability, or causes additional purchase of overpriced accessories ( such as gaminghard drives) pirating will flourish.

Ask yourself or any of you executives or employees of the game manufacturers when was the last time they paid for a digital song or cd. The only thing slowing video now is the slow process of uploading and downloading which is well on it's way to being resolved. And this doesn't even get to the pirated disc copies that will come out of China. If US businesses want to succede or survive, they better learn how to compete and lsiten to their consumer.

Netflix subscriber rates have increased and Blockbuster suscribers are down since Netflix whent to a no extra charge offering for downloads and blockbuster charges extra. Even though this is mostly for non-current releases it does encompass about 60% of what people rent. Blockbuster stores are already disappearing and BB better get it's act together quick or Netflix will ruile the video rental world. Netflix is still stupidly charging extra for blue ray flicks but that will end as soon as BluRay become the standard when more people have switched to bluray players.

[sting7k]

I don't know how many console gamers are going to warm up to downloading games instead of buying the disc. Especially since the 60GB and 120GB HDDs of the Xbox 360 will fill up fast. I have the 120GB on my elite system. For the 360 it also doesn't always make it better to run if only off the HDD.

[jonathan_a]

I just hope they reduce the prices of these "download-able" games compared to the boxed/disc version! Seriously, I remember the day I bought Burn-Out Paradise for my PS3. The boxed version was $29.99 at EBgames... BRAND NEW AND NOT USED, and it was also $29.99 on the Playstation Network for download.

Why would anyone buy the download version when you can buy the boxed version for the same price?

My only complaint about download-able games is that the day I quit playing them, I uninstall it to save space! But what happens if I wanna play it again a few years from now? I GOTTA DOWNLOAD IT ALL OVER AGAIN! I can't just pop the disc into my console, install it, and 5 minutes later I'm ready to play! Even with my Ultra High Speed 1 megabyte/second Videotron Cable Internet connection... downloading a 4GB game can sometimes take over 1 hour if i'm downloading the game during peak hours!

This is why I will never buy a Download-able version of a game if it's the same price as the disc version!

[jlynn33]

This is a push by Microsoft to combat anti-piracy and secondary sales for sure. This is how the music and gaming and film industry WANTS you to get their content. That way, when your bloated hard drive crashes and you loose EVERYTHING, you can pay again and again to purchase your favorites you should only have to pay for once.

[the_iceman]

This is the same as the CD vs. downloaded MP3 debate. Personally, I'd much rather have a hard copy that protects against a hard drive failure.

[whoadude1]

as we predicted a year ago. games to download and not have to leave your couch to buy or play it. but not at a discounted price? thats just wrong. cut out the retail profit, cut out packaging, shipping, etc...and not save us any $$$$? not good.
not surprised as Microsoft still offers an Xboxlive sub purchased through your console for 49.99 for 12 months, but you can walk into a store and buy the same thing for 49.99 and get the 13th month free. why not extend the free month to the LOYAL already paying customers also, then i wouldnt have to leave my couch?

[homercles82]

STEAM by Valve has shown us how this needs to be done. Their games when new are cheaper generally plus they off multipack purchases where friends can buy them together and save up to like 15%. Plus if your hard drive does crash and lose everything your account still shows you bought the games so just redownload to the new one. I think this is a good idea.

[snivlem]

Could be MS does not want to disrupt the retail channel by competing directly with it on price. Retail (instore/online) is (currently) the primary revenue stream for publishers, and it would not be smart to incentivize GameStop et al to promote other publishers' games versus MS games, etc. Of course, the margins for direct downloads are bigger, but greed is not likely the reason for the pricing model.

[rollcage]

Idea sounds good in theory, but they'll need to release some larger hard drives if they ever want a chance at the service taking off. I have my 120 gb drive almost full; and there's no way I'm going to keep buying 120's. MS needs to release a 500 gb or 1 tb drive and keep the prices down (I can get a 1 TB drive for like $100, which is $50 under what MS charges for the 120).

[inabit13Ghosts]

maybe there will be a way to keep the movement of second hand games flowing once we move into the downloadable future, ........................memcards.

you can buy and sell loaded cards, even the map packs and added content could be passed over for the right price.

shops have to move with the times, and even thou i like having my games on disk the gaming would is evolving if we like it or not, someone is going to jump on this you heard it here first, and things will be the same as they are now just in a dif format.

[UGkid]

honestly i just prefer having a hard copy over anything intangible. i just love the excitement of having a game added to your collection and observing it. It has its pros to like everyone here has mentioned. Saves space and in most cases can be cheaper. ill forever be buying games in hard copy

[Kaden101]

GT5P for the PS3 costs £20 from PSN or £20 on disc (or less 2nd hand), which do you think people will want? Even though I can buy a larger laptop HDD cheaply for the PS3 I'd still rather have it on disc. With 360 hard drives being the price they are & no discount for download versions this is surely going to flop.

[XxkmachoxX]

I think that I like the fact that once u download it, you will have it forever(as long as your account doesnt get banned). If a CD breaks you will have to pay for another one unlees u PAID for warranty.