I keep hoping for day 1 release of new BD titles, because with my 25Mbps link its just fast enough for me to live with it.
Especially when its 15C below zero outside
Alternative distribution to optical disks : SSD, cards, and download*
- Thread starter Cheezdoodles
- Start date
I keep hoping for day 1 release of new BD titles, because with my 25Mbps link its just fast enough for me to live with it.
Especially when its 15C below zero outside
You can't really do that on Xbox. They experimented with something similar for Fable 2. Download the core game & 1st level & play for free. The rest of the game was sold in episodes. Now I've suggested the Instant On feature(like the Zune Video feature) before on these forums. Go to the Marketplace & go through the list of GoD games & press play. You can start playing the first level immediately, but subsequent levels will be charged & downloaded in the background. It's a natural evolution for GoD because right now there is no way to trial them. You have to find a separate demo(if there is one). I'm sure we'll see something like that for the next-gen, but wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft experimented more with it before then.
Tommy McClain
corduroygt
Banned
Steam has all the answers for the next generation DD platform, with preloading, cloud saves, and attractive pricing, which is the key part for me. I'd never pay full price for a Steam game but I'll bite when they're under 15. I have never paid more than $15 for anything on PSN and even that is rare.
For something like COD, buying from Amazon for $50-55 and then selling it a month later for $40-45 is the most affordable option, so I'll do that for games like that.
For something like COD, buying from Amazon for $50-55 and then selling it a month later for $40-45 is the most affordable option, so I'll do that for games like that.
Yeah I can see something like this happening, however I just don't think they are quite there with the backend Live networking aspect, OS requirements or getting the rights to do just that from the content holders. Also they probably don't want to tip retailers off as to their probably extensive plans or GoD before they at least get their console into the shops in the next generation.
Blazkowicz
Legend
it was for the original NES I believe.
that worked in a country with a big urban density and a culture when buying from vending machines is much prevalent (drinks, cigarettes etc.)
If I want a game on release and can't wait (very, very rare!) I'll order from ShopTo and it'll arrive even a day before general release. For most people that sort of service means it'll be there at home when they get back from work without ever needing to find a shop with it in stock, or stand in line waiting to copy the game onto a thumb drive/cart. Being able to pre-download would provide the same no-wait service; order online and leave your console on the night before as it downloads enough of the game for you to be able to start playing, potentially stretching out the download over days of play. That wouldn't work for some games like Uncharted where the whole, many GBs experience is played in a weekend.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Sure, with a HDD with average 67 mb/s transfer rate it took about 2 minutes to copy a tad less than 8 GB. Which is still comparable to looking for the game, perhaps waiting in line, waiting while cashier rings up your purchase, etc.
But if it's something like a Kiosk systems, there's all sorts of novel ways to distribute it. At a convenience store with a gas pump for example, it could be copying while filling your tank. At a superstore (Walmart, etc.) you can drop it off at the game counter and pick it up on the way out. At a fast food restaurant (McDonalds, for example) it can be copying while eating.
Or, a reuseable SSD game transfer device. Top of the line SSDs can now hit over 300 MB/s read and write which saturates currently SATA 300 controllers. Pricey perhaps. But we're talking a few years down the line. Just like today, if you want low cost you can get low cost. If you want super fast, then you pay for super fast.
Since I expect publishers to try to raise the price of games at least 10 USD with the next generation of consoles, either keep prices steady or discounting due to no physical packaging would allow for most to easily recoup the price of a reuseable transfer medium after a few games.
Or instant savings if you have broadband capable of downloading the DD copy.
Regards,
SB
deathindustrial
Regular
UBB is now in place in Canada which means that if you use Bell for example, you are going to be charged a buck a gig over your base allotment (of which even their larger plan only gives 60GB). DD is not going to work if the end user ends up having to pay a large Internet tithe on top of the game cost.
Cheers
Cheers
They had a service like that for both consoles, actually.
The only way Digital Distribution will make sense for future games is if they can be played with it partially downloaded and background downloading the rest. It would allow comparitively slow connections to start playing sooner than they otherwise could. If the games are multiple tens of gigabytes then even fast connections might find it unreasonably slow to download.
Or predownloading over the month before availibility. Take for example LBP2. It's gone gold already. PS3 owners could potentially preorder on PSN and have it downloading in the background over this month, there to play when the street-date breaks.
upnorthsox
Veteran
Well if it's DD only then there is no street date.
There are reports that the 3DS will support of to 8gig carts for its games. Its games do not cost more than umd games on the psp.
I also don't get why you believe one will be limited by graphical quality. The only one with limitations would be the disc drive that has set specs. If a console adopted SDHC or the new SD classes they would be able to continuely use new capacity as it becomes avalible.
currently you have SdHC at 4 , 8 , 16,32 and 64 gig cards. In 2012 lets say the costs are halved and 8 gigs is $5 , 16 gigs is 10 , 32 gigs is 20 and 64 gigs is $40 . Sure the 64gig cards will be out of the questions. But 8 gigs which is more capacity than the 360 has acess to is not , 16 gigs is also not out of the question which ism ore than double what the 360 has. Flash foward into the generation a bit and even 64gig cards might not be out of the question. Mean while if using only the standard bluray spec the discs will never grow past 50 gigs. So by the end of the generation it could be the disc based console that is behind the solid state one.
Also comparing the n64 to the playstation is not relaly fair in this. The largest n64 cart I know of was 64MB while a cd held 750MB or basicly 11 times the capcity.
A 50 gig bluray is only 6.25 times more capacity than a 8 gig sd card and 3.12 times a 16gig cart.
Other things to consider is the move to 20nm nand that will drop the prices again and the fact that the sd prices i'm showing are based on several layers of profit that wont exist for a console.
And finaly there are many pluses to sd.
1) Smaller form factor . An sd port or two are many times smaller than an optical drive thus allowing a smaller console and better air flow with in the console
2) Durability . SD cards will take alot more abuse than any optical format i've ever seen
3) Speed . SD cards are fast and getting faster and it would be very easy to make a custom package using raid 0 to increase speed further. Current specifications call for up to 720MB/s read speeds although nothing is any where near that fast
4) Noise . If we accept 2 to 4 gigs of ram next generation you will need a very fast bluray drive and even then load times will increase. a 12x bluray drive will transfer at 54/MBs and will need 37 seconds to fill that 2gigs of ram or 74seconds for 4 gigs of ram. Compared to the 58 seconds the ps3 needs to fill its ram . a 12x bluray drive will be extremely loud and will be very close to the 10,000 rpm limit and of course will not be a constant speed through out the entire disc.
I believe they could go on sdxc
SD cards are now coming with wifi built into them. I can see the same thing happening for a wireless kiosk. Enter Target/ walmart put your game card (custom sd card ) into the game kiosk and select which game you want to buy. It syncs your card up for wifi to the kiosk it tells you hey you got 10 minutes before this is done , you pay for the game and you shop around for 10 minutes get your grocery shoping done or what have you and then you go home.
DD only isn't viable next gen for all the described reasons. Suporting DD options is a possibility though, and even a DD only release gets a release date. You'd see the game available on PSN or Live! to preorder a month or whatever in advance to begin downloading.
I think there is validity in DD as a supplement to physical distribution, personally I would not mind paying the same price as for the disc, as long as I can have it installed on my console without the need for having the disc in the console. And if something happens, I can re-download it again later from PSN/Live etc.
upnorthsox
Veteran
Well yes, that's been my contention all along.
Sure, and in a mixed distribution if you want to promote the DD option you could setup a pre-download. But what's the benefit to the the platform holder?
So you're saying that they should/would set an artificial release date just to give the illusion of pre-downloading? Why?
Happy customer(s)?
http://www.industrygamers.com/news/ea-boss-has-no-sympathy-for-bobby-kotick/
EA CEO John Riccitiello, talkes a bit about customers satisfaction being important
upnorthsox
Veteran
Happy customer(s)?
http://www.industrygamers.com/news/ea-boss-has-no-sympathy-for-bobby-kotick/
EA CEO John Riccitiello, talkes a bit about customers satisfaction being important
But how does promoting DD by the platform holders benefit them? Do they/will they get the same franchise $$$ for a DD release as they do for a disc release? Why/Why not?
How are customers happier having a game that's ready to download but they aren't allowed to play it because of an artificial release date?
Why would the platform holder get less money per copy from a DD version than a physical version? They pay to use platform holder libs etc to build their games and for a license to distribute it. Its not like Sony/MS/Nintendo gets the gold master from the publisher and then distributes it to the stores?
Will DD be the major distribution model in the future? I am quite certain it will be and if that is the case, then getting the infrastructure in place and getting people used to it and getting experience with the model is probably a good investment.
As having the game on your disc and waiting for release date, why is that an issue? Its no different on waiting for it to be available in the store and buying it on the release date?
How about the probable reduction in piracy or elimination of the 2nd sales (which is not good for the customer)? Still 2nd hand sales can be handled to PSN/Live if they want to, with a small admin cost etc.
