Gaiming: Retail vs. Digital - What do you prefer?

I’d rather be able to buy another shelf to store old games than buy a bigger harddrive, but I do love the ability to download expansions and extra content for games.

What about you?

Some of you might say that, if you pay 60-90 dollars for something then you naturally would want something physical for it.

Just this May, company president Gabe Newell said that within months, Valve would be making more money from its “alternative channels” than from traditional retail sales. According to a recent interview with Doug Lombardi, Microsoft execs actually turned down Valve when the developer approached them with the idea for Steam.

Between 2006 and 2007 alone, retailers saw PC software sales plummet by $60 million, when, in fact, a recent report by trade association PC Gaming Alliance revealed that PC game sales topped $10.7 billion in 2007.

And now, all BIG three consoles, the XBox, Wii and PS, offer digital-distribution service, with Microsoft and Sony both introducing major upgrades to their systems this summer.

By the way, your chances for scoring a Wii this year get better as Nintendo president promises more Wiis on the market.

I think games should be at $50 a pop by now but I think they keep it high because they want to eventually persuade consumers that digital distribution is the way to go. A download game wouldn’t use the blu ray disc and could therefore be a reasonable size.

Digital distribution on the new DSi will threaten DS software sales at retail says analyst.

MMO juggernaut Blizzard added digitally downloadable titles to their online store.

But if they go any cheaper then they currently are, developers wont make money unless it is an already released title that they are just trying to cash in on.