download vs buying cartridge

[trans the psycopath]

hey ive noticed nintendo is putting alot of there cartridge games on there download channel before they become ancient like at the same time as the main release.

so ive been wandering the super smash bros ds should i download it instead of getting the cartridge. like is there any real disadvantage to the download in comparison to the physical game cartridge or changes to game play.

ps NO SPOILERS please

[Gwen]

I like to get physical cartridges/discs/etc still.
Having the ability to download immediately at release is nice, but more and more these days, these games take a shit ton of space up, and with a hard copy, you have the ability to save a lot of space. You may have to wait until stores open to go get your game, but you have a copy that is yours, you can always sell it or trade it in for something else if it gets old for you, and like I said above, you have the ability so save on space.

I was going to download Destiny at midnight when it came out, but that sum'bitch was 40Gb, and would have taken forever to download, instead I waited until my lunch break the next day, and the install size was much smaller, and took like 10 minutes.

Just some of my thoughts.

[Mystie]

Basically what Gwen said.

[Kosheh]

hey ive noticed nintendo is putting alot of there cartridge games on there download channel before they become ancient like at the same time as the main release.

so ive been wandering the super smash bros ds should i download it instead of getting the cartridge. like is there any real disadvantage to the download in comparison to the physical game cartridge or changes to game play.

ps NO SPOILERS please

SPOILERS: IT'S YOUR PERSONAL PREFERENCE oh god i ruined it

I'm serious though - there's advantages and disadvantages to both. I don't think loading times really differ between the two, though if that's a huge concern.

As Gwen said, your impulsivity is also a thing: If you NEED IT AT 12:01 OH MY GOD BUT IM IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, KENTUCKY HELP you could download it. If you can wait a little longer and wait until after work/school, opt for that.
(that might not apply if you like waiting around at midnight openings - I know I do! you could spring for that option. actually, as I write this maybe I'll put some money down at Gamestop for the midnight party hype)

With the cartridge, you could leave it at home accidentally and you need to pop the cartridge into the console every time you want to play it. You also have some physical memorabilia (who knows? maybe you'll get it signed by Sakurai one day) and if you're down on cash you can trade in your copy and get some money back. It also doesn't take space on your memory card this way, because it's on its own flash memory.

With the download, you could play the game whenever you like, but the size of your memory card is finite (as in, you don't have infinite storage, and it might be easier to lug around carts of your favorite games) though it's infinitely easier to carry around an SD card that usually stays in your system. However, I'm assuming that the full game is fairly large in block size, so you probably want to consider purchasing a bigger SD card.

It's up to you, and whichever you prefer. Are you old-school and need the cartridges? Or would you rather catch up with the new age of gaming and download it to your system to play whenever you want?

tl;dr: if you for once never consider missing the box or selling it back for money, ever, go for the download

[BullockDS]

I prefer physical media, as I feel more secure having physical media (at least with newer systems*). I lean far more towards physical media for consoles than for handhelds due to the size of console games and the forevers it'd take to download them.

That said, I've been getting most of my 3DS games as of late via digital download, due to various reasons:
-Laziness
-Walmart (the only place that's nearby for me to get new vidya) doesn't have the game I want
-There's a sale for particular digital downloads I'm interested in (e.g. I just got Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate a couple weeks ago for $19.99)
-any combination thereof

I'd love a physical copy of Sm4sh, but let's face it, I'll probably be too fat and lazy to waddle my ass over to Walmart come October 3rd.

*For older consoles, there's a concern for bitrot and dying save capabilities. For instance, a lot of my N64 games have been losing years' worth of my gameplay. Thankfully, solutions like the Everdrive 64 exist.

[recme]

It depends which type of game. If It's a multiplayer game, then digital. I'll never know whenever a friend wants to play. I'd usually buy physical copies of single player games unless there is a digital sale.

[psychospacecow]

I prefer physical media for consoles and digital media for handhelds. I don't like carrying around too many games, but I also like trophy case style displays.

[Yawackhary]

I actually prefer physical media since like to open the box (that has a cover to look at, glance through the instructions, open the disc and put it on my console, reverse when I'm done) or put a cartridge/card in to my 3DS/Vita, the latter are in easier to store cases or with the Vita a little pouch instead of the original box. Unlike many people, the games that I play are for me for life and say that I want to play X game in 10 years time (lately have been playing a mixture of old original Xbox games due to no emulator, a few Wii/Wii U games and PS3 games) with a physical disc no problem since the game can still be played possibly without the patches/DLC however with digital games, the server is switched off not just for online play but to download so have to be very careful on my PS3 hard drive to make it last as it can (it also has the full update to GT5, a game that is now switched off). Even though with physical media, you can sell it, trade it in for another game, give it to someone, get a refund if it doesn't work something that can't be done with downloads even though as part of EU law, have to right to a refund. Also very careful even regarding modern physical/digital games since they have installation and on PSN, it is double the space required so any games that is both physical and digital have to be careful however did upgrade my PS3 hard drive from 160GB to a 1TB (realistically much less) so it eases the blow a little.

The only problem with physical media is that the discs can get badly scratched to the point of not reading them and the case of bit rot (had to get a replacement of Project Gotham Racing since it had that), similar thing to cartridges eventually stop working even when cleaned. While Blu-ray discs aren't as bad on the scratching compared to CDs and DVDs, they still can get scratched and actually had a couple happen to me (Ridge Racer 7, COD 4: Modern Warfare) despite good care of them.

The only games that I have downloaded are:

- Games that are downloadable only (e.g. much of the classic arcade ports Sega brought on PSN/3DS, Mighty Switch Force series, Hotline Miami, Retro City Rampage, Guacamelee, tXK, Far Cry Classic/Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, etc)

- Games that are downloadable only in Europe and they contain DLC, locked out of importing the JP/US physical version (e.g. Murumasa Rebirth)

- Games that are on sale less than the physical version no matter what either new or used (e.g. Midnight Club LA Complete Edition, Deadly Premonition, Zone of the Enders HD Collection) and in the case of a few free (e.g. Sims 2, Tropico 3, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Brain Training). In terms of the 7th/8th generation apart from Midnight Club, these are more "cult" games and might end up being pricey in the future due to less supply. In stores, I have only seen Zone of the Enders Collection a few times, Deadly Premonition maybe once and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate only used once at £40, the same price as a brand new recent game. Even when compared to somewhere like Amazon (often cheaper than stores especially with the Nintendo games [still more expensive than the US however much better than UK retail] and have more of the rarer games, it is how I got Xenoblade, some not common games on the Xbox and various rare games including Operation Winback 2), the downloads still worked out cheaper.

This is excluding emulators on PC, have been using my laptop lately to play a few SNES/MD/MS games that I do have as a cartridge (Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World, Super Bomberman 2, Sonic 1 [both], Sonic 2 [both], Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Taz: Escape from Mars, Dynamite Dux, Wonder Boy 3) and used it is the past for sprite ripping.

For the OP question, usually there are no differences between a physical and a downloadable version of a game except that a downloadable version takes more space on the hard drive/flash memory/memory card however... There are some games where the downloadable version is different as in that the saves are different and can't be used for the physical version/vice versa, some collections are split up for the downloadable release in case there's a game that you don't like in the collection (e.g. Metal Gear Solid HD Collection can choose between just Metal Gear Solid 2, 3 and Peacewalker or all 3 just like the disc version). With the Vita, having the physical version of the game is faster to load than a digital version apparently (huh?). Another thing that I read is that some digital versions of games are more buggier and crash prone compared to the physical version however I honestly don't know about whether it is true or not. I do know that GTA V is recommended play it on disc due to using both the hard drive and the disc drive causing graphical glitches if downloaded or on the 360 version fully installed.

With Smash Bros. 3DS I think it is just memory card space that it takes up.

[Kriven]

I go with whichever is most economical. Surprisingly, that's more often the physical version of a game, as the digital releases don't have as dramatic pricedrops for whatever reason. If both versions are the same price, though, I've lately been preferring the digital copies... for Nintendo games, at least. I notice I play each individual game more if I turn on the device and they're all there looking at me, as opposed to actively recalling my whole list of games and digging through the shelves for a specific title... I don't want anybody to think this is a laziness thing either, it's just that when I dive into my shelves the first thing on my mind is a game I already love, and I have a lot of games that I haven't even played because of that, whereas I've tried everything I've downloaded at least once.

The other thing to consider is tangible space. Right now I occupy a very small room, more of a closet really, and space is a big consideration for me. The fact that most apartments really aren't much bigger than where I'm living now, and the fact that girlfriend has a fairly large toy collection to consider, it means that living space is becoming a bit of a priority. I really don't mind all that much since movies and music have already been, for the most part, digitized for quite some time. And of course, I still make room for things which are not digitally available. As long as I remember to keep everything backed up, I shouldn't have much of an issue with future incompatibility as far as I know.

Maybe this will all come back to bite me, but I feel like some consumer-friendly policies are going to be taken throughout the industry over the next few years as publishers try more to convince their customers to go digital. Really the only thing I worry about is theft, because I don't want to go to the trouble of filing a police report just so Nintendo will trust me enough to put my games on a new device... but the more I think about it, the more I realize they wouldn't send me replacement discs in the incident of theft, and they wouldn't be expected to. It's become much less of an issue to me.