Every PlayStation 4 game to be downloadable
Like the Vita, every PlayStation 4 game will be available as a download, while some will remain available on Blu-ray discs. Sony also hinted that its services could be bundled in tiered "packages."
As you may have suspected from the direction of technology trends, Sony has confirmed that all PlayStation 4 games will be available to download. Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida has said the system will be similar to the Vita, focusing on the digital marketplace with only some of its games available on physical media.
"We're shifting our platform more and more to the digital side - PS4 will be similar to PS Vita in that every game will be available as a digital download, and some will also be available as a disc," Yoshida told The Guardian (via CVG). "The Witness will be a digital release and because of the flexibility of the digital distribution scheme, we can have more small games that might be free or available for a couple of dollars, or different services like free-to-play or subscription models."
Yoshida also said that ultimately, Sony would like to offer tiered subscription models for its content. "As more and more services and contents become available digitally, we'll have more of an option to create attractive packages," he said. "So hypothetically we can look at different models - like a cable TV company. We could have gold, silver or platinum levels of membership, something like that. We can do subscription services when we have more content - especially now that we have the Gaikai technology available. With one subscription you have access to thousands of games - that's our dream."
We heard similar comments about a wider pricing range from CEO Jack Tretton last week. Word of an all-encompassing digital model is unsurprising, but Sony's Jim Ryan told IGN that Blu-rays are still the physical media plan for the foreseeable future.
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Steve Watts posted a new article, Every PlayStation 4 game to be downloadable.
Like the Vita, every PlayStation 4 game will be available as a download, while some will remain available on Blu-ray discs. Sony also hinted that its services could be bundled in tiered "packages."-
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Roughly how many GB do games like Homefront or LittleBigPlanet or Uncharted 3 take up on a Bluray disc?
I can't imagine how much HDD space I would need to have even a small chunk of my games fully installed on my PS3 (and I imagine the PS4 games will be a magnitude larger than those).
At say ~ 20-25GB per Bluray disc, you might fit maybe 20 games on the 500GB PS3 HDD (very rough math of course, assuming a lot, like the game taking up the entire 20-25GB). The AAA titles like Uncharted would obviously take up much more room than, like, ModNationRacers.
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The nice thing about Sony (and I hope they keep it up) is the ability to put your own drive in there. That said, I generally don't leave games installed after I'm done with them. I've got an 80GB X360 with 55GB free on it, because once I finish a game, I delete its install from the HDD.
On that note however, it's real easy to put it back from disc if I should change my mind (Which I never have been inclined to do), but more of a pain in the ass for a digital-only game like there's going to be lots of on the PS4. -
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Step 1: Get a 256GB SSD
Step 2: Create backups of every game and save them onto your 2TB HDD
Step 3: Install all your games to the 256GB SSD
Step 4: When you run out of space, restore the backups from the 2TB HDD
Step 5: Bask in the holiness that is playing games from an SSD
This way you don't have to worry about download caps, or clogging up your bandwidth. -
I don't do it becaues I need to. If it was a real problem I'd have transferred steam to another partition (or installed games on a separate partition like it allows now). I'm just making an observation that the 60gb limit hasn't been a problem at all. I'm sure other people have different, incompatible scenarios to love with. But since I'm always only playing a few games at a time (including MP games I'm on-and-off), that limit has been ok so far
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If you used it more often you'd know it's no big deal. Some of us have 300+ games in our Steam libraries, and some on smaller drives and SSDs. And while not every game is +20 gigs, some are, and most are in the 5-15GB range. It adds up, but you are hard up on space you only keep what you regularly play, delete what you are done with, and download the new stuff.
You can redownload games whenever you want (and apparently stream and play them as you download on PS4?), it's not like you have to keep all of them on disk or you lose them. If your bandwidth is slow or you have caps and monthly limits, that stuff is going to be harder than lacking HDD space.
The PS4 is still going to have games on disc so you'll always have that option with the non-PSN releases, I wonder if you can slap any old HDD in there like the PS3 too.
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Most games don't take up 25GB, and at least in 2011 the attach rate on PS3 was < 9 games per console:
http://www.ps3center.net/news/5149/ps3-attach-rate-increases-further/
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This is honestly the most exciting/important bit about PS4 for me so far. I'm happy about what seems like a good system architecture, but for years now I've bought console games like 1-3 times a year, simply because I hate physical media. If it's exclusive to the console and I seriously want it, I'll get it, but considering I have both the PS3 and the 360 I've made very little money for MS/Sony simply because I much prefer doing my browsing and shopping shopping at home and with zero physical space wasted.
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I was thinking about this the other day. I'm all for this and I have wanted to be able to Steam-ify my consoles for a while now, but at the same time I definitely still want the ability to pick a game from my collection, pop it into the console and instantly play it. That was one advantage consoles have always had - lack of installs (which has also been going away) meant that if you had some friends over you could dig out a game you haven't played for a year and instantly play it together. No installing, no downloading, just play it. So while I love downloading all my games on Steam etc, I don't really want to lose that instant playability on consoles either.
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I like this: you can download your PS4 titles, OR you can have a fully offline PS4 and play from physical media. Of all the parties in the arguments over mandatory login, persistent connectivity and forced downloads, I didn't expect Sony to be the most accommodating party, catering to both ranges of preference. Well done.
Microsoft's goal seems to be pushing its online ecosystem, so I expect that their next platform will require a login, and will require persistent connectivity. From the cagey PR they've been putting out (particularly from Phil Harrison), that's what I feel the official unveil will state. -
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No I have been watching this issue like a hawk here and his posts are pretty accurate. Many many people have thrown down the guantlet and said they won't be buying the next gen consoles if they stop used games, are always online, or raise the price of games. I think they are crying wolf but it has been posted many many many times here.
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They are probably not entirely the same group, but I'd be shocked if there was not any overlap (heck, myself I buy used and digital).
I'm also one in the digital camp that thinks since we removed physical media production and transportation costs the price should be lower than physical media, but that has rarely materialized (outside of Steam sale prices and the odd Xbox/PSN discount sale).
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I was kinda confused by the anger at not being able to play used games. It makes sense that we're moving to a digital future where there are no discs to take to your friend's house. It does look like they're going to allow your friend to play your game from his console, but you have to sacrifice playing on your own console to let him try your game.
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it'll probably be some kind of either/or deal - buy a disc that isn't downloadable but is resellable, or buy the downloadable which is the opposite.
possibly one-use keys on retail versions that let you permanently attach it to your account and download, though i really doubt they'd do that - too much fuckery with the used market (buy a used copy and WHAT SOMEONE ELSE REGISTERED IT? then you try to take it back and it's he-said-she-said on whether or not you just took it and registered it yourself, etc)
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Fuck. Yes. I've wanted this for a while.
http://www.shacknews.com/article/66426/morning-discussion?id=24495177#item_24495177
[fry] and a bunch of other people are probably happy
http://www.shacknews.com/chatty?id=25440308#item_25440308
Also I believe John Carmack was almost right. From 2007, a QuakeCon keynote:
"6:26: Early on looked like Steam was "just another middleman," but there are definite positives to digital distribution. Believes next generation of consoles may not have optical media."
URL was http://www.shacknews.com/docs/press/20070803_quakecon_carmack.x but it's dead, Jim. -
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