Sonic Mania on physical media?

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Atariboy
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Re: Sonic Mania on physical media?

Postby Atariboy » August 4th, 2017, 3:48 pm

Not a done deal by any means, but this GameStop Italy listing for a physical release has renewed people's hope.

Image

But as anyone that followed Namco Museum on the Switch knows, a nice looking case mockup being released doesn't necessarily mean anything. Not even Japan has that one on cartridge, at least as of yet.

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Sonic Mania on physical media?

Postby VideoGameCritic » August 4th, 2017, 5:38 pm

So I was looking at this:
http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/sonic-mania-switch

And there's a link on the right side that says "Buy Physical" and when you click on it it show a list of retailers to check with.
Not sure if that means anything or not.

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Crummylion
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Re: Sonic Mania on physical media?

Postby Crummylion » August 5th, 2017, 1:43 am

The physical copy links lead to the collector's items, the very one with the download code, not the cartridge.

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pacman000
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Re: Sonic Mania on physical media?

Postby pacman000 » August 5th, 2017, 3:00 pm

CharlieR wrote:Seems cheap to just get a download code. Why include all this cool stuff, and not have a physical copy?

To ensue that retailers carry the game, and to ensure that Sega can control what you do with the game after you buy it. :evil:

Voor
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Re: Sonic Mania on physical media?

Postby Voor » August 7th, 2017, 12:01 pm

Ate most of y'all older gamers (I am--mid 30s)? I assume so because of the fondness for retro games.

Anyway, my brother is a younger gamer and could not care less about the lack of a physical game. And I'm guessing that he is closer to the target audience than the crowd here.

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pacman000
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Re: Sonic Mania on physical media?

Postby pacman000 » August 7th, 2017, 12:56 pm

I don't mind downloading a game per say, but if I buy a game I expect to get a game, not a download code. Spent 4hrs+ trying to download antivirus software once. Bought it at a store, but when I opened the box all it had was a download code. :evil: Couldn't get it to download; had to take my PC to work to install the software.

Can I say there's a reason someone might buy physical media instead of relying on a server somewhere out there in cyberspace? That information superhighway gets too many traffic jams! ;)

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Sonic Mania on physical media?

Postby VideoGameCritic » August 7th, 2017, 4:00 pm

Voor wrote:Ate most of y'all older gamers (I am--mid 30s)? I assume so because of the fondness for retro games.

Anyway, my brother is a younger gamer and could not care less about the lack of a physical game. And I'm guessing that he is closer to the target audience than the crowd here.


I wouldn't expect your younger brother to have any clue about the benefits of physical media, unlike older wiser gamers who understand the "big picture". Let's see how your younger brother feels in 20 years.

Also, not sure he is the target audience of what is basically a remake of a 25-year-old Genesis game.

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Re: Sonic Mania on physical media?

Postby Voor » August 7th, 2017, 7:08 pm

I'd say one target audience is the younger gamers who'd like to see what the Sonic fuss is all about. They hear how awesome it supposedly is, but all they know there hasn't been a good Sonic game in almost 20 years. Sonic doesn't hardly have any credibility in today's market....maybe not enough for a physical copy *

* I don't actually believe this, but maybe Sega is dumb enough to.

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Atariboy
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Re: Sonic Mania on physical media?

Postby Atariboy » August 18th, 2017, 1:03 am

Now that this is out, all the positive reactions and hopefully decent sales can't hurt the chances of this one getting a belated physical release in time for the Christmas shopping season. Sega didn't seem too sure how this one would go over and didn't want to bet too heavily on it and be stuck with a lot of unsold stock, but I'd say it's safe to say that it's gone over better than they could've hoped for.

So don't give up hope just yet that you won't be able to actually ever own this one instead of leasing it digitally. But if it doesn't happen by then, I don't see much sense in waiting. Maybe someday years down the road it will appear in a collection like Mega Man 9 and 10 just finally did after a decade or so of digital exclusivity, but it probably will remain a digital exclusive if it doesn't occur here pretty soon.

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MoarRipter
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Re: Sonic Mania on physical media?

Postby MoarRipter » August 19th, 2017, 8:31 pm

Honestly most people don't give a rat's butt about physical media anymore. Only us old farts do, and then only some of us. Yes I like physical media over digital and I understand all of the paranoia and worrying about servers being shut down a decade from now that might limit my ability to play the game in the future but seriously I'm not going to stress about it over a freaking $20 game for god's sake. I'd rather pay the $20 and enjoy Sonic Mania right now (which I am) instead of waiting six months to a year for a physical release that may never happen. In my opinion there's a certain point where the ardent refusal to buy a game that is only available digitally is just silly but by all means go ahead and make a stand on principles.


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