I'm basically in the same boat, which is probably why I never really noticed the "buy" option, as I would never do that (which may seem odd, because that's how I "own" all my video games). However, I've paid $2.99, or under $5 to rent a movie knowing that I was only going to watch it once, and never again.
The new Naked Gun movie with Liam Neeson - Amazon has it to purchase for
$16.99 right now (normally $19.99) or for rent for $2.99:
I see what you're saying now, and with a little more digging:
"You don't own the actual video, you're granted a license from the content provider. Amazon will make the video available for however long the license allows them to do so."
"Unless you can play the file on the device of your choice at the time of your choice without ANY external validation, you do NOT 'own' the movie/song/book/game you just bought. You are 'licensing' it, and such a license can be revoked for any (or sometimes no) reason."
So it applies to just about any streaming service.
When you buy video games from an online store, at least you can
download the game and have it on your PC (or other device). I have
quite a few games I've bought from the Steam store.
I still have some older PC games on DVD-ROM & CD-ROM too..
Yep. That's why I've never bought a movie on a streaming service..
For that price, you could buy the blu-ray (or maybe the 4K blu-ray
for just a bit more) and have a copy that won't be going anywhere.
Agreed. I don't mind renting them for a few dollars, knowing that I'll probably never watch them again. But that's the same reason I usually wouldn't pay full price for them at all, either.
I'm a little surprised. I've seen movies for purchase on streaming services for years - at least some of them.
When you buy video games from an online store, at least you can download the game and have it on your PC (or other device). I have quite a few games I've bought from the Steam store.
I still have some older PC games on DVD-ROM & CD-ROM too..
I was thinking of movies rather than games, but this is good to know. In my experience, when you purchase a movie from a streaming service, they still use DRM/copy protection. Even if they might let you download it for offline viewing, you'd still need to use their app to watch it.
I don't even know where half of my digital games are, to be honest. If I really want to find out or play something I've uninstalled, I have to look up who made the game and fire up whatever game launcher the game came with. Off the top of my head, I have Steam, Ubisoft, Origin/EA, Battle.net, and probably a couple others installed here that all want to start up when you boot your computer. I've disabled all but Steam and have moved all of my non-steam games over to Steam so at least I can see them listed to remind me I have/own them. ;)
Regards,
I'd be mad if I lost a bunch of games, but I suppose that was the risk I took when I started buying digital copies.
When you buy video games from an online store, at least you can download the game and have it on your PC (or other device). I have quite a few games I've bought from the Steam store.
My father used to be on Amazon Prime, but anything mediocre or better was behind a secondary paywall. That was kind of bullshit: you are paying a subscription already, for the privilege of spending even more money on their platform. At that point I don t care if the movies are DRM-free or not, the whole idea is very WTF.
The movie industry is very paranoid regarding their movies so I don t know of any digital movie or video distributor that is not trying to DRM everything.
Even Youtube tries very hard for videos not to be
downloadable. The always fail hard, but the fact they are trying is very telling.
Re: game consoles
By: Morningstarr to All on Sun Dec 14 2025 09:46 pm
Hey guys, what is your favorite gaming console? Playstation, Xbox, Ninten > > switch???
I think consoles were only worth it up to the 6th generation... afterwards, consoles became glorified computers with all the issues that brings.
My best console of All Times has to be the Playstation. It was the first console that did CD games right, and despite all of its multiple issues, it managed to get very good games released on it. The Nintendo 64 had a lot of horsepower on paper and some quite good games, but the controller sucked bal > and there was only so much data you could shove into a N64 cartridge compare > to a CD. The Sega Saturn was out of the game very much from the start.
The second best console, for me, would be the Playstation 2. It is easy to t > it struggled competing in horsepower against the other consoles in its
generation, but once again, it managed to get a BIG library that included mo > good games. Meanwhile, XBOX had a limited number of heavy hitters (such as
HALO) which were available on other platforms anyway, and the first controll > lineup was too big for so many people. Its games looked awesome and a bit ne > gen but under the good they were upscaled PS2 ports quite often.
I have a special mention for the Sega Dreamcast. It didn't last long but it packed a nice punch with some arcade conversions that were quite good. Games > such as Hydro Thunder are best played on Dreamcast if you don't have an arca > cabinet, and the Dreamcast port is arguably better than the PC port, which i > saying something. The controller was godawful, and many shooting heavy title > such as MDK2 were very meh to play on it... these days using a controller wi > two analog sticks to play Dreamcast games via an emulator is a game changer. >
--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
Re: game consolesMy favorite console of all time was the 360!
By: Morningstarr to All on Sun Dec 14 2025 21:46:09
Hey guys, what is your favorite gaming console? Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo switch???
i have the PS1 (modded some of those with modChips), Xbox (eventually was us > as a mediaplayer for a while), Xbox360, PS3, PS4 and Xbox One. I don't reall > play games anymore but sometimes i still use the Xbox One for a casual
Minecraft or Subnautica Game Session.
But the Xbox360 was my favorite game console. It also has the best Controlle > (How are you supposed to use Playstation Controllers when you have big hands >
Best exclusive Games Award i'd give to Sony PS3/4. Games like "The Last Guardian" are so good!
I also have positive memories of how it felt to buy physical media =)
Mindsurfer
The solution to that problem is using a custom launcher for your
games.
Re: game consoles
By: Arelor to Morningstarr on Mon Dec 15 2025 08:22 am
I often felt like consoles were simplified computers, at least in the early days of consoles.. though in the 80s, consoles often had better graphics & sound capabilities than desktop computers.
I don't recall if I've seen any download links directly on YouTube, but in the past, I've used 3rd-party software to download videos from YouTube and haven't had a problem with those.
Did you have a Saturn? I did and loved it dearly!
Re: game consoles
By: Morningstarr to Arelor on Fri Dec 19 2025 02:06 pm
Did you have a Saturn? I did and loved it dearly!
I have never owned a Sega system. Some friends of mine had but around
here it was mostly N46 or Playstation.
Sega used to be out of my radar, but these days old Sega systems
have grown on me because theire is a vibrant retrogaming community publishing new games for old systems such as the Genesis/MD.
i think sega saturn was a bust in the usa or in my area because nintendo 64 was coming out in a year and saturn only came with one controller. i remember the one controller thing being a big deal with me as a kid.
i got a n64 and i was quite happy with it.
i think sega saturn was a bust in the usa or in my area because nintendo 64 was coming out in a year and saturn only came with one controller. i remember the one controller thing being a big deal with me as a kid.
The N64 was great for multiplayer games, that I remember. The PSX fell short in that regard. There weren't many games that supported more than 2 players, and if you wanted to play 3 or 4 player games you needed a bunch of extra accessories which most people didn't bother with. Meanwhile the N64 had stuff like Perfect Dark.
In the 16-bit days, there was a console called the TurboGrafX-16 (or PC
Devil's Crush for the TurboGrafx-16 was very good.Bonk's Adventure (any) and Spatterhouse, too!
The N64 was great for multiplayer games, that I remember. The PSX
fell short in that regard. There weren't many games that supported
more than 2 players, and if you wanted to play 3 or 4 player games
| Sysop: | Snake |
|---|---|
| Location: | Portugal |
| Users: | 3 |
| Nodes: | 4 (0 / 4) |
| Uptime: | 104:49:25 |
| Calls: | 5 |
| Messages: | 8,011 |