Não há nenhum meio como nenhuns meios

Muito o primeiro registrador de fita adesiva eu serra que está sendo usada era um registrador de fita adesiva reel-to-reel que pertencesse a um amigo da família. The first tape player I used regularly was an 8-track system in my friend?s ?68 Dodge Charger. Quando eu comecei meu Mustang, veio equipado com o muito mais atrasado nos meios, um jogador de fita adesiva da gaveta e um par no diâmetro mais ou menos idêntico dos altofalantes do traço como um baseball. Incredible!

Quando os computadores pessoais vieram longitudinalmente, eu fui introduzido a um genre novo inteiro de dispositivos de armazenamento dos meios, começando com os cartuchos do jogo em meu Commodore 64; 8? discos flexíveis em um excesso velho 8088 eu trouxe o repouso para meu filho quando federal expresso promovi seu sistema no atrasado? 80s; então discos flexíveis menores em nossa família Compaq. Quando o primeiro CD veio longitudinalmente, eu era agog com sua capacidade de armazenamento maciça, mas pelo tempo DVDs chegou, mim tem que admitir, mim encontrou-se com os com uma atitude do ho-hum. Nós esperamos capacidades dos meios continuar a aumentar; our only question was how much information could be engineered into one space.

With increasing media storage capacities, possibilities really opened up for game developers no longer limited by the amount of information that could be written on a disc. Disc capacity also affected distribution arrangements for the industry. For example, World of Warcraft, originally released on 4 discs, finally was transferred to a single DVD disc. Less weight and a more compact size meant a significant reduction in shipping costs and easier installation, too.

My son and I had a conversation a couple of years ago about what might be on the horizon for media storage. We talked about the ?cube? concept of storage media ? six sides with ?layers? of laser-written content ? and a lot of other possibilities. The one possibility that I didn?t imagine was the rise of digital distribution. And that, my friends, is the future of game distribution.

When the Valve Corporation launched ?Steam? in 2003, they changed the question. What media is next? No media. Steam makes downloading content a very reasonable alternative.

Why drive to Wal-Mart when, by the time you?ve made the trip and installed, you could?ve already leveled up on a Steam-purchased game? Dog ate your Team Fortress 2 CDs? With Steam, your entire house could burn to the ground (with your computer inside) and you?ve got nothing to worry about. Just log back on with your new computer (ala Allstate) and all your games are right there. With digital distribution, you’ll never lose a software disc again.

The next big media is no media at all.

Oh sure, I?ll still listen to my 8-tracks (only kidding), and I may break out the reel-to-reel for some righteous original recordings of the Ink Spots (kidding again), but when it comes to computer games, I?ll have to go digital.

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