Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

The major topic around the gaming blogosphere is the idea that the companies want to have us directly download all our games to our consoles. Most gamers have at least heard of Valve’s Steam, which provides this functionality for PC gamers. This would mean the end of our games on media such as DVDs, and the end of driving to stores like Gamestop. Here’s what it means for us, the gamers.

First, this system would likely destroy the second-hand market. If the games are downloaded straight to our consoles, there’s no way we can take them to a store and sell them, nor trade with friends. It would improve the copy-protection for the companies, but there’s a hidden cost they aren’t thinking of. The companies argue that if there were no used games, they would get more sales at full price. However, buyers of used games buy games at used prices that they might not buy at full price. Therefore, the company never had the sale of their game in the first place. If the gamer buys a used game from a company they’ve never played before, that gamer might start buying full-priced games from that company. If the gamer doesn’t have the chance at the used price, they might not buy at the full price, and the company could lose profits they might otherwise have made. This will also result in fewer purchases because gamers won’t be able to trade in their old games towards new games.


Also, will the games function on their own while on our hard drives, or will they need to stay connected? If they do, how long will the companies keep the support for these games going? 20 years after a console’s release, will we still be able to play games we’ve downloaded, as we can still play NES games on an NES?


The next question that is unanswered is what happens to all your downloaded games when your console dies or its hard drive crashes? The companies will have to set up some means of verification of what games you own, and then allow you to re-download the games once you get a new or repaired console. There’s another technical aspect that has already been seen with the Nintendo DS’s online play: Not all wireless routers are compatible with the console, which means the gamer has the choice of purchasing a new router, or buying a Nintendo USB Wifi dongle. There will certainly be problems like this in the future because wireless standards are changing so quickly.


And then there’s the aesthetic aspect. Although they take up a bit of space, I like having a shelf full of game boxes with great art and content booklets. All that would be gone with digital distribution.


Finally, there’s an idea touched on by Curmudgeon Gamer about games having price drops as they age. Currently, most online games keep a steady price, and if these games are still being sold, they keep their copyright. This means that as long as the copyright is renewed, these games could generate a theoretically infinite amount of money.


Here’s a Gamespot news article on where digital distribution stands as of now.