WEEKLY WHEATIES #2448
Video Games, ATT iPhone, Google, Christmas Tree
In this newsletter:
📝 Post: How to Choose Between Physical and Downloadable Games
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: ATT iPhones
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Google
😎 Pick of the Week: Christmas Trees
📦 Featured Product: Humble Bundle
📝 How to Choose Between Physical and Downloadable Games
With the holidays coming up, I’m sure many of you are considering either video game consoles, or video games to accompany you or your children’s already-owned consoles. A question that gets more and more difficult every year is: do I buy the physical game or the downloadable game? If you’re looking for a clear-cut answer - I don’t have one. I will tell you what I do, but it’s important to understand my why, as yours may be different.
As we unpack the differences, important features include: storage space, purchase price, resale price, speed of access, issues of playability, and convenience. Regardless of the console, all of these features and differences are essentially the same across the lineup - the Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Xbox, or Sony PlayStation.
For the games themselves, the Switch utilizes a cartridge, while the Xbox and PlayStation use a disk. However, all three consoles offer a second option - individually downloadable games. These games typically take up a pretty decent amount of space, though. Smaller games may only be a couple of gigabytes in size, but some games can be as large as 50 gigabytes (even more considering add-ons and extra content), depending on the console in question. This can be an issue because a Switch only has either 32 GB or 64 GB of storage. A PlayStation or Xbox has much more space (typically 512 GB up to 1 TB), but all 3 offer the ability to add extended storage through an SD card or external hard drive.
Assuming you are purchasing new, all consoles also offer a minimum of two price points. These vary in a few things but may typically range in storage, quality of playback (either connected to a TV or on the console itself), and in the case of PlayStation and the Xbox, the ability to play disk games. If buying used, these same features may dictate cost, but that leads to another point of discussion on games - resell price and resellability.
If purchasing a game digitally, there is no way to resell it. That’s just part of it. It becomes attached to your account on the given console, and I would not suggest selling your account. Obviously, if you purchase the physical copy, you can loan it to others or resell it fairly easily - as well as trade it in. Depending on the service, some allow the purchasing of one digital game to be used with the ‘household’ of that account or console. This can vary and has a few nuances, so I won’t go deep here.
Next is the speed of access or launching of the game. Generally speaking, the digital game will load up faster. Both disk and digital will play the same, just the load time at the beginning and between levels or scenes within games can vary. This is because of the physical limitations of reading data from a spinning disk versus a built-in hard drive. Physical disks and cartridges also have the potential of becoming scratched, damaged, or lost and will no longer be able to be played.
In some cases, the physical and/or digital games may be available to play on any newer released version of the console. This can get very specific to the given console and even the specific game, so I can’t go into detail here just because there are too many paths to follow here. However, Nintendo shared that the Switch successor will be compatible with [current] Switch games.
Lastly, there is one other thing to consider - game updates, ‘in-app purchases’ and expansion packs. Most games today come with options to purchase additional content to ‘enhance gameplay.’ This is very subjective, and many games (especially free games) stay afloat solely due to extra purchases through their in-game purchases of currency, packs, skins, and more. Fortnite and Roblox are perfect examples here. Even EA notes, “73% of the company’s revenue last year came from ‘Live Services’ segment — a broad term encompassing sales of extra content, subscriptions, in-game rewards, and other digital goodies.”
So let this stand as a reminder that there are games from which you do not have to purchase anything. I’m a big fan of purchasing items from games that you find value in and spend time playing, but don’t think it’s a requirement.
All of these features, whether good or bad, come together to provide a level of convenience you are happy with. You must decide where emphasis is put in order to make the decision on purchasing physical disks or cartridges or downloading everything. Keep in mind, if you choose the digital route and purchase a bunch of games, you will either have to purchase a secondary storage device to hold all of your games, or take turns deleting games from your console to install a different game.
🗞️ ICYMI: ATT iPhones
With your holiday shopping coming up, CNET warns buyers of iPhones to beware of thieves tracking iPhone gifts. This appears to be an issue only with iPhones purchased through ATT and shipped through FedEx. They haven’t shared the exact method but believe a vulnerability in the shipping system may have caused it. Thieves are able to get real-time updates about when and where and can grab the phone from a house’s porch since the delivery doesn’t require a signature. They share 4 ways to help prevent this from happening: require a signature, use a locked delivery box, arrange for in-garage deliveries, and/or use a video doorbell (perhaps this one).
🗞️ ICYMI: Google
As one of the FANNG members, Google has been in and out of the courts a lot lately regarding search. Back in August, the Justice Department shared it was considering Breaking Up Google due to their monopoly in the online search market. Just last week, they are pushing a federal judge to make Google divest its Chrome internet browser. We’ll see how this plays out in the coming weeks or months, but I bet it’s safe to say your Chrome browser isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. However, ff you are worried about losing it, consider downloading another browser based on the Chromium platform. Alternatives include: Arc, Brave, Microsoft Edge, and Opera.
😎 POTW: Christmas Trees
An article posted on Business Insider explains in depth How to choose the best Christmas tree. It discusses the difference between the many types of pine, fir, and spruce trees, and even gives a little background on Christmas tree aromas. However, two really cool links shared include a Google Map showing where to buy real Christmas Trees locally, and 7 places to buy real trees online.
📦 Featured Product
In an effort to help raise money for different charities for each sale, Humble Bundle offers multiple bundles of games, books, and softwares at a price you set! Based on your price, different levels of products are unlocked, and you can even adjust how much of your purchase goes towards the Publishers, the given Charity, and Humble, making this a win-win-win! Check back often or sign up for their newsletter, as bundles become available weekly and are only available for a limited time.
