Why PHYSICAL Games Still Matter

Yeah, this is a tough one. Some people prefer convenience and not clutter. I prefer physical but I don't have the much space anymore after years of buying CDs, vinyl, DVDs, books and comics, and of course, games…

Sometimes I feel I am falling way behind technology, but other times: I don't care so long as I still have, and can keep, my physical media!

Sony proved the worst fears of physical media advocates correct by removing 500 digitally purchased movies from the accounts of customers without reimbursement; and then immediately announced they are discontinuing physical PlayStation games.

This won't end with games.

Like big pharma, they want you to be a pay pig, to own nothing and pay for everything with lifelong subscriptions/recurring purchases.

And as we've seen time and again with politically motivated censorship, remakes, and “modernizations” of established franchises, the ham-fisted agenda to rewrite history and propagandize all forms of entertainment to reflect a particular worldview is very real and incredibly destructive.

Buy physical copies of the movies, books, video games, and music you love ASAP, friends. Preserve it in it's original, gloriously problematic, uncensored form for your own enjoyment and for future generations.

Dont want digital games. If it disappears money gone and game gone.

Absolutely true. Every word. I still have every Colecovision cart my brother, and I purchased all those decades ago, save Donkey Kong, which was stolen out of my brothers garage probably 20 years ago, along with the Colecovision, and every accessory that we purchased for the console. The Atari adaptor, the steering wheel, the roller controller, even the Adam computer add-on. They also took all of our Atari and Sears carts to add insult to injury. Broke my heart… Not gonna lie. But I treasure the carts I do have all the more because of that. All those memories are still with me anytime I pull out my box of Coleco games. All the hours spent with my brother, running up the scores, laughing and trash talking the whole time. Memories I'll always have because I have those carts. Means even more now since he passed away 3 years ago now. People don't understand what the tactile experience means in today's world sadly. Thank you Jon!

Not buying a PS6. Not buying full priced digital games.
I will just keep buying physical games, whoever supports them.

I feel the same way, my CD music DVD/ Bluray and video game collections (2600, PS1 PS2 PS3) are some of my favorite possessions I don't care if it's an outdated format.
When I was a kid in the 80s my parents used to take these very long vacations out west and if I picked up an Atari game somewhere it was absolute torture to have to wait days and weeks to actually play it. Until then I could only look at the box art and read the instructions and look at the cartridge itself. It was pure torture 😅

we agree! we've been collecting blyrays and 4ks ever since we started our show. I cancelled all my streaming services, too!

I am playing 2600 games that I had as a kid right now. They are 40 years old. If I can’t hold it, I don’t want it…

I wish more people were aware that some of the Nintendo SNES and I think even some NES game cartridges have a button cell battery inside for saves. CR-42 cells I believe. Anyway, if you ignore them and they start to leak inside the cart, it could cause corrosion on the board and eventually make the game stop working entirely. And possibly cause a short in your console's cartridge socket and take out your console as well. Please buy the special screwdriver needed to open the carts and change that darned battery. Fortunately those batteries are still common today and easy to find in any store.

I still get physical media of things that I really want to OWN. Blu-Rays, games, music… I internet goes down for whatever reason (hurricanes being one of them where I live), I can still watch, play or listen my physical media. I have a generator for when the power goes down as well! LOL

I'm a Gen X gamer that still likes physical media.

When I first started getting into retro gaming a couple of years ago, I started with getting all the mini consoles.
Then I moved on to collecting physical games and now I’m doubling down on the physical games since the Sony announcement.
And I’ll probably start collecting Evercade soon…

I love your vids but by any chance you heard anything about my arcade game station retro go pro ????

It's the social aspect that I miss. I miss arcades filled with people. I miss LAN parties. I still enjoy video games, but the best memories were in social environments. For me, the physical media did not define video games.

At the end of the day, you'll notice companies have moved away from actual downloads of games and other media. They really want control forever so unless it's DRM free you lease hold and not fee simple your media.

You are absolutely spot on! 👍
By the way, I never saw a "Flight Deck Console" for Space Shuttle on the Atari 2600 with 6 switches at the top of the console (Are there any other versoins?🤣).
So, thanks for this video!

Box art and carts were good times. Floppy disks were fine as long as they didn’t have copy protection. When CD-Roms came out I accidentally ruined maybe a couple or so by accidentally bumping into the door of the drive. I liked having cd-keys or hacks to download and not having to insert a cd to play.

I guess the worst experience I have ever had with digital gaming is when I bought the D&D Infinity Engine collection(Baldurs Gate I&2/Icewind Dale I&2, expansions included for all. Planescape Torment) from GameStop back when they had a download store.
I guess I could have preserved them if I had the installation files on a backup drive which of course was way more expensive 12 or so years ago. Uplay and Origin should be destroyed! What a joke their launchers are and their games are shovelware with better graphics.

Wow, what a great video. Your point about how physical games can remind you where you bought them and who you played them with really resonated with me. I actually stumbled across a game in my collection the other day that brought back those exact kinds of memories.
This was a very well-written and thoughtful essay, Jon. Thanks for sharing it.

This is the price we pay for advances in technology and its not for just video games. Many of us talk about the good old days of going to the mall to buy something we wanted and while there visiting the arcade. We miss this but the reality is when people can order whatever they want right on there phone and have it dropped off at there front door the very next day those mall days we cherished are gone forever. Many are saying that for a multitude of reasons modern gaming is facing another crash. Maybe if that happens it will shake things up? I haven't purchased a new game in years. Had really no desire to buy another modern console after the PS4. I just play the really old stuff these days.

I completely agree with you on this, Jon. I still have my libraries of Atari 2600 games all in their original boxes, NES games, Super Nintendo, Genesis, Sega CD, N64, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. All of my old consoles are in mint condition as are all the games and I will never give them up. I never stopped buying music on CD, as I never liked music streaming services. My collection of VHS/DVD/Blu Ray/4k Ultra HD disks is huge and spans over 40 years of collecting. All of this stuff will be with me until the day I die. The older I get, the more I appreciate the happiness of getting a bit of free time on the weekend to revisit some of my old games that brought me so much joy years ago.

Yep, I feel this exactly. I still have a lot of the games that I own, and have never sold them. Kept them around for a long time. Some games that I own are even better then later iterations, mostly just the sports titles for that. I mostly have moved on to DVD and Blu-Rays and have done the whole preservation thing with that. That’s a story for a different day. Funny enough, I only have one game that I bought digitally. The rest are just stuff that I went out to the store and grabbed it. Overall, the video and its message is very wholesome and one that I relate to.

Great video Jon and very well put together. I've been mainly digital since the PS3 days but I always make sure that every console I own has about a dozen physical games that I can still play even if my digital library becomes inaccessible. Same goes for my older cartridge based consoles just to make sure I actually have something to play on them. I also don't collect anything over forty years old as you really start getting problems with failing components, magnetic tape, floppy disk and cartridge media failure to name but a few issues. I'm not too precious about my games and if my physical collection was somehow destroyed or stolen, or I lost access to my pretty substantial digital libraries, the world would keep on turning and there's always more games to collect and enjoy 🙂 Keep up the awesome work Jon!

When Music went digital download/streaming I still bought Vinyl Records & CDs(I still do) + when Films went digital download/streaming I still bought Blu-ray's/DVDs(I still do) + I have never bought a digital download Album or Film(nothing wrong if you like to do that though) + If SONY stops(I'm a PS5 owner) PlayStation discs(the game has to be playable though without a Internet download) then well I don't want to go digital download/streaming so I might just go FULL RETRO 😎 (I just bought the original 'Asteroids' for the Atari 7800 with cart + box of course 😂 off ebay) 😝 😎👍

As a very young teen, I'll never forget saving up cash from odd jobs and chores and then going to JC Penney in downtown Bremerton, WA to purchase the recently released Space Invaders cartridge for my Atari. Then it was an agonizing bit of time sitting in the car waiting for the drive home to be over. Opening that box, getting the cartridge out, and plugging it into the console couldn't be done fast enough. Before I knew it hours had gone by while I played Space Invaders on my tiny B&W TV set. It was bliss and all was good in my world. Yes, that is a memory I'll never forget.

Digital for convenience. Physical for stuff you want to keep long term.