Doom: The Dark Ages And suspicions of the industry

simpatico said:
Is there a running list of games that come with such a broken version that it's basically unplayable without a patch? Just guessing, but I'd imagine it's a long list. I think if you're really upset about this, those games should also draw your ire.

When is the last time anyone on GAF went an extended amount of time without internet at their house? Gotta be at least a decade for me. Maybe longer.
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Gravity Rush 2 is so flawless that you can play it without needing any updates.

The game is already complete in its physical version and never needed any updates.
 
rofif said:
It's not the same.
Physical pc games are a 1-time use key that ties your game to steam.

This is not that.
You put the game into your ps5 and it launches a download (like normally installing a game and patch pops up. Same here).
Game is not tied to your account. Needs a disc to play.

So it is still MUCH MUCH MUCH better than digital only PSN game.
-It's not tied to an account,
-Possibly can be fully played offline after installing (and with disc in to authorize). other games like this (like hogwarts) do that.
-You can sell it, buy cheaper from other retailer.
This COMPLETELY removes PSN monopoly from the equation.
it's not death of physical. It's still much better than digital on consoles.

although not ideal but why? Would you ever play that 1.0 copy? Maybe? because we all know that these servers will never die. that download will be there your whole life.
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You are already accepting it. It's a shit deal, don't downplay it by saying it's better than digital. This is a step to eliminating physical completely. It's a trap and a shit practice.
 
if a gamer wakes up from the stupor that is FOMO and the lie of "supporting the devs" by buying games day one, that would be a reckoning of epic proportions. But, hey, keep fucking around with your most valuable consumer.... just as Xbox
 
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Lucifers Beard said:
I have no idea how you sleep like a baby at night calling everyone here 'daddy', but to each their own.
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ekPx14K.gif


Didn't know the word 'papi' could cause a grown adult this much distress, should I switch to 'senpai' to ease the trauma?
 
vaibhavpisal said:
I think any game that has full game on disc/ card can mention that as bonus marketing material.

It should be understood that full game wont be there most probably.
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Most games actuallt have the full game on disc. It's only certain publishers that do this and MS seem to be a huge culprit of it.
 
Thief1987 said:
I don't understand this idiocy, like you already print the disc, why not to put the data there?
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Certain publishers print discs before the game is even ready and certain publishers are very guilty of rushing some games out. I'm convinced that they use the required download as a mandatory online checkin too for data metric collection.
 
Full disclosure should be required when your physical game is just a stub for digital game with no complete version on disc. "Online required" is not a sufficient explanation on its own and makes it sound like they are intentionally trying to mislead people.
 
I love seeing it! So many of you fucking clowns want this and now it's happening. Enjoy not owning anything and paying stupid high prices for this shit!
 
It is embarrassing how many games I am carrying like a burden in my life. Probably close to 40 N64 carts alone. Still have about 15-20 of its boxes. That's just one system. I need a different office file type box for each platforms games. So I have one just for PS3 and PS4 games, another for Genesis and Dreamcast games. I have too many Nintendo disc games, so they overflowed into the anemic Xbox box. Over the years, it's a fair contribution to the game industry (except Xbox).

So guess what I am going to do now? Pirate the game, pirate the update, and put it in a box. This is something I have to do even if I buy the game because I still don't actually have it. Unless it is a Nintendo-published game which I stand ready to buy without feeling disgruntled.
 
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Heimdall_Xtreme said:
Hours before the Nintendo Switch 2 video was released, this game suspiciously silently raised its price to $69. Nintendo and the controversial Keycard are causing many developers to do the same.
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I'm sorry OP. I like you, but this is financial illiteracy at its finest. Nintendo aren't causing, forcing, encouraging or promoting anyone to do anything. Microsoft are the greediest monopolistic anti-consumer company on the planet.
 
Banjo64 said:
I'm sorry OP. I like you, but this is financial illiteracy at its finest. Nintendo aren't causing, forcing, encouraging or promoting anyone to do anything. Microsoft are the greediest monopolistic anti-consumer company on the planet.
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You're right.

But it felt bad. :messenger_sad_relieved:

Nah, that's not true.:messenger_squinting_tongue:
 
rickybooby87 said:
piracy GIF
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The people impacted by this are console owners on PS5 and Xbox Series. Platforms where piracy doesn't exist for recent games.

If you were on PC, you weren't buying physical anyway.

Best to say you were gonna pirate the game anyway.

That said, Microsoft's handling of physical game sales has been an embarrassment this gen. Especially for many who have to spend time downloading 100Gb before they play a game they've bought physically.

Why does nobody ask Spencer these tough questions when he shows up for interviews?
 
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Heimdall_Xtreme said:
That's my opinion, but I think Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo hold secret meetings and collude among themselves to target and profit from consumers, like a mafia. And the Doom game couldn't hide how these three giants are trying to steer them down a path we as consumers don't want, but these three giants want to impose it.
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I do not think it is outright collusion but they see one company do it and they all jump on the idea with little thought that consumers are going to push back. Why? Because we make it easy for them...

rHIOOo7.jpeg
 
Heimdall_Xtreme said:
It's weird... yesterday I went to a plaza and there were a lot of physical video games...
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Just to be absolutely clear, that's not my photo/store, but my store's Xbox section looks very similar. The Playstation/ Nintendo sections are all most filled with physical boxes, with Xbox being kinda bare.
 
Had it ordered on Amazon. Found out the disc bullshit and cancelled it. Will wait until it's cheap to buy.
 
Heimdall_Xtreme said:
In the absurd minds and brains of the developers, this is so they can't extract the data from the disk and pirate it...

Which seems stupid to me. So they think that having the data in their online store gives them control, which is absurd.
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Developers hate this stuff as much as you do - its publishers who demand this.
 
Was there a physical release of any game in recent memory that didn't require at least day 1 patch download? Or some other download to play?
 
Power Pro said:
I feel like I should just start posting this video and link every time someone says something this stupid.



www.doesitplay.com

Granted it doesn't cover every game ever, but it covers thousands of games, and guess what? Thousands of games are totally playable without a download. So no, physical is not dead.
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But you see if they do not help their astroturfing overlords to spread the message physical is dead then people may not get convinced that physical is dead and avoid or delay the all adorably digital revolution and the actual death of physical… they need to repeat it enough and be unchallenged to make it appear as manifest destiny ;).
 
pasterpl said:
Was there a physical release of any game in recent memory that didn't require at least day 1 patch download? Or some other download to play?
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Almost every single game of the Switch 1 library could be played as is no matter if there was a patch out or not. You are around these forums a lot so you know this…
 
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Panajev2001a said:
They still have unsold Xbox 360 and stocked two of those XSX fridges? Someone needs to have a chat with their store layout manager.
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those aren't real xbox 360s, they're some fake lego knockoff of an xbox 360 console. What's crazy is they're charging more than what you could get an xbox 360 for.

k351vuD.jpeg
 
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Power Pro said:
those aren't real xbox 360s, they're some fake lego knockoff of an xbox 360 console. What's crazy is they're charging more than what you could get an xbox 360 for.

k351vuD.jpeg
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Yikes, but why waste so much shelf space for that 😂, same thing like with the XSX fridges…
 
Microsoft is making it very easy to avoid physical purchases of their new games. I didn't buy Indy and I won't buy Doom, even when they're on sale. I suspect this may be a part of Microsoft's plan to drive people away from the retail market, not just wanting to avoid the higher costs of printing on larger blurays. But that's also how you may lose a paying customer. I won't buy a physical or digital copy and just get a cheaper game pass sub.

And yeah, it is true that most physical games require big downloads anyway, but in my case it's just about not supporting this kind of practice. I can understand if some publisher doesn't want to pay the costs of a Switch 2 cartridge (and risk that a lot of copies won't sell), but with super cheap blurays there's no excuse.
 
Ozriel said:
Why does nobody ask Spencer these tough questions when he shows up for interviews?
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Because it's pointless, he would say something "you know, when we look at our users, the competition, we try to make the best decisions when it comes to games, and I understand that some aspects of our decisions can be seen as not the best ones right now but we always try to improve user experience"

The only time I saw a guy being honest about his answer was Don Mattrick "eh, move to a place with internet, or buy a 360, I dunno"
 
I dont get it, then what is the point of paying money for distribution if you are gonna use the dual layer bluray to literally keep like 200mb on it. At this point just sell the download code on a cardboard pamflet if that is the future of gaming because you cant call this version a "phisical copy".
 
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Gonzito said:
I never buy physical games. I go always digital and I sleep like a baby at night
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Denzel Washington GIF


Last physical game I bought that was not Nintendo was Guardians of the Galaxy back in 2021. Now Im getting rid of all my discs and buy the digital copy whenever a psn sale /steam sale happens.
 
Wasn't there are story that a Limited Run collector's edition of some game should also only hold a game key card? If even those companies, who wrote "game preservation" on their flags, start doing this shit, there's a immediate danger to physical media.
 
I can't believe we're even having to discuss this, but here we are. The way things are going with physical game releases is a total joke. DOOM: The Dark Ages is the latest example, where the PS5 disc contains only 85 MB of data, and you're forced to download the rest of the game. And it's not just this one - we're seeing this more and more! What's the point of even calling it a "physical edition" if the game isn't even on the disc?

This whole trend of selling us "physical" discs that are basically just a license to download is a slap in the face to consumers. For years, the whole point of buying a physical copy was that you owned it - you could install & play offline, lend it out, sell it, being indepent from company servers, whatever. Now, we're getting discs that are almost completely empty, and we're still expected to download the whole game. It's honestly insane.

Producing these near-empty discs, shipping them around the world, all for what? So we can still download the game? It's such a waste of resources, and it completely ignores the whole "save the planet" conversation that's going on in other industries. It's like they don't care about anything but getting our money.

I also don't understand how anyone can be okay with this or even defend this kind of big-corpo bullshit. I've seen so many comments online where people are straight-up saying they're avoiding games like Indiana Jones because they don't want inclomplete physical editions or a digital version of a licence key for rent. And who can blame them? If you're a collector or someone who actually cares about owning a physical product, this is a huge letdown. These games are no longer a "complete product," and publishers know it.

And yet, they still push forward with this nonsense, hoping people won't notice or care. The whole point of a physical edition should be that it's the complete game, all on the disc, at least a playable version 1.0. If they can't manage that, then stop pretending these are physical copies at all. They're just glorified download codes. It's frustrating, and it's only going to push more people away from supporting physical media. I understand that their aim is to make people think digital-only is the way forward, but this would lead to a dark future with fewer consumer rights.

If this continues, publishers are hopefully going to regret it. Nobody should going to want to buy a product that's basically worthless when it comes down to it. So yeah, I'm pissed, and I'm sure many others feel the same way. I just hope we can get some change before this becomes the new norm.

And seriously, what is so great about handing over your money and your rights to corporations, becoming fully dependent on their online systems and services? How is that something we should be excited about? These stores are practically unchallenged, and once physical media continues to fade away, they'll have the power to dictate prices however they want. Who's going to be so proud of having everything digital when big-corpo control the entire market, even more than now, and consumers are completely at their mercy?
 
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Only americans are obsessed with physically owning games and hoarding masses of boxes. "Oh no, that game was delisted how are you going to play it?" Well either arrrrrrr or I simply wont and just play somehting else out of the millions of good games.
 
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