The gap between Digital Retail and Physical Retail

[Fletcher]

So with the use of Steam, Gamersgate and other digital distributers of games, the usage of downloading games over the use of physical media is becoming more commonplace. It does have many advantages, its cheaper to not manufacture thousands of disks and cases for the physical retail side of things and it is arguable easier to prevent piracy with.

However with the average speed of the internet barely hopping over the 1mbps mark in the western world (an assumption in my head), how can the digital media cope with such a huge bottleneck against the ease of use of a simple DVD installation.

That's not to say that physical media doesn't have problems, its usually plagued with anti-piracy software, trial/junkware, can be damaged or lost and once the DRM broken, the question of piracy flares up.

So right now do you prefer digital media or physical media distribution?


Personally, until we get higher speeds, which I can't see happening for another three to five years here in the UK at best, I prefer physical media distribution. Quick installation and can make easy backups.

You?

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