In my mind it justifies pirating it to try it out and before you buy it if they aren't going to offer a demo.Originally Posted by Jessweeee♪
And I'm with Vivi22. I don't see how you can deny the inevitability of it all. When's the last time you bought a physical CD for music? If you can say recently you are in the absolute minority. Almost everyone downloads (legally or not) their music these days. It's super convenient to carry around 1000s of songs with needing the CDs, the player, and the storage space for all of those discs. That's one medium where the general populous has already figured it out and made the move.
It is absolutely starting to happen with games. Look at PC games? Have you seen a decent PC gaming section at any stores lately? They are usually pathetic, but sales are great online with stuff like Steam.
Once upon a time you bought an expansion pack for a game. Now you get DLC... digitally. You very rarely find a stand alone expansion for any game that isn't from Rockstar or Blizzard but almost every game has tons of DLC and much of it substantive enough to otherwise warrant a disc.
Handheld gaming hasn't quite gotten there, but they are trying. PSP had a lot of downloadable games as did the DS. Quality was hit or miss, but now everyone plays games on their phones. Games like Infinity Blade are pretty solid and show a direction gaming could go in.
A lot of people are getting the feeling that dedicated gaming handhelds are becoming a thing of the past. I personally don't expect to see another generation of them beyond 3DS and Vita (and their multiple iterations). If there is another generation it will almost certainly be digital only, but I think the phone market will kill gaming handhelds.
How many of you wear a watch any more? Or carry a pocket calendar book? The modern day phone has made them virtually obsolete and it's doing the same for handheld gaming. Even listening to people who work in games journalism, many of them are talking about how they don't bother carrying their handhelds + games.... they just play on their iPhones... and can often get a game for 1-3 dollars that would cost them 20-30 on DS.
Aside from all of these obvious trends, just think about it from a business standpoint. Manufacturing and shipping costs go way down. You don't have to give retailers a cut to carry the product any more. At worst you lose visibility, but as time move forward, gaming culture is more omnipresent. Even companies like Zynga are bringing people in and making them aware. The average gamer is in their 30s and likely has kids. You don't need a storefront full of millions of dollars of cardboard cutouts and posters. People advertise amongst themselves through word of mouth, the internet and most people just know their sources.
I can't remember the last time that I was first made aware of a game because I saw an add in public or in a magazine.
Crap... we're way off topic and I've been ranting for too long... uhh... Steam is awesome. Hope Skyrim is on sale during the holiday sale this year.
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