SKYRIM, I MUST HAVE IT NOW. Anyway.

So, something sparked a thought when I was ready to purchase Skyrim off of Steam.

I was thinking, seeing as you have to download Skyrim from the Steam servers after purchasing
and considering the fact that a metric ****-tonne of people will be downloading it from Steam,
I was wondering if it would be a better idea to buy the actual disc copy of Skyrim so that I could install it straight from the disc rather than sitting there til' Morndas waiting for Skyrim to download.


Internet:
So my internet speed isn't too slow, I typically get anywhere from 1MB/s to 1.6MB/s so as you guessed it sits at about 1.3MB/s most of the time, however,

Disc:
If this counts for anything my HDD is a WD 640GB SATA-III 6Gb/s Caviar Black (7200rpm 64MB Cache), so I thought that might increase the transfer speed from the disc to my HDD?
Or it could just be me making up crazy talk.

In addition to the above information, GAME tend to ship a day or two earlier than release and Steam has the preload feature,
so they are both fairly balanced but I'm stuck as to which I should buy.

So, what are your thoughts and opinions on this subject?

Thanks for reading, Lew/iST9.

Hopefully you'll be able to download it a few days before release, so that people with slow internet won't have any trouble.

I am fully expecting a preload from Steam, or else itd be a total mess.

I won't be playing on PC, but even if I was I'd still want the hard copy. I guess I'm a collector by heart, I don't know. I just like having a hard copy on my shelf.

I already got my steam copy. Just hoping steam won't screw mods over and such...

I know I'll be getting a hard copy. Not really for the initial launch day wait, but for the future. I don't want to have to reinstall down the road and have to re-download the game from Steam (not that I don't like Steam, I do, but if I have the option of a hard copy, I'm taking it!).

Drew

Disc. Who doesn't love discs? :wub:

Disc. Only reason not to is if you don't care at all about having the box and the map. Besides the boxed standard version on Amazon (UK Amazon at least) is about 18 euros cheaper ATM.




edited: I had misunderstood the OP's q.

That's a fast HDD, but the 6Gb/s is just the SATA interface revision. A SATA III cable can transfer up to 6Gb/s, but no HDD is gonna pull it off. A SATA III SSD, on the other hand, will come a lot closer reaching the current speed limit, particularly if in a RAID array which some SSD's (Crucial's C400s for example) now support. There are also PICE SSDs which are extremely fast. Even with an SSD RAID setup though, the DVD drive would be the limiting factor. Those who download it from Steam will most likely be the first ones playing it, but I'll bet there will only be about a 20-30 minute difference between eager Disc bearing and Steam downloading Skyrim fans' id gratification. on 11-11-11. Such a small amount of time, in my opinion, shouldn't influence your decision and it definitely won't influence mine. Then again, I've made it no secret that I don't like Steam.

Voted: Disc

"Nobody. That's who" (Dr. Farnsworth)

Since it is Steamworks.. I believe.. Once you install with a disk.. you also have the ability to download digitally via steam if you ever lose the disk.

That how it worked with FONV anyways.. always good to have a hard disk as a backup...

If you can find a deal somewhere buy it there. If you care about a little box and a map, buy retail.

Even if you get the game a week early you still won't be able to play it until it unlocks on steam for everyone, it is a steamworks game.

I personally bought at best buy because they give you $10 worth of reward points and I had a gift certificate to use from Christmas.

I prefer buying a disc. Even more so when said disc comes with a manual or some other nice things.

I don't think i have room for anymore discs :unsure:

I think you should get the steam copy if you really want to play the game early, otherwise pick the disc.
Well, I'll be gettin' it on steam, but really, your internet is really awesome. When I get 200kb/s I think God is looking after me. :confused:

Disc, so you dont have to download the game~

I prefer the disc versions when possible, only get something from Steam when it is cheaper there or isn't available in a retail shop.

The only advantage the disc offers is that you dont need to download to install really. It doesnt hurt to have the disc but its not really needed.

Personally, most of my games will be coming from Steam in future. When you get to be my age and have accumulated as many games as I have over the years.... they really start to take up space. I have since started archiving the discs into disc holders and discarding the jewel cases. Manuals... again. Too much space wasted on them when I rarely, if ever need to read them anymore. On top of those logistical home concerns, I have had one too many bad experiences with having games delivered on time, orders cancelled for no reason, constantly moving release dates, etc to be bothered with physical copies anymore. The final straw for me was when gamestop had a release date more than a week out on a game and I could download it and play it right then on Steam. Doubt I will ever go back to physical disks ever again, other than if/when people give me gift cards for holidays. Then I usually get the mediocre games on disk when I don't really care when they finally show up.

Steam will probably do a pre-load thing where you can download it 1 week before to release. It really comes down to, do you want an actual game disc and case, or do you not care? The one thing I hate about steam is I dont have boxes or discs for any of my games.

I'm definitely just picking up the game at 10am. In reality, its not really needed but I prefer to have it, the unwrapping, taking the disc out, getting a manual, the fresh smell of factory haha.. its all part of the new game experience.

Buy the disc version and then register it on steam. Bam, now you have both!