Changing to Digital Downloads on PS3

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  • TheVoidTheVoid Posts: 3,086
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    Gormond wrote: »
    Depends on how fast your HDD is but yeah it can cut the loading times in half. It's less evident with more modern games as they tend to do large installs now to get the same effect.

    My 1TB is just a standard 5400rpm.

    You need to persuede me to buy The Last of Us lol
  • TheVoidTheVoid Posts: 3,086
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    Well I've almost cleared out my disc collection and I'm about 70% through this 1TB drive!
  • NX-74205NX-74205 Posts: 4,691
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    TheVoid wrote: »
    Well I've almost cleared out my disc collection and I'm about 70% through this 1TB drive!

    ...and if your console goes tits up you'll have to re-download your entire catalogue again.
  • ChparmarChparmar Posts: 6,367
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    Digital downloads are still expensive. It's only good for smaller older titles, when it's give away on plus or when there's a one off special offer!

    Other than that it is expensive! Even some of the older PS3 titles are priced too much.
  • Anime_FanAnime_Fan Posts: 373
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    NX-74205 wrote: »
    ...and if your console goes tits up you'll have to re-download your entire catalogue again.
    As happened to me recently.

    Had a 1tb HDD which went bad for whatever reason & thus lost access to over half of my games library. I know I can re-download them all but I really can't be bothered to re-download about 700Gb worth of games.


    From now on I'll be going back to buying primarily on physical, Don't have these problems when you have a disc on a shelf.
  • stefmeisterstefmeister Posts: 8,386
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    My PS3 suffered the YLOD last week, Im taking it to a place in birmingham city center for repair on thursday so hopefully i won't end up having to download all my digital games again.

    I'll be more gutted about losing all my saves if it can't be fixed though :eek:
    Been a PSN+ subscriber I really should have taken advantage of the ability to backup by saves online. If it able to be repaired thats the 1st thing im going to do.
  • TheVoidTheVoid Posts: 3,086
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    It's not likely that my PS3 is going to break down. It's only a year old slim and the 1TB drive I bought was well reviewed.

    I never buy games digitally full price. I always wait for sales.
  • GormondGormond Posts: 15,838
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    TheVoid wrote: »
    It's not likely that my PS3 is going to break down. It's only a year old slim and the 1TB drive I bought was well reviewed.

    I never buy games digitally full price. I always wait for sales.

    Hard drives are quite unpredictable so I wouldn't say that.

    However downloading my games again is hardly an issue as you would just download as you require.
  • JSemple3JSemple3 Posts: 8,652
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    I think i'm starting to take a slight trend towards digital downloading. This year alone I ordered 15 items digitally on PSN. OK I will still buy the odd disk here and there but a sign of a change for me I think
  • ChparmarChparmar Posts: 6,367
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    Anyone know what the limit on the HDD on the PS4 will be?? I hope it's not 1TB.
  • GormondGormond Posts: 15,838
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    Chparmar wrote: »
    Anyone know what the limit on the HDD on the PS4 will be?? I hope it's not 1TB.

    It will be what ever the limit on 2.5" 9mm drives are at the time. ATM thats 1TB but it will grow over time as it always has.
  • ChparmarChparmar Posts: 6,367
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    Gormond wrote: »
    It will be what ever the limit on 2.5" 9mm drives are at the time. ATM thats 1TB but it will grow over time as it always has.

    I hope so. I think 2TB would be adequate for the PS4, just for comfort.
    Space is always an issue when building a 'digital' collection.
  • GormondGormond Posts: 15,838
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    Chparmar wrote: »
    I hope so. I think 2TB would be adequate for the PS4, just for comfort.
    Space is always an issue when building a 'digital' collection.

    I agree, the advance with the PS4 is doing a backup and restore to a new drive should be far faster using USB3.
  • Chelsea SaintChelsea Saint Posts: 2,075
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    DD is very much our preferred method of game delivery and storage. It's not just the clean convenience and swifter technical game operations, but price. Steam, as all will know is an exceptional model. And over time as more gamers gradually embrace console digi distribution, I feel confident prices will drop.

    Posted the above a year ago so it’s good to see competitively priced DD’s on PSN becoming ever more prevalent. There's a vast array of bargains available weekly now with Ni No Kuni’s recent £3 pricing a very notable example. This weeks personal picks are FM14 at 13 quid for Vita with Legends of War on the same format just £12. Well played Sony!
  • HotbirdHotbird Posts: 10,009
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    Digital games still generally launch at a higher price than retail and retain that higher price for longer though because there is actually competition between retailers. On PS4 PSN store has the monopoly. We need to see rival retail stores appearing on the console OS.

    But saying that the increase of digital codes from the likes of GAME and Amazon is a good move and the sales that have occurred on PSN have been getting much better.

    I bought the Ratchet Trilogy during a recent sale because it was cheaper than I could find it for on disc at the time. It was also cheaper than the used version.

    I think the most interesting thing about digital at the moment is the prospect of what cross-buy could become.
  • whoever,heywhoever,hey Posts: 30,992
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    I really like digital download a year on. I use it for games I'm going to keep and play allot like bf4. Something like drive club will be digital if I buy it after trying on PS+.
  • gillyallangillyallan Posts: 31,707
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    Just the initial price of digital is often ludicrous, however I agree, games I play to death for years would be better as digital. Ie. Bf4. As by time I'm finished with it, it won't be worth anything at trade anyway.
  • TheVoidTheVoid Posts: 3,086
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    I only have one PS3 disc and that's Black Ops. The rest of my PS3 collection is on my hard drive. I've got loads of games. My PS2 and PSone collection are also on my PS3.

    My PS4 is much the same. Tomb Raider, Thief, AC Black Flag and Watch Dogs. All digital thanks to the US store being so cheap.
  • stefmeisterstefmeister Posts: 8,386
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    I still buy maybe 97% of my stuff on disc (Only brought 8 retail PS3 games digitally & all but 1 was part of a sale) & don't see that changing anytime soon.

    As I said earlier in the thread I like having something to show for my purchase & still like having all my games on display on my shelf's so I can easily see what i've got.

    Had a friend round last week & I was trying to remember if I'd brought an older title off PSN, Since my memory is pretty bad at times to find out I had to turn on my PS3 & scroll through the download list to find it right at the very bottom (Took about 5-10mins). With physical games I just look over at the shelf & can easily see what games I own & what I don't.
    Have since started an excel spreadsheet listing all my digital purchases & PS+ games.


    I also like/want my games library to be there & immediately ready to play, Physical copies do that. If I want to play it I pop the disc in & can immediately start playing. With digital if i've had to delete stuff to save HDD space then parts of my games library if not there ready to be played unless I re-download it & I don't have super fast broadband to get that done super quickly.
  • whoever,heywhoever,hey Posts: 30,992
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    I still buy maybe 97% of my stuff on disc (Only brought 8 retail PS3 games digitally & all but 1 was part of a sale) & don't see that changing anytime soon.

    As I said earlier in the thread I like having something to show for my purchase & still like having all my games on display on my shelf's so I can easily see what i've got.

    Had a friend round last week & I was trying to remember if I'd brought an older title off PSN, Since my memory is pretty bad at times to find out I had to turn on my PS3 & scroll through the download list to find it right at the very bottom (Took about 5-10mins). With physical games I just look over at the shelf & can easily see what games I own & what I don't.
    Have since started an excel spreadsheet listing all my digital purchases & PS+ games.


    I also like/want my games library to be there & immediately ready to play, Physical copies do that. If I want to play it I pop the disc in & can immediately start playing. With digital if i've had to delete stuff to save HDD space then parts of my games library if not there ready to be played unless I re-download it & I don't have super fast broadband to get that done super quickly.

    Having a disc collection doesn't mean you won't fill your HDD up on the latest been of consoles. They need installing before you can play. Xbone completely and ps4 partially.
  • Flawed-TacticsFlawed-Tactics Posts: 3,488
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    I'm very pro DL, didn't use to be. Storage is always going to be an issue but on PC it's the cost of a HDD, same on the X1 now, PS4 is same but swapping out needed.

    Cost is something that needs to be looked at, but patient gamers can get a good deal.
  • stefmeisterstefmeister Posts: 8,386
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    Having a disc collection doesn't mean you won't fill your HDD up on the latest been of consoles. They need installing before you can play. Xbone completely and ps4 partially.
    True but on PS4 at least you can start playing the game off disc pretty much immediately so when the time comes to clear out some HDD space its still much less of an issue than with digital titles which still take a while to download before you can play them.


    I think I've said before that I quite regularly go back & play older titles to kill some time (Went back & played a bit of Heavenly Sword last night). With physical media I can do that as you just pop the disc in & start playing. But if its something from my collection which needs to be re-downloaded Im likely to just not bother ever going back to it, Especially if its a really big download which could take a couple hours before its ready to play.

    I guess its a non-issue for those who play through a game, move on to the next & don't go back to re-play the older titles, But since I regularly do go back I like everything in my games library to be there & ready to play as soon as I want to.


    I'm the same with my Films/TV series, I like buying physical media because I know they will always be there ready to watch. I do use Netflix occasionally but I still always buy the stuff I really like & know im going to re-watch (My sisters the same, She watched Breaking Bad on Netflix, But then brought the Bluray set). With Netflix sometimes things get removed & if your without internet (As I was for a month through May) you can't use it.
  • HotbirdHotbird Posts: 10,009
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    I really like digital download a year on. I use it for games I'm going to keep and play allot like bf4. Something like drive club will be digital if I buy it after trying on PS+.
    gillyallan wrote: »
    Just the initial price of digital is often ludicrous, however I agree, games I play to death for years would be better as digital. Ie. Bf4. As by time I'm finished with it, it won't be worth anything at trade anyway.

    I can see myself buying some retail games digitally for this reason. Having BF3 digitally through PS+ has been nice and I have played so much GTA5 online it would have been good to have it accessible all the time on the HDD.

    I have played a lot of PS+ games this year between GTA5 so the disc has been able to sit in the machine a lot and having it available for a quick blast online without needing to get up and get the disc was nice.
  • JSemple3JSemple3 Posts: 8,652
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    TheVoid wrote: »
    I only have one PS3 disc and that's Black Ops. The rest of my PS3 collection is on my hard drive. I've got loads of games. My PS2 and PSone collection are also on my PS3.

    My PS4 is much the same. Tomb Raider, Thief, AC Black Flag and Watch Dogs. All digital thanks to the US store being so cheap.

    I signed into my US PSN accoint to check it out. God PS4 PSN don't half look cheap!
  • TheVoidTheVoid Posts: 3,086
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    JSemple3 wrote: »
    I signed into my US PSN accoint to check it out. God PS4 PSN don't half look cheap!

    lol I think it's bescause there's not much content.

    Keep your eye out on US eBay - I got Watch Dogs digital code but for the US PSN for £10! Was from a bundled PS4 someone didn't want.
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