Pre-order Mass Effect 3 through PSN, get a rifle and PS3 theme

An interesting development, seems that Sony are making significant strides towards the digital future. I expect this to be a silly price but that’s irrelevant at this point, this seems to be more about setting up the infrastructure and getting consumers and devs/pubs used to the idea.

The only three problems I see with the “digital future” are:
1) Download speeds may still be slow when trying to download games. Some areas cannot even get internet (leads to point C) and so they cannot get the game they want.
2) Memory space on a HDD is limited. Eventually, you will not be able to have any more games. Especially problematic to those who have lots of games.
3) It puts business that deal in physical copies out of business (I.e – iTunes (digital) and HMV (physical)). If these are out of business, then how will people get physical copies. Even harder for those with slow or no internet connection.

However, on topic, it’s basically the pre-order bonuses minus the armour. Good deal though ^^ Kinda wish Xbox may get games on the store a lot quicker >.> One thing I have noticed PS3 has over Xbox.

Why would i want those when i can pay 40 for armour weapons and multiplayer skins and the game

Yeah it’s not on topic but the discussion is unavoidable
My biggest problem with the digital future is the lack of competition in pricing from not having multiple retailers.

@2

1. Download speeds are not slowing down, internet coverage is only going to keep expanding.

2. HDDs that can contain 25-50 games (assuming they’re all ~20gb) are dirt cheap. Secondly, the only download model that’s going to survive is letting people download as needed. If you don’t have the game installed, it’s still going to be available whenever you want.

3. People are deciding that digital is more convenient. So even though physical stores survive, they’re not likely to have a footprint bigger than that of an ISP in the developed world – Which means that if you live so far out that you can’t get internet, you’ll likely have a serious drive to the nearest Gamestop anyway.

That’s the price of living in the middle of nowhere. It’s never going to be convenient.

Woot! A crap gun AND a boring theme? Kewl!! How much for this wonderful deal? I hope it won’t be cheaper than the physical copy, as I want to feel properly ripped off

One day the internet is not going to be as regional and segmented as it is now, one day. Until then 90% of the shit I read about has no label of where it applies to, yet it all still applies to JUST the US, about 5mins south of my current position and because of this physical location I don’t get all these online deals. The world we live in is in a state of fail, in tons of ways.

@2

1.) A fair point. Some people can’t get faster Internet speeds, that’s true. However, as has been mentioned, Internet coverage is increasing. And in the UK, at least, if you’re not on 2Mbps Internet at the lowest then you’re doing something wrong.

2.) You can replace the drive in a PS3 yourself. If you break out the screwdriver kit and buy yourself a 2TB drive of the right type, all your worries will quickly go away.

3.) No, it won’t. What it WILL do is cause further competition. Steam has driven brick & mortar store prices WAY down, to the point where you actually WANT to use them. It could be beneficial for the PS3 in the same way.