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Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
101–110 of 139 posts
Re: Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
#102[deleted]
Re: Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
Steam's policy is that an already published game can only be delisted, allowing old owners to still play the game. I still own the original versions of Skyrim (before Anniversary edition, definitive edition, and all other *ditions), and I can still download it and play it, even though that version is not available for purchase in the store anymore. Xbox and PSN don't have such luxuries AFAIK, after a game is removed…
> Steam's policy is that an already published game can only be delisted, allowing old owners to still play the game. I still own the original versions of Skyrim (before Anniversary edition, definitive edition, and all other *ditions), and I can still download it and play it, even though that version is not available for purchase in the store anymore. No. Their policy is: > This license ends upon termination of (a) th…
I'm not talking about licenses or owning the game, I'm talking about if a publisher removes a game for whatever reason, you don't immediately lose access to that game, you can play it forever after. That is their current de facto policy, with probably a few exceptions.
The discussion on wether you truly own a licensed game is a different thing from what I said.
Re: Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Steam's policy is that an already published game can only be delisted, allowing old owners to still play the game. I still own the original versions of Skyrim (before Anniversary edition, definitive edition, and all other *ditions), and I can still download it and play it, even though that version is not available for purchase in the store anymore. No. Their policy is: > This license ends upon termination of (a) th…
I'm not talking about licenses or owning the game, I'm talking about if a publisher removes a game for whatever reason, you don't immediately lose access to that game, you can play it forever after. That is their current de facto policy, with probably a few exceptions. The discussion on wether you truly own a licensed game is a different thing from what I said.
Developers/Steam are expressly allowed to break the game in-place so even that is an imaginary "right".
Re: Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes but they can force new versions with limited functionality. Like when they deleted half the music from GTA San Andreas. On GoG you can choose to install every older version they've distributed (though GTA is not on there obviously)
The GTA case is because js technically an update from Rockstar, not specifically Steam's fault here. There are always to downgrade a game, but true, it is not as easy as GoG.
No it's not steam's fault but they do allow it to happen.
Re: Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s a pretend manifestation, as the article points out.
It cannot be a "pretend" manifestation, when a physical disc that requires nothing more than an official piece of hardware to use continues to work 100 years into the future (assuming the physical hardware survives that long.) Those are the "rights" that are being fought for in this instance. I'm interested to understand the self-denial and mental gymnastics you're using to make the claim: physically owning something…
You can keep your coaster for 500 years. Thats not want you wanted when you bought it.
What if the full game isn’t on the disc? How are you going to play it in five years when the servers are gone and you can’t download the rest.
What if the game isn’t on the disc at all? What if it’s basically a magic unlock code and then the whole thing gets downloaded. Like Nintendo’s game key cards.
No one can ever take away your right to stick your disc into the console. And it will always do whatever it did if you did that when the console was not connected to the Internet.
Today you can’t always play the game in that situation. Which means that having the thing in your hand already isn’t good enough.
Digital download makes that fact obvious. People think discs are still in PS1/2 days where they're always enough. Thats gone.
Re: Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
#107The discs have been a formality for longer than most gamers understand or want to admit. Sony is discontinuing disc sales as a response to how gamers are buying games not the other way around. So it's an irrational response but an understandable emotional response. It's a final marker of an era that realistically ended more than a decade ago. That video games are not an island: an enclosed experience of just you, the…
With the exception of a few (regrettable) "game key" cards, physical Switch 1/2 games are usually playable offline with just the game card and the console. This is part of the appeal of Nintendo consoles - you don't need to connect them to the internet, and they are still terrific for local multiplayer.
Also you can resell Switch cartridges.
Re: Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
#108Discs don’t matter. The whole “bring back discs” thing is pointless. They’re gone. Period. Rights matter. If we had the same rights with digital purchases we had with old physical games the disc thing would be a much much smaller issue. Would many care outside true collectors? Don’t confuse the two. If you do, and you complain loudly enough, you’ll get the monkey’s paw version of discs. All the downsides of both, no…
Discs do matter in one way. I don't think I have ever seen a digital "purchase" of any significance which I could resell or gift at a later time. Some "in game" things are resellable, but only within the game's ecosystem. All digital games, music, movies, ebooks, audio books, etc are not (AFAIK). So if I get tired of my DVD movie collection, I could sell it or give it to my kids. If I ever decide I'm too old for the…
I believe there are games sold today where what’s on the disc is not enough to play it. There is a mandatory
A disc is not sufficient. It does not give you the rights you think.
Re: Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you misunderstand. The disc was the practical tie-down and compromise that allowed gamers to stomach what was happening. Whether or not gamers actually took advantage of the opportunity, the fact that there was a disc out there that they could physically pick up and buy meant that console game publishers (and, by extension, non-indie PC game publishers) couldn't descend into the depths of perma-Early Access-d…
I don't buy this a bit. Pirates weren't holding back until they got really upset about something. There will be absolutely no punishment for this change, because it is a minor change for the people who stuck them through the PS2->PS3 transition (and far beyond), and the people who were raised in a world where you didn't own things. If some secret torrent of piracy is somehow unleashed, they'll just unleash a secret t…
>Pirates weren't holding back until they got really upset about something.
They weren't pirates until now. This is radicalizing hubris.
>If some secret torrent of piracy is somehow unleashed, they'll just unleash a secret torrent of lobbying to increase penalties and investigation, and a secret torrent of partnerships with and cross-ownership of ISPs to unleash a secret torrent of surveillance.
This has never worked. On the contrary, for most of the history of rewriteable media in most of the world, bootlegging has been the norm, and IP owners are powerless to stop it save providing a more convenient alternative.
>Or a DVD with a single encrypted text file on it that has your license number.
This could have been an option before they made their power grab. It's too late now. They've killed the goodwill and "face" that made the prior paradigm digestible, and exposed the strategy to too many people who wouldn't have faced it earlier.
Re: Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
#110The discs have been a formality for longer than most gamers understand or want to admit. Sony is discontinuing disc sales as a response to how gamers are buying games not the other way around. So it's an irrational response but an understandable emotional response. It's a final marker of an era that realistically ended more than a decade ago. That video games are not an island: an enclosed experience of just you, the…
valve started this [1]
I remember half life 2 sucked -- you bought a physical game disk in the store... and you had to create a steam account to play it. I thought they were jerks at the time because before that a physical disk was what you needed to play your game.
What they did was set a bad example, and then the floodgates opened for all the rest to pull that nonsense.
Other big companies set bad examples too. All the fashionable but flawed Apple UI designs get copied by everyone else. For example Tesla has a similar iphone/ipad UI in their cars -- but they are moving vehicles and you don't want to be swiping on a screen to defrost your windshield.
I really wish companies would step up and set GOOD examples and follow through.
[1] In November 2004, Half-Life 2 was the first high-profile game to be offered digitally on Steam, requiring installation of the Steam client for retail copies. During this time users faced problems attempting to play; part of legal issues that Valve had with Vivendi, who claimed that physical copies it published could not be activated as to it the game had not been released. The Steam requirement was met with concerns about software ownership and requirements, as well as problems with overloaded servers - demonstrated previously by the Counter-Strike rollout.