3 ms·

This is why I still try so hard to buy physical copies of games, and if there is a GOTY Edition, to have the DLC be on-disk, as opposed to being a bunch of down

This is why I still try so hard to buy physical copies of games, and if there is a GOTY Edition, to have the DLC be on-disk, as opposed to being a bunch of download vouchers. I wanna be able to play the freaking game in ten years without worrying about whether the game/console's online service is still available to do some mandatory authentication or version check.

dewey 5y ago
> This is why I still try so hard to buy physical copies of games Aren't these also subject to disk rot?
- kfprt 5y ago
  Disk rot is slower than online service rot. The other day I tried FC3 blood dragon and it had an error because they shut the servers down. It hasn't even been 10 years.
- AdmiralAsshat 5y ago
  It's certainly a possibility, but anecdotally, I have audio CDs from the late 80s that still play. Meanwhile, I have games I played 3-4 years ago on the PS3 that are severely hampered because the online components no longer work--the servers were either shut down, or in one case the company completely went under.
mywittyname 5y ago
Unfortunately, a lot of new releases need a 0-day patch to be playable. It's basically an anti-piracy/anti-early release measure. So if you really want to preserve a game on disk, you pretty much have to pick up another copy stamped at a later date to include all of the patches.
- abricot 5y ago
  GOTY editions rarely need 0-day patches.
  - mywittyname 5y ago
    Right, that would be the "copy stamped at a later date which includes all the patches" version I was mentioning that you'd want to pick up if you own a new release copy.
- ralmidani 5y ago
  For non-Nintendo Switch games, I buy from GOG whenever possible. It does require different taste in games (I grew up on Quest for Glory, Space Quest, and King’s Quest). You get a tried-and-true game, DRM-free, usually for dirt cheap, and it probably doesn’t require an RTX video card. It’s not for everyone, but it’s worked great for me.
- no_time 5y ago
  Calling it anti piracy is a bit of a stretch. It's just that companies realized that the printing of the physical media is no longer the point of no return from a development standpoint.
touristtam 5y ago
I stopped this the day I had to try an emulate a DOS environment to run a simple game.

dewey 5y ago

> This is why I still try so hard to buy physical copies of games Aren't these also subject to disk rot?

kfprt 5y ago
Disk rot is slower than online service rot. The other day I tried FC3 blood dragon and it had an error because they shut the servers down. It hasn't even been 10 years.
AdmiralAsshat 5y ago
It's certainly a possibility, but anecdotally, I have audio CDs from the late 80s that still play. Meanwhile, I have games I played 3-4 years ago on the PS3 that are severely hampered because the online components no longer work--the servers were either shut down, or in one case the company completely went under.

mywittyname 5y ago

Unfortunately, a lot of new releases need a 0-day patch to be playable. It's basically an anti-piracy/anti-early release measure. So if you really want to preserve a game on disk, you pretty much have to pick up another copy stamped at a later date to include all of the patches.

abricot 5y ago
GOTY editions rarely need 0-day patches.
- mywittyname 5y ago
  Right, that would be the "copy stamped at a later date which includes all the patches" version I was mentioning that you'd want to pick up if you own a new release copy.
ralmidani 5y ago
For non-Nintendo Switch games, I buy from GOG whenever possible. It does require different taste in games (I grew up on Quest for Glory, Space Quest, and King’s Quest). You get a tried-and-true game, DRM-free, usually for dirt cheap, and it probably doesn’t require an RTX video card. It’s not for everyone, but it’s worked great for me.
no_time 5y ago
Calling it anti piracy is a bit of a stretch. It's just that companies realized that the printing of the physical media is no longer the point of no return from a development standpoint.

touristtam 5y ago

I stopped this the day I had to try an emulate a DOS environment to run a simple game.