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View Full Version : Digital distribution vs. Disc manufacturing



Nitro Vordex
May 5, 2011, 03:38 PM
How do you think that PSO2 could be or will be distributed, if it reaches the US and EU? Do you think that they will have it available for download from their site, or purchasable on their site? Will they have it available for purchase and download through other means, such as Steam? Or are they going to use mostly DVD-ROMS for their games?

Personally, I'd at least like to be able to use the Steam overlay for PSO2, just because of the community tools, as well as the easy screenshot feature. I think they could probably even go through Steam for distribution, if we have to pay for a download. However, discs would be a great choice as well, because then people can sacrifice a bit of money to get their game now, rather than waiting for it to download.

It's very likely that both of these will happen to some extent, but which way would be most efficient? And how much more likely are Sega to do a certain type of distribution?

Akaimizu
May 5, 2011, 03:39 PM
Steam would be awesome, actually. But who knows.

Canard de Bain
May 5, 2011, 03:40 PM
I will not even speculate until I hear if there is even an offline mode.

NoiseHERO
May 5, 2011, 03:44 PM
No matter how I look at it, downloading is the most convenient and makes free trial modes less annoying. Then theres the likely assumption this whole thing will probably play out like PSO:BB.

GameKyuubi
May 5, 2011, 03:49 PM
I'm hoping for digital distribution if there's going to be a monthly fee. Didn't PSOBB give the download for free? I could live with a monthly fee if the game itself is free.

Canard de Bain
May 5, 2011, 03:50 PM
I'm hoping for digital distribution if there's going to be a monthly fee. Didn't PSOBB give the download for free? I could live with a monthly fee if the game itself is free.

I could live and love a box cost AND a $15 monthly fee. Yes, $15.

Ezodagrom
May 5, 2011, 03:51 PM
In my opinion, both ways would be better, having it on retail would be good for those with limited internet connections (that is, those with a strict download cap), and having it on digital distribution would be good in case there's not enough discs on stores, or after some years after the release of PSO2, it'll be good to have a digital option, since the availability of retail versions of the game will most likely be scarse.

Malachite
May 5, 2011, 04:55 PM
If PSO2 is made available through Steam, I will shit my pants with happiness.

That's my stance on the matter.

Vashyron
May 5, 2011, 04:57 PM
I'd also like to see it on Steam, but I really don't see it happening.

Ezodagrom
May 5, 2011, 05:21 PM
I'd also like to see it on Steam, but I really don't see it happening.
It could happen, in the last few years more SEGA games that come for the PC appeared on Steam.
It started with the Total War series, then came Virtua Tennis 09, Aliens vs Predators, Football Manager series, Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing, Alpha Protocol, Mega Drive/Genesis Classics, and now also Dreamcast classics.

BIG OLAF
May 5, 2011, 05:21 PM
It'll be on a disc. Tried n' true.

Kyrith_Ranger_Pso
May 5, 2011, 05:33 PM
if a disc is released, I'll be taking that definitely

chaoelite
May 5, 2011, 06:43 PM
yeah too early to tell since its not even at alpha or beta stages yet. As long as their isn't any issues with updates using steam i'd look into the service :)

Palle
May 5, 2011, 07:08 PM
Cheaper for SEGA not to have to master, burn, order packaging, print covers, print manuals, warehouse, and ship discs all over. In theory, the money saved would be passed along to us buyers.

Personally, my preference is always for physical media. I want to hold it in my hand: literature, music, whatever. If this ends up being a game I want, and there's a disc, I'll take that.

Would be nice to have a working Steam account, though.

r00tabaga
May 5, 2011, 07:14 PM
Physical copy is always nice. All I know is I am calling in vacation time as soon as a date is reached. I wish I owned a time warp. If the beta test is this summer, wouldn't it be reasonable to say that this time next year, we'll be playing PSO2? Q2 2012. I'm calling it now.

Ezodagrom
May 5, 2011, 07:26 PM
Physical copy is always nice. All I know is I am calling in vacation time as soon as a date is reached. I wish I owned a time warp. If the beta test is this summer, wouldn't it be reasonable to say that this time next year, we'll be playing PSO2? Q2 2012. I'm calling it now.
This summer it's actually going to be an alpha test, that is, the version before beta.

r00tabaga
May 5, 2011, 07:33 PM
Yes. Thank you for the correction.

Canard de Bain
May 5, 2011, 07:49 PM
Physical copy is always nice. All I know is I am calling in vacation time as soon as a date is reached. I wish I owned a time warp. If the beta test is this summer, wouldn't it be reasonable to say that this time next year, we'll be playing PSO2? Q2 2012. I'm calling it now.

The release date is scheduled for 2011. :P

Tetsaru
May 5, 2011, 09:14 PM
Having PSO2 on Steam (or PSN/Xbox Live, if it DOES get on consoles) would be pretty cool, but I think I'd rather have an actual disc myself. I guess it would depend on the availability and price.

Kion
May 5, 2011, 09:20 PM
I don't like physical disks. Free direct download or steam would be nice. Also paid monthly with a free mode(so you can still log on and do runs) sounds about right.

Robert_Garcia
May 5, 2011, 10:52 PM
I mainly prefer a disc, but digital distribution is fine too.

DiMiTri
May 5, 2011, 10:57 PM
Steam.

Must....build.....library...

Zyrusticae
May 5, 2011, 11:00 PM
I think both is fairly likely.

The former is cheap and convenient, the latter creates some market presence to those who aren't already abreast of the game's existence.

And I'd count on an up-front cost. That's just how it rolls 'round here.

Maybe post-launch they'll transition to a free download with a trial, but definitely not right up at launch. They have to rake in the cash before they let in the ravening hordes...

joshboyd1209
May 5, 2011, 11:58 PM
I think they should do what they did with PSOBB except make it so you can use a wireless connection without having your character move like a snail. Also if they got rid of the need for a free server by making it f2p on their server that would be nice too. They should also release a disc version for those who for one reason or another can't/won't download it(if they do a disc version though expect to get ripped off if you buy it ).

moorebounce
May 6, 2011, 01:58 AM
The release date is scheduled for 2011. :P

Yeah thats the Japanese release. I read somewhere that it could be 11/11/11. The Japanese love lucky dates. Sega released the Dreamcast on 9/9/1999.

Nitro Vordex
May 6, 2011, 02:02 AM
I think they should do what they did with PSOBB except make it so you can use a wireless connection without having your character move like a snail.
Stop having shitty internet.

In all seriousness, using wireless internet for gaming is just a bad idea.

Malachite
May 6, 2011, 05:09 AM
I think they should do what they did with PSOBB except make it so you can use a wireless connection without having your character move like a snail. Also if they got rid of the need for a free server by making it f2p on their server that would be nice too.

What is this I don't even...

Niloklives
May 6, 2011, 05:32 AM
this kid...

joshboyd1209
May 6, 2011, 10:13 AM
What is this I don't even...
PSOBB was one of those games that you can download for free and then had to pay to play, but that was only the case on the SEGA server there was another server(and it's a pain in the butt to get on it ) that wasn't even endorsed by SEGA(in fact it's still running ) and you didn't have to p2p it allowed you to play Blue Burst for free. Now it's one of the only BB servers left although I think all of the remaining servers are free as SEGA shut down their server.

Malachite
May 6, 2011, 10:35 AM
...Yes, I know. Thank you?

Lol I wasn't asking what BlueBurst is.

Kion
May 6, 2011, 10:52 AM
Really? I managed to play PSO tethered on my iPhone.

Seth Astra
May 6, 2011, 11:49 AM
Disc. If I tried to DL, it would probably take hours.

Canard de Bain
May 6, 2011, 11:51 AM
Disc. If I tried to DL, it would probably take hours.

You would have to wait for days for it to arrive in the mail. :P

joshboyd1209
May 6, 2011, 12:46 PM
Disc. If I tried to DL, it would probably take hours.
That's why you start the dl process right before you go to bed and then when you wake up you're at one of two screens 1.) the start installation screen 2.) a screen wanting a user prompt. Or if it's just going to take an hour or two you can go play this: http://armorgames.com/play/5003/arcuz

EDIT: scratch what I said about thinking it would be neat if they had it entirely online like in PSOBB I lost my internet connection today and I couldn't play BB, because of that sort of stuff they need to have the ability to go offline if an internet connection is not available.

Nitro Vordex
May 9, 2011, 05:16 PM
Yes, because as has been illustrated many times in other threads, the whole world revolves around you.

Niloklives
May 9, 2011, 05:24 PM
You didn't know? PSOW itself was made in his image. We here are but harlequins to amuse and bemuse our king on his odyssey.

joshboyd1209
May 9, 2011, 06:21 PM
Yes, because as has been illustrated many times in other threads, the whole world revolves around you.
Sorry I mistyped my EDIT.

Nitro Vordex
May 9, 2011, 06:23 PM
You didn't know? PSOW itself was made in his image. We here are but harlequins to amuse and bemuse our king on his odyssey.
Floydo World.

Niloklives
May 9, 2011, 06:51 PM
Sorry I mistyped my EDIT.

completely missing the point.


Anyway I'm hoping for a digital release. Heck I'm half expecting one.

Ark22
May 9, 2011, 06:55 PM
I am the guy who likes the Box Art and the booklet. Plus the Disc Image is usually fancy

joshboyd1209
May 9, 2011, 07:20 PM
I am the guy who likes the Box Art and the booklet. Plus the Disc Image is usually fancy
So you want to pay for cover art? What is the point in that? You'll almost never see the cover art, because it will be on the shelf or in the game system. Also if you don't have to keep the disc to play it then you might as well as just download it.

Randomness
May 9, 2011, 07:26 PM
So you want to pay for cover art? What is the point in that? You'll almost never see the cover art, because it will be on the shelf or in the game system. Also if you don't have to keep the disc to play it then you might as well as just download it.

Honestly, the majority of the price of a game is going towards development costs. They don't save a huge amount with digital distribution. You're not paying extra for the hard copy or for the other stuff...

joshboyd1209
May 9, 2011, 07:31 PM
Honestly, the majority of the price of a game is going towards development costs. They don't save a huge amount with digital distribution. You're not paying extra for the hard copy or for the other stuff...
Quite a bit of the price is still material costs. More packaging costs you more money. Also download can be very quicker comparatively for me it definetly is, because the nearest town I can buy it from is an hour away so that's two hours back and forth and then additional hour or so. Whereas if I download it off the internet I can download it in an hour or so and be playing much sooner than if I had to buy it at the store.

Niloklives
May 9, 2011, 08:34 PM
how much do you think a box costs josh, seriously? they buy a truck full of boxes and you think it costs them exactly how much to box and ship the game? not even 10% of the price of the game goes into pressing packaging and shipping.

RemiusTA
May 10, 2011, 09:50 AM
It costs money, Nilo.

Just because it's less than development or advertising doesn't mean it doesn't have a toll. Especially when the manual is full color and has lots of pages. Some games these days just go ahead and include the "manual" as an in-game tutorial to save money on printing crap. It gives the developers a larger percent of the full price of the game. Even if it saves them $1 a sell (and that may be more or less), it's a very significant profit in the grand scheme of things, when the sell numbers increase.

It's one of the the reasons why Steam is so popular right now.


But moreso than packaging, advertising is what they need to focus on. Advertising can cost dozens of millions of dollars, even for videogames. It's the reason why we didn't see any for US/EU Phantasy Star Universe. It was way too expensive to have them advertise and still not sell well.

ShinMaruku
May 10, 2011, 10:15 AM
A Japanese company and digital distribution? HELL NO

Ezodagrom
May 10, 2011, 10:27 AM
In the what costs more to the developer discussion, there's more than just disc, manual and box costs, there's also the share of profits that go to the publishers and the profits that go to the retailers.

It further explained Steam's success by outlining the company's profit sharing with publishers. At retail, publishers get 30 percent gross margin--on Steam, they get 70 percent.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6299086.html

Anon_Fire
May 10, 2011, 10:38 AM
A Japanese company and digital distribution? HELL NO

And why not?

Ezodagrom
May 10, 2011, 10:48 AM
A Japanese company and digital distribution? HELL NO
http://store.steampowered.com/publisher/SQUARE%20ENIX,%20Eidos%20Interactive
http://store.steampowered.com/publisher/Capcom
http://store.steampowered.com/publisher/SEGA

There's mostly titles developed by western studios in these, but there's a few japanese ones as well.

Niloklives
May 10, 2011, 11:50 AM
It costs money, Nilo.

Just because it's less than development or advertising doesn't mean it doesn't have a toll. Especially when the manual is full color and has lots of pages. Some games these days just go ahead and include the "manual" as an in-game tutorial to save money on printing crap. It gives the developers a larger percent of the full price of the game. Even if it saves them $1 a sell (and that may be more or less), it's a very significant profit in the grand scheme of things, when the sell numbers increase.

It's one of the the reasons why Steam is so popular right now.


But moreso than packaging, advertising is what they need to focus on. Advertising can cost dozens of millions of dollars, even for videogames. It's the reason why we didn't see any for US/EU Phantasy Star Universe. It was way too expensive to have them advertise and still not sell well.


I'm well aware of what's involved in distribution. all I'm saying is it's not enough to be something so significant that it makes waves.

btw you think steam doesn't get a cut of the profits?

Ezodagrom
May 10, 2011, 12:16 PM
btw you think steam doesn't get a cut of the profits?
Based on what the article I posted says, Retailers get a much bigger cut of the profits from games than what Steam (Valve) gets.

Niloklives
May 10, 2011, 12:20 PM
yeah I saw that. all was saying was digital distribution isn't free. it's obviously cheaper and I'd prefer it anyway. I just don't see why people try to paint it as black and white.

ShinMaruku
May 10, 2011, 12:42 PM
yeah I saw that. all was saying was digital distribution isn't free. it's obviously cheaper and I'd prefer it anyway. I just don't see why people try to paint it as black and white.

Cheaper to the publisher but never to you. :P

Malachite
May 10, 2011, 12:44 PM
Actually... yeah games on Steam are 10 dollars less, last time I checked. Normally new titles run $60, while steam usually sells them for $50.

Not ALL games, but a lot of them.

ShinMaruku
May 10, 2011, 05:23 PM
See they make the meh games $10 cheaper maybe but the BIG ones they never do that.
It's all an illusion.

Anon_Fire
May 10, 2011, 05:29 PM
See they make the meh games $10 cheaper maybe but the BIG ones they never do that.
It's all an illusion.

Are you saying that the new games should be less than that?

RemiusTA
May 10, 2011, 05:35 PM
I'm well aware of what's involved in distribution. all I'm saying is it's not enough to be something so significant that it makes waves.

btw you think steam doesn't get a cut of the profits?

Yeah...but it's obviously saying something if everyone is using it. It's clearly less expensive than printing/boxing/shipping to retailers and giving all of those guys cuts. It's enough.

Malachite
May 10, 2011, 05:36 PM
See they make the meh games $10 cheaper maybe but the BIG ones they never do that.
It's all an illusion.

So games like Portal 2 are meh?

Damn, I really must play a lot of terrible games.

I donno where you're getting you're info, but the vast majority of "BIG" release games on steam, release at $50.

Niloklives
May 10, 2011, 06:09 PM
Yeah...but it's obviously saying something if everyone is using it. It's clearly less expensive than printing/boxing/shipping to retailers and giving all of those guys cuts. It's enough.

All I'm saying is there's a reason things are still the way they are. There are many benefits to digital distribution, but many people prefer to have that physical representation of what they bought and what comes with that. Enough so that they won't buy a game if it's digital only. Times are slowly changing, but as for now, there's still value in having something you can hold in your hand, remove the wrapping from, lift the lid and view its contents. even if you only use it once and then put it on a shelf.

ShinMaruku
May 10, 2011, 06:24 PM
Are you saying that the new games should be less than that?

Why not?
You want to pay $40 or $60?

Niloklives
May 10, 2011, 06:27 PM
I remember when I could get games for my atari 2600 for $4 >_>

ShinMaruku
May 10, 2011, 06:30 PM
All I'm saying is I don't buy most people saying "Buy digital it's cheaper" argument. Cheaper for them but never the consumer. If you want that go a to a mom and pop shop. I get games $10 off and get games before release date. :P

Niloklives
May 10, 2011, 06:37 PM
Well Malachite made a good point in that steam does sell a lot of games at a discount. even if it's not always new games that you get for cheap, they still have some killer sales at times. like I got borderlands goty for 7 dollars. if you were to go onto PSN(lol), a single expansion pack costs 10. plus I was able to convert all my PS3 saves to PC. So while it may not always be cheaper for us, and that certainly wasn't my argument to begin with, steam does end up doing some really nice stuff for the gaming community.

Heck I got the original portal for free just for signing up for steam - which is technically a free service.

Ezodagrom
May 10, 2011, 07:47 PM
All I'm saying is there's a reason things are still the way they are. There are many benefits to digital distribution, but many people prefer to have that physical representation of what they bought and what comes with that. Enough so that they won't buy a game if it's digital only. Times are slowly changing, but as for now, there's still value in having something you can hold in your hand, remove the wrapping from, lift the lid and view its contents. even if you only use it once and then put it on a shelf.
That's why, in my opinion, the best thing for PSO2 would be for it to have both retail and digital releases.
Having it in retail stores will please those who prefer physical copies of a game, or those with limited internet download caps.
Having it in digital stores will be good for those who don't have game stores nearby, or those who live in places where a game like PSO2 would most likely not even be sold. Also, another good thing about having PSO2 available in digital stores would be to avoid what happened with PSU, where, after a while, its retail availability started to dwindle.


Well Malachite made a good point in that steam does sell a lot of games at a discount. even if it's not always new games that you get for cheap, they still have some killer sales at times. like I got borderlands goty for 7 dollars. if you were to go onto PSN(lol), a single expansion pack costs 10. plus I was able to convert all my PS3 saves to PC. So while it may not always be cheaper for us, and that certainly wasn't my argument to begin with, steam does end up doing some really nice stuff for the gaming community.

Heck I got the original portal for free just for signing up for steam - which is technically a free service.
Yeah, sometimes there's some really great sales on Steam. For example, I got Battlefield Bad Company 2 for only 13€.
And it's not only Steam, with Europeans having access to Direct2Drive UK and thanks to a discount D2D UK was having sometime ago, I was able to get Crysis 2 and pre-order Dirt 3 for 25€ each. :3

RemiusTA
May 10, 2011, 08:33 PM
All I'm saying is there's a reason things are still the way they are. There are many benefits to digital distribution, but many people prefer to have that physical representation of what they bought and what comes with that. Enough so that they won't buy a game if it's digital only. Times are slowly changing, but as for now, there's still value in having something you can hold in your hand, remove the wrapping from, lift the lid and view its contents. even if you only use it once and then put it on a shelf.

Well...yeah, i agree. We were talking about whether or not it was costly or not, though.

Niloklives
May 10, 2011, 09:16 PM
I was saying the costs weren't enough to outweigh the benefit of keeping with a majority of the market.

RemiusTA
May 10, 2011, 09:20 PM
well im no economist, and i dont really care.

I personally prefer boxes. I was about to buy Tekken 6 yesterday, but didn't because EB games didn't have the original box. (And the other one was a Greatest Hits. And i hate Greatest Hits boxes.)

Niloklives
May 10, 2011, 10:00 PM
I'm the same way about it actually. I don't really care for boxes in that I'll buy a digital copy np, but if I do have to buy a box, I want it to be the original and not greatest hits. I know its weird...just sometimes you like things a certain way.

joshboyd1209
May 11, 2011, 10:40 AM
Well when you look at it you have printing, paper, plastic, molding, shipping, & ink. When you buy a hard copy you pay an additional amount for those things. It might not be very much, but it's there. Plus you have to add taxes to it. While you will most likely have to do the same with a digital version with the digital version you don't have the extra amount from the material costs. By the way where can I find this Steam place you guys keep talking about?

Niloklives
May 11, 2011, 10:43 AM
>_> seriously? You don't know about steam?

RemiusTA
May 11, 2011, 10:50 AM
He's correct, though. That's pretty much the case. I doubt Sega does all that themselves.

Niloklives
May 11, 2011, 10:52 AM
no I meant he doesn't know about steam

joshboyd1209
May 11, 2011, 10:52 AM
>_> seriously?
Yes I don't know about steam I didn't even know about PSOW until I started looking for DLC for PSP2.

Niloklives
May 11, 2011, 10:53 AM
yeah cause you can use google like everyone else.

joshboyd1209
May 11, 2011, 10:57 AM
yeah cause you can use google like everyone else.
Steam is a service AND a natural ocurance and that sort of stuff screws up a search engine, because it goes looking for the most common usage which is the one I'm not looking for.

r00tabaga
May 11, 2011, 11:28 AM
Yes I don't know about steam I didn't even know about PSOW until I started looking for DLC for PSP2.

One month & 307 posts later, he is one of our prized padawans.

Niloklives
May 11, 2011, 12:50 PM
If by prized you mean incredibly annoying...how does someone not know how to google steam? you type "download steam" and bam. top of the list

Anon_Fire
May 11, 2011, 12:53 PM
And from what I've seen, Portal 2 is NOT meh.

Malachite
May 11, 2011, 01:08 PM
Lol it was just an example, Steam sells almost all the top tier games at $50 rather than $60.

@josh. I googled the word "steam" and you know what came up? Exactly what we were talking about, not a "natural occurrence" lol. google r difficult.

Randomness
May 11, 2011, 01:09 PM
Steam is a service AND a natural ocurance and that sort of stuff screws up a search engine, because it goes looking for the most common usage which is the one I'm not looking for.

Googling "Steam", the very first result is Steam's homepage...

Niloklives
May 11, 2011, 01:22 PM
hes the epitome of lazy

Ezodagrom
May 11, 2011, 02:01 PM
By the way where can I find this Steam place you guys keep talking about?
._______________________.

http://store.steampowered.com/

joshboyd1209
May 11, 2011, 03:07 PM
._______________________.

http://store.steampowered.com/
Yeah I already found it, but thanks any ways(first search result on Bing was an ad for it ).

Sord
May 11, 2011, 11:21 PM
I can totally understand the fan-servicey feel of having a hard copy of a game, and I'm with anyone who hates waiting 10 hours for 5gigs of data. I've never had good internet and long DL times suck hard. But I love Steam for one very good reason: I never have to worry about breaking my copy of the game. Disks get scratched. They can get lost. They can be warped by heat. You can take the best care in the world to keep them neat and unscathed but sometimes shit just happens. I don't have to worry about that on Steam or any digital distribution service that isn't using retarded DRM bullshit that only allows one licensed download or crap like that. I can just download the game where I need it, and when I need it. For that reason alone I put up with insane slow load times and just buy digital distribution if I can.

Now as per what Sega will actually do, given modern trends in MMOs I'm pretty expectant that they'll have some form of digital distribution. Whether it goes through Steam, their own service, or both I can't say. I'm guessing they'll also have disks as well, but they won't exactly be the easiest thing in the world to track down in later years (probably be fine around launch though.) Some places compensate for heavy digital distribution by offering a disk to order on the site. That's also a pretty viable possibility.

Kion
May 12, 2011, 02:45 AM
I'm pretty sure the game will be download. Hard copy distribution of PC games in Japan is practically non-existent. Game stores primarily sell to console and handhelds, and electronic stores will generally have Office, Photoshop and software like that and maybe a few games in the corner. Looking at Monster Hunter Frontier as an example, I've seen a few copies in store, but it's primarily a digital release.

As for physical copies, while the cost is a fraction of development costs, it's still not free. My school has students make pamphlets for various events and getting all of them designed and printed generally costs several thousand dollars. It's really not cheap. So making a booklet, printing it, translating it, burning the disks, paying for the cases and then trying to figure out how many copies of are going to sell where is no small task. Over all it adds months to a release and likely around $5 to the cost of the game. Also margins that physical game stores add to make a profit is going to be another $5.

So if you want a physical disk be prepared to wait 6 months longer and pay $10 more for the same thing. But personally looking at the trend of PC game releases it Japan it is highly likely that the game will be digitally release only.

joshboyd1209
May 12, 2011, 10:05 AM
I'm pretty sure the game will be download. Hard copy distribution of PC games in Japan is practically non-existent. Game stores primarily sell to console and handhelds, and electronic stores will generally have Office, Photoshop and software like that and maybe a few games in the corner. Looking at Monster Hunter Frontier as an example, I've seen a few copies in store, but it's primarily a digital release.

As for physical copies, while the cost is a fraction of development costs, it's still not free. My school has students make pamphlets for various events and getting all of them designed and printed generally costs several thousand dollars. It's really not cheap. So making a booklet, printing it, translating it, burning the disks, paying for the cases and then trying to figure out how many copies of are going to sell where is no small task. Over all it adds months to a release and likely around $5 to the cost of the game. Also margins that physical game stores add to make a profit is going to be another $5.

So if you want a physical disk be prepared to wait 6 months longer and pay $10 more for the same thing. But personally looking at the trend of PC game releases it Japan it is highly likely that the game will be digitally release only.
Well at least some people can get why it's better to get a digital copy or going to be digital dl only. Although with PSP games I definetly prefer to buy the UMDs as they aren't tied to an account.

Niloklives
May 12, 2011, 10:22 AM
Well at least some people can get why it's better to get a digital copy or going to be digital dl only. Although with PSP games I definetly prefer to buy the UMDs as they aren't tied to an account.

You do know that sony DRM lets you install the game on 5 different systems right? that means you could buy PSP2 and give it to 4 friends so you all can play together. you just have to sign the PSP to that account through your PS3. Takes all of 2 seconds.

And on PS3, you don't even need to do that. just install it, let someone log in as you and dl whatever it is they're getting, DLC, games, w/e. they don't even have to be logged in to your account to use it or logged into PSN for that matter. Once it's on the system, it's licensed for system wide use.

joshboyd1209
May 12, 2011, 10:39 AM
You do know that sony DRM lets you install the game on 5 different systems right? that means you could buy PSP2 and give it to 4 friends so you all can play together. you just have to sign the PSP to that account through your PS3. Takes all of 2 seconds.

And on PS3, you don't even need to do that. just install it, let someone log in as you and dl whatever it is they're getting, DLC, games, w/e. they don't even have to be logged in to your account to use it or logged into PSN for that matter. Once it's on the system, it's licensed for system wide use.
And when PSN goes down and you unhook your account from your PSP you can't even play the game. Also I don't have a PS3.

Niloklives
May 12, 2011, 10:56 AM
wtf are you talking about? you don't have to have the PSP hooked up to play a damn thing. you just have to sign it over. after that take it wherever you want. Seriously man, go read something before you just start spouting nonsense.

joshboyd1209
May 12, 2011, 11:00 AM
wtf are you talking about? you don't have to have the PSP hooked up to play a damn thing. you just have to sign it over. after that take it wherever you want. Seriously man, go read something before you just start spouting nonsense.
Oh that explains why I can't play Rock Band Unplugged and keep getting the error message you cannot access this content on your account.

Niloklives
May 12, 2011, 11:04 AM
sounds like you changed it to a different account after you put the game on

joshboyd1209
May 12, 2011, 11:11 AM
sounds like you changed it to a different account after you put the game on
Actually when PSN went down I didn't know it was worldwide and I decided to try and switch over to my JP account to see if I could still access some of the PSN online features and stuff.

•Col•
May 12, 2011, 11:24 AM
And when PSN goes down and you unhook your account from your PSP you can't even play the game. Also I don't have a PS3.

Wat. I've been playing PSP2 for the past several days.

Niloklives
May 12, 2011, 11:28 AM
yeah I can only imagine hes doing something weird. unless he just means he can't log in O_o

Nitro Vordex
May 12, 2011, 11:52 AM
In this section: how do i technology

Niloklives
May 12, 2011, 11:54 AM
ppfft...same way you shot web.

r00tabaga
May 12, 2011, 12:19 PM
Actually when PSN went down I didn't know it was worldwide and I decided to try and switch over to my JP account to see if I could still access some of the PSN online features and stuff.

http://www.pso-world.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1373&stc=1&d=1305220679

Kion
May 12, 2011, 12:32 PM
I forgot to add in my post. I'm pretty sure the game will likely be free to download. Sure game companies try to make a profit from game sales, but in terms of MMO's I'm pretty sure they make money from keeping servers up. If they can hook someone with a free game and get them to keep paying $10 a month for several years (not to mention pay for content), then that's a lot more money they can hook in from people who would have been turned away by a $40 client download.

joshboyd1209
May 12, 2011, 01:08 PM
yeah I can only imagine hes doing something weird. unless he just means he can't log in O_o
No I was meaning something about not being able to get online or something.

Niloklives
May 12, 2011, 01:16 PM
*face desk*

Ok josh

•Col•
May 12, 2011, 01:42 PM
No I was meaning something about not being able to get online or something.

"Or something"...? You don't even really know what you were trying to say?

Yes you can't play online because Sony's servers are down. You can still play the digital copy of the game in Offline and Local Multiplayer modes....

Niloklives
May 12, 2011, 01:44 PM
He probably pirated the game and can't figure out why it wont boot with ofw.

•Col•
May 12, 2011, 01:48 PM
He probably pirated the game and can't figure out why it wont boot with ofw.

That's what I actually thought myself when reading the first post. It sounded like he was doing something that you're not supposed to and is now running into a problem with it. -_-

Now he has some BS about having a Japanese PSN account or something....

Ezodagrom
May 12, 2011, 02:19 PM
*face desk*
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc8/ezodagrom/3e7c89109a7aff8f01e08ad48603e645690f61ef.gif

joshboyd1209
May 12, 2011, 05:50 PM
He probably pirated the game and can't figure out why it wont boot with ofw.

I didn't pirate it. I bought it off of the PSN Store.


That's what I actually thought myself when reading the first post. It sounded like he was doing something that you're not supposed to and is now running into a problem with it. -_-

Now he has some BS about having a Japanese PSN account or something....

I made a JP PSN account so I could get onto the JP PSN store and play online when I finally manage to get Infinty.

Niloklives
May 13, 2011, 03:09 AM
you're still not making sense. btw good luck playing a game you can't read when you were having trouble just logging into a site.

lostinseganet
May 14, 2011, 10:09 AM
Onlive?

Milla
May 14, 2011, 10:17 AM
Onlive?

No thank you.

SailorCallie1977
May 14, 2011, 10:39 AM
I don't mind digital distribution on (just about) every PC title available, but there are times that I perfer disc manufacturing of PC games because of the code keys and such for the games that I own in case I buy myself a new computer or current PC crashes and erases data.

That's my opinion, so what do you think?

Milla
May 14, 2011, 10:50 AM
I don't see a problem with Sega doing both. I personally prefer having the game on-disc and i wouldn't mind adding another case to my on going collection, there are also some really cool special editions out there. Digital is gonna be the future though i guess *Sigh* gonna have to say goodbye to that new game smell.

Nitro Vordex
May 14, 2011, 10:57 AM
Onlive?
But that costs money for that service. Steam is free, and probably better in every way. What would make you choose Onlive over Steam?

NewWave
May 14, 2011, 11:05 AM
I'm more of a disc + box person :D

Ezodagrom
May 14, 2011, 12:58 PM
I don't mind digital distribution on (just about) every PC title available, but there are times that I perfer disc manufacturing of PC games because of the code keys and such for the games that I own in case I buy myself a new computer or current PC crashes and erases data.

That's my opinion, so what do you think?

That's not a problem with Steam (the most used PC digital distribution service), since Steam is account based, you can install a game bought on Steam in any computer you want, you just gotta log in with your account in the PC you're going to use (of course, you can only use one PC at a time, can't log in with the same account on several PCs at the same time).

There could be a few exceptions, games that have their own DRM on top of Steam, games that use a key to activate in a specific computer instead of activating for the account, but since I don't have any game like this on my Steam account, dunno how they work.

Keilyn
May 14, 2011, 06:14 PM
Yes, Steam.....

Much better option than keeping game disks and dealing with downloading from servers with 100K+ people downloading simultaneously. I really hope that Sega thinks well of Anti-cheat before releasing the game.

Sord
May 14, 2011, 06:17 PM
I really hope that Sega thinks well of Anti-cheat before releasing the game.

Just for the love of gaming, not GameGuard again.

Malachite
May 14, 2011, 07:38 PM
Release through Steam, VAC protection.

So many problems solved.

Keilyn
May 14, 2011, 07:47 PM
Just for the love of gaming, not GameGuard again.


Gameguard is classified by the Linux Community as a Virus and refused to support it. Defined as a Kernel-Level Rootkit, giving the server operator the ability to control your system through it. Its used in a lot of games and the suggestion from many communities is the method of downloading the files needed to run a game, then placing them in the server and finally running a gameguard server on a comp to a local area network and pointing the host file to it.

This is also the way that people can get around any cheat protection as well since the server on your end can be manipulated. Very easy to inject the code itself to give yourself advantages.

joshboyd1209
May 14, 2011, 08:10 PM
Gameguard is classified by the Linux Community as a Virus and refused to support it. Defined as a Kernel-Level Rootkit, giving the server operator the ability to control your system through it. Its used in a lot of games and the suggestion from many communities is the method of downloading the files needed to run a game, then placing them in the server and finally running a gameguard server on a comp to a local area network and pointing the host file to it.

This is also the way that people can get around any cheat protection as well since the server on your end can be manipulated. Very easy to inject the code itself to give yourself advantages.
OK so what your saying is that if I get rid of the gameguard file in my PSOBB program files I can cheat or if I alter it I can cheat without cheating. Right?

Zaix
May 14, 2011, 09:33 PM
I would probably just get this digitally, unless there were to be an awesome special edition

Ezodagrom
May 15, 2011, 07:05 PM
OK so what your saying is that if I get rid of the gameguard file in my PSOBB program files I can cheat or if I alter it I can cheat without cheating. Right?
http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc8/ezodagrom/3e7c89109a7aff8f01e08ad48603e645690f61ef.gif

Cheating is cheating, doesn't matter how you do it, it's still cheating. There's no such thing as "cheating without cheating", and, when it comes to online games, cheating only ruins the fun for others (what I mean is, there's no fun in playing with a cheater). ._.

Vashyron
May 15, 2011, 07:47 PM
Release through Steam, VAC protection.

So many problems solved.

Lol, nope. VAC Delays bans from weeks to a month so it troubles cheaters into trying to make undetectable hacks. With a game such as PSO2, that's enough time to ruin the economy.

More Info for anyone who doesn't know. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valve_Anti-Cheat)

Malachite
May 15, 2011, 10:12 PM
Lol from my experience VAC bans happen incredibly fast. It's far more reliable than some obsolete protection like GameGuard, which is nothing more than a nuisance to your computer.

Vashyron
May 15, 2011, 10:16 PM
While VAC would be a "set up" from Gameguard, still not enough to stop any chance of harm to the game's economy. Best bet is still to damn hope Sega got competent this time around and coded the server well.

Dongra
May 15, 2011, 10:27 PM
Best bet is still to damn hope Sega got competent this time around and coded the server well.
Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Vashyron
May 15, 2011, 10:30 PM
Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Indeed.

SyianZi
May 16, 2011, 01:27 PM
I could live with it being digital download, however I would LOVE it to be on disk. Purely because I want a physical copy (Maybe even special edition) which I can put on my shelf.

Ffuzzy-Logik
May 16, 2011, 03:39 PM
Steam would be great. VAC isn't the greatest (at least it isn't a rootkit), but as has been said numerous times before, the real way to prevent cheating is to code the server properly. That obviously won't happen, but then, neither will Steamworks support.

LoveRappy
May 17, 2011, 03:11 AM
i really hope this does get put on Steam. i dislike buying PC games in a box and rather DL them. i cant remember the last time i bought a boxed PC game, oh wait, i think it was back in 2002.

would be nice if it was a Steamworks game with achievs too.

i know i am definitly not getting the game if they decide to put some stupid DRM on it like GFWL or SecuRom with activation limits. so Steam would be perfect as it's "DRM" alone. (although, if the game is purely online with server-side saving and no offline mode i cant see them using such strict DRM anyway)

and, PSO2 wouldnt be a VAC game. VAC is only for games that play on Valve's servers. PSO2 would be on SEGA's servers, thus SEGA needs it's own security for its servers (unless you can make your on lobbies hosted on your own PC like in Diablo2, L4D, etc. but thats most unlikely). i know i will avoid the game if its using GameGuard (again...), it doesnt work and its a lazy-man's "fix". its also malware.