Do you prefer physical or digital copies of games?

[gadean]

Physical, hands down.  I like being able to sell and buy used games and use services such as GameFly.  Why pay $59.99 for a digital copy of a game I can buy used at Gamestop for $15?  That being said, Steam does it right - lots of sales and very convenient.  If Sony and Microsoft handled digital games like Steam then I would consider adding more to my digital library.

[Flae_qui]

don't really care... just whats CHEAP

[mcloum]

I prefer digital PC games but Physical Xbox games for some reason :)

[Bi4me]

I'm a fan of hard copies myself but Steam sales made me prefer the digital ones more :D

[Luc2k]

Digital all the way, especially with GoG* providing the best of both worlds like offline installs, digital manuals, artbooks, artworks, soundtrack.

 

*Looks like I've advertised GoG a lot this week, but it's so good I can't help myself.

[]SK[]

I prefer physical however that stance is changing now as my family gets bigger and room becomes less.  

The only thing I don't like about digital is my software lives at the company at where I purchased it. Should the company fold then my software goes with it.  Hopefully Steam though won't be going anywhere too soon.

[ichi]

Physical.

 

If it includes a voucher for a digital copy then that's perfect (shouldn't that be the norm anyway? you have bought the game already, why would you have to pay again to also download it?).

 

Digital is more convenient when switching between games if you have enough space and download speed, but with physical you can go nostalgic in 30 years or sell your vintage gaming collection to some collectionist freak. Digital will be gone, you'd probably have to resort to piracy to play games you already paid for (or pay for them again).

[Buttus]

if the digital one is way cheaper, i'll do that, but otherwise i'd rather have the boxed copy

[Dadwen]

Physical if it's a option then steam or whatever.

[compl3x]

 

If it includes a voucher for a digital copy then that's perfect (shouldn't that be the norm anyway? you have bought the game already, why would you have to pay again to also download it?).

 

 

 

Probably don't want you to buy the physical, download the digital and then resell or return the physical copy.

[0nyX]

Physical.

[Xilo]

Prefer digital on handhelds and physical on consoles.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Null vote for me. I like digital on PC but physical on console. Only time I really like digital on console is XBLA/PSN but that's changed now. I probably won't match my XBLA collection on any console platform in future either seeing as they don't care about BC.

[Shadrack]

Definitely comes down to price for me.  I tend to prefer discs when it comes to the consoles, and digital when it comes to the PC but prices plays the most important role.

 

I've decided that I don't need the box for significant games anymore.  It was really important for me to have the box to the WoW expansions (when I was into WoW) and Starcraft 2, etc.  But when the Diablo 3 expansion comes out I'm just going to buy it digitally because I'm over boxes that just sit in a larger cardboard box in my garage.

[Aergan]

PC, digital.

Console, physical.

[spacer]

Physical.

 

For a two reasons. First, the internet speed to price to game-size ratio is unacceptable in today's market. The time it takes to play a game you decided to play but don't currently have is way too long on a typical connection, and you're completely dependent on multiple entities outside of your control in order to get it in a reasonable amount of time.

 

Second, I prefer to actually own the things I pay for. Buying digital simply amounts to you leasing the content. A lease which can be ended at any time by the provider for any reason without your input. No thanks.

[Mandosis]

I like to get digital copies when I can because its easier but if a physical copy is cheaper than digital copy I am going to go with physical.

[Syanide]

Steam made gaming enjoyable for me again, so I'd vote digital, but only on PC. A huge advantage for digital on PC is that most of the systems will be forever backwards compatible with majority of games. And PC's have been always been using DRM and activations so it was easier to get over that aspect as swapping game discs was never a part of PC gaming, at least not that I've noticed.

 

Consoles on the other hand, I don't own any, but I'd go strictly physical.

 

So yeah, like Andrew, null vote from me.

[McKay]

Depends how much cheaper digital copies are. Right now digital prices on consoles etc are a rip off, and with physical copies I can recoup some money back by trading it in.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

PC - Digital, however only if the game's on Steam. I don't really have any desire to fragment my collection across multiple services.

Console - Physical as the games are significantly cheaper and have no DRM so can be loaned to friends, purchased second and hand so on.

[Snake89]

This all depends on the game an what i'm buying it for.

 

Sometimes i like Collectors edition of PC games so i get the disc copy, but most of the time when i don't get a CE i'll buy digital.

 

For my consoles i always buy disc.

[Vambo]

Physical for me. Same for my music and film, as l lost some downloaded material with a h/d crash and didn't have a backup :cry: .

[Scott Hellewell]

Digital all the way.  I can be lazy and sit on the couch and my children don't ruin, lose, or destroy them.

[Tha Bloo Monkee]

On consoles, disc all the way.  I can lend it, sell it, and it just gives me the satisfaction that if something goes wrong with their servers, that I'm not screwed over.  Pop it in and play!

 

On PC however, "physical media" is kind of non-existent now.  Even when you buy it in stores, the DVD (if it even includes one) is generally just an installation disc (which you can just download with your key anyways) and cannot be played without activation online anyways.

[techbeck]

Physical. I like having the option to sell the game after I'm done playing it. I don't keep every game I play.