It's frustrating when companies sell physical media for less than purely-digital

[andrewducker]

I got a Switch for my birthday. It's a nice piece of kit, the setup talked me through things well, and both Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario 3D World were fun to play (with Jane and Sophia respectively). I'd rather like to play Breath of The Wild.

What's frustrating is that the digital-version is £60 when I can pick up the physical version for £45. The advantage of the physical version is that I can resell it when I'm done. The advantage of the digital version is that I can't lose it.

As I live with two tiny people whose main purpose in life is losing things, I'd rather have the digital version. But is it worth an extra £15 to avoid the worry of losing the cartridge?

At the moment I'm going to play some Hollow Knight on it, and hope that there's a sale that includes Breath Of The Wild sometime soon!



As an aside, I suspect the reason is that Nintendo aren't going to sell the digital version for less than the RRP, while lots of shops will buy the physical version at wholesale prices and then resell it to you for somewhere between that and the RRP, giving you a discount while still making some profit.

Comments

[conuly]

You definitely want BotW AND ALSO the expansions. It's worth it, it's so very worth it.

There might be a sale on BotW as they get closer to releasing the sequel.

[movingfinger]

This. BOTW does go on sale in the Nintendo eshop occasionally, keep a sharp eye on it.

It is gorgeous and super fun and also mellow and wonderful relaxation.

For the losing-cartridge problem, maybe keeping the set out of their hands unsupervised would be a good idea to prevent its being lost or the screen damaged. If you want them to be able to play on the TV without your presence, wireless handheld controller would allow that.

[andrewducker]

Oh yeah, we're playing with the wireless controllers. I'm more worried about the boxes with the cartidges in going missing.

[ninetydegrees]

There are regular discounts and sales on digital versions as well but, yeah, I always go for the physical version because it's cheaper and Amazon often discounts it even further too.

[fub]

When you are actively playing it, the cart is in the machine. So you can only lose that cart when you switch games or in storage. If you make a little 'ceremony' or routine, you could minimize the risk.
Here's what works for us:
- We have a dedicated space for storing our games: all cases are there. When we swap out a game, we actually take the Switch to the storage spot, not the other way around;
- Carts are always stored in their cases when not in use. So when the cart comes out of the Switch, we immediately put it back in its case. Because we take the Switch to the game storage space, the case will be there when we take it out.
- Because the Switch is where the games are stored when we take out a cart, we can easily swap out one game for another and never have a 'floating' cart, because the case is always there when we do the swap.

Of course, this requires that nobody who does not have that discipline ever takes out a cart. That's easy for us, since we do not have children, but perhaps you want to wait a while until you let your kids handle those aspects of the Switch.
And of course, it only works when you swap out carts at home. There are cart storage solutions, and we have a travel case that has space for some carts. If we travel, we put the carts we want to use in the case, and use the same rules -- but then with the travel case as the storage and not the game cases. When we return, we return the carts to their cases when we take the Switch out of the travel case.

And also: Breath of the Wild is amazing.

[andrewducker]

"you want to wait a while until you let your kids handle those aspects of the Switch."

That assumed waaaaay more control over the kids than I have, unless I am in the room with them. I mean, Sophia is pretty well behaved and will come ask me to do things that are a bit tricky for her. Gideon, on the other hand, isn't yet 2, and will just play with things randomly, and when frustrated, take it out on them. Things in the house just go missing on a regular basis, and then turn up in unlikely places. Even if the cartridges go into their boxes, and stay there, the box may well vanish and turn up behind the toilet three months later.

[bens_dad]

We have the same problem with Ben (who is a teenager with learning difficulties, so can open the things without help, but doesn't understand that it is important that they do not get lost).

I guess we could keep the boxes in a locked cabinet (or one of the many locked rooms we have to have).

[andrewducker]

Yes. I could start having locked boxes for things, but not having to have "things" in the first place would definitely be easiest :-)

[channelpenguin]

I would say "that's why I could never have kids" but sadly, your description of things going missing is also life with 90% of people I've ever lived with. :-(.

This is massively problematic - for me but not them! I am AWESOME at maintaining a mental inventory of where everything is. Farm plus outbuildings, boat full of stuff, apartment, music studio. All indexed in my brain, no worries. However, it appears I've paid for that talent by being USELESS at finding things by searching. I'm also incredibly impatient.

[cdave]

It doesn't go on sale often, and not for long. Dekundeals shows the price history. You can sign up to get emailed when it does.
https://www.dekudeals.com/items/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild

[andrewducker]

Thank you!