And yeah. Sony actually tried to "kill" physical games years ago with the PSP Go (?). But that was still when Gamestop and Best Buy were power houses and there was a lot of threats of "okay. We will give all the good shelf space to MS and Nintendo" and that went away fast.

But now brick and mortar are basically dead and everyone is periodically pissed at Amazon because they did an unsanctioned 2 dollar discount on a new game. So we are seeing the return.

In theory it annoys me because the playstations have always been okay-good media players and I have one of the gundam breakers on a physical disc because that was the cheapest way to get all the DLC. But for higher end digital media we are missing the codecs (because money) and physical digital media as a whole is going away. So... probably the right decision to wean people off it.

That said: Charging extra for the fucking vertical stand is just insane since a lot of us had tv stands that cannot fit the PS5 horizontally. But also, considering this looke like it is a bit taller/longer, it also can't fit it vertically so... Even more reason to build a new HTPC over the next few years.

Remap, but also Rob Zacny (so you can never tell how much is actually a bit), did a REALLY good bit where they immediately priced out the new Remarkable with all the expensive attachments and... it is still (probably) cheaper than a PS5 Pro with a disc drive and a stand.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Remarkable is, presumably, a good bang-for-your-buck PC build?

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago

No. Its a tablet. Marketed toward Professionals because of its focus on handwritten notes and sketches and the kind of thing where even the people who swear by it acknowledge it is insanely expensive and not something people should really buy.

Recurring theme on Remap but it very much highlights what category the ps5 pro is in. Same with comparing it to an apple vision pro.

[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They can still kind of kill physical games with good service. The whole “honey rather than vinegar” argument.

That’s what happened with the PSVita. While overpriced game cartridges existed, most of its lifespan people were buying its games digitally which worked great for indie developers that didn’t have a budget for physical releases.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I mean... that is what happened on PC. I know people forget we exist, but basically anyone who was "a gamer" back in the early 00s embraced digital distribution and Steam for a reason. Because after the third time that you have done four disc swaps and entered three 30 character keys to play Neverwinter Nights 1? That shit gets REAL old. Same with needing to be aware of what order to install what patches so as to not brick Dawn of War: Soulstornm and have to reinstall everything.

Contrast that with double clicking something in fricking Impulse and then waiting 30 minutes for it to install.

Which is kind of what you described with the Vita. Nobody wanted to have to carry two or three UMDs with them anywhere they want (let alone the rise of indie games that never had a digital release). Tinfoil, but I strongly suspect Nintendo made a big deal about not licking cartridges so that the Jeff Gerstmanns of the world would... lick that shit. Which led to the meme and people wanting to buy cartridges.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

My memory may be hazy, but I recall the mainstream acceptance of the digital distribution model on PC as more of an early 2010's thing. People hated Steam at launch, having yet another launcher you had to download which was basically just DRM for Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike.

It wasn't until their marketplace opened up and they offered very attractive sales that people came around to it eventually.