Well said. Console games are becoming more like PC games, Though I hope the PS5 and Xbox RAND() will still have physical media.

Actually, even the separate memory card wasn't originally necessary. Back when console games were stored on cartridges (and even as recently as at least the DS), the game was saved to the cartridge, originally to battery-backed RAM on the cartridge itself.

(Of course, even before that, there was a time when the only way to save was to use passwords. Imagine having to write down a 52 character password every time you were done playing, and then enter the password the next time you play (and hoping you didn't make a mistake); the Japanese Famicom version of Dragon Quest 2 was like this.)

Actually, I would argue that the PS1 and Sega Saturn already threw out what I considered to be the one major advantage of consoles over computers; the fact that you didn't have to wait for the game to load. Early computer games were stored on floppy disks, which were slow; earlier console games were stored on cartridges, which were so fast they were effectively instant.

True, that is just something that wasn't that prevalent here. When you Americans were playing on NES/SNES/Genesis, we here were playing mostly on Commodore 64 or Amiga 500. I'd say Playstation was the first console that became very successful here, even if there certainly were people also with earlier consoles.

Playstation also happens to me the first gaming console I've owned. PS2 was the last. :D

And I keep forgetting I also have the original XBox, but it has seen very little use, I have total one game for it (Halo 2, which in the end I ended up playing on PC anyway).

Perhaps there is something to people who use consoles are more materialistic than those who prefer PCs.

I prefer digital downloads for PS4 and DRM free for PC, the games I play on PC are old and I have physical copies for them, because that's all you could get back in the day, they are all backed up with digitals from GOG, because.... Why not.

As regards digital for consoles, before this generation...And maybe the last one too, with the addition of hard drives, lt allowed developers to become lazy, games having huge day one patches from PSN or XBLive, I remember one game having a patch that was bigger than the game on the disc.

So, ...What's the point of having a collection of console discs now, hardly any of them can be played without a huge multi gig patch. Because of the way games ship nowadays, the disc version is so completely out of date it's pointless trying to use it to play offline. The only advantage is resale value.

I buy games on PSN when they have 50+% off for bundles eg. Game and season pass, they are all in one neat bundle and download together. I have fast internet connection, so a game is with me in an hour or so, much easier than driving to Dublin, get parking, pay for it and schlepping to the shop and back to the car, to drive home.

If PSN goes out of business, yeah my games are gone, but so are the games from the people with physical discs as they won't be able to patch them. I have 3 PS4 consoles, more than enough to back up all my games if PSN goes.

Oh....If my house is burgled, they can't steal my games! :p

I'm fairly sure that there is still no actual requirement to connect the consoles to the 'net. Sure, you won't be able to patch the games without a connection and available patch servers, but you'll still be able to play them (even on a second console in case you get a second-hand one if your current one breaks).

But what's the point of playing a game that is in need of a 10+gig patch? Anyway, each to their own, i was just explaining why i went down the digital route with this gen :)

Thanks for the reply. :)

I generally prefer PC games to console games, because I own a PC but not a console. So what would I do with those console games? As for getting a console: why should I spend several hundred € on a console, when I already have a PC? Which I need anyhow for work.

Maybe you prefer to play the unpatched game? Maybe there's a glitch that lets you bypass a particularly annoying section of the game, but the patch removes that glitch?

I love digital for everything. But I can often get better deals on used disks, so I often get disks. I admit that I'm more apt to play what's in my machine or on my Hard drive. I hate pulling out disks and swapping them out. Total first world problem.

When people were upset about Xbox going digital only, I think they were most upset about a loss of freedom. I do want to own a disk if f I want to. I like to give disks for Christmas. So I felt betrayed by Microsoft. Also, I always think of soldiers. Soldiers like videogames and restricting them from halo is an injustice.

Only if you like the exclusives of that consoles, can't be bother to setup a living-room pc for coop and big screen couch gaming, or if you just feel more confortable with a limited box. Other than that, no, you should not get a console. Oh, and if you don't like emulators.

For instance, I bought a PS3 in 2015 because I WANTED a DVD Player, and for a couple more dollars I would get Blu-Ray, and Shadow of the Colossus, Ico and Catherine... A friend of mind recommend me the Uncharted series and The Last of Us. Other than that, I just use it for Netflix now, and the ocassional Rayman game with my girlfriend. My laptop can't run AAA games anyway so I thought I could also get those on PS3, but nothing interested me (except Metal Gear series which dissapointed me to no end). Then bought a 3DS for Nintendo's exclusives.

But what about all the other glitches that the patch is supposed to fix :p

To me a Steam download and a console download are the same thing as far as practical use is concerned.
I don't think one is better or worse than the other. You are limited in how you can use the product either way you go.

For console I will always prefer to buy the games on disc, and for PC I prefer the DRM-free versions.

However, I'm not a fanatic, if a game is appealing I rarely hesitate to buy it as a Steam game or console download.
My priority is to be able to play the game.

The only issue I have with buying digital games through the PSN is that they are incredibly slow to download and install.
It does go faster if you use a cable, but it's still very slow.

I vividly remember it taking me 8-10 hours to download and install Gran Turismo 6.

Not that a slow download would ever deterr me from buying a digital download mind you, on console or otherwise.

I used to love physical copies for the PC too, but then I ran out of physical storage space. I rationalized that as long as the games are DRM-free, I can make the physical copy myself. Not going to burn them on discs or anything, but I do have everything downloaded to a dedicated hard disk. That's my physical copy, it doesn't take all that much physical space, and is easier to keep up to date too.

I don't have a backup for the disk; if it breaks I'll just re-download the bunch. Were gog to go under I'll look into something more robust.