Digital Distribution Round-Up

Today, we're looking at digital distribution, legal digital distribution, that is.

Steam: PC, Mac
Steam is the most popular example but has problems compared to traditional retail. It basically lets you download DRM games off of their servers. Then you would launch it from the Steam application on the PC (or Mac). It even lets you play games on another PC on another computer provided you have your username. Of course, this has its own problems. The pricing system is still grotesquely unfair...new games are for practically retail price but they don't actually ship anything physical, making them way more profit than other forms. Secondly, the validation process requires the Internet, which if you live in area with flaky or no Internet, you might have to wait a while before playing. Thirdly, and most importantly, you can't do anything with games you bought. There's no burning a game onto a DVD or CD without a crack (and that process might ban you). You can't sell games or lend them to friends. You can't even co-use an account with someone else provided they use a different computer.

Infuriatingly, Steam offers many games but very few Mac ones, even some ones that are available for Mac. While it's probably for the best, like not offering a Mac game that is an inferior port to a PC one (like SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition), it is annoying to see games that came first on Mac years before PC, like Cosmic Osmo and the Worlds Beyond the Mackerel...and not have a Mac version.

App Store: iPad, iPhone, iPod touch
The App Store for the iOS is an odd case for digital distribution in relation to games. It shouldn't be excluded, but it is in no place to be competed. The problem is rooted in the fact that the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad just aren't made for games, no matter what anyone says. If you notice, the only games that do any good on the iPod are casual games that are the equivalent of simple yet addictive Flash games. That's why things like Angry Birds is so popular.

The other game that works fairly well is point-and-click adventure games. Unfortunately, even that is crippled because, although they have simple controls, their PC counterparts have a cursor that is context sensitive. Case in point is Myst, which, although the best recreation of the original 1993 game, still suffers from problems experienced by the dismal port for Nintendo DS. The cursor, in the original versions, would indicate which directions are available, and what can be clicked. The other reason is the tiny screen on the iPhone ruins most point-and-click adventure games, simply because a thumb is too bulky for using it.

The iOS family can't play other ported games. Directional controls are either compensated by a finicky directional icon or by tilting the screen, which messes up play sometimes. And forget about virtual buttons, too. Download Mega Man II Lite (it's free) and you'll see EXACTLY what I mean.

Beyond games, the iOS has lots of useful and not-so-useful apps. Two types of apps really bug me.

#1: The quiz applications. These things have plagued Facebook, and now they have a home on your Apple device. Badly written, full of ads, and bonus points if they make you buy something else to see your results.

#2: The walkthrough/cheat applications. These things help you with video games, but avoid them at all costs. To make your own cheap version, simply save a GameFAQs walkthrough as an application (click "+", then "add to home screen"). The ones in the App Store, though, are just things ripped from the Internet and then sold. A get-rich-quick-scheme by some puke at best, piracy at worst.

Also note some games are cheap knockoffs of abandonware, not really licensed at all by original authors, etc.

I consider the current StuntCopter on the App Store to be an homage, but at a dollar, it seems they are exploiting the late Duane Blehm's work. If you want to see something really sad, check out all the bootlegged clones of Activision's classic Kaboom! for sale. Normally I wouldn't endorse big company lawyers, but I think Activision Blizzard's lawyers should be onto them.

Xbox Live Arcade (Xbox 360)
I don't have an Xbox, but XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) really shows (to me) what Nintendo should've done with the VC.

From free promotional games to arcade games that they put thought into choosing (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Classic Arcade) to a more accessible "indie game" platform to a way of user-transferring games (something Nintendo has yet to learn), XBLA has potential. It has a slick interface, a DVD release of a few of them, and more. The bad sign is that no matter how old the game, it's tied into the Xbox Live leaderboard to compare scores.

GameTap (PC)

GameTap is probably one of the worst digital distribution plans in a long time. The overview is unlimited games on a month-to-month basis on a set fee.

GameTap, the brainchild of multi-billionaire media maven Ted Turner, allows you to play games from Windows/DOS, Atari 2600, Commodore 64, all manner of Sega consoles, and the Intellivision. And for the record, most of the emulators work well. No fiddling with DOSBox settings, no setting up old Ataris, no dodgy Dreamcast emulators.

Unfortunately, that's about when all the good things end. For one thing, it's subscription. You don't own anything, all the games are chopped up in DRM in your computer, and Internet is required for activation. VC&G reports many other problems, includes a serious lack of added content (awful comedy sketches), constant crashes, and more.

Most of the GameTap horror stories on the Internet involve the awful customer service and the difficulty of cancelling. You're lucky if you cancel it in 15 minutes!

GameTap is, for all intents and purposes, a false prophet of old games and new games. The Internet recommends you don't try.

This is an edited version of both Dislike of the Wii Part One: Virtual Console and iPhone vs. Nintendo DS.

Nintendo's Virtual Console was promised from almost the earliest days of the Wii and was admittedly a pretty cool concept. For the first time ever, you could purchase old Nintendo games in a digital format and play them on a console, legally! You would pay 500 Wii Points for an NES game, 800 for a SNES game, and 1000 for a Nintendo 64 game. Each Wii Point was worth about a penny (or a bit more than that, when you factor in taxes), so a NES game would be $5. For 2006 and at the release, $5 sounded quite reasonable.

But somewhere down the line, everything went down the tubes. IGN has an article on the subject, which I will summarize. 2006 had a very strong start with up to four titles appearing weekly. In 2007, three new games appeared Monday. This seemed to be good. Classics rolled in like the 16-bit Donkey Kong Country titles, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario World, and some lesser titles like the TurboGrafx-16's J.J. & Jeff. Fans were clamoring for their favorite 8-bit and 16-bit video games but everyone was happy. In 2008, everything changed when WiiWare was introduced, forcing the Virtual Console to share room with new Wii-exclusive titles like LostWinds. Nintendo decided, for some odd reason, to only have three new games every Monday. Bad WiiWare games and new consoles for the Virtual Console with lackluster games appeared. Neo-Geo, TurboGrafx-CD, Commodore 64, arcade, and the Sega Master System further fragmented the system. Finally, DSiWare appeared with a pack of forgettable titles and destroyed new VC releases.

Virtual Console also had several other problems. Sure it was cheaper than new games in their respective areas, possibly even cheaper than their real-life counterparts on eBay, but they weren't anything special. They didn't have colorful box art or descriptive manuals. The only thing you got was the game in a fairly ugly Wii Channel button and a few text boxes describing the story and controls.

Many games also experienced changes. The most obvious is the port of Wave Race 64. See, for the original Nintendo 64, it was sponsored by Kawasaki (the official name of the game was Wave Race 64 Kawasaki JetSki, but not everyone knows this). So in the Wii port, the Kawasaki name is replaced with Wii banners. That didn't exist in 1997, now, did it?!

The pricing also got worse, with 500 points appearing reasonable in 2006. Retronauts sums it up nicely.

A little over three years ago, the sheer novelty of playing old video games on a new system made the prices on Virtual Console seem more than reasonable; plus, let's not forget that the economy was somewhat healthier in 2006 -- so much so that Sony's Ken Kutaragi felt completely comfortable saying that consumers would happily work more hours to afford the $600 PlayStation 3. To be fair, it was an arrogant statement at the time; but if Kutaragi said this today, there'd be angry mobs out for blood. Still, just a few years ago, everything was just a bit more expensive -- though video games have been getting cheaper and cheaper in the interim.

As if total ignorance in title selection, a tight control on an old pricing scheme, and all that, what infuriates people the most is that the titles are locked into the machine. Want to play at a friend's house? Better pack it in the car, and mind that sensor bar. Wii broken? Good luck trying with Nintendo to recompensate you. Want to upgrade to that sleek black Wii? Forget it! Want to play games on your laptop? That SD card's only gonna work with that Wii!

Another thing is the VC is only on digital media. Nintendo has a yet to release a compilation disc for the Wii.


WiiWare, on the other hand, premiered in May 2008 and cut into VC instead of complementing it. Most of the WiiWare games crowded out VC games. Some notable games like Mega Man 9 were well-received, but they weren't exclusive to the system. When you consider the other games, like "Aha! I Found It!" Hidden Object Game, Copter Crisis, and Muscle March, a lot of WiiWare games stink. Especially sad is that it was trying to deal to independent dealers, but the dev kit costs $2000, and that's not even counting other requirements you need. There's no amazing new game only for WiiWare made by an independent company. Oh, and it has the same "same Wii" problem as VC.

DSiWare is even worst, and charges dollars what should be free, because the DSiWare is even worse. Wanna play the paper airplane mini-game from WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!? Paper Airplane Chase will set you back a full two dollars. I'd rather just have the GBA slot back. Throw in some bad ports (Rayman), generic platformers (Oscar in Toyland), or an over-priced, graphical update of Dr. Mario for 500 points with no multiplayer. Dr. Mario Express will be there for you!

Overall, Nintendo's digital distribution is a sad wreck of overpricing, locked-in DRM, and lost potential, but hey! It's fun to play classic games on the Wii without hacking it, right? Right?


Good Old Games (PC only)
The closest to a good model. It has DRM-free downloads, it offers extras, but there are few games, and all PC-only. Kind of reminds me of the many budget games on the shelves of Wal-Mart, but with less "tycoon" games, more "real" games. It may even possible with GOG to get a game that runs both on the original system it was designed for (DOS) and a modern system. It's even working with Home of the Underdogs. However, the price ($9.99) still seems a bit high. I mean, cheap jewel-case budget releases go for that, possibly less. You COULD make your own: buy jewel cases, print out some sort of box art, and stick it on the shelf, but where's the fun in that? I mean, my retail copy of Yoot Tower had a black-and-white jewel case label (inside a full box, however), SimSafari came in a large box but only had an unlabeled jewel case, and the earliest games of computers were often sold as plastic baggies with a printed insert. Despite good intentions, some abandonware should be laid to rest.

Recently, GOG.com went offline, throwing gamers into a panic. The wording made it sound like they could no longer have DRM-free downloads, but in reality, they were going out of beta. People were still annoyed that they pulled a stunt like that.


I don't think physical media is that dead, despite what analysts may say. After all, they predicted an untimely demise of Nintendo after the Wii, and no one expected the Wii's excellent sales records. AND they thought FMV games were the way of the future.