Struggling with Digital v Physical
- Thread starter Axaday
- Start date
Usually I finish the page while sitting in the exam room waiting for the doctor. And sometimes several more pages.
It shouldn't take long to get to the end of the paragraph.
Chapter or the little "save points" that some authors do.
If an absolute emergency forces a stop, I reset to the top of the current page when resuming.
So apparently Wicked came out on home media last week and not this week. My local Target has stopped selling movies entirely, but I could buy the Wicked soundtrack there on both CD and Vinyl. The local walmart I went to had sold out of every copy they had, even DVDs. So today at lunch I am going to go check out a few more stores around work to see if any of them have it.
I eventually found it at the Walmart nearest to work. They had a stack of 7 of the UHDs left, and i got the first one! Woot!
I should note that while we all know that Best Buy has just completely quit selling movies all together, it is a weird site to see when just a few years ago they had three or four huge aisles of movies and tv shows. Now its just empty space with TV boxes spaced out on the floor.
They had some PC stuff, A lot of home automation stuff, cell phones, Home appliances, Tons of TVs, and a small section for Gaming and toys.
Last time I went, they didn't even really have computers. Just floor models, I think. Like a showroom for online purchases.
Sigh. I remember when visiting Best Buy was fun.
...I also remember when we had Future Shop, before BB bought them and put the kibosh on that. Sigh.
Sigh. I remember when visiting Best Buy was fun.
...I also remember when we had Future Shop, before BB bought them and put the kibosh on that. Sigh.
They had some laptops, macbooks, and various PC components in a section. Not like the old days where they would have 20 PCs setup on both sides of the aisle.
When it comes to owning stuff I'm always going to be a Physical Media person. Books, movies, shows, especially video games.
I loath the day when video gaming becomes digital only.
I've moved a lot as well, but for me personally I don't mind packing the stuff up and moving it.
For me though there are very specific reasons I lean toward physical over digital.
One of them is the simple fact that I don't go out and buy every single movie the moment it comes out. Or videogame, or really anything for that matter. I'm not rich. I grew up super poor, so I know how to bargain hunt. The one thing I have too many of and not enough space are books, but that's because I can go to Goodwill or the Dollar Store and pick up books for less then 2 bucks. Or I'll be on ebay looking at a book I wanted to read that came out a while back and there is a deal that's something like: "Buy four books get half off your purchase!" And thus a 22 dollar purchase becomes 11 bucks I'm spending, with free shipping.
Games? The system is on its way out and Gamestop is doing buy 4 for 20 deals. Or I hit up a Black Friday deal. I bought every season from like 10 to 15 of Supernatural for ten bucks each, because there was ALWAYS a Black Friday deal selling it for that cheap.
As such my collection is only things I really want, or I just found for a really good deal.
Players to play them? I'm a gamer. I have like six systems that can play a DVD, four or five of those that can play blu rays. Only a couple that can play 4K, but I'm not a big 4K guy. (I prize more my rare 4K/3D capable TV)
VHS? I have two working VCR's in my house. One of them breaks? You do realize there are places that repair that stuff right? A quick Google search told me of at least five in my general area. (Granted I not to far from Atlanta though, so that helps.)
Do I hate digital? No. I have streaming services. There are a ton of shows that are streaming only. I watch my anime as it comes out episode per episode. It'd be silly to wait for the entire thing to finish, THEN hope it gets a physical release when I don't have to.
But do I ever see myself going full digital? Never.
For one I run into problems like this all the time:
I liked a show called Lolirock that was on Netflix. It's been gone from there for a few years now. I had to go find it online and download the files to my computer to watch it again. I'd GLADLY buy DVDs or a blu ray. But there AREN'T any. It's also not on any other streaming service. Pirating it is the only way I get to watch it anymore.
Issue 2: I'm not sure if I'd like the game series Animal Crossing. I wouldn't mind giving it a test run to find out, but there isn't a demo I can get. My roommate HAS one of the games for the switch. DIGITALLY, and from what I understand it's one save slot per game. If the stupid thing was a PHYSICAL copy I could borrow it and put it in my switch and find out if I wanted to play it. BUT NOPE. Can't do that with a digital copy.
So either I pay 60 or so bucks for a game I might outright hate. Or I'm just out of luck.
I've yet to try that series.
Heck I so want to play Castlevania Rebirth that was brought out for the Wii years ago, but that store is down, and now that game is impossible to get. I'm pretty sure the only way to play it is to basically hack it onto my wii, or find some emulator.
I have P.T. on my PS4 Pro, which ironically makes it super valuable, because you can't get that thing anymore, and it's very doubtful Konami will ever go back on that decision.
I see the pro's for digital, but they just aren't enough to sway me personally against the pros I see for having a physical copy on my shelf.
I loath the day when video gaming becomes digital only.
I've moved a lot as well, but for me personally I don't mind packing the stuff up and moving it.
For me though there are very specific reasons I lean toward physical over digital.
One of them is the simple fact that I don't go out and buy every single movie the moment it comes out. Or videogame, or really anything for that matter. I'm not rich. I grew up super poor, so I know how to bargain hunt. The one thing I have too many of and not enough space are books, but that's because I can go to Goodwill or the Dollar Store and pick up books for less then 2 bucks. Or I'll be on ebay looking at a book I wanted to read that came out a while back and there is a deal that's something like: "Buy four books get half off your purchase!" And thus a 22 dollar purchase becomes 11 bucks I'm spending, with free shipping.
Games? The system is on its way out and Gamestop is doing buy 4 for 20 deals. Or I hit up a Black Friday deal. I bought every season from like 10 to 15 of Supernatural for ten bucks each, because there was ALWAYS a Black Friday deal selling it for that cheap.
As such my collection is only things I really want, or I just found for a really good deal.
Players to play them? I'm a gamer. I have like six systems that can play a DVD, four or five of those that can play blu rays. Only a couple that can play 4K, but I'm not a big 4K guy. (I prize more my rare 4K/3D capable TV)
VHS? I have two working VCR's in my house. One of them breaks? You do realize there are places that repair that stuff right? A quick Google search told me of at least five in my general area. (Granted I not to far from Atlanta though, so that helps.)
Do I hate digital? No. I have streaming services. There are a ton of shows that are streaming only. I watch my anime as it comes out episode per episode. It'd be silly to wait for the entire thing to finish, THEN hope it gets a physical release when I don't have to.
But do I ever see myself going full digital? Never.
For one I run into problems like this all the time:
I liked a show called Lolirock that was on Netflix. It's been gone from there for a few years now. I had to go find it online and download the files to my computer to watch it again. I'd GLADLY buy DVDs or a blu ray. But there AREN'T any. It's also not on any other streaming service. Pirating it is the only way I get to watch it anymore.
Issue 2: I'm not sure if I'd like the game series Animal Crossing. I wouldn't mind giving it a test run to find out, but there isn't a demo I can get. My roommate HAS one of the games for the switch. DIGITALLY, and from what I understand it's one save slot per game. If the stupid thing was a PHYSICAL copy I could borrow it and put it in my switch and find out if I wanted to play it. BUT NOPE. Can't do that with a digital copy.
So either I pay 60 or so bucks for a game I might outright hate. Or I'm just out of luck.
I've yet to try that series.
Heck I so want to play Castlevania Rebirth that was brought out for the Wii years ago, but that store is down, and now that game is impossible to get. I'm pretty sure the only way to play it is to basically hack it onto my wii, or find some emulator.
I have P.T. on my PS4 Pro, which ironically makes it super valuable, because you can't get that thing anymore, and it's very doubtful Konami will ever go back on that decision.
I see the pro's for digital, but they just aren't enough to sway me personally against the pros I see for having a physical copy on my shelf.
How much older hardware do you have? Because it's been on everything since the GameCube, save for the GBA and Wii U.
If you look around, you can probably find an older version for a decent price, enough to at least give you a feel for it, and you can ask or look up what they've brought to the table (or taken away) since.
That said, there is a certain convenience to having a game where you'll just want to check in briefly here and there downloaded digitally versus juggling an extra game card or disc around.
Konami just needs to release a damn ReBirth collection already. Gradius and Contra are in the same boat.
honestly i'm fine going all-digital with games because it is just inherently more convenient and it's the same game. it's not like streaming media where, due to bandwidth, a 4K netflix stream has lower bitrate than a 1080p (to say nothing of how it seems every streaming service has DVD-quallity audio). they're not reducing the quality of a digital game vs a physical copy.
plus also i play on PC where, y'know, there is no physical option anymore (outside of like those puzzle game compilations aimed at like 50 year old casual gamers) and, even if a storefront i use were to shut down completely and you wouldn't be able to redownload your games cuz it's like shut down shut down. it's a fuckin PC, i can just pirate that jive if that were to happen.
(also nintendo where, y'know, having all your games just available to you without needing to faff around with cartridges and stuff is also a perk of going digital. i only own a few switch games physically and i basically wish i'd gone digital with all of them (except for ring fit adventure when i get that, but you can't go digital with that because it has physical accessories for the exercise part of this exercise game). i'll sometimes see people go 'you shouldn't go digital on nintendo, they'll probably shut the store down in the future' and yeah, that is a thing nintendo did do with the wii, DSi, 3DS, and wii u. but they also still have all of those servers online to allow you to redownload what you've already purchased.
not being able to buy new games sucks but if people who previously made purchases can still access and redownload what they bought, like that's fine with me.
plus also i play on PC where, y'know, there is no physical option anymore (outside of like those puzzle game compilations aimed at like 50 year old casual gamers) and, even if a storefront i use were to shut down completely and you wouldn't be able to redownload your games cuz it's like shut down shut down. it's a fuckin PC, i can just pirate that jive if that were to happen.
(also nintendo where, y'know, having all your games just available to you without needing to faff around with cartridges and stuff is also a perk of going digital. i only own a few switch games physically and i basically wish i'd gone digital with all of them (except for ring fit adventure when i get that, but you can't go digital with that because it has physical accessories for the exercise part of this exercise game). i'll sometimes see people go 'you shouldn't go digital on nintendo, they'll probably shut the store down in the future' and yeah, that is a thing nintendo did do with the wii, DSi, 3DS, and wii u. but they also still have all of those servers online to allow you to redownload what you've already purchased.
not being able to buy new games sucks but if people who previously made purchases can still access and redownload what they bought, like that's fine with me.
I never got serious enough for Animal Crossing to check before, but yeah I could look around for an older game for cheap. On ebay the cheapest game I can find that's not Amiibo Festival is Wild world for about 40 bucks. Honestly that's still a bit high for me to pay for a game I might hate.
I'm still upset I paid around that for Monster Hunter World, and I doubt I could give that game away. I played it like once.
I wish we could bring back demo discs. Those were the days. (I'm so damn old now)
I've very much NOT fine going all digital for games. I don't really find it more convienant personally, and well I do NOT play on PC if I can help it.
PC gaming has gotten better now that most games let you plug a controller in, but I just like being on my console. (Also there's been so many times a game will come out where it works fine on a console, and it takes months for the PC port to get fixed)
Also for PC gaming. I hate the keyboard/mouse set up to play games. It just doesn't feel good to me. I hate it.
Rather have a case displayed on my shelf. I will MAKE the space if I need to.
I'm still upset I paid around that for Monster Hunter World, and I doubt I could give that game away. I played it like once.
I wish we could bring back demo discs. Those were the days. (I'm so damn old now)
I've very much NOT fine going all digital for games. I don't really find it more convienant personally, and well I do NOT play on PC if I can help it.
PC gaming has gotten better now that most games let you plug a controller in, but I just like being on my console. (Also there's been so many times a game will come out where it works fine on a console, and it takes months for the PC port to get fixed)
Also for PC gaming. I hate the keyboard/mouse set up to play games. It just doesn't feel good to me. I hate it.
Rather have a case displayed on my shelf. I will MAKE the space if I need to.
I don't, only because some parents out there bought those all the time and refused to understand that they were not buying a full game.
Okay that would certainly suck, but thankfully my parents weren't that clueless.
Oof. Yeah, that's a little more expensive than I thought, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Too bad the Wii U eShop is closed, Wild World was probably pretty cheap there.
Okay new plan. I just borrow a physical cart from one of you guys! I'll just head on over! I've got a new electric scooter! It'll be a bit awkward with my leg in this boot, but I'm sure it'll only take me like a week or so to get to you. XD