 |
 |
|
If you enjoy reading this site, you might also want to check out these Think Services sites:
 Game Career Guide (for student game developers.)
 Indie Games (for independent game players/developers.)
 Finger Gaming (news, reviews, and analysis on iPhone and iPod Touch games.)
 GamerBytes (for the latest console digital download news.)
 Worlds In Motion (discussing the business of online worlds.)
 Game Set Watch (the Group's alt.game weblog.) |
|
|
|
| |
Opinion: Inside Digital Game Download Hell
by Ian Bogost
|
|
| |
|
January 25, 2008
|
| |
[In this thought-provoking opinion piece, game designer/author Ian Bogost takes a look at his experience downloading PlayStation Network game titles to make the argument that "people think that digital download makes content more accessible, but that's not always, or perhaps not often the case".]
Recently, David Edery wrote a nice feature on Gamasutra about how to make trial versions of downloadable software sell more games. He has some good points, including observations about how a trial shouldn't just be the beginning of the game nor should it give away enough that a purchase is unnecessary.
But there's something missing from Edery's analysis, and that's the larger process we go through to try or buy games provided through digital download. Often people think that digital download makes content more accessible, but that's not always, or perhaps not often the case. Here's some anecdotal evidence, albeit from a different digital distribution service than Edery's Xbox Live.
I've been traveling or working nonstop on deadlines or both since early December, so I haven't really had time to play console videogames at home. Last night I decided to have a go. I wanted to get Pain (pictured) and Everyday Shooter on the PlayStation Network Store, and then spend a little while with each. I had just finished some work and allocated a half hour or so before bed.
I turn on the PS3.
My component video switcher is on the wrong setting, so I get up, walk over and press the correct one. I hear the PS3's symphonic start up sound.
I hadn't set up my Logitech remote to turn off the cable box when I choose PS3 from its menu, so the two optical sources are mixing. I switch it off while I'm over at the television.
The PS3 is set to autorun games, so it boots up The Simpsons Game, which was in the drive already.
Splash screen loads, I pull up the menu to quit The Simpsons Game. The PS3 reboots.
My controller has a low battery, so the PS3 tells me to plug it in. I do so. Now I'm sitting a foot from the screen.
I try to access the PSN Store from the system menu.
The PS3 tells me I have to install a System Update before I can do this.
Back to the menu. I access the System Update and it starts downloading.
Progress bar. I wait five minutes.
Ok, it's done. The PS3 reboots.
Now it's ready to install. It reboots again first for some reason.
Ok, really ready to install. Another progress bar. Five more minutes.
The update finishes installing. PS3 reboots once more.
Now I can acccess the PSN Store. I find the games and add them to my cart. This takes a while because I have no idea what category either game would be in. I guess wrong a few times and then just use the alphabetical lookup.
I'm ready to check out. But, I have no PSN credits. I have to add some.
The service has stored my credit card so a couple screens later I've got enough in my account to check out.
Back to the checkout screen. Sale completed, great.
The PS3 prompts me to start downloading. I start the Pain download (200MB).
I navigate back out to the main system screen to look around while I'm waiting. Hmm, I should have queued Everyday Shooter too so it will download after Pain is done. Back to the PSN Store.
I need to access my game downloads. Where is that again? I'm one foot from the screen still so I crane my neck around. Right, top corner there's a link. I access that and start the second download (30MB).
230MB is enough that this is going to take a while. I wander back out and play Calling All Cars for five minutes or so. I suck at Calling All Cars. What a frustrating game. I think about David's article and how a trial download would have meant I wouldn't have bought it at all. Maybe $10 to experiment isn't so bad.
The download manager notifies me that the downloads are done. I quit Calling All Cars.
I look for the games in the proper section of the PS3 menu but I can't find them. Where are they? Ah, they're up above. I access Pain.
The game needs to install. Another progress bar, but only for a couple minutes.
At this point, I figure I might as welll install Everyday Shooter too. Much smaller game, so it installs faster.
Now I'm finally ready to play Pain. Luckily I've been sitting at the console for 20 minutes by now and my controller is charged enough to allow me to retire to the couch.
It's 12:30am, I'm pretty exhausted. Bleary-eyed, I start up Pain.
Pain checks for saved data. It finds none, as this is the first time I ran the game. It tells me it will create a save file. It will save automatically for me, ok? Ok, I tell it.
Now I have to go through the tutorial before I can play. Ok, no problem.
I'm five minutes in. The game seemed simple at first but now it's feeling pretty nuanced (for a game about breaking things with a human slingshot anyway). There are combo hits. There are drifts and ooches. I'm still not even done with the tutorial.
Yawning, I decide to stop and turn in for the night.
I quit Pain, it autosaves for me.
I press the PS3 button. Turn off console. Yes, really turn off console.
Television off, receiver off, lights out. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.
I've picked on PlayStation here but the Xbox and Wii versions aren't really any better. It's true that downloadable games don't suffer from the cost basis, shelf-space, and individual marketing problems of physical media.
But when I buy a DVD movie or game, I just pop it in and start playing. No system updates. No reboots. No fuss. How can these download services ever hope to top that?
|
| |
|
|
I've been travelling or working nonstop on deadlines or both since early December, so I haven't really had time to play console videogames at home. Last night I decided to have a go. I wanted to get Pain (pictured) and Everyday Shooter, and then spend a little while with each. I had just finished some work and allocated a half hour or so before bed.
Before I turn on the PS3 I realise that I haven’t even got those titles to play yet. It’s half an hour before bed. Where the hell am I going to go buy those at this time of night? That means I’ve got to head out to Walmart. Great.
My car keys aren’t where I left them. That’s annoying. Eventually I manage to find them down the side of the sofa and I’m on my way
I hadn't filled my car up with petrol after a long week at work and the nearest late night shops are 15 miles away. Actually, the diversion to the petrol station just to fill up with fuel adds another 5 miles on. I wish I’d just decided to watch the television.
The moron at Walmart can’t even point me in the direction of the games... 5 minutes later I find my way to the technology aisle. I spend three minutes worryingly patting my pocket in case the spotty youths hovering round the PS2 section take a shine to it.
I go to pay for the game but at the checkout I realise I’ve left my wallet in the car. Now I have to go back outside to get it and queue up again.
Outside I discover it is now raining... and the spotty youths are hovering around my car. How disconcerting.
Queue. Pay. Leave
Another 30 minutes later... (it took me longer to drive home due to the rain blasting against the windshield...) back in my chair.
Now I'm finally ready to play Pain. My controller is dead... I really should have checked all that before i left for the shops, then I could have been charging it throughout the purchasing procedure... how handy. After 20 minutes I can get off the floor as my controller is charged enough to allow me to retire to the couch.
It's 2:30am, I'm pretty exhausted. Bleary-eyed, I start up Pain.
Pain checks for saved data. It finds none, as this is the first time I ran the game. It tells me it will create a save file. It will save automatically for me, ok? Ok, I tell it.
Now I have to go through the tutorial before I can play. Ok, no problem.
I'm five minutes in. The game seemed simple at first but now it's feeling pretty nuanced (for a game about breaking things with a human slingshot anyway). There are combo hits. There are drifts and ooches. I'm still not even done with the tutorial.
Yawning, I decide to stop and turn in for the night.
I quit Pain, it autosaves for me.
I press the PS3 button. Turn off console. Yes, really turn off console.
Television off, receiver off, lights out. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.
Clearly there are many incidents in my journey to buy these games that have nothing to do with the game, PS3 or the purchasing procedure in the first place. However, this is also the case with the original article by Mr Bogost. It took 20 minutes to download... it took ME 20 minutes just to get to the petrol station.
Why don’t we give this download hell a try? Doesn’t seem all that bad when you out it this way.
Also, as our witty, storytelling friend anonymous has expressed, the experience of downloading games usually takes less time and less exertion than driving to a store. So I think you need to compare apples (the act of getting a downloadable game) to apples (the act of getting a console game/DVD) when asking if downloadable content can top the experience of console games and DVDs.
I wanted to grab a couple new song packs for my Xbox 360 version of Rock Band one night, so I did the same thing in booting everything up and getting my purchases bought. About 4 hours later, because my internet connection was being really wonky, I finally got to play 5 out of the 12+ songs I bought. The others were still downloading.
However, in a vein attempt to play a console devil's advocate here, some of the things about the PlayStation 3's downloading could have been better thought out. One of the things that held you back is the firmware update, which only seems to announce itself when you want to do something on the menu. I remember trying to do Folding@Home on the PS3 only to find myself going through more menus than I'd have liked to accompanied with reboots and loading bars.
On the other side of the cuff is the Xbox, which the second it logs on to Xbox Live will announce it needs to update. The update is downloaded, the system is rebooted, and the update is applied extremely quickly. You won't flip your blades over to Marketplace only to find that you need to download additional software to use it... something that perhaps Sony should have thought about in regards to using their menu.
Mind you, there are stupid things about the other consoles too -- we've had several people (after we've recommended XBLA games) admit that they never tried them simply because they couldn't figure out which button of which "blade" took them to Live Arcade. The latest UI revision is even worse -- now instead of being on the front of one of the "blades", XBLA gets buried in a sub-menu.. very frustrating for soon-to-be XBLA devs.
And don't get me started on the slow, awkward VC interface... ARGH!!!!
I agree the PS3 menu system is clunky and awkward, but I've found the 360 download experience to be pretty seamless. I go to download Psychonauts from the Game Store. I add points. I download Psychonauts. I play.
Not that there aren't irritating things about downloads, and much of the PS3 complaints are valid, but this is clearly exaggerated for either comedy or hyperbole.
Hopefully you jest but if you are literally afraid "spotty youths" will steal your wallet and beat you up near your car then you are truly a wuss.
To the original article, digital download was created to make lazy people such as myself even lazier, and thats good. Speaking as someone who doesn't have (or want) an XBox, I still use DD to get PC games so I'm used to the download/install times and learning curves. But seriously, how much easier do you want it? Want to think of the game and have it magically appear, install, and be ready by the time you get home? Well, I would, but thats me..
Jeez, so you haven't used HD DVD's or Blu-Ray? :-) Every so often you have to download new firmware to play the movie. Even the standalone players have to download new firmware (not just 360 / PS3).
The real issues with them are (in terms of looking at downloads of retail games next console gen):
- Confidence: Consumers need to know that their purchases will always be accessible. EA screws this up already by making consumers pay extra to have their purchased games available for re-download later on. But the main problem for companies who have some common sense would be a digital download distributor going out of business or losing the rights to distribute the game.
- Game size: Downloading games that are dozens of gigabytes would erase the advantage of convenience, with average broadband speeds at current levels. And you'd need to have a gigantic hard drive to hold an entire library. The storage problem could be alleviated somewhat by allowing users to transfer their purchases to an optical disc.
- No Incentive to Pre-order: The good part is that customers don't have to pre-order to get it on day 1. The bad part is that the number of pre-orders lets publishers know how popular their game is going to be--an important factor in their decision on how much to support it with marketing, whether to start on a sequel/expansion right away, etc. Without this data, these decisions involve more guesswork.
- Uneven demands on servers: For a popular game, you might have a million plus people trying to download 20GB at once. A month down the road, you might have just 20,000. But you can't just scale your server capacity up and down on a whim. For this and other reasons, it makes sense for multiple publishers to distribute their titles through a single channel (direct2drive, gamersgate, steam, PSN, XBLA, VC, etc. ) than through their own store (EA, etc.).