Digital Distribution and you

[Blix]

So I've seen many people on different websites who don't like the idea of digital distribution. I don't know how many people like digital distribution versus how many people don't but the impression I get is that there are many people out there that don't like it. Some arguments that I've read say that the lack of packaging, manuals and what-not diminishes the "value" of the games. Other people simply don't like some of the policies of some companies (and in certain cases I agree). Others don't like the fact that they can't sell a game once they no longer want it. At least not without selling the whole account the games are registered to.

The lack of packaging is something I can understand having a problem with if someone likes to collect games. At times you're allowed to make a hard copy of your games for back up (like on steam <3 ) but you're left with a recordable DVD with the brand and the black ink (most likely from a sharpie) hand-written title of the game

The people who want to resell games are pretty much screwed. In steam at least, once you buy a game, it is attached to your account forever, which is a good thing, since whenever you want to play the game again, you can just download and not worry about it if you lost the game's disc (or discs). But while there is the option to buy games for other players or give some of yours in case you bought a whole series and got a game twice, there is no option to sell a game once you acquire it.

Policies is the one argument I can understand most. These vary from company to company but while most of the times these policies are understandable, they can at times be a little too restrictive or even unfair. Someone who comes to mind here is Nintendo on the DSi. Whenever you buy something off the DSiware service, you can only play it on the DSi you bought it from. Nintendo claims that you buy the license which permits you to play the game, but not the game itself. So if you buy a new game and download to your DSi but later buy a new one and would like to play it on that one you can't take the game with you. In steam, for example, whenever you buy a game you can download it to any other computer as long as you log in to your steam account using the steam client.

All in all, I'm pro digital distribution. I don't think I'll buy every single game that way, some times I like to collect games or some times it's just better to get them off the store and not have to wait for the game to download. But you can always buy games that may not be available at stores anymore or those rare games that only get one or two copies sent to the store. Also, special deals are more common this way than any kind of deal at stores. Forget about bringing your old games to trade them in, Steam Normally does weekend deals with 25% off or more and some times about 75%. I bought Tomb Raider: Underworld for just $7.49 about two weeks ago. Direct 2 Drive normally does specials too. And this is possible because the price of making a copy of a game is way less. Also, developers make more money from sales because of this.

So, do you like digital distribution or do you prefer to buy your games at the store? And why?