CASS190684 said:All of this basically sums up my feelings about digital too. Not to mention the fact it's just not practical either with such limited storage space, poor internet speeds, and limited data usage. I actually can't think of a single pro to digital.
People talk about whether they buy physical or digital as if they have any say in the matter. I know many people who used to like getting a physical manual with their game, but those went digital and nothing anyone said about it made a difference.
Only a small amount of local storage is required for digital games. You just start up the game, it downloads the bit you need and then downloads the rest in the background while you play. The local storage is just a cache to speed up the loading times of games you play frequently and so you can play offline when required. To expect to keep a copy of all your games on a local disc would be like expecting to be able to keep a copy of the internet on your PC. Internet data caps are a problem in some countries like mine, but they have been increasing steadily over the last couple of years.
When you go to a friends house for a party you may take a stack of CDs. When your kid goes they will just take some sort of portable storage device. It will be the same with games, you will bring a big bag of discs and your kids will just log on and play what they own. When the Xbox Two releases it won't have an optical drive and the days of phyisical games will be over (it's already happened with PCs).
Personally I don't know how I am going to cope when things go digital. It may be time to hang up my gloves and stop playing games altogether. I like collecting physical things that I have formed an emotional attachment with. I love my "big box" games that came on 5.25" floppy disks and everything that has come inbetween.
If GTA V was a digital only release, how many of you would not have bought it, honestly?
So here's one pro to digital, your collection can't be stolen if someone breaks in to your house!
Edit: Even if they steal your Xbox, when you get a replacement you just hit the transfer licence button and everything will stop working on the stolen Xbox if they connect it to the network (which would be pretty dumb since the S/N is registered to you).