An article on Adventure Gamers indicated that Funcom will drop "offline" PC games. I loved Dreamfall and Longest Journey. Does anyone know what the shift to "online" games means? Does that online gaming always mean multiple players? If not, how does a "single player" online system work and how do you "purchase" such a game?

Ernestine -- from what I understand, what it means is that the sequel(s) to Dreamfall will be released in chapters and will be available at first via downloads only.

IMHO, if the Dreamfall Chapters are popular, there is an excellent chance that they will eventually be released on disk (the way that Sam & Max Season 1, which was originally released on GameTap and via downloads at Telltale, is now due for release on CDs later this summer, published by The Adventure Company).

In addition, there have been rumors that the TLJ/Dreamfall universe may ALSO end up as a Massive Multiplayer Online game at some point in the future -- perhaps something similar to Myst Online: Uru Live? However, at this stage that is only speculation, and it has nothing to do with Dreamfall Chapters. That I know of.

If I'm understanding part of your question right, you would play some of those games just like you would out of a box, a single player experience. The only difference is that they would be downloaded rather than a physical disk. Some companies are wanting to do this because it is cheaper for them - no cost to them for the physical box, manual and CD production. Although I understand that it is cost effective for them, I think it's an abysmal trend for dialup users or those that don't download for whatever reason.

Hi

I'm not in favour of this becoming a "trend". Too many things can go wrong and/or circumstances change

I'm an IT professional (i.e. I program computers for a living) and I'm seeing more and more cases where downloaded software is the way forward. Every tool I use in my work (apart from the OS at the moment!, and one other minor tool) is downloaded from the internet.

So why should games be any different?

It is only a matter of time before everyone will go digital in terms of TV, likewise it is only a matter of time before everyone is able to access the internet via a broadband connection of some sort. It is even likely than within the next ten to fifteen years, there will be no broadcast TV in the currently conventional sense. The costs are just so much less via the internet (if you do it right ).

So, why not make games available via legal downloads. Providing the publishers make appropriate arrangements for re-downloading, why should they continue to spend resources on environmentally wasteful packaging and bricks & mortar stores.

Paying a little more for packaging, shipping, etc., just does not balance the books.

Gremlin, the devil's advocate

I prefer to buy my software on a disc!

If it comes to it I will accept downloadable games as long as there is no problem burning them to my own disc & I can uninstall the game from the hard drive & effectively reinstall in the future if I wish!! But what happens after you have paid for your downloadable game & you change your system?

I am not happy about the re-downloading idea from developers/publishers because things change, they may not be around a few years down the line - and I think after having bought a game why should you have to go to that bother anyway?

Also it has a lot of implications for people who like to buy & play a game & sell on.

The idea could on the positive side discourage piracy, personally I think it would go the other way & encourage piracy on-line which I think would be harder to spot than buying software from E-Bay!

Purchasing games online is becoming more and more the standard in certain parts of the world. From what I understand, in Korea, for instance, virtually all games are published online -- piracy is so bad there that no developer/publisher could make a profit if the game were released on a disk that could be hacked and copied.

That may be the direction the rest of the world will be moving in too.

Sorry to hear that and I can already say that I wont be a customer, I have both TLJ and Dreamfall and I do want to get something I can put in my game collection for the money I'm paying.

CU

danyboy

Not everyone has a high speed internet connection.

Many said that downloaded music would never take off because people wanted to have a CD to own. I don't see the trend towards MP3s failing just yet.

Gremlin

I agree that the the way things seem to going is the download way. However, not that many people have a credit card account. (I have, but that's beside the point here).

This means that many people won't be able to buy or download the producs, game, music, etc. when they are digitally distributed. Also, many people in small rural areas or cities can't get a broadband connection which is sort of required to have, if you are to buy and download digitally distributed content.

I do think that the case with music is a little bit different. People buy music via digital download because they can take the music with them, simply by transferring the music files to
their MP3 players or burn the mP3 files to a disc that can be played in a discman (although these seem to be going out of style).

I would love to be able to buy DS adventure games on the net, adventure games I then could load into my Nintendo DS Lite that I plan to buy in a little while. This would mean that I could play DS adventure games - almost anywhere.

In a thread on adventuregamers.com, I think someone mentioned that Steam allows you to burn a copy of the game on a DVD or CD, and they have some protection modes set up if you loose your Harddrive or the company that made the game(s) you bought went out of business. Interesting concept, that I might be looking into sometime soon.

As for myself, I have bought Fate, The Shivah, and Morning's Wraith online, meaning that I bought the full games, then got an a mail that contained the activation code. I have bought some of Bioware's Premium Modules for NWN1, too, via digital download.

I was almost tempted to buy Jade Empire:SE for PC at the Bioware Store, but didn't. And this turned out to be a very good decision, as I'm currently holding in my hand a beautiful steelbook (or case)in which the game's discs rest beautifully and peacefull. And just the nice smell of the manual's pages, and the touch and feel of the manual is like being back 5-10 years ago, when all major gamers did ship so beautifully wrapped.

As for myself, I, too, far prefer to hold a physical copy of the game in my hand, to have it on disc. That way, you don't miss anything and you still have the game disc if the company goes out of business or something else happens.

I would like it really really well if developers, and publishers, were to what Wadjet Eye Games did. Offered the game via digital download and then offered a collector's edition that required you to pay a little more for the extra content.

I know that's how Bioware has done it, I think, with Jade Empire. You could either pre-load Jade Empire:SE or pre-order the game. And I think that Bioware has been highly succesfull with this
way of handling things.

I know that you can download games from Direct2Drive,too and from gamespot.com as well.
(and I do mean download as in buy games via digital distribution).

I can certainly understand why small developers and possibly not so smal developers like Funcom and Bioware and Telltale games as well, are looking into digital distribution and on-line sale of (single) player games.

This means no more storage space for boxes, no more money paid to the publishers (or not as much as now, anyway) and it means that the developers have a final say in when a game is ready to get released as well.

To get somewhat back on topic, I think that it may be god idea if Ragnar T and Funcom spoke to Steam in terms of getting Dreamfall:Chapters
available for download - online, just like Telltale Games has done with the (new) Sam & Max series.

Personally, I'd like to see Dreamfall Chapters on GameTap, but that's probably um, just a dream.

Hi

Paying a little more for packaging, shipping, etc., just does not balance the books.


As "Consumers" our likes and dislikes also have to be taken into consideration.
Without our money the books couldn't be balanced anyway !!

I'm afraid I agree with Mad on this topic. When i buy a game I like to have the disk in hand. I don't sell or give my games away and like to replay them at my leisure. I've seen too many "episode" games fall flat on their face after a couple of episodes and leave the consumer hanging. I guess I'll have to find another hobby if download is the only way I can get a game.

(restored the emphasis in my post)

The 'books' I was referring to had a large component of environment effects which just don't show in anybody's bottom line just yet.

When people say 'a little more' what do they mean? $2, $5, or $20? The difference between online distribution and bricks and mortar distribution really could be as much as $20, or more, on a $40 game.

Would a 50% price cut in games, when bought online, make a difference to your preferences?

Mind you, I fully expect the games publishers to play the price profiteering racket for a while, keeping margins higher online and not giving us the full discount. But that's just the cynic in me.

Gremlin

Guess I'm one of the few that still has dial up though we have two companies that recently offered "high Speed", one for $50 and the other $60 a month. For those that are retired or on a fixed income this certainly is not doable.
Also I don't have a credit card nor do I want one.
I view this "download a game" as a cheap way to do business.
I grew up without t.v. and of course without a computer, so certainly know how to entertain myself via other means than gaming, if need be.

As far as claiming there couldn't be pirating, come on, all these people would have to do is download the game and copy it, or would find a way to do so.

Bottom line; count me out if it comes to only buying and downloading games on-line.

I don't see that many benefits to the player and I'm sure that they will still be charged the same (or more) for a game they have to download as one they buy in a store. Witness the fact that many game companies no longer have any real advertising budget - they get all the free advertising on these gaming forums that they need.

As long as there is an option to burn the game to a disk I don't have a problem with downloading. If there is no option - I'll keep my money, thank you very much. I already have enough backlogged games that if I never bought another one, I could play games and not replay any of them for at least 10 years

The trend that bothers me more are these "chapter" games. Been there, done that, gotten burned more than once.

If a game developer ever did make good on the promise to actually finish all the chapters - has anyone sat down and figured out what the "completed" game winds up costing? Agon for instance - if you bought each chapter when they came out you'll be shelling out $180+/-. Kind of expensive for one game if you ask me.

Hi gremlin

I have been a book keeper for hundreds of years and so am well acquainted with the way books need to be balanced.

The bottom line of any retail business is that supply and demand rule the roost .... and without "demand", "supply" has nowhere to go

Obviously we all want to continue to buy adventure games but they will have to be made available to us in a format that's acceptable

Cheers.

Mad

Possibly they just mean you need to be online to validate your account before you can access the game. This is the Half Life/Steam model. Seems quite reasonable to me given it is in everyones interests to combat piracy.