PS4 to use Physical Media says Kaz Hirai

[hairlesswookiee]

Looks like the PSPGo showed Sony that people still like to keep physical copies of their games. I also believe that Gamestop would HATE selling consoles, and not being able to sell games for it.

https://gadgetank.com/index.php/topic,456.msg1402.html#msg1402

 

[Starkiller]

I thought this was already confirmed? Nothing really news worthy here. They are sticking with physical copies or the games as well as DL games.

 

[plasmid303]

I always believed PSPGo's demise was due to Sony's poor handling of the download service. Many games weren't made available digitally the same day as their physical versions and the Go's dated 802.1b WiFi was slower than most contemporary devices. That and it cost $250.

I think that the PS4 should keep physical media, but I wouldn't be against an all-digital experience if Sony handled it right. The PSP2 should be their market test or practice round.

 

[MooMooEgg]

I dont know if going all digital would really work for gamers who tend to play a lot of games. I would think, no matter how big a hard drive they have in the system, that a few people would actually run out of space pretty quickly, especially since the size of most PS4 games would presumably be extremely huge. And it would SUCK if you were in the middle of downloading a game and you suddenly got an "out of HD space" message.

And what would you do if a friend wanted to borrow a game? Swap PS4 systems?

 

[Starkiller]

No borrowing games in the future! If they don't want you to sell them back, you can't borrow them. I remember a rumor back before the PS3 launched that games would be locked to that one system once they went in.

 

[hairlesswookiee]

I dont know if going all digital would really work for gamers who tend to play a lot of games. I would think, no matter how big a hard drive they have in the system, that a few people would actually run out of space pretty quickly, especially since the size of most PS4 games would presumably be extremely huge. And it would SUCK if you were in the middle of downloading a game and you suddenly got an "out of HD space" message.

And what would you do if a friend wanted to borrow a game? Swap PS4 systems?

Lol.. that's pretty funny. Not to mention that you'd have to start deleting games to make space for new ones. What happens then? Can you redownload it later, or do you have to pay for it again?? It wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.

The PSPGo is actually pretty cool, but I don't see the incentive for existing PSP owners to jump into seeing that they can't play any of their games without paying for them again.

 

[Sniper33]

No borrowing games in the future! If they don't want you to sell them back, you can't borrow them. I remember a rumor back before the PS3 launched that games would be locked to that one system once they went in.

I was actually thinking about this today coming home from work (the ps3 game lock).

It would seem kind of bad to have download only games, cause the videogame sections of store would just have xbox and nintendo games/acessories, and just playstion accessories.

 

[darthviper107]

They won't do download only systems for a while. Game downloads are going to be too long for a dedicated system that doesn't use physical media. Plus, Sony wants to make their money back on the Blu-Ray investment, they definitely haven't used the entire space of a Blu-Ray yet. (at least if they have, that's just poor game design)

Perhaps in the future the internet will be fast enough so that you can stream game data rather than having to have the entire game on the system, but at the moment the networks aren't fast or reliable enough for downloads or streaming.

 

[DeadLeaves]

Perhaps in the future the internet will be fast enough so that you can stream game data rather than having to have the entire game on the system, but at the moment the networks aren't fast or reliable enough for downloads or streaming.

Yep, I think the concept is called Cloud Computing. It means the platform would be completely dependant on a net connection & all the hardware (graphics & storage) would be handled by the cloud servers - meaning the client system could be fairly low-tech & inexpensive.

I don't really like the idea - but I reckon it's the way gaming will go in the next 10 years.

A good example of digital gaming is steam, buy it & you got it in your account forever, with up to date patching. I've used it a fair bit and I think it's pretty good value, I just miss having a physical CD and manual though. Feels like you get more for your money that way...

 

[BadMoon]

LOL! If they didn't have physical games on the PS4 I wouldn't buy a system. Look how long it takes just to update your system. Can you imagine having to DL a whole game?

 

[DinoLast]

Physical Media is going to be with us for a while.
Anyway I hope it does stay because I can find a lot of physical media for much cheaper than if I wanted to legally download the product. Take MGS Peace Walker on PSN, what a rip-off.

 

[Blackhole]

LOL! If they didn't have physical games on the PS4 I wouldn't buy a system. Look how long it takes just to update your system. Can you imagine having to DL a whole game?

PS1 games take long enough!

 

[dcflake]

People's internet would have to get faster.

Also, is it true if you get a downloadable game it's only yours for how long the service lasts so you won't have it in 10-20 years or whatever?