Will this be the end of future Collectors Editions?

[HIPPEEDUDE]

I spend a bit of time on a few forums,try to keep up to date with news & latest tidbits of information etc. The most recent thing i have been told though is a little worrying for the future Collectors/Limited Editions that may never be. According to various sources the new Xbox console to be released in 2013(a hopefull release date by Microsoft) will have no disc drive at all. All games will be download content only. If they do this,its possible others may follow. This may quite possibly mean no more lovely new Collectors/Limited editions will stand in a place of pride amongst our collections.
Anyone have any thoughts on this or maybe even concrete proof of this?
This is the most reliable source of this info i have found so far:
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/exclusive-no-disc-drive-for-next-xbox/092534

If this is in the wrong place,feel free to move it:)

[scottcross]

There is a lot of rumors flying around the place about this, but personally I think the next gen will have a disc drive....but it would not surprise me if they start introducing downloadable games on a bigger scale, they are hopefully going to phase it out rather than change it completely. Plus I dont think everybody's internet is quite up to scratch yet to accommodate downloading the big games

[Solemn_In_Berlin]

I'm more worried about the end of discs than the end of collector's editions. I love discs and a physical library/collection is to me, more sentimental than a digital one.

That being said, I could care less about next-gen consoles right now. The PS3 isn't even close to realizing its fullest potential right now and we'll see more of what the 360 can do. There is still no confirmation of a next-gen console being revealed this year, let alone E3. I'll believe when I see it. Until then, I'll enjoy what I have at present. And I think you should too. The next-gen consoles aren't coming anytime soon.

[sleepwalker]

First of all - rumour. Secondly, no optical drive is not equal to not having physical copies of games.
They can just switch from discs to cartridges/memory cards/etc. We still will have Collector's Editions.

Digital distribution only is stupid at this point in time and within at least 25 years to come.
Too many consumers still do not have a wide enough bandwidth to be able to download 25GB of data on a regular basis.

PS: fuss is over nothing, really.

[Dreamcazman]

Yeah I read about this. Most sources seem to think that M$ will move to a SSD type drive/cartridge for the games. This is good in a way because there's no more worrying about scratching discs, theoretical endless size for games (compared to disc limitations) and faster loading times. Cost is the only deciding factor.

If M$ do decide to go with a SSD device, we'll still have CE's, it'll just be exchanging one media format with another.

[gurpswoo1]

I will modify MCV opening statement to what really is happening:

Gurpswoo1 @ Collectorsedition.org has learnt that MCV has been lying to its readers that the Next Xbox will NOT include a disc drive, even though that is complete rubbish.

In other words a big load a crap, what is likely happened is that Microsoft has told it partners to start considering Digital Downloads during the creation of their games. In other words optimised the game for digital distributions i.e DLC, extra content, etc.

If there any developers out there that has not considered this already, they are not worth mentioning. This does not mean there will be no disc. In fact it is impossible, If PS3 games now take up almost all of the Blu-ray disc space. i.e 40 GB+ how will digital be able to cope with more than that. The Same with Xbox, it's guaranteed that the next Xbox will have games that take considerably more space.

One top of that Blu-rays in 3D sometime require 2 disc. Hard drive space would need to be huge.

Also as Sirren has stated, No one is going to wait several days to download a game, in my case 2 weeks. They will simply not bother and it would kill sales.

The News story has been fabricated simply for the Fan boys/girls.

I have never heard so much rubbish in my life.

[HIPPEEDUDE]

I will modify MCV opening statement to what really is happening:



In other words a big load a crap, what is likely happened is that Microsoft has told it partners to start considering Digital Downloads during the creation of their games. In other words optimised the game for digital distributions i.e DLC, extra content, etc.

If there any developers out there that has not considered this already, they are not worth mentioning. This does not mean there will be no disc. In fact it is impossible, If PS3 games now take up almost all of the Blu-ray disc space. i.e 40 GB+ how will digital be able to cope with more than that. The Same with Xbox, it's guaranteed that the next Xbox will have games that take considerably more space.

One top of that Blu-rays in 3D sometime require 2 disc. Hard drive space would need to be huge.

Also as Sirren has stated, No one is going to wait several days to download a game, in my case 2 weeks. They will simply not bother and it would kill sales.

The News story has been fabricated simply for the Fan boys/girls.

I have never heard so much rubbish in my life.

I never said it was fact,thats why i have asked if anyones got concrete proof &/or thoughts on this. Personally,i dont think it will happen(yet anyway) for various reasons. MCV was one source i know of,albeit not always a reliable one.

[jugolicious]

I never said it was fact,thats why i have asked if anyones got concrete proof &/or thoughts on this. Personally,i dont think it will happen(yet anyway) for various reasons. MCV was one source i know of,albeit not always a reliable one.

No one will have concrete proof against MCV's argument, but MCV doesn't have any either to support their's. Everything right now are purely speculation and rumours.

I think the next gen consoles will still include a disc drive. As sirren said, the world isn't ready for everything to go digital, mostly because of bandwidth issues. Some gamers still doesn't use the internet.

[Icek]

Remember PSP Go? And it's sales failure (almost) solely cause of digital download games only.

[gurpswoo1]

I never said it was fact,thats why i have asked if anyones got concrete proof &/or thoughts on this. Personally,i dont think it will happen(yet anyway) for various reasons. MCV was one source i know of,albeit not always a reliable one.

I wasn't saying your statement was fact or not, simple that MCV are twisting the truth to exploits and peak interest in Fan boys.

If the source existed, they would put it in the article.

Remember PSP Go? And it's sales failure (almost) solely cause of digital download games only.


LOL - Yeah Someone once told me that they never got pass the first batch, but seriously if the one platform that would benefit most from Digital only was a complete a utter failure. Then Publishers must be smart enough to consider it bad practice to do it to consoles.

[foreverflash]

I was going to chime in but Gurps and Sirren already addressed this rumor appropriately. The "no disc drive" rumor is absolute 100% false. There WILL be and there HAS to be a disc drive in both PS4 and Xbox 360. No way around it. How it will work and what media format it will accept are the only real mysteries here...

:poke:

[misterunboxers]

I am also concerned that the physical materials for gaming are slowly disappearing. It has been dwindling as this gen goes on. The download content and games on demand have increased in popularity and that seems to be the only way to find older games unless you buy used, but come on we are on a collector's forum who wants someone elses pos. I hope that microsoft wises up and goes back to discs. Even if the collector's editions of next gen has a physical collectors edition, it would have a dlc code and that would suck for those of us that don't like to use the codes given to us. Hope for the best :)

[Twisted]

could u imagine?..one day in very near future, we'dbe walking into stores, and buying "gift cards" with codes on them for maybe $50 each, in place of a game disk, artbox, packaging, instructions etc..and then when ur harddrive has issues, gets stolen, damaged..your out of luck.lol..

[AJLareneg]

I really hope not. I always prefer having something physical in my library of games versus digital. I mean, I recently got a PSVita, and I could buy all the games in the store, but I won't. I like being able to see the boxes on my shelf. It's fun for me to see how the game collection grows compared to the ones for other systems as time goes on.

Plus, yeah, collector editions. I suppose if digital became that popular they could tape a giftcard with the game code to a CE. :b

[twistedsymphony]

physical media distribution isn't going anywhere anytime soon....

Microsoft's own stats show that only about 75% of current Xbox 360 owners are hooked up to Xbox Live, do you really thing they'd be willing to just hand over 25% of their market share to competitors for the sake of Digital downloads?

Business will continue to do what they have always done: whatever will make them the most money.

[HIPPEEDUDE]

physical media distribution isn't going anywhere anytime soon....

Microsoft's own stats show that only about 75% of current Xbox 360 owners are hooked up to Xbox Live, do you really thing they'd be willing to just hand over 25% of their market share to competitors for the sake of Digital downloads?

Business will continue to do what they have always done: whatever will make them the most money.

But thats it,you have just hit the nail on the head without releasing it. If 75% of current xbox owners are on xbox live,how much easier from there would it be to make games downloadable only. As it is theres quite a few games that are downloadable only,this to me in itself smacks of trial run,does it work & are people buying enough. Microsoft for arguements sake wouldnt be handing over any share,what i magine could happen is game companies release the game to microsoft,sony etc for users to download,for every download the game company gets a percentage. As it is now,from interviews i have read from game developers alot of them are thinking along this line now for the simple reason that what alot of them want to do to the games wont always fit on one disc. Rage is a good example,you needed 2 discs to play the whole game,if the game was downloadable,production costs become cheaper & more profit in the pocket for all concerned. The content on a game disc is increasing & not always because of extra security sectors on the disc,its because the games are becoming bigger,more realistic,more indepth & in some cases alot longer. Dont get me wrong,i prefer to have something physical in my hand,but myself like alot of people will always wonder what will happen next & what effect it will have

[Johnny]

Let's look at the bright side of the picture here.
If this happens it's just less money we will spend.

[rapister]

I spend a bit of time on a few forums,try to keep up to date with news & latest tidbits of information etc. The most recent thing i have been told though is a little worrying for the future Collectors/Limited Editions that may never be. According to various sources the new Xbox console to be released in 2013(a hopefull release date by Microsoft) will have no disc drive at all. All games will be download content only. If they do this,its possible others may follow. This may quite possibly mean no more lovely new Collectors/Limited editions will stand in a place of pride amongst our collections.
Anyone have any thoughts on this or maybe even concrete proof of this?
This is the most reliable source of this info i have found so far:
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/exclusive-no-disc-drive-for-next-xbox/092534

If this is in the wrong place,feel free to move it:)

Nah.....

REMEMBER PSP GO ????

[Gemini-Phoenix]

The video game industry employs a lot of people on the retail side. If the next generation of consoles are going to have no disc drive and be DLC only, then that would mean a lot of people would lose their jobs. As greedy as these corporations are and desperate to control the content they're supplying, I somehow can't see that they would be so heartless to ruin tens of thousands of people's lives...

I also think the PSPgo proved that such a business model would not be very well received. Just because it works on a PC with services such as STEAM, iTunes for music, and Netflix for films, it doesn't necessarily mean it'll work for console gamers

At the end of the day, Microsoft and Sony have to please the consumers. If the consumers demand physical media, then these companies will have to supply it. If consumers don't want their consoles permanently connected to the internet, then offline gaming should be possible by default. Not everyone has internet, and not everyone wants their console connected