Ah, Duke Nukem Forever. Supposedly a savior in FPS coming along at a time where we needed that good 'ol feeling of alien bashing 90's shooter fun from a big team. Well it flopped hard with mixed responses trying to figure out why (hint it is broken and had poorly constructed use of mechanics and level design that were never meant to be together). However I'm not here to talk much about that situation today, I'm here to report I saw it go on a daily sale for $5 on the game client steam. At least I think, the steam store is honestly glitching on me and a refresh tore it off the screen and going into the specials it was still there on sale until I went into the game page where it just told me the regular price. Go figure, its one or the other and you wont get the joy of knowing if you got there on time until your about to check out. Yup, $5 marked down for $20. Its a steal right? Darn right it is, but not on the consumer side. I found a cluster of this game priced around that for a brand new copy at target, gamestop, and used at the same price as bestbuy over a year ago. A physical copy you could hold, feel, own, and get the box and artwork that came with it and nothing but the desperately needed patches required you to ever be connected to the internet to use it. Yet to cash in on even a little bit of this value on the overpraised digital market, you had to wait all this time or to a specific different time and buy it specifically before that little clock thing ran up. Then it was back to a laughable $20 that the game isn't nearly worth. Before suggesting I'm just nitpicking this little special scenerio, This is not even close to the first time its happened. Exact scenerio, except maybe a little worse, happened with rage.... I say a little worse because it took place during the glorified summer sale as a flash event and was just the ordinary copy when I got the fully functional special edition physical copy for the same $5 at Kmart (yeah store sucks but I still wind up there occasionally). Both examples were bought new, though in all honesty $5 isn't making it far to anyone on either market situation.
Now don't get me wrong, digital has plenty of amazing deals without even leaving home that come and go that the physical market may never catch up on. I've seen games like Mirror's edge, Far Cry 3, Dishonored, and plenty more go to low levels during sale period that shame pretty much every physical version save for maybe a lucky yard sale. I'm not asking steam to shut down or anything just because it wanted to give me something discounted a year and a half late (again). Read the article title, if anything this is more of a case of being a little on offense for the goal of defense. I'm just so tired of hearing people trying to rush an age of digital only when even the most popular use of it (in music) hasn't even been able to got that route yet, trying to push it up as the only way and thing relevant, or trying to spit venom about the physical market for daring to have the common practice of personal trading while acting like the digital world is perfect. The reality check is that each has their own faults, and they can each be pretty bad. I hate retailers like gamestop and bestbuy bullying pre-order junk into developers and hurting consumers, I despise how digital markets will never let themselves decrease their base value that much, and I cannot stand the DRM practices that come from both ends and try to step in the way of consumer fun for the sake of some extra assurance in getting each customer. However you know what... when one side gets so much worse than the other or another surprises me with an outstanding deal, I just get to cross over to the "right" side and get my enjoyment and fun over there. Contrary to what pro-digital guys are trying to push, there really isn't harm in giving consumers the freedom and fun of choice. The harm is coming from overdone budgets, poorly placed expectations, corporate bullying, and developers that don't want to think outside the box. There is hardly ever any one thing that has caused a big problem, and used games certainly aren't it. Gaming has lived for long periods of time just fine along with the physical market, and you know what else has.... pretty much everything that ever had an existence. To think of a world that cannot do yard sales unless someone sells some giant account that everything they bought was tied to, and where the companies regulate your every single purchase and keep their prices at whatever they choose, or a world where you technically own nothing as a company cannot legally guarantee you their servers and support for your items can always be supported, and a world where you cannot give the gift nor even let something be borrowed of something you cherished without repurchasing all as a "healthier" market environment is just plain weird. Games, books, movies, and music aren't any more special or deserving of a release from common market trades than anything else from your home decor to your collector items.
As I sit and debate with myself over the possibility of buying my first ever collectors edition with Dark Souls 2 along with the same day my mind is baffled that steam JUST NOW caught up to a sale (which I might have missed because I'm not checking steam every freakin' day so I miss certain 24 hour sales) I got over a year ago kind of caught me up to speed with how ridiculous again the notion of going all digital is. Oh and did I bring up that lovely event with marvel that happened not long ago? Thanks to their liscencing terms and style nobody wanted to renew their terms with the company and had to take down any trace of a living market place on digitally distributed stores. Yup you can't even get that stuff by their launch price, or even some super rare Ebay price if you wanted to. Games as recently releases as deadpool are just plain gone on their steam page and similar clients. However it wasn't that great of a game to begin with, so lets say you stopped playing it and wanted to let a friend borrow or even keep it... he/she is a really big deadpool fan who hasn't got in on the game yet (possibly waiting on it to hit its max discount or a special sale but because it had less than a year..... sorry that chance never came and its gone) and it would make a brilliant gift... but you can't because the game is locked in on your steam account and does not exist in the form of keys or something to buy as a gift. The game does not exist, unless you're counting on pirates to save you. Think about that, this is how bad things are going to be if times were digital only now. A pirate just became a freakin' hero somewhere out there because they are the only ones that can give you access to the now non-existent PC version of a game like DeadPool. Thankfully though the truth is it hit console markets, it hit store shelves, and you can buy it new or used both at lower prices than they once were. Sadly the same can't be said about the DLC on games like marvel vs capcom because that really was digital only on all platforms... sad isn't it? Digital Distribution is too regulated for its own good, and it cannot be the only source to the games you love. It has brought some good things to the table, indies are better off on that side of things, and there is yet more competitions for better prices for gamers to enjoy, but its not without its faults and it should not be the only way to do things.
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| Luckily this exists. |
For the love and better enjoyment of gaming, can't we all just gather around and enjoy what we have rather than praying for the destruction of markets, jobs, and ownership? Personally I enjoy both a bit. I'm more of a physical copy guy, but you know what... I have still downloaded games on both PC and PS3, I've enjoy seeing the awesome deals both have presented me, and I love gaming as a whole and want to continue having a choice and competitively good deals from both sides rather than only looking through digital stores for deals if I'm lucky to keep in good connection. I want to continue collecting and playing games in both physical and digital forms, and I want to see a positive and healthy market through good use of both routes rather than one. I don't see why there is any need at all to call for the end of one or another or to try doubting or dating its existence even if we support it. As long as we support it, it should be around for a while, so lets continue that and may digital and physical gaming live long and well. You know what, screw the specifics I've got to say the same for books, movies, and music to. Anything I love a lot, I need to own the physical form of, but there is no hiding the strong benifits that digital or steaming presents. To be able to hold a whole library on a smart phone is incredible, and streaming from thousands of movies at the touch of a button is incredible, but so is having the special edition blu ray copy of your favorite movies or filling up an actual bookshelf full of amazing books to hold and turn the real pages to. Long live physical and digital media!
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