Sonic Mania (Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC...Netflix?)

As someone here on Retro once explained to me, DRM is on the publisher/developer to add, so not all games on Steam require the client to run. And in some cases, official patches or startup commands can help a game launch without Steam. Point is, it's very situational on Steam whether DRM is present in a game; third-party DRM being the worst. I avoided Dead Space 2 because it uses EA's annoying "Shield" DRM, while I happily bought Tomb Raider Anniversary when I learned SecuROM wasn't present in the Steam version.

With all of that in mind, I'm at the point where I kind of prefer the digital age of buying PC games online. After a lot of moving over the years, the physical games I've lost and had to rebuy, or stressed out keeping safe from damage while moving, digital makes my life easier. It's incredible to me how I can own around 50 PC games I really like, across Steam and GoG, and my whole library's right there with me on a 2 or 3 pound HDD. Or on multiple thumbdrives, SD cards, and the cloud. No more fragile physical CDs/DVDs that can warp, scratch, or suffer bitrot; I can just transfer my games to new mediums as technology marches on, then keep older backups as "master" copies.

tl;dr, archival is still somewhat easy on PC, as long as you don't run into Dunevo or SecuROM. I won't feel like I'm "renting" Sonic Mania on Steam at all. It'd be nice to see it on more digital stores, though, and for people/collectors who prefer physical stuff regardless of the above paragraphs, it's rarely a bad thing to cater to. My enjoyment of digital games now doesn't stop me from caring for all the Sonic games for GBA I still own, either.

That article is a good argument against corporate fanboyism. The "get 'em while they're young" thing applies to candy/soda companies too. Anyway-

Most of my uncles, cousins, and my dad were heavy PC gamers during my childhood, so it's hard for me to imagine a parent these days not knowing what Steam is, if their kid wanted to buy Mania on PC. Is the PC platform still in the minority of game sales? Because I imagine most kids want Mania on their Switch, or port beg for 3DS/Android/iOS versions. (And little kids who love classic Sonic do exist. I have a cousin who does.)

Which makes me wonder if Mania might eventually arrive on Android? Or if the idea is on the table, anyway. I know that's the publisher's call in the end, but I loved how amazingly intuitive the controls on Sonic 2 remastered were for a mobile game, so touch controls wouldn't bother me. The more platforms I can own on it, the better.

 

If you're enthusiastic about this stuff, you'll likely have at least a USB CD drive and virtual machines with older versions of Windows, if not an actual PC from back in the day. Many of us collect old consoles and their cartridges, it's not much different with PCs.

Yeah, that's part of the bullshit. Even a physical release is useless if the game needs patches you can't back-up and apply without the assistance of online services.

And that online services aren't required to install or validate the products you bought.

 

Well if that's the case, then let's apply this logic to stuff like steam. "If you're enthusiastic about this stuff," then you install steam on a virtual machine, set it to offline mode after installing your game, then back up the image of your virtual harddrive onto your favorite medium of choice as a restore point.

Viola, permanent, pre-authenticated back up of your steam games forever, thus eliminating the "what if they take my games away" boogeyman. Literally impossible for you to have revoked.

 

OK, we can keep playing this game if you want to:

A valid suggestion, but that only works until your current virtualization solution is discontinued, since that particular Windows installation or virtual disk image might not work with other tools. You'd eventually need a virtual machine to run your old virtual machine, which's insane.

 

I used virtual machines in my example specifically because you brought them up. My actual, real solution that I actually employ is just cloning my real harddrive onto BD-ROMs, no virtualization applied at all. So long as the ability to build a computer exists -- and you yourself admitted building retro computers is a thing -- you can return to your steam games, without the ability for them to be revoked.

 

I have a much more effecient method. First I pay for the games, then I archive the pirated torrents of the sames games

 

Is there no chance that HumbleBundle will have it?

 

Humble has put out bundles with games that only have Steam codes before, and I don't think Sega has anything on GoG. Not likely to get DRM-free version.

Don't modern consoles require accounts to play games anyway? That's where the games industry has been for like a decade.

 

Mania's popularity would automatically ensure the success of a physical release I think. Sega are probably hesitant because the digital download is set to make them millions with like, zero overhead. Would love a physical release, but to be honest I'm just happy to play the game in whatever media it's released on.

 

As mentioned earlier, the collector's edition gets in the way a little of having a physical release any time soon.

Maybe if it gets a sequel or a ton of DLC we'll see it all bundled together on a physical release. At the moment the most important thing is to support the digital release.

 

Good idea. I still think there should be a physical release or real download/install but, I might try this.

 

I'm buying the digital version under protest, I'd likely buy a physical version too, but if digital is the only way it'll ever likely happen, I'm reluctantly ok with it.

 

I would LOVE a physical copy. Heck, I'll even pay a higher premium than it cost digitally. Most of my PS4 library is composed of physical media (Even if the game's digital-only here in the US, I got out my way to import or buy from Limited Run Games) I just like the satisfaction of owning a tangible item, y'know?

However, if it's gonna be digital-only, I'll at least buy it to help support the team, but I'm afraid that Sega would look at that and think that I prefer digital over physical, which I don't. It's gonna be a reluctant buy for me, but the guys that made this do deserve it.

Limited Run has already shown much interest a few times, which keeps my hopes up.

Probably gonna get some flack for this, but I'm not gonna get it on Steam, mainly because I hate Steam and Steam hates my PC (Still rocking a 32-bit system, but most games are 64-bit, which Steam won't even let you download in an attempt to try and play it. Did I mention I'm all for physical copies of games? lol)

 

Woah

 

Ftfy

 

Still, isn't this a game this community has wanted for a decade or something? This is a very surprising development.

 

I feel like if your child had DRM you'd throw it away :v:

But it's good that you stand by your values, just unfortunate then you prob won't get to play this.