TrackMania2: Centralised News about the Game

[Drace]

Actually I dont like that either, but its better than virtual stuff only.

[BLiNNeMaNS]

agreed, even steam uses retail sales. (as i know there will be a "steam uses it for years now" comment )

Quoting myself from the "Alternative payment options"-topic:

I forsee some big issues if the game isn't sold in retail.
here's a few scenarios:

Economy wise psychology:
Not all people share the same faith in companies. Especially in this bad economy. What if Ubisoft goes bankrupt in a year? does that mean you can't do a fresh windows install and still play trackmania??

last minute purchase
Small LAN parties (max 30 ppl) are mostly in abandoned rooms without internet. The games people play are decided partly by what all have on their machines. If 3 people decide to show the coolness of the game, the others can't run to the store and get their own copy.

Accessories
One of the reasons CD's and vinyl still being sold is the fact people actually have shelves to fill. Nothing looks cooler than a row of great gametitles on a bookshelf. (especially if you already got a few titles of the same series)

Brain malfunction
Last but certainly not least, Trackmania got so big due to a massive community. That community started almost 10 years ago. Say you bought the 1st copy when you were 25+, this means now with the release of tm to the 2nd power you're around 35+. Your own memory isn't your best friend anymore.
If you do 2-3 reinstalls of windows a year, it's easy to forget you actually own certain games, thus don't install..
As you don't see the title on your shelves, the game loses another community member.
I know that from personal experience, as by typing this i just remembered i also bought a few other games.

[BLaHiTiS]

Games are a volatile media. For realism's sake I would like to point out that you don't even play games longer than 5 years, and that's a huge upwards rounded average. Ofcourse I know that some games - after 10 years - are still going to be appealing, I sometimes would like to play hl blue shift, and you know what, my CD is long broken or gone but it lives on in steam That is courtecy of valve plopping all these games on my acount when I entered the retail key.

I just don't know if you can compare a car with media, especially online games that are also dependent on the developer keeping it's online side running. It will totally nullify the value of the game if they would close down their servers even if you have a physical copy.

I know it's only my oppinion but always thinking that licenses are going to end prematurely before you lose interest in a game is like a jehova's witness always proclaming the end of the world...It's such a fatalistic view. If it happens it happens and it happens because noone is playing the game anymore.

I can't imagine nadeo closing down the masterserver for tm nations anytime soon but if they would do it, it would either be because they are bankrupt or because noone plays the game anymore. I just don't panic too much about these things.

[Andi1996]

In many years, children and young people will probably say "Books are shit, we love e-books" or "DVD? What's that? I only know digital copy". Times change. Sometimes it's good, sometimes not. OFC it's an advantage if you've lost your CD or you've broken it, but it can also be a disadvantage, maybe if you change your computer and something works not correctly...
Hard to say what's best, but I personally prefer boxed versions.

[tcq]

I know it's only my oppinion but always thinking that licenses are going to end prematurely before you lose interest in a game is like a jehova's witness always proclaming the end of the world...It's such a fatalistic view. If it happens it happens and it happens because noone is playing the game anymore.

People still play the tms demo over hamachi ^^

[Mac_Matrix]

It depends on what's 'socially acceptable' in that many years, as well ... 10 years ago it was all about having as many games in a shelf as you possibly could.

.... These days it seems more to be 'having played as many games as possible'. Achievement hunting on xbox and PS3 and such People these days care less about physical achievement and more digital representation of achievement, it seems.

[Ripbox]

Wait... since when do they really let u trade in PC games due to the Key system with specialized accounts connected...?

Ahhhh the young!
yes its not only console games that you used to be able to trade and yesteryear, PC games were not tied to accounts too.
look back at older PC games and you used to install the games input the CD key for authenticity, give your self a name and away you go... nothing tied up and you could uninstall and swap when you were done.

but those days have long since been pushed into the cold dark basement.... there are still a select handful that work this way but the big corporate fat cats are forcing the disliked change onto us old generation and the younger generation are being taken for a ride
hence the fact that piracy is still around ( we dont pay we dont lose out ) ect ect ect

we are taught not to be a throwaway society yet this is the very that that we are being pushed into being though is over looked because there is no physical disc to throw into the bin
the only thing we are throwing way is our money and there is only one winner there and im sure you can work out who that is!

Its not just the case of "we want a box" but also a case of we want something with value, something that is worth currency, something that can be recycled that we can touch and feel

To give just a few examples of game that can be traded, swapped or recycled:

Call of duty 1 & 2
World in conflict
test drive unlimited
Joint ops
assassins creed
collin Mcrae dirt
fear
Unreal Tournament 2004

[Trackmaniack]

It depends on what's 'socially acceptable' in that many years, as well ... 10 years ago it was all about having as many games in a shelf as you possibly could.

.... These days it seems more to be 'having played as many games as possible'. Achievement hunting on xbox and PS3 and such People these days care less about physical achievement and more digital representation of achievement, it seems.

...And that's due to the "Facebooking" of our culture...

[Andi1996]

...And that's due to the "Facebooking" of our culture...

Twitter and Skype FTW!

[Mac_Matrix]

...And that's due to the "Facebooking" of our culture...

Twitter and Skype FTW!

Social networking ruined my social life.