Smoke and Mirrors

I spend quite sometime playing games and this may ensure my candidacy for captain of the USS Obvious but things have changed plenty from my day (dinosaurs roamed, Pluto was a planet, music was good, games were on cartridges) we’re living in an age companies are opting for digital distribution methods. It seemed like a natural progression of things; carts, then cds, then all downloads. Is the digital age really shiny and glorious? I see the potential for great things but something in my gut tells me that this isn’t the best way for the industry to go.

The only group of gamers that were getting proper downloadable content, fixes, etc were the PC gamers.  Sure you can argue for Dreamcast (Phantasy Star Online) or PS2 (Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter, etc) but I feel that the growth of X-Box live and Playstation Network changed the landscape dramatically. In the old days when you went to the store and purchased a game that was it. The finished product was in your hands, flaws and all. With XBL and PSN companies are now able to fix problems and patch balance issues. Something that the PC players have been getting for a long time.

However with the ability to just make a patch for things is just the enabler for products to get rushed out unfinished just to hit release dates. *This is a bit off topic but I do feel games just like any other work of art should be released when it’s ready not to beat out another release just to make a few bucks. I don’t think that’s fair to the people who put their hard work into it but that’s a topic for another day.* Knowing that someone can put out a game that’s 98% or less complete and that they could patch it at a later date or not at all in some cases and still have you pay full price is a bit crazy since in theory you are paying for a complete product.

The good stuff.

But beyond the practical and oh so technical patching of mistakes, DLC as it likes to be called delivers something else, it delivers content. Purchasing downloadable content could extend the life of your favorite game by giving you new missions, adding a new feature or mode to the game, new songs to play, new tracks to race on, new costumes for your favorite characters, etc. So the possibilities are pretty much endless with what you could download from companies. For instance with Fallout they added new campaigns and quests or with Rock Band/Guitar Hero/DJ Hero/Whatever-music-game band-hero-maker-thing-you-choose-to-play you’re always given fresh selections of songs. You can download classic titles from yesteryear and relive your glory days. The nostaliga factor is running high for people my age and the younger generation so this is a blessing.

Sounds great right? What they don’t tell you is that you have to be ONLINE to access the content you’ve purchased. It seems like a no brainer that you have to be online to download your new stuff but having to be online to play it is another story. It’s nice to have over 1k songs on Rock Band however if you go to your friends house with your data and they don’t have a way to get online, well you’re pretty much stuck playing whatever is available. Another dirty little sceret is that a majority of the time the DLC was already on the CD you’re just downloading an unlock code. Interestingly enough if they remove the title you’ve downloaded from their servers (XBL,PSN) you lose access to the game. I’ve had this happen with Double Dragon and there was no resolution.

And what cha gonna do?

It’s a 50/50 right? It has pros and cons just like anything else in the world. However you’re paying for most of the DLC you get, that can potentially include future patches in some cases. Nothing in this world is free, but considering that you paid about $65.31 to play the initial game flaws and all. To top it off there are versions of the game released with all the DLC included for the price for the same price or a lower MRSP.

Of course you can always say that these are just isolated incidents XBL and PSN. Want another high class fail? PSPgo all download all the time. I spent a ton of time since Chocolate Lemon has been around in a video game store and I have only seen 4 sold. Sony even went on record trying to spin the PSPGos failure as experiement in something. There are other examples of this even with Nintendo (one downloaded game per console, shop channel).

What we see.

So what is the point of the industry moving this way? Well they claim it fights back the pirates also it cuts down the sale of second hand merchandise. It would also allow them to eliminate the middle man, you know those pesky things video game stores. In that there would be a bit of money saved in distribution costs. If companies had their way they’d do away with the used game market, just ask EA. You argue it is a more cost efficent way of going green and overall it is cleaner.

What they see.

Don’t get me wrong digital distribution gives people the chance to experince something that may have never made it to disc like Braid or gives developers a chance to add something that they wanted to and didn’t have the time to complete. I also see how used game sales and piracy can hurt the industry and I’m all for a greener planet. But there’s one thing that digital distribution does and that takes away your right ownership. For example you go into a store and buy something you’re then able to take it home and do whatever you please with it. Now imagine if you buy some clothes that you can only wear while logged into the store’s web service, it will show up in your closet as a ‘Hey, yeah you have this shirt’ reminder. Imagine what will happen if the store decided to stop carrying that shirt. You’d still have it in your closet but you could never wear it because the online doesn’t support it.  It’s a stretch but that’s exactly what happened to me with Double Dragon (mentioned earlier) with no chance for reimbursement. It strips the noble hobby of collecting to nothing. Games themeselves have a finiacial value that fluctuates with the market, however their setimental value cannot be measured. Another thing that I have noticed is that when games are available for digital distribution, the quality of the sound is not as good as it should be, a perfect example is Symphony of the Night.

I will say this, I am not the first person to say it but, consoles have killed arcades. With more online play and features the are less reasons for gamers to leave their homes. That trip to the video game story allows you to chat and converse with kindred spirits. I feel that there’s a disconnect in communition in today’s society. We’re on messengers, bbms, texts and whatever you want to not have to speak to someone face to face but why should games be any different?

Love me...please?

The question is what can we do? Digital distribution seems like it should be the way of the future but it has flaws. The thing however, is that that these flaws aren’t readily exposed unless you’re forced to experience them, then you are the isolated one. Should we boycott d.d.? That won’t stand because there are a vast majority of people who won’t see the point of this action. They just want to play the newest map on Call of Duty or Halo, they have to have that newest sound or track pack. Who can blame them, the ‘it’s not that serious’ logic/mindset will prevail and people will spend their money as they see fit. Unlike the music or movie industry things are taken that a bit more seriously even though it’s all entertainment and even then it’s met with apathy. Do we sit in silence? I don’t think there’s a clear answer for this but I do know that digital distribution is not the right one.

Hmm think we've killed the Dreamcast...