Hardware Analysis Community Forums http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/29393/ 2008-12-03T16:04:06-05:00 http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/29393/ http://media.hardwareanalysis.com/halogo.gif text/html 2004-07-19T06:44:04-05:00 Ramsey Hathout http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/29393/#153078 I think you are very wrong about bittorrent. when there are enough distributed copies of something you can easily achieve speeds way above and beyond 250 KBps. (I get 350 downloading specific very popular unlicensed anime, and thats because thats what my cable modem is capped at). I think that something as popular as Doom 3 would easily get the p2p distribution that would be required, but I also think that there would need to be some incentive to buy it this way. I believe that if they were to significantly lower the price, and I mean you are getting the game at no cost to the publisher at this point, they would have a large enough interest in this to warrant doing it. It would cost them next to nothing once it gets distributed enough, they would have less piracy, and they would have more happy customers. I'd say Valve has the right idea with steam, but I think making it more p2p would be a good idea. Most common users barely use their upload anyway, so it makes sense to harness all that unused bandwidth... I hope more companies start to realize p2p is a very viable software delivery platform.<br /> <br /> <br /> oh and its sense... not cents. text/html 2004-07-16T04:38:52-05:00 Corvus Raven http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/29393/#152304 It would only make cents that the P2P versions would be cheaper.. (Or local servers..) Simply because they are saving on printing the boxes (and lately there are more electronic versions of the game manuals, too). Save on printing ..wich could be transfered to the end usre.. but that wouldn't make cents. so perhaps the companies won't do something that would make sense.<br /> <br /> <br /> [edit]<br /> (cents, and sense are spelt correctly for my relative placement)<br /> [/edit] text/html 2004-07-15T19:36:39-05:00 J R http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/29393/#0 Good article. Unfortunately, most entertainment companies (music, movies, and games) refuse to realize - it's a conscious decision to be blind to the facts - the fundamental change that P2P has brought to their market and the need to adapt to this change.<br /> <br /> However, there are a couple caveats: while P2P distribution could save bundles in hosting costs, it tends to be slow - relative to downloading from a central server. For instance, I doubt Bittorrent could sustain - not simply match - the 250+ KB/s downloads I get from CinemaOne for a movie, much less a complete game. Most people might simply opt to save time and buy the physical release. Of course, another alternative could be to charge less for the P2P copy than the centrally hosted one.<br /> <br /> Just bouncing ideas around...