Do you begrudge paying for digital downloads?

[MartyG]

The iPhone doesn't stack up with that argument though. There's no way a a game could be released for as little as 59p without digital downloads.

Plus the RRP of games released on XBLA and PSN are usually cheaper than any disc or cartridge based versions released for other platforms. Look at the price of something like Peggle across all the platforms.

You can get Peggle on PC physical media for a fiver, Lumines £4, Galactrix for a tenner on DS and PSP - cheaper than XBLA, as these soon get discounted. Arguably, the cheapest Peggle is the flash version available to play in your web browser for free

I wasn't really talking about the XBLA / PSN / iPhone stuff though, and I think the iPhone store is an exception with Apple appealing to a rather different market whilst at the same time trying to establish a foothold into the gaming market.

Back in the "Public Domain" library days, similar sorts of stuff could be had for similar sorts of iPhone prices, but I'd agree that you'd struggle to retail on DVD or cartridge for 59p. The iPhone price point is really the sort of level I was expecting the PSP minis to appear at.

I was talking more about full retail games, and as the PSP / PS3 / Xbox360 full retail downloads will attest (in fact the Fable 2 chapter release is a real kick in the balls), these are all more expensive than physical media available at retail.

I'm not completely against downloadable games, well apart from the restrictive t&cs and lack of discounts ( as my Xbox360 / PSN / Steam profile reveals ), and additional content via DD can extend the lifetime and add value to purchases that may well otherwise have gathered dust.

However, I do expect them to be substantially cheaper than physical products because I'm getting less for my money. Without competition in other retail channels, publishers have little insentive to discount.

My preference, however, remains with wanting something that sits on the shelf.