Nintendo Sheds Light On The Wii U's "Deluxe Digital Promotion"

I don't trust digital downloads yet. There are still too many things that could go wrong. Your console/handheld could crap out, or the online server could crap out, or the license holder could revoke your copy for whatever reason he feels like. And there's also the over-all quality of U.S. broadband, with its generally glacial speeds and somewhat shoddy availability. It will take more than what amounts to promotional coupons to make me choose digital downloads over physical media.

I understand your concern, but I have to disagree. Since services like Steam have become big, I have come to put aside my fears for owning digital media. Things that are physical can be lost or damaged. They can be stolen. Digital media is the next step, and people need to accept that.

I bought diablo 2 about 3 times because of a disk getting scratched, younger siblings getting ahold of them, mom putting her coffee cup on it (part of the reason in my adult life she is restricted to the dining room in my house....a joke) and fortunately, because I am a pack rat, I kept all of those cases and was able to attach the CD keys to three blizzard accounts for intense nostalgic LAN action. Point is, there is always the risk that big brother can pull your license whenever they want....but are they? Look at the flack Bethesda is getting for the Playstation DLC folley, and thats not even intentional. I give Nintendos decision an A+. This is the digital era.

Digital media *might* be the next step, but predictions of future technology have a notoriously bad track record. And sure, my concerns could be dealt with, and if they are, cool. But they haven't been yet. So I'm going to wait and see.

The flaws of online storage and services are always going to be there, but we cannot refuse to use them just because we fear we will lose access at a moment's notice. You say license distributors can revoke your copy of the game whenever they want, but they aren't cartoon villains that will do it because it's funny. Whenever a company does something dumb, you can bet it will be all over the internet in a second and when people read it, they can boycott that company if they so choose.


For example, if Nintendo were to revoke my right to play my digital games and used a flimsy reason, I can make a Twitter post about it and get people angry enough to boycott Nintendo's products. These big companies aren't in total control as they think and if Anonymous taught me anything, it is that even the big head honchos are open to attack and criticism. Don't let digital distribution shortcomings push you away, but research it and learn from it.

I *have* been researching this. I live in the U.S.A., where copyright law is tilted against the consumer to a ridiculous degree, and where big businesses really do act like cartoon villains. They can't stop Twitter complaints, but they have the Congress in their pockets and they milk that for all it's worth. I do not trust any situation where they have more control than I do over the content I buy.

And I most certainly *can* refuse to go digital over perfectly justified worries that I'll lose access. It's happened before, where I lost something and couldn't download it again. Physical media, by contrast, is under *my* control and not theirs, and I find that a very compelling reason to stick with it.