This means you can’t pass the game around to your friends or sell it afterwards, which completely ruins the purpose of physical media imo. I mostly play PC these days so this doesn’t affect me, but it’s a disappointing direction for console games. At least they could’ve used an empty disc that has proof of ownership.

EDIT: Bethesda has confirmed that only the PC version won’t include a disc. Physical versions of Xbox will include a disc. Whew.

  • @IntheMesh@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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    451 year ago

    Physical media is dying a slow and painful death. Sad to see really. I’d say to make a fuss, but most people don’t seem to care.

    Honestly, No disc + always online DRM is making me turn to piracy more and more. I want to be able to buy a game and just have a permanent offline copy of it. is that really too much to ask?

    • @thoro@lemmy.ml
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      201 year ago

      Physical media is dying a slow and painful death.

      Depends on the medium really.

      The Criterion Collection is still kicking so its selected works are still getting highly curated physical releases. Vinyl records are growing in popularity for those enthusiasts.

      It’s video games that have the biggest issue, and it’s saddening because they are the most in need of preservation due to patching, updates, licenses, DRM, etc.

      Wish the big three would come together for some type of preservation goal at the very least.

      • piece
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        51 year ago

        Wish the big three would come together for some type of preservation goal at the very least.

        It’s sad, but I doubt this will happen if it isn’t profitable in some ways. We need an external organization to do this, as it happens with the preservation of every other media (at least I think)

      • Bri Guy
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        21 year ago

        Not just vinyl but CDs and cassettes are coming back too. Crazy.

    • @Peddler@lemmy.world
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      81 year ago

      You’re going to run into video game preservation issues with or without physical media. I’ve been playing through the GBA/DS catalog and some of the games are selling at prohibitively high prices. Not that I needed a lot of nudging to find another way to play the games…

      • @avapa@lemmy.world
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        61 year ago

        Playing on original hardware has its charms but emulation is often a better experience anyway. I have an N64 sitting in the closet collecting dust because a) it’s a PAL console (sigh), b) the analog stick is shot and c) my TV doesn’t support SCART. I know I could get an NTSC console, buy replacement gears for the stick, buy a RetroTink to get HDMI support, etc. At some point it’s just too much of a hassle for nostalgia’s sake.

        • @Peddler@lemmy.world
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          61 year ago

          Yep, I’ve had similar experiences with handhelds even for games that I own. I could play Metroid Fusion on my SP and get cramps in both of my hands trying to hold it.

          Or I could just find a way to run it on the DSi.

    • @Catsrules@lemmy.ml
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      51 year ago

      I am not really worried about the discs or DRM as those will eventually get cracked. It is the multiplayer games without user hosted dedicated services that bother me.

    • Dandroid
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      31 year ago

      Why? Not trying to argue, just genuinely curious.

        • exu
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          91 year ago

          Or maybe it should be possible to resell a code.

          • @018118055@sopuli.xyz
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            -11 year ago

            Probably need some way to track who owns the code in a robust way. I will not say what technology might come to mind.

            • exu
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              11 year ago

              Why would you need that? You don’t have that with physical copies either.

              • @018118055@sopuli.xyz
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                11 year ago

                The physical copy already has a tangible form which probably has copy protection built in. If a code would be transferred instead of copied, it would be necessary to know who owns it.

                • exu
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                  11 year ago

                  You would have to deactivate the game in the store before you got the code out. That deactivation would also delete the game files to clean up everything.
                  Maybe you made a copy somewhere else, but you’d now have to crack the DRM on most games.
                  Only if the game doesn’t have DRM it relies on you honoring the agreement.
                  A similar situation would be processing refunds, where GOG allows refunds up to 30 days after purchase, even if you downloaded and launched the game.

      • deejay4am
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        101 year ago

        We shouldn’t have to rent everything. If you want free market economics (which corporations claim) then don’t hold the market captive. You cannot have it both ways.

  • 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘬
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    301 year ago

    What’s the purpose of a physical version if there is no disk included? This is nonsense!

    • @buda@lemmy.ml
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      111 year ago

      They are trying to appeal to collectors but also want to squash selling or trading your game. MS has been trying to do this for 10 years.

    • @testsnake@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      71 year ago

      From the business side Pretty much just being able to give it as a gift. Also make it more discoverable to people who aren’t able to buy it online for whatever reason.

      From the personal side No damn idea

    • @nameisnotimportant@lemmy.ml
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      161 year ago

      I never thought I’d write something like this but by pirating it and downloading it on our hard drives, we come closest to what we used to know as ‘own’

      • @ValiantHobo@discuss.tchncs.de
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        21 year ago

        this is why i dont spend money on games anymore. the network of pirates will always be stronger than steam’s network of business men.

        • @ReakDuck@lemmy.ml
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          21 year ago

          Idk, feels more comfy if the Games just work on the Steam Deck or Linux PC without needing to tinker.

          • @ValiantHobo@discuss.tchncs.de
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            21 year ago

            i find developers/publishers are most likely to sacrifice your comfort first and foremost, and many of the games ive pirated have run worse for me or my friends when run legally. but i must admit i enjoyed the process of tinkering with windows on my steam deck, and the piracy workflow for steamOS is seamful.

        • neo (he/him)
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          21 year ago

          It’s more a combo of “Gabe doesn’t care” and “Steam makes it really easy to add pirated games to your list”

    • Arcaneslime
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      101 year ago

      Mmmmmm my torrents say otherwise. Can’t stop me! Shit like this is why I torrent unless you’ve got tapes or wax for me.

      (This message was brought to you bt Piracy.)

  • @Anissem@lemmy.ml
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    211 year ago

    Some will never experience the wonder of intensively reading the manual of a game on the way home from a store. Discs are becoming as rare as Manuals now.

    • Stefen Auris
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      111 year ago

      most people rarely read the directions (and it shows), but I recall loving reading the manuals to my Nintendo64 games

      • @Anissem@lemmy.ml
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        51 year ago

        Remember the little note section at the end of some manuals to scribble your tips and codes?

    • @NineSwords@lemmy.ml
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      21 year ago

      Or cool nonstandard boxes. But retail hated them so now we get easily stackable standardized game cases and we better be happy about it or else.

  • Lols [they/them]
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    181 year ago

    apparently they deleted this right after, but its a sign of some bullshit either way

  • @NineSwords@lemmy.ml
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    151 year ago

    Well, isn’t that exactly where Microsoft wanted to go in the first place all those years back when Sony made fun of them in E3?

    • Mcbinary
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      61 year ago

      Yep, this is the same shit they were trying to pull with the Xbox and Sony out a bunch of commercials of them handing their games to each other to let their friends borrow the game.

      This is dumb.

  • @SpacemanZ@lemmy.world
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    101 year ago

    A lot of games haven’t been released on disks anymore, it’s a real shame really.

    I understand that games have gotten bigger, but they could always ship with a really cheap’O USB stick for the people who really want a true physical copy.

    • Briongloid
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      31 year ago

      Since the 360 we’ve had install discs for sizes above Disc 1.

  • @freakrho@lemmy.ml
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    101 year ago

    I recently got a ps3 from a friend and have been buying cheap games and having a blast, this will be impossible with the newest consoles

  • Astigma
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    81 year ago

    The fact the tweet this information came from has since been deleted could mean it’s false info. We’ll see if Godd Howard clarifies in the coming days.

    • WonkoTheSane
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      91 year ago

      Perhaps they meant it will contain the disc AND a code? But either way it’s hopefully a mistake

    • @Port8080@feddit.de
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      21 year ago

      Even if it includes a physical disk, it will most probably only have the launcher or a downloader on it.

    • @sudo@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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      121 year ago

      An Ultra-HD dual layer blueray disc can hold nearly 100gb of data. It’s not especially complex to have a game with 2 physical discs that encompass different parts of the game. They’ve been doing it since PS1 (FF7 was 4 iirc).

      • @ThreeHalflings@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, but back in the day, a CD cost a lot less than a dollar. Have you looked at the unit cost for a 100gb disc?

        And if it comes with a single-use registration code 80% of the people in this thread would still be pissed off. So, it’s now more expensive, and still deeply flawed.

        • @SSUPII@sopuli.xyz
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          11 year ago

          Because the not use of registration is the whole point? It needs to be optional, how it worked very well for years on PC.

    • @SSUPII@sopuli.xyz
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      71 year ago

      Multiple install disks? That I can still install in my basement without an internet connection many years later like we did with games on floppy disks?

    • Briongloid
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      51 year ago

      One that carried the game key, making it portabaly transferable.

      • @ThreeHalflings@lemmy.world
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        21 year ago

        Yeah, so the issue here isn’t “omg how can they sell a case with no disk” it’s “hey, I want to own my game”, which is totally fair. Seems like people focus on the most superficial part of the whole issue, a literal shiny piece of plastic.

    • @Antik@lemmy.ml
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      21 year ago

      It wouldn’t have been the first game to have multiple discs to install it.

    • NakamuraEmi_bias
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      21 year ago

      okay, clearly only a switch/indie gamer but 125gb for one game? I’m sure it’s for the assets but isn’t this just pushing costs and resources onto the consumer?