Lack of Physical PC Content

I recently purchased Thief on steam without looking up how big the download is (20GB). There is no way in hell my internet can download a game that big. Also with the release of all these "Next Gen" titles, large file sizes can be anticipated. I looked online for a CD copy for the game and found only download versions. Also its looking like Dark Souls 2 will only have the PC download option. I find this very frustrating. I was wondering if anyone else has problems like this? 

I certainly realise the problem although it doesn't affect me much. Another problem beyond the game installation itself is that game updates, sometimes mandatory ones, can be several gigabytes in size as well. I don't believe it's ever going to change back, so it's something to both look out for and use as an argument against data caps on internet connections.

I'm not against data caps. I can understand why they exist and are needed. If you need more then you upgrade to the next tier of service. At least that's how it works for my isp. Now if you live out in the sticks and all you get is that shitty dsl line with one tier of service then I can understand your pain. Those counties just need to allow municipal internet to exist to better serve those customers. The big isp prefer metro areas to provide coverage and seem disinterested in providing higher tiers to rural customers. If anything data caps need to be increased some more because of the amount of data newer games, high def content and 4k streams require. I'm sure that will be adjusted at some point because it's just a logical step in the future.

Try buying a game and finding its 80GB, I had to take the whole PC to a local shop to do the install. WHY ? we only have dial-up which FYI is faster than broad band in this neck of the woods, just like our red neck politicians that run our country, which happens to be NZ. Cant wait for Kim DOT com to run for prime minster.

Yep, always running into this issue.

Lucky for me, I have a community college nearby with this connection...

I use the college's internet for large downloads, youtube, etc. And then my home connection handles everything else...barely.

I feel your pain

I have started downloading my steam games at work (which will one day probably land me in trouble), saving as a backup and then installing into my main pc.

It sucks

I have little problems with it. If I have a large game to download, I usually do it before I go to sleep, its ready to play when I get up.

 

I have a 1024k/512k line. Kinda sucks but I get by, havent bought a physical copy for years now.

This is not a problem that they are not making physical media, the natural evolution of software is to go download only. So rather than complain about the lack of physical get on the ISPs case to upgrade their shit. That is criminal download speed in this day and age.

stay in school, work hard, be smart, get a good job that is satisfying and pays well, then you can pay for faster internet speeds.

You don't seem to understand that Data Caps are absolutely arbitrary.

The companies are doing nothing but lining their pockets with the money they're making from people with larger caps, it doesn't cost the ISPs ANYTHING to support unlimited bandwidth caps. So, all they're doing is introducing another set of their beloved subscription tiers. The only thing that would vary their cost is the speed likely, and offering speed tiers actually does make sense. As some would be able to take advantage of higher speeds others who just browse and watch youtube and Netflix wouldn't take advantage of higher speeds beyond 20Mb/s from 3 to 4 users reasonably until 4K streaming becomes the standard then probably 2/3 users.

Don't be fooled by your American major ISPs, they're as trustworthy as used car salesmen. 

It's not so much about paying for faster speeds (although it is to an extent; I'll expand on this later) as it is about availability. For example, in my area, there is only one option: CenturyLink. And if you don't live within a certain distance of their terminal, you pretty much get shit on. They don't give one half of two fucks about making sure everyone is connected to the Internet. All they care about is profit, profit, profit...and guess what MOAR PROFIT! It's ridiculous.

Also, you shouldn't have to pay out of the ass for a decent connection. A 50 Mbps (Up/Down) UNLIMITED connection should be the norm these days for everyone that is connected to the Internet. These things aren't all that difficult or particularly expensive to implement. ISPs are simply fat and lazy. Hell, give me the fucking materials, and I'll build it. If you've been watching the past couple or so episodes of The Tek, Logan and Wendell cover this in greater detail and explain everything well. I suggest giving those a look if you want to better understand why I and others are bitching about this so much.

I would agree with you if the resource in question (bandwidth) is finite, but it isn't. It doesn't cost ISPs more money to provide it's customers with unlimited bandwidth because you cannot run out of bandwidth like you can with crude oil or coal. So, there is absolutely no reason for ISPs to impose data caps and doing so is unacceptable. The only reason ISPs impose data caps is so they can make even more money on top of US tax dollars that are supposed to fund the fiber infrastructure (hasn't been done yet) on top of the base subscription and on top of charging sites that generate heavy traffic (I.E Netflix and YouTube) because they see it as an opportunity to scam er, I mean 'charge' even more money.