Nintendo DS to use Steam!

[Vectrex-Atari]

I kinda see this as the CD - vs - vinyl deal. You had people back in the early 80's who thought that CD's were harsh sounding and too expensive. But as the 80's went on into the 90's, we all know the CD wins hands down. The answer is ease of use. The CD is compact to carry anywhere and takes up less space. Also, when handle properly, you never have to clean it.

 

But even today, most critics will say that vinyl is a better source than CD.

 

Anyway, I see this downloading technology as the future as we know it. Sometimes, I dont want to go to walmart or EB to buy a copy of a new game because its always crowded with people. Hell, to find a place to park is aggrevating sometimes.

 

If its easy to use and available at anytime, It will sale eventually. People now dont want to get out anymore and be active, so the "couch potatoes" will love this.

[IronMongeR]

Hope it doesn't happen till after I'm dead. Why is the world obsessed with downloading stuff? Can I download some egg and bacon for dinner? No. Not yet.

[Fretwobbler]

Why is the world obsessed with downloading stuff?  Can I download some egg and bacon for dinner?  No.  Not yet.  

 

I agree with you, but its not that the world is intent on downloading stuff, its that the publishers are intent on delivering their product by that method... big differance.

[Stingray]

 

Thats a very viable scenario, and history has proved it with the afformentioned Saga cable channel thing.....on a the genesis!! when the Playstation has just been released! Why on earth did it fail!?!?!

 

 

Best I recall the Sega TV thing was around '94 - '95ish. It was back before the Playstation when Sega's big competition was the SNES. However my memory has been known to be less than 100% accurate

 

Anyone know for sure when Sega TV made it's big debut?

 

-S

[Fretwobbler]

From Classic Gaming's Megadrive FAQ, this therefore has a UK-edge on it. I have no idea when the service was available or ended in the US.....

 

Other obvious reasons why it failed(and why a modern system will be un-comparable to Sega -TV are highlighted)

 

Sega TV Cable games adapter was created in cooperation with

Time Warner and Sega. The adapter was a similar shape to the Master

System converter 2 except it was a bit larger and had a cable TV

connector on the side of the unit. You paid monthly fee like a

standard cable/satellite channel and selected games were provided

to play for a limited time. Playable previews of Games due for

release were also made available on the Sega TV channel. The idea

being to promote more sales of the game on release. Games could not

be saved on the adapter so if you liked a game you could go and buy

it. Sega TV was only available in a few areas of the U.K that had

cable TV although not all areas that had cable were given the

option of Sega TV. The service was eventually stopped late 1997

after a run of a couple of years.

 

Sio it looks like it ran from 1995-1997 in the UK - deep into Playstation launch territory, and only providing playable demos and time-limited full games. Comparing it to a modern day Steam-esque method of media delivery is illogical.

[Stingray]

Comparing it to a modern day Steam-esque method of media delivery is illogical.

 

Perhaps, it's just the only example of someone trying this previously that I could come up with.

 

But, has iTunes killed music CD sales? Has Pay-Per-View killed DVD movie sales? People like to own a physical copy of the music, movies and software that they paid for. I'm not saying that this future method of game distribution won't happen and that it won't be succesful. I'm only saying that the option to purchase the same games on some kind of physical media will likely remain.

 

-S

[Csonicgo]

I don't think it's going to matter if it "catches on" with the public or not. They will continue to try until it does. And if every software house decided to do it, you would have no choice but to get onboard if you wanted to play games.

 

well, this new "medium" is prone to viruses and corrupted data. uh uh.

[Fretwobbler]

well, this new "medium" is prone to viruses and corrupted data. uh uh.

 

It isnt any differant to any other? With Steam and HL2 you load it onto a PC, then it is just as vulnerable as any other file on the hard disk.

 

With a console, it will almost definately use a completely bespoke operating system(ie not windows XP), it will most likely use something like the current Xbox or PS2 operating system, and maybe even bespoke hardware as well, more importantly, from a network point of view it will probably be a closed system - no more susseptable to virus' than your Xbox when using X-box live. Im not aware of any Xbox virus', although i could be wrong and such beasts may exist. doubtful though.

 

To explain this further - there will obviously be the ability to surf the internet from these box's as 'on-line' will be the big thing about them, getting info about the games etc, but you wont be surfing the www using http and HTML, you'll be surfing a completely proprietry, closed network, using its own protocols and everything.

[Artlover]

If done properly, it will irradicate piracy. That will be motivation enough for them.

 

Throw together a gateway or relay that dumps all data passing through it to the HDD. Bam, you got a copy of how communication takes place and of the data. Could probably throw a machine together for less then a $100 bucks.

 

I can imagine teams of pirates all playing the same game in every way possible so they can stream all the game data across. Packaged with a spoofed on-line server app to stream the "backup" data. Kinda like how it's done on the Gamecube.