Originally posted by Sawtooth
I'm mostly a PC gamer, and I was a little hesitant at first to try the online distribution stuff (because I'm a total technophobe). Now that I have, I've never looked back. I can't even tell you the last time I walked into a physical store to buy a game. No lines, no waiting, no out of stock games. If there were any small businesses in the area, mom-and-pop type stores that sold games I'd probably spend my money there. I always like to support local business. But all I have in my town are Gamestops and Walmarts, and I don't really care that they don't get my business.

it's doubtful that you would find any mom-and-pop style stores that would sell games anymore. They have a chance at less than 10% markup minus shipping costs  minus whatever they lose on remaining stock once the game suddenly drops to half or less it's value.  

Originally posted by Phry
In the UK at least, game shops only sell console games, havent bought a game from one now for several years,  the only way to buy a physical copy is from an online retailer like amazon etc. although personally i prefer the digital option of Steam, although im not averse to buying a game directly via digital download from the games website. I think its inevitable that physical disks are going to be phased out anyway, its old tech and a terrible way to distribute games, its also more 'eco friendly' to go the digital route, no deforestation from packaging etc. 

Gamestation still sell PC games, albeit a much smaller section than it used to be.

I hardly ever buy a physical copy anymore, broadband speed and storage being cheap really doesn't give me much reason to.

Well, I buy a lot from Steam, but usually during the sales and not everything they offer at that time.

I also play a lot of online games which I cannot buy and put together with my other games covers on the shelf.

I prefer not going to the games shops because I can't control myself and buy more than I've planned once I can touch everything there, so I prefer buying hard copies via Amazon. 

And, yes, I love having an option. I'm quite an unconsequent person.

I prefer online. It's much easier to see a wide variety of games, and it's easier to pick out games I would like. Not to mention the amount of indie and older games that are available through Steam or GoG.com*.

* If you're in the U.S., keep in mind that there's a separate 3% tax on anything you order. So if you order something for $10, there will be a separate 30 cent fee charged to your card.

All digital for me. I'm in Venezuela, so buying physical copies means shipping costs, import taxes, a very VEEEERY long shipping wait, and with some (not so) recent anti violent video games laws, a chance of it being taken away at customs if the clerk is feeling cranky that day. Also, computer software piracy is VERY big in this country... just walking from my house to work I pass in front of at least 5 places where I could buy pirated games/software (console games too), and I'm not talking about shady dark alley/trunk of a car kind of places, I'm talking about big stores with neon light signs and all. If I wanted to actually buy a legit computer game, the closest place I know off is 5 hours away in car, and last time I was there (on vacation) most of the titles were either very old, or the "barbie pretty horses club" kind of things.

Actually, the few times I've bought computer games in a box I have them shipped to a friend in the US so she can email me the CDkey and I acquire the actual software trough torrent or other things like that. Last one I bought like that was Age of Conan, and I preordered just so I could get a digital download, which was something novel back then.

Even if I was in the US, though, chances are I'd go digital download route. I don't really see an advantage of getting an actual box that will just take space and collect dust in a shelf, or most likely on a box in storage somewhere. It was different back in the 90's when you would get lots of things with games, manuals that were actually book sized, information about the games, tactics and stuff like that (still fondly remember the X-wing manual). These days the only useful thing in the box is the CDkey, because with most games you're lucky to get a CD sized booklet with instructions to install the game, and even if you do have the DVDs to install from, chances are you'll still need to download several gigs of updates before being able to play.

I used to buy a lot of 'boxed' stuff.. Loved getting all the 'extras' that came with it (standard edition none of this colectors stuff to get the extras back then)

But latley as I am getting older and you don't get any of the 'extras' in the box any more (unless you 'spew' money at them) and the range of PC games in stores these days is limited, I tend to go the digital way.. 

Now, for me to Buy a PC game, it needs to be on Steam, if it is not on Steam, I move along and find something else that is.. 

By 'retail' I assume outlets like bestbuy, gamestop, and such.

I only every buy from Amazon for boxed coppies and Steam for digital. On occasion, I buy directly from the developer.