pc games no longer in shops?

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Hi all

On saturday i went to get diablio 3 from town (shrewsbury) i went into game it was £45 ive never played 1 or 2 and thought thats abit much for a game i may not even like so i looked round for a different game instead there wasnt much there.

so instead i thought ill pop into tesco there bound to have it so i looked around couldnt find the pc games section i aksed if they did pc games the lad took me to them they had about 10 games for sale most of that was sims expansion packs they did advertise diablio 3 but for some reason it says its currently unavailble.

so i thought ill go back to game and just buy diablio 3 for £45 went there sunday morning and they had sold out of diablio 3 :mad: and no where else does pc games locally that i know of there is another small games shop in the town but it doesnt have a decent stock of pc games either.

Im finding it increasingly hard to buy a pc game locally esp now that gamestation has shutdown ive tried all supermarkets and none of them (except tesco) sell pc games i know you can buy them online but i much prefer to buy a game when i want on impulse i find it frustrating that there is hardly any decent games stores now does anyone else find this or is it just me lol
 
Why don't you download the starter edition. Basically it works like a demo, giving you a chance to see if its your type of game.
 
Yeah it's been going this way for a while now. There's a good digital distribution model in place for pc games so usually I don't mind, but I have had a similar issue with Diablo 3. £45-£50 for a key is absurd, but it's not much better on the high street. No way I'm paying £45 for something that I can get for £33 online, and would be an impulse purchase anyway rather than a game I simply must have.
 
theres this thing called online, your just used it to post your anger over a highly demanded game being unavailable - why dont you use it to actually buy the games as well.

problem solved.
 
For impulse buys, just buy a download version from Gamersgate or Steam or somewhere like that. For non-impulse buys or when you really want the box, buy from an online retailer.

If you want to buy something immediately and have the box, then yeah, those days are almost over.
 
Diablo 3 is a bit of an exception too, normally you can get what you want for download at a pretty decent price from somewhere online.
 
Diablo 3 is a big exception to your issues. Few places actually have it in stock because it's had such high demand...

However, for quite some time now supermarkets haven't sold PC games...

kd
 
I have to say that after having problems installing Steam when I installed my new SSD, I'd always buy a hard copy rather than download it if possible. As it happens I haven't bought any games on Steam so it's not a big deal, but if I had I would've been pretty miffed...

However, re the OP, surely buying online is quicker (rubbish download speeds notwithstanding), so for impulse purchases it's more convenient?
 
You can get it for £35 from the catalogue store starting with A.

They sell pc stuff so they are a competitor.

It is OK to mention Argos, PC components/peripherals are not their core business.

OcUK do list Diablo 3 in which case we should not be discussing prices/other retailers for that game if I understand the rules correctly?

On topic, digital distribution is the distribution method of choice on the PC platform, has been for a while now. The PC leads innovation and the fact the consoles will likely feature digital distribution more prominently in the next gen proves this. The funny thing is, they will market it has "THE NEXT NEW THING".... ROFL.

All the console gamers will go through the "*** I want my game in a box" uproar the ludite PC gamers did way back when.
 
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I think some of you are missing my point i only use diablio as an example i know you can buy games online and download them but my speed it only 2.5Mbps i can roughly download a gig per hour so if its a 8 gig install ive got to download for 8 hours which isnt very good as the rest of the family want to use the internet as well also i prefer to have a hard copy of the game. and yes i could buy the game online and have it delivered but where i live i get a lot of delivers latley not going to the correct house or they say they have been and no one is in when ive waited in all day i just dont want that hassel. it would be nice to still be able to walk into a games shop and be able to buy a pc game
 
I think some of you are missing my point i only use diablio as an example i know you can buy games online and download them but my speed it only 2.5Mbps i can roughly download a gig per hour so if its a 8 gig install ive got to download for 8 hours which isnt very good as the rest of the family want to use the internet as well also i prefer to have a hard copy of the game. and yes i could buy the game online and have it delivered but where i live i get a lot of delivers latley not going to the correct house or they say they have been and no one is in when ive waited in all day i just dont want that hassel. it would be nice to still be able to walk into a games shop and be able to buy a pc game

maybe get a mac at least that autocorrects as you type

in other news console games are a lot more popular hence why supermarkets can sell them cheap to get people in store to buy other rubbish
 
You could always leave your computer on overnight downloading.

And whilst it may be nice for you to visit a physical shop, the reality is you are part of a minority, they aren't going to use up valuable floor space for products that barely sell.

When buying from online stores they usually arrive on the day of release or the day before, and are small enough to fit through the letterbox, no need to wait in all day.

The less dominance these retailers have over the PC market the better. It still annoys me that we have to wait till Friday for games releases while other countries get it before us.
 
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