Well I just bought about 200.00 wort of ms points. Wonder how long these downloads will take since we don't know the size yet. Grabbing Forza, Ryse and Dead Rising 3.


Will the be compressed or upwards of 15 gigs or more?

At this point, I personally would not buy digital downloads. Not yet anyway.

The servers for Sony and, suffice to say, even Microsoft are unproven yet on how they'll handle the traffic on launch. This is the first generation in which being online is almost a requirement, especially with both consoles needing a day one update right out of the box.

Also, NBA2K14 is a 50GB download on the PS4 compared to 9GB on the PS3. On that note? Good luck.

Really.. I thought the current generation was where being online was almost a requirement...

I don't think I'll ever buy $60 games digitally. I have no problems dropping a few bucks here and there on music tracks and I go crazy during the Steam sales, but I won't buy movies or games digitally at full price. That's too much money to drop without knowing in the back of my head that I can sell it at some point. Once it's sub $15, I stop caring about a return on the investment.

I turned them in for gift cards and just pre ordered the actual games. Lol

Maybe but I figure queueing something up on a Monday @ Midnight should suffice. You have all night to download, plus 8 hours of work for most people. That's a good 18h to download.

Same, however I will be down for digital games I KNOW I'll get my money's worth out of, like Borderlands or Halo. The rest will be physical unless either company can offer deep discounts.

I'll be buying all of my games digitally this time around because I'm a lazy prick and don't want to get off the couch to switch games.
I'll get Dead Rising 3 and CoD:G on launch day. Maybe BF4 and Forza, but we'll see.

I'm buying all digital in this next generation. Game sharing is a huge plus in my book. While not a launch feature I'm sure Microsoft is going to bring that feature back in soon.

Here's how I see it based upon the facts:

• My internet connection averages around 65mbps, which translates to around 6.5 MB/s.
• Downloading a game like Team Fortress 2 off Steam takes around 30 minutes, which is great for a game that weighs nearly 15GB.
• Based upon my last download of Halo 3 using the Games with Gold promotion, it took nearly an hour or so to download the 6GB game. Granted, the wireless card inside my 360 Slim is not as powerful as the one that sits in my iMac for various reasons (one example: 2.4Ghz 802.11n vs. 5Ghz 802.11n).
• When I download my free games off PS+, regardless of what the file size is, I always do it before I go to bed because it takes hours. I can't determine if Sony's servers suck a bag of dicks or the network capabilities of the PS3 suck a bag of dicks, regardless if you use ethernet or wireless. I've tried both and there is no increase or decrease in speed.

With Azure and the Xbox One confirmed having 5GHz 802.11n, we should have closer to Steam-like speeds when it comes to digital downloads. However, Azure took a beating when Windows 8.1 launched the other day. Launch and the weeks following post-Christmas could go either way.

We still don't know the specific details of the networking capabilities of the PS4 outside of the ethernet capabilities and let's face it, Sony has dropped the ball more times than Microsoft in regards to the maintenance of their servers. Microsoft is primarily a software and server based company, Sony is not. For all we know, the PS4 launch can be smooth as silk or be an outright debacle.

I really wouldn't want to wait hours for a game that I want to play on the spot (until proven otherwise). If that's the case, I might as well buy the game at midnight and install it to the drive as soon as possible. If it's a game I would get a lot of play from (i.e. Call of Duty, Borderlands, etc.), I'd prefer to go digital. However, until the servers are proven and MS/Sony can provide Steam like discounts (or other cool features like family sharing), I'll stick with physical copies.

For AAA titles? Not a chance in hell.

Are you guys using points like I was planning on?

I tend to agree. First-party titles MAY see early digital releases, but I wouldn't count on it for the biggest ones like Halo or whatever.

Local currency. When you redeem those points you have, they should convert to USD, no?

Going back to the original example, when it comes to the Wii U, I will NEVER purchase a digital copy (when available physically) on the console as I believe Nintendo's DRM is fucking bullshit. The only reason I'm doing Wii Fit U digital is because there's a significant difference in price ($20 to $50). I've already had enough issues with my console, I don't want my purchases to be lost if that machine bricks.

The PS4 and the XO are a different story as it's tied to the account and not the console.

However, I don't think first-party titles will see early digital releases either. Maybe independent titles similar to Steam's Early Access program, but not a top tier title.

When you're Activision and you want to brag that you made over $500 million dollars plus in a single day, you're not going to release your top AAA game early for digital download adopters. Your AAA titles that are destined to sell millions of units in a single week will never be released early. There's too much at risk, for both the company and their shareholders.

Now your lower tier game that has nothing riding on it? More than likely.

Nintendo can do it for their first party titles on the Wii U because they have nothing to lose... as nobody owns a Wii U.

Another issue with digital titles on the Wii U is that the console only ships with about 25GB of usable space. You can add an external drive, but there goes another $60-80 if you don't already have one.

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding but we can buy gift cards with Microsoft Points/dollars? Like I could buy an Amazon gift card? I have around $70 in MS $ and not sure how to spend it. Gift cards to other stores would be awesome.

Thanks

I had some sold for the face value so I have 140 dollars in ms points to try a few digital games and will buy retail of Dead Rising and Ghost