CD Drive

[Guest]

SO I'm looking to get Mass Effect Andromeda, but I want a physical copy for the PC. I was wandering if, like consoles, the CD has to be in at all times to play, or it just has to be in to install the game

[minibois]

If it's anything like what EA did in the past: no. You pretty much get a CD/DVD that tells you to start Origin and fill in the code you got in the game. That way you install it (not sure if the game/installer is on the disc or you have to download it) and it's activated on your Origin.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Minibois said:

If it's anything like what EA did in the past: no. You pretty much get a CD/DVD that tells you to start Origin and fill in the code you got in the game. That way you install it (not sure if the game/installer is on the disc or you have to download it) and it's activated on your Origin.

So essentially, if it's an EA game, you have to use origin. 

Thanks for the help

[Mira Yurizaki]

Plus as AAA games get larger, it starts to become impractical to put them on DVDs.

 

Granted no game has come close to needing as much discs as Unreal Tournament 2004 (I think it was 6) did back in the day.

[minibois]

4 minutes ago, prostrike33 said:

So essentially, if it's an EA game, you have to use origin. 

Thanks for the help

Yeah. That way it will be on your account and you can install it on another PC without needing the disc. The game will be linked to your account.

3 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Plus as AAA games get larger, it starts to become impractical to put them on DVDs.

 

Granted no game has come close to needing as much discs as Unreal Tournament 2004 (I think it was 6) did back in the day.

"GTAV for PC comes on 7 discs and 65GB is needed on the hard drive."

https://support.rockstargames.com/hc/en-us/articles/204767698-Information-About-Number-of-Discs-and-Install-Size-of-GTAV-for-PC

[Mira Yurizaki]

3 minutes ago, Minibois said:

Yeah. That way it will be on your account and you can install it on another PC without needing the disc. The game will be linked to your account.

"GTAV for PC comes on 7 discs and 65GB is needed on the hard drive."

https://support.rockstargames.com/hc/en-us/articles/204767698-Information-About-Number-of-Discs-and-Install-Size-of-GTAV-for-PC

That's still too many discs

 

I would say "publishers should release games on Blu-Ray!"... but then again I say that because I have a BD-ROM.

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, Minibois said:

Yeah. That way it will be on your account and you can install it on another PC without needing the disc. The game will be linked to your account.

"GTAV for PC comes on 7 discs and 65GB is needed on the hard drive."

https://support.rockstargames.com/hc/en-us/articles/204767698-Information-About-Number-of-Discs-and-Install-Size-of-GTAV-for-PC

Wow. That's a lot. Makes 500GB consoles seem impractical.

So would it be better to simply buy the game on origin?

[minibois]

8 minutes ago, prostrike33 said:

Wow. That's a lot. Makes 500GB consoles seem impractical.

So would it be better to simply buy the game on origin?

500GB are quite impractical, because all stuff still needs to be installed. The the discs are just for 'verification'.

If you can't find a good deal in store on the game: just get it on Origin.

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, Minibois said:

If you can't find a good deal in store on the game: just get it on Origin.

Ok. Thanks

[TheZorch]

Microsoft releases Windows on a USB stick, so why can't EA with their deep pockets release their games the same way. The install still requires Origin and making copies of game disks is pretty trivial these days so any piracy arguments are just lame excuses at this point.

[typographie]

17 hours ago, prostrike33 said:

SO I'm looking to get Mass Effect Andromeda, but I want a physical copy for the PC. I was wandering if, like consoles, the CD has to be in at all times to play, or it just has to be in to install the game

Definitely not. The vast majority of players won't even own a disc for Andromeda. Disc checks used to be common for PC games, but digital distribution and online DRM accomplishes the same thing today.

 

I don't know how physical Andromeda copies will be distributed, but my most recent look at how modern physical PC games are sold was with Dishonored 2. In the box was a DVD that not even a tenth of the game could possibly fit on, a code to type into Steam, and a few printed materials. I didn't even take the DVD out of the box. Chances are Andromeda will work similarly, just with an Origin code instead.

 

37 minutes ago, TheZorch said:

Microsoft releases Windows on a USB stick, so why can't EA with their deep pockets release their games the same way. The install still requires Origin and making copies of game disks is pretty trivial these days so any piracy arguments are just lame excuses at this point.

I don't think it's a piracy/DRM issue at all, since we can already copy and distribute the game files even if you download it from Origin. I think it's just a simple matter of how much they're going to get in return for giving up some portion of their profit margin, and the answer is probably not much in today's world. The vast majority of customers are happily buying digitally.

 

It's also worth pointing out that Windows fits on a 4 GB flash drive. Most new EA games today would require at least a 64 GB flash drive, and install sizes are going up fast. Plus, the way Windows is installed requires it being on physical media of some sort, so there's a pressing need to keep it modern.