8 ms·
Just because a game is on disc doesn't mean it will work in the future
- nonamee 3mo agointeresting article about doesitplay community and their observations, but it seems like a lost battle since majority of gamers simply do not care
- tuna74 3mo agoYeah, if we want physical media we have to buy what is produced.
- wmf 3mo agoGamers know that piracy and emulation will rescue lost games.
- aeturnum 3mo agoThe point the article is making is that people assume that a game having physical media means its fully functional - but that's often not the case. Most games made recently rely on access to centralized servers to make the game playable in a concrete way. Emulation will help - but unlike previous generations having physical media won't be enough.
- wolvoleo 3mo agoFor now yes. But what when the industry moves to streaming? It's the ultimate copy protection because you never even get the game code.
- sublinear 3mo agoThe majority of gamers do not care because the games being released today aren't worth saving. They are all symptoms of the same root cause. Quality went down immensely in the 2010s. This has happened to other media, and it was inevitable that it would happen to games. What eras of movies or music do you think of when you consider those collections? Why would gaming be different?
- grimgrin 3mo agoI like to think this'll be around forever https://discworld.starturtle.net/lpc/ https://discworld.starturtle.net/lpc/
- gitowiec 3mo agoThey have only 27 entries for a PC... Like PCMR does not care? The platform where cracks always were most important?
- wmf 3mo agoOn PC you can pirate the full version even if the disc doesn't work.
- hollow-moe 3mo agoGot bitten by the deceptive nature of Nintendo "game key trash". Purchased a game online without reading carefully the description. Sent it back and bought a SteamDeck. I can't recall if the seller even put the correct visuals: game key trash have a banner telling that they are plastic waste and you should instead give all the money to nintendo by using eshop.
- matheusmoreira 3mo agoNintendo is the worst. Another example: Wii virtual console purchases don't carry over. They're selling people the exact same Mario ROMs dozens of times in a display of absolute rent seeking. Playstation recently got caught remotely deleting people's "purchased" movies too. I too bought a Steam Deck and haven't looked back. It's still a normal computer even if Steam itself goes to shit, but all signs point to it steadfastly refusing to do that. Here's to hoping Gaben never dies.
- kmeisthax 3mo agoThe Switch has one particular feature that doesn't get enough talk: basically any game update can be sent to another Switch peer-to-peer. I'm pretty sure it even works with Game Key Cards, since they're just a rebrand of an annoyance that the Switch 1 had since launch. You could, at least hypothetically, put every physical cartridge in a Switch or Switch 2 and download all the updates to those games, and just have an offline mirror of Nintendo's entire update CDN. More likely someone should make a homebrew app that archives update data by using this weird peer-to-peer update protocol, but I have no idea what encryption would need to be broken to make that work. But it would be a legitimate boon to game preservation to have something where someone with a bone-stock Switch and a game can just download the update they need and be done with it.
- bananaboy 3mo agoSteam does this for installation with machines on the local network! It will discover them and get the data from those machines instead of downloading from the wider internet. I’m not sure if it works for updates but it might!
- micromacrofoot 3mo agoyeah the backlash against sony is focusing on the wrong detail, disks don't mean ownership and digital doesn't mean you can't own it the disks themselves are largely a relic already, not enough storage for some games... and I don't recall a game I've played recently that didn't require a download on first play it would be nice to have some regulation that at least requires games to have some sort of labelling that indicates a minimum length of support for online functionality requirements
- ksymph 3mo agoNot a great article, but a very real phenomenon. I recently picked up a banned Nintendo Switch Lite for cheap -- meaning it can't download games or updates off Nintendo's servers, but it can still play cartridge games. And while most games function, there are more often than not critical fixes or significant content updates missing. The console exists in a strange sort of limbo where everything is playable but not in its best form. The problem with Sony killing physical games (and the wider culture of digital purchases) is, unfortunately, a long-term one. Nobody will be seriously affected right now, as long as Sony's update servers are up and both digital and physical are supported. But 10, 20 years from now, both from a game preservation standpoint and from a consumer protection standpoint, this will be disastrous, when many games will still be charging outrageous prices (without the soft check of reselling/trading) or even no longer exist.
- gymbeaux 3mo agoThis made me think of how we have to manually block certain devices (usually smart TVs) so they don’t “phone home” and show us ads and so forth. I see your switch being banned as a sort of mixed blessing. It’s liberating in a way. I wonder if there’s some way to use a proxy to self host the software patches. We had something similar on the PS3 homebrew scene.
- ksymph 3mo agoI've looked into it, and there doesn't seem to be any existing solution. You can transfer updates from one Switch to another, though, so if you have two Switches that opens up some options.
- bakugo 3mo agoThe PS3 is a relic from an era where consoles being connected to the internet was still a relatively new concept, and security was a lot more lax. Newer consoles like the Switch are far more locked down, everything is signed/encrypted/verified/etc so any tinkering of that sort is impossible without a kernel code execution exploit. The only option for a banned Switch Lite is installing a modchip (there are people who will do it for you for a fee, well worth it imo).
- Scoundreller 3mo agoGamecopyworld continues to exist, which has been a while without any unnecessary interface changes.
- MBCook 3mo agoDiscs 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 upside at all.
- Barrin92 3mo agoDiscs matter because centralized digital distribution is what is eroding your rights. The medium's the message. It's the malleability and ephemerality of digital content that has enabled not just restricting people's rights, but destroying the authenticity of media by arbitrarily replacing its content. The reason Amazon could delete 1984 from your Kindle, is its digital nature. Nobody, except you, can delete a book from your shelf or change its content.
- scared_together 3mo agoHave you read the article? > For years now, the testers at DoesItPlay have been documenting this trend, testing thousands of physical game releases to see which ones live up to the promise of full “plug and play” functionality without an Internet connection. Thus far, a full 27 percent of the physical releases they’ve tested require some sort of download to fix game-breaking bugs or obtain core game content that is not stored on the physical release itself. That ratio balloons to 34 percent for tested PS5 games and 50 percent for those on the Xbox Series X.
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- Barrin92 3mo agoyes but that's exactly my point, if all you get is a code in a box and you rely on online services to download the game that's the dependence you need to get away from. That example is my case for full, offline, physical copies of a piece of media I can plug and play into my console without an internet connection.
- glaslong 3mo agoGet a Mig Flash, rip your games, support the emulator communities, etc. It's so easy for DRM'd games to become lost forever as the rights transfer around, and the hosting or support costs stop being worth it for publishers.
- CoolestBeans 3mo agoThe 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 game, the console, the controller, the TV, and a bunch of wires connecting it all together. When we were kids, you had this little disc that exploded out into a world that was all your own to explore and experience. Now it's not all your own. When you bought a PlayStation 2 and some games, your relationship with Sony could end at any time and nothing would change in your day-to-day gaming experience. But today, buying a console is an ongoing relationship with the manufacturer every microsecond you play a game. And most people don't want to admit that. And ending disc production forces us to admit that old era has been dead and gone. More frighteningly, we helped it along every step of the way by overwhelmingly preferring digital downloads and always-on online games.
- garciansmith 3mo ago> Sony is discontinuing disc sales as a response to how gamers are buying games not the other way around. I disagree. They are using that as an excuse, when in reality they simply desire more control. When Sony releases their sales numbers they never compare physical and digital sales of games that are offering both, but rather compare physical sales to everything digital including DLC and digital-only games to make the percentage of digital sales seem higher. You can't ever get a real comparison when there are options for both. Since it is true that physical sales are declining, they feel that they can do so without significant push back. Disc sales are still significant, and even besides the big companies there are tons of smaller companies that would gladly continue to order discs for indie games, limited editions, collectors, etc. That said, I think you are quite correct about the "ongoing relationship with the manufacturer". This is just another step in the direction of seizing total control over things that people once considered that they owned.
- CoolestBeans 3mo agoJust going off vibes, I think if Sony could sell a physical media from now until the end of time they would. This is a company that engineered a tiny optical drive and little DVDs encased in cartridges that slot in for their portable game system. Whenever you read about a format war, one side is almost always Sony. This is also a company that like took a full month to recover their online services. My point is I think Sony is a follower and not a leader in this space. If they could print discs and license the tech to deal with them from now until the end of time they would.
- p0w3n3d 3mo agoYou don't need your right of ownership! Please resign from it as it is a relict of the past.
- j1elo 3mo agoI don't understand how we are running into a future where I cannot buy the equivalent of "PS2 + 5 games" on a second-hand shop. That has been the main way to play games for a lot of people: buy a previous gen pack (with N games included) when the richer neighbour was upgrading to the next gen console. How's that going to work out today or in newer generations?
- dawnerd 3mo agoThe young people today are so used to just paying a subscription, it’s really sad. On the upside there is a movement in buying older physical media among the youth but I think it’s more of a fad.
- krzyk 3mo agoOld games have big sales, 90% range. Well at least steam ones.
- opan 3mo agoIf you are willing to do a bit of research, there are easily hackable models of PS3 and PS4 and then you can put dumped games on them even if the official store is gone and there's none already on there. Then you just need to worry about getting the cables and controller. On that note, modding consoles tends to make it easier to use more controllers with them by bypassing the auth. I can use all sorts of modern and DIY controllers on my modded Xbox 360 and PS3, so even when the world runs out of working original controllers, they'll be useful. Being able to play game dumps off storage also means a failing disc drive is a minor issue.
- selectively 3mo ago[dead]
- mvanbaak 3mo agoJust to confirm the title: The Destiny 2 disc does not have a single playable mission on it anymore.
- beloch 3mo agoTo provide a basic level of consumer protection, governments should: 1. Recognize that paying for a game implies ownership. Developers must not employ methods that remove purchased games from online stores or become otherwise unplayable. 2. Recognize the legality of cracking games to make them playable. To put it in the classic anti-piracy "You wouldn't steal a car, would you?" terminology, we need to tell developers, "No, you can't sell us a car and then steal it. Yes, we have the right to built tools to take it back if you try."
- accrual 3mo agoI think item 1 will be most provable. Sony says "you can have X experience for Y dollars". You pay Y dollars. 10 years elapse. Sony says X is no longer available. Sony has absorbed Y dollars but your X is gone and you cannot access it. This is the new model.
- polishdude20 3mo agoFor an FPGA project I'm working on that requires a host software program on the host computer, I've been looking into finding a way to burn the host software or source code to the fpga itself. So you'd just plug in the USB port and it would automatically open a filesystem and let you copy over the source code or even binary blob for the software so it would work in the future.
- msarrel 3mo agoNice to see someone drinking the Kool aid
- alexfringes 3mo agoFascinating listener comment, from a librarian to ATP, about the special legal exceptions with which libraries were equipped to have a chance against copyright and DRM tech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u11ar0649Y4&t=373s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u11ar0649Y4&t=373s (timestamped deep-link)
- boesboes 3mo agojezus fucking christ, stop defending the fucking corporation sucking everything dry you will own nothing and enjoy it
- Rapzid 3mo agoStop discounting consumer choice. The market had physical/digital library parity for about 10+ years. PC first and now we are at the end of the decade of console digital choice and.. The market has spoken.
- cryzinger 3mo agoI don't think this is a defense of digital-only sales so much as a reality check that even physical game sales have been consumer-hostile for a long time.
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- nekusar 3mo agoJust because the game is pirated DOES mean it will work in the future.
- LocalH 3mo agoThis is why hacking consoles is paramount. These companies don't want you to be able to preserve what you paid for, and hacking enables that. Thank god we figured out the encryption on Rock Band content. Everything there is preserved now.
- ethankatelyn1 3mo ago[dead]
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- vivzkestrel 3mo ago- obligatory r/fuckubisoft