I am Happy to see that download of games are getting cheaper then buying the hard copies...

I am also Happy that it is getting easier to download with most are supplying game managers..

I know I will get beat up about this ...BUT I really think downloads are the thing of the future for Adventure Gamers....

Its faster, and I am really liking the idea that it is now cheaper..

So...What will the future hold for us gamers....

Will you stead fast ,and refuse downloads? Or will you flow with the times, and download..?

I myself have decided ..that holding a bunch of games on the shelves for dust isn't for me anymore.....

I want to be the gamer that has options...Those options are now downloads....FAST, and efficient game play...

Hope you all agree...Cause this is what is going to BE>>Downloads

Well, that's depressing.

I happen to like games waiting for me on the shelf until I dust them off and play them...or play them again. If that's the future, then I hope GOG lasts forever (and takes more interest in true adventure games) so I can someday burn to disk and play the "old" games that you download with DRM attached when they're "new". Until that day arrives, and I hope it doesn't, I'll keep buying boxed games from places like Interact.

Btw, I haven't found that using a download manager makes any difference at all with my DSL connection. Opera is just as fast.

Anyway, if downloaded games are all we can look forward to, that isn't what I'd call an option if it's the only way we'll be able to get them.


Gil.

Downloads only ??

Not for me

I don't know where you're seeing that downloads are cheaper unless you're talking about casual games at Big Fish (and their small collection of adventure games). Adventure Shop is currently having a sale, but that doesn't mean their prices will stay that way. Older games are cheaper no matter whether you buy boxed or downloaded. New download games are still sold at $20, $30 or $40 for download games, depending on the game, which is no different from what boxed games have been. Considering you're only "renting" the games, they're far more expensive.

Downloads aren't faster for me. I consider the time I have to wait, not able to use either the computer or my Internet connection, to be time lost. Buying a game from Amazon or Interact only takes a minute or two. Buying a download can eat up two hours or four hours or more.

I'm certainly not going to buy as many adventure games if all that's available is downloads. It takes too long and except with GOG or DotEMU or possibly Big Fish (provided they're still around in 10 or 20 years) you're only "renting" the game. I suppose this is time for people who never replay games, or who never trade games.

Hi,
I prefer to buy boxed games if they are available at nearby stores although it is becoming harder and harder to find. I am not a big fan of ordering boxed games online (maybe because of my paranoia of getting them stolen from my mailbox) and therefore prefer downloading games if I can’t find it a store.
To Jenny100, you mention re "only renting the game" what exactly do you mean by that, all the games I have downloaded can be played over and over, one trick which works for most games is: when you install the game, do not play and Burn the entire game to a DVD or 2 if needed, this bypass' the need to reactivate (um, I hope it is ok to mention this, if not, please remove the last part about burning)
Ray

Don't confuse installing with activating. You can install as many times as you want, but the install is useless unless it's activated. A game that is installed but not activated will either not start, or will only play as a demo.

Most download sites give you a limited number of activations (except with GOG and DotEMU, which are DRM-free and don't require activating). You won't be able to activate if the company that sold you the game goes out of business or decides they don't want to support their older games anymore. Unless you keep the same computer with the same hard drive and never uninstall the activated game, you won't be able to play it in the future without the permission/activation of the company that sold it to you. Considering how many adventure game companies have gone out of business, you can't depend on the company being there in the future, so you might as well consider the game a rental -- good only for as long as the company condescends to grant you an activation.

My gaming computer is not connected to the internet so downloads are no good for me.

Don't get me wrong...I also wish that more stores would carry hard copies..I also like to trade games to get games...But

So many Good Games like Simon5 is download only..Also when I say cheaper I mean that if you buy a hard copy from the Internet you pay tax's, and shipping.. I downloaded Lost Horizon ,and only paid for the game download $19.99. I think the developer, and publishers are finding it cheaper to do downloads...

On another subject downloads have many disadvantages to the developer..For one, illegal copies.

Options..."YES" I like options to playing a game.

It makes a certain amount of business sense that downloads are cheaper. With boxed games, you need to carry an inventory as well as people to process the orders and then there are the shipping charges.

The download is ok with me as I had accumulated a couple of storage shelves full of games. However, if you encounter a computer crash, you lose all those program files unless you maintain a comprehensive backup system. That's a lot of maintenance.

HerInteractive (Nancy Drew) has an intelligent customer service engine that stores your purchases in perpetuity so your ND games are always available for re-download.

Kootsie..You make a good point..

BigFish has the same..Where if you lose your download info..They store everything on their end...

I can always go back to BF, and re download my games with complete activation...Thats where a game download manager works great.

For me there just way too many strings attached and also too much at risk in downloading games.
So the "download only" path is certainly NOT one I will taking.

Jenny100 makes a very clear case for the advantages of buying the disk version of a game. And she doesn't even list them all.

QUOTE :
"BigFish has the same..Where if you lose your download info..They store everything on their end..."

And if they or any other major download sites OR peripheral companies happen to go bust in the future ??
What are you left with ??

Nope !! It's games in boxes on shelves for me all the way !!

QUOTE :
"I myself have decided ..that holding a bunch of games on the shelves for dust isn't for me anymore....."

Well, Darleen03, my game collection does sit on shelves - and takes up several I can tell you - but it doesn't "gather dust" much because I re-play all those in it (in-between playing newer purchases) all the time.

But what if it DID gather dust anyway ?? I reckon grabbing hold of a duster would be no big thing. Much better than no games to dust !!

I'm with you on this one Mad as I'd rather have a hoard of boxed copies to dust & replay at my leisure on whatever system is at my disposal at the time!

I think downloads are great for players who want the game quickly (here in the UK it's now very difficult to find any AGs in bricks & mortar stores so you would have to order them online) and/or if you are a player that is not interested in keeping a game. Hopefully if download sales are good then a hard copy will be produced so that everyone's happy.

The only games I don't mind downloading are casual games as there are few I'm interested in replaying, but ironically boxed copies of these games seem to be flooding the bricks & mortar stores over here!

It's the same where I live. The casual games that are easiest to download (most aren't much more than 200 MB and many are less) are the ones you see boxed and on store shelves. The new adventure games that are 10 times as large (or more) have to be ordered online, either boxed/DVD-cased or as downloads.

I totally gave up trying to buy Adventure games from brick and mortar stores several years ago.
They just weren't being stocked. Shooters had practically taken over every bit of shelf space !!

So I started to buy from on-line sites and I have no objections whatsoever to doing that.
The cost of the shipping (even from overseas sites) has often proved to be less than the cost of the petrol I would have had to buy anyway to reach the nearest town with a game shop.

I get my disk version and people like Dave at Interact keep their jobs !!

And I don't mind in the least if it means I might have to wait a little longer or that it might cost a little more.

I play very few Casual games so am not really qualified to make any in depth comments but I will say that if what Jenny100 is describing is now the new "norm" then what a silly thing the new "norm" would appear to be !!

I like having the boxed copy of the game myself. Heck I remember when I was upset that they were doing away with the 5.25" games on disc.

"I totally gave up trying to buy Adventure games from brick and mortar stores several years ago.
They just weren't being stocked. Shooters had practically taken over every bit of shelf space!!"

Try finding PC games! I was in Best Buy the other day and finally found some with the help of a young guy who worked there and evidently had some time on his hands. To my surprise, he knew what adventure games were and we had a great time talking about them. I ended up turning him onto GOG, and before we were done, he had a whole slew of games on his list to play, starting with Sins of the Fathers, and we had a couple of other young gamers interested, too.

So, gamers who are somewhat younger (cough) than I am aren't quite the lost causes I thought. It would be lovely to think that at least a few of them are getting tired of shooters. <g>

Gil.

"Try finding PC games!"
Did you think I wasn't talking about PC games, traveler ??

Actually, I was agreeing with you though I probably should have worded it better. The first person I spoke to at Best Buy about adventure games pointed me to the aisle of games for Wii. Lots of those, lots of Xbox. In comparison, not so many for PC and very few anywhere that were what I would call an adventure game.

Gil.

Glad we are on the same wave length !!

Fortunately there are two or three good on-line sites here in the UK and with Dave at Interact as well, options for buying most games are good

I'm all for downloading games on the proviso that they are DRM free, so that I can burn the game to disk and keep it. If there are activations required, I tend to stay clear and buy a boxed version instead. Even with boxed games you sometimes run into activation troubles!
I think GOG is steadily improving in terms of adventure support, but it would be great for there to be an independent DRM free adventure game download store.

Hi again Jenny100,re

Ok, maybe I did not quite explain it right, I meant that you Install the game, Activate it through the normal activation channels, test it out if you like, then stop, then Burn the Entire Installed game with Activation Code allready acitvated to a DVD (or 2 depending on the size of the game). But I will stop here, because your other point is still very valid,and that is:
So it just saves the activation problem but not the others.
On a side note I have been reading a lot of Good things about Interact, maybe I will get over my paranoia of getting my games stolen from my mailbox and start ordering boxed games from them if available.

Thanks Jenny100 for having patience with me.
Ray

This is a Direct e:mail from the Adventure Shop...It makes me feel good that I can copy the games I download from them...For Now..

"To avoid fraud, you can only download your game 6 times. If you need more downloads, please contact our customer support at support.adventureshop@gamesplanet.com indicating your purchase number (******) and the e-mail address you used to carry out the purchase. Note you can also save the files of the game you have downloaded to a CD or DVD.

Also....BiGFish not only deals with casual games....They also deal with large file Adventure Games..

about downloads i am happy to be able to download games from sites like adventure shop i have never had any problems with any game i have downloaded of course i only buy them from adventure shop and iam still playing them,where i live the stores do not carry any adventuer games at all and i really cant afford to send to the uk or the US.and i always scan the files before ieven think about downloading, just my opion. dianne

If you mean that you burn the game's installation folder to disc, there are two possible problems with that. One is that most games make use of the Windows registry, and the Windows registry is not confined to the game folder. A missing registry setting can cause anything from annoying visual anomalies to gamestoppers (for example, if an object doesn't appear or isn't interactive when it should be). If you back up your games by burning the game folder to DVD, you may want to test them.

The other is that files burned straight to disc are changed to read-only. Unless you zip the files first (or use some other type of archive other than zip), they'll be read-only and you may run into trouble if the game needs to change its files as it plays. For some games, it doesn't matter, but I think it's best to use zip or rar or some other archiving program so the attributes of the files are not changed during the DVD writing process.

Darlene,
I'm sure I'm not the only person who's reinstalled and replayed their favorite games more than 6 times. And what happens if the Adventure Shop gets bought out in a few years and the new owners decide they don't want to support their old adventure games? Everything you've bought from them is gone unless you've left all your games on your hard drive.

Jenny100, you are right (as usual ) , I tested a burnt copy on my wife's laptop and when I tried to play it I got a "Missing ___.dll error" so it will definetly not work if one buys a new computer or HD.

PS: Would anybody know how fast in general is the delivery of Interact games to where I live: Ottawa, Canada.

Thanks
Ray