09-26-2014, 05:10 PM
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.
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.