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The Downsides to Digital Distribution
The gaming industry's ongoing shift from physical media to direct downloads has made buying new titles much more convenient, and in some cases cheaper. However, as this article in The Escapist notes, there are downsides as well, such as an increased dependence on console makers and the inability to sell your used games. Quoting:
"Microsoft and Sony might end up charging publishers an arm and a leg to enable game downloads, especially as they gain more and more control over distribution. Think about it: What if, 10 years from now, 50 percent of software sales for Microsoft's latest console come through Xbox Live? Or, in an even scarier scenario for consumers, what if there is no physical media drive at all, and everything goes through Xbox Live? Sony's marriage to the Blu-ray format ensures its continued support of game discs, but Microsoft has no such restrictions. They could cut console production costs and take control over the entire supply chain in one fell swoop. There would be zero room for publishers to negotiate anything in such a de facto monopoly. The perfect comparison is Wal-Mart. As the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart is able to demand pretty much whatever it wants of suppliers because it grants access to such large numbers of consumers."
I'm sorry, but $600 a month is more value to me (and just about everyone else) than feeling good that I didn't indirectly support some sweat shop.
Don't feel bad about this. The anti-Walmart classist buffonery stems from childless water-buying yuppies and hipsters who don't really give a damn about -- what's the screed? "slave labor in China?" right -- they only care about re-creating the nurturing womb-like environs of their tweedy ivy-covered university towns, where the anemic vegetarian goths who ran the registers at the poorly-stocked yet over-priced mom-and-pop stores screamed at them not to let the cat out every time they walked in. The Wal-Marts put these stores-as-hobbies out of business, and they also logically attract the struggling working class who aren't on their daddy's expense account, and the presence of these folks forces the yuppies and hipsters to wrestle uncomfortably with the reconciliation of the beliefs they high-mindedly espouse on Internet chat boards and the classism they actually feel toward the lesser-educated and blue collar.
Hey, if I'm going to go anti-Walmart on this board I'm going to get modded down anyway, so let's give it both barrels...