Poll - the best digital distribution game store
Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at 7:04am by David 
We’ve been blogging about the Virtual Console for over a year and just about a month of WiiWare updates. You’ve probably had some interaction with buying and downloading a game, so this week, we want to know:
Which is the best digital distribution game store?
If your favorite is something else (cough, Steam, cough), or if you don’t like buying games that don’t come in boxes, let us know in comments.
[Results from our last poll can be found here, or on Infendo Radio 105.]
June 5th, 2008 at 7:38 am
I voted Other/None because there isn’t one that is better than the other, they all have flaws. Wii Shop Channel = no more space to save games to. XBox Live = pay for subscription already + additional games? Playstation store = do they have anything (good yet)? Either way, Wii Shop Channel is getting better due to the addition of WiiWare. Retro only can go so far.
June 5th, 2008 at 7:43 am
This is a stupid poll, because this site is filled with Nintendo fanboys, so you know the Wii shop channel is going to win. (my vote: PS3 store)
June 5th, 2008 at 7:48 am
- I voted the PS3 store, because you can actually store lots of games, and you aren’t forced to buy a bunch of points, when you just want to buy a small thing, then have points left over
June 5th, 2008 at 8:55 am
People who haven’t used them all shouldn’t vote. Otherwise it should be a “which store have you used” sort of question.
XBL Marketplace is the clear winner here, having experienced all three, despite the annual fee. Ease of use, variety, value - all good. Now that they have a fix for the DRM issue there’s no reason to hate.
Nintendo has to find a better way to buy points. Having to whip out a credit card and enter it each time is so 1995.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Steam rocks. If it was a choice, it would have gotten my vote. Since I have only used the Wii Shop Channel out of the 3 choice, I went with None, because it’s the closest to Steam.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Yeah it is a stupid poll. Obviously Nintendo will win. I’ve only used the Wii Shop Channel. I like it. It’s great to be able to get brand new games and classic (or not so classic) games from older systems. I don’t understand the complaint about leftover points. it’s like complaining about leftover money. I just purchase points with my credit card. Whatever is leftover is added on to my new points. How is that a problem?
June 5th, 2008 at 9:29 am
STEAM!!!!
June 5th, 2008 at 9:46 am
@Gausser
Because it’s leftover money for Nintendo, not me. If it’s not sitting in my bank account (or in my wallet) letting me use it wherever I want, it’s not really money - it’s a commodity that I can trade for games. WiiPoints, as unfortunate as it may be to hear, are not legal tender for all debts public and private.
Maybe not a problem if you’re buying something new every week, but it’s pretty rare I’m buying a game via WiiWare because I don’t have time for all the games I already have. I’d much rather have $10 I can turn into 1000 WiiPoints if I want than 1000 WiiPoints I can’t spent on dinner.
June 5th, 2008 at 9:50 am
From the little I’ve used of it, the XBox Shop channel clearly dominate’s the Wii’s.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:00 am
my opinion is that wii is the only next gen system. and the next wii will be minority report and im the first to have said that and be copied… i love minority report. where we have a grid to move characters and events, i still think a controller will be needed for at least a bit…. wii on top this gen;.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:03 am
I voted Wii Shop Channel by default. I’ve not had any experience with the XBox Live Store. I don’t own a PS3 and when I bought a game for my PSP I needed to have a Windows machine to load it. I use Windows at work but not at home; I’m a Linux guy. That makes the PlayStation store a failure in my book.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Having experience with all four (that includes Steam), I safely can say that Xbox Live’s is the best. It does cost a lot more money yes, but the shear amount of content speaks for itself. Not only does have all the features the Shop Channel has, but you can download playable demos, videos, map data, and more. Xbox Live’s version of the VC, Live Arcade, also actually remasters their games and adds online, HD, and highscore table support. All for a dollar or two more than the VC prices. It may not have those epic Nintendo classics, but it certainly wins in every other department. Also, I like Steam, but it is one of the most buggy programs I’ve ever seen, and it’s download servers still move at the same speed they did 10 years ago. So yeah, my pick is XB Live. I have to admit, the Wii Shop Channel is getting better, but still no where near XB Live.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:46 am
This poll is useless. Steam is the only good one. The PSN is probably second, the 360 and Wii Shop Channel are just annoying with the stupid points system.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:55 am
I also would have liked Steam to be an option. The way Steam does things is far superior to the way I’ve seen any of the consoles handle digital distribution. I can hop to a new PC (or even a friend’s PC, as long as I don’t try to log into both at the same time), install Steam, and immediately have access to everything I’ve ever purchased through it. With the upcoming Steam Cloud service, I’ll even have access to my save games and other user data. And the range of content (and in many cases the price of that content) is simply excellent.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:00 am
@DmNt - I’m really surprised to hear that report of Steam, because it’s 180 degrees opposite my experience and the experience of all the friends of mine I’ve turned onto Steam. I’ve been using Steam since day 1 (back when it really was a buggy mess, in 2003), and I can confidently say that I haven’t had a single problem with it since I used it to install Half Life 2 in 2004.
No crashes, excellent download speeds (regularly over 300KB/sec), no disconnects, and it hasn’t messed up any other processes running on my machine. It’s literally been rock solid, and I’ve purchased probably 20 games through it over that time. My only complaint with it right now is that the voice chat in chatrooms is awful, but I really don’t need it to be a voice server when I’ve got Skype, Teamspeak and Ventrilo on the same box.
So yeah - sorry to hear you’ve had a poor experience with it, but that’s so very very far removed from what I’ve seen that I kind of wonder how much you’ve used the service.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:06 am
I voted other because of Steam. I usually love having boxes and physical medium, but Steam somehow takes all those cares away due to the ease, speed, and functionality. It’s also nice having a list of games in a list that receive updates automatically. Plus, if your Steam files are on another drive/partition, they will run perfectly fine if you reinstall Windows (since they do not use the registry).
June 5th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Eric,
I’ve been using the service since 2002, and besides the new features and cosmetic changes I haven’t seen anything thing server-side updating. It could be my computer, which doesn’t have the greatest hardware. But the fact you have so much ease with it is puzzling for me. Maybe I’ll go look up and see if anyone else is having problems with it besides me.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I voted for Xbox Live. For those posting about the subscription, all you need is a Silver (free) subscription to purchase from the Marketplace. I do not have a PS3 to judge its offerings, but XBLA is top notch in my book. I can sum up my decision in one word… “trial”. Every XBLA title has a free trial. I have purchased many titles I had no intention of purchasing once playing the trials.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Steam blows them all out of the water… and kills them each in 20 different ways before they hit the ground.
The only thing the Wiishop offers that Steam doesn’t is, obviously, Nintendo software (retro and new). I’ve bought a ton of things from Steam already thanks to their great and frequent discounts (which Nintendo will likely NEVER offer and MS only does on rare occasions).
June 5th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
At first when I saw this poll, it seemed like a reasonable poll. So I voted.
But now looking at all these comments, it really seems like people don’t like each other and turned this poll into a complaint corner.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
@Gunder
I guess it’s perspective. I always keep 2000-3000 points in my account. I might not use them today, or even next month, but I know I’ll use them sometime. I make a good income so that type of money is never going to keep me from having a good meal, but i can see your point more clearly now.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I voted Wii Shop Channel because it’s the only one I’m familiar with. But the lack of storage space on the Wii is making me really angry.
I’d like to try my hand at the Xbox store thing, but my 360 is not on the grid.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I’m gonna have to go with the PSN Store on this one, as it has the best interface stylistically, and is very intuitive to use. XBLA seems to be the most popular one, but it’s actually very cumbersome to navigate and very boring stylistically. It’s just one big list most of the time. And don’t get me started on how the description text for each game takes forever to scroll. I prefer how Sony designed their store. I don’t know if Sony does this anymore, but they also let you buy an item at exact price if it was below $5, instead of how Msoft makes you buy 500 MS Points whenever you want to buy anything. XBLA has the most content, but it’s not a fun experience to go through it all. Wii has an alright interface. Again, most of it is a list, which is annoying to use. And they also have the base 500 Wii Points thing. And I don’t like re-inputting my credit card info every time i want to purchase something. I stopped from talking about memory limitations, as that is more of a hardware fault than it is the Store’s fault. Sony has a horrible downloading/installing function, but that is inherent within the system, not the Store itself. And at least it has background downloading, which the Wii does not. XBLA’s biggest bullet point for me is the Video Store, but it’s movie content isn’t exactly robust. I’ve purchased a few TV shows, and it’s been a pretty good experience. But still, I prefer the Sony-styled PSN Store.
June 5th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Yeah this poll is pretty much useless. Most people here are Nintendo fanboys and have probably only used the Wii shop channel. I have used all 3 and have to go with the PSS.
June 5th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
I hate to be negative, but this pole is pretty meaningless. You know its biased when the number one pick makes you fill in 10 different data fields each time you need to add points. The Wii Shop Channel is nice and all, but it has a LONG way to go.
June 5th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
WOW . Absolutely , hilariousand ridiculous results, so far.
“I voted Wii Shop Channel by default”..yeah whata suprise. =)
“my opinion is that wii is the only next gen system”…oh my…
What a bunch of total fan boy blind voters we have here.
ANYTHING to do with Nintendo online is pretty much sub-par to anything else out there, but ” HEY-HEY guys! Something Nintendo is in the poll! So lets VOTE for it like blind fanboys that we truly are!”
X-box live is MUCH superior. Unquestionably.
I dont mind PSn, but have hardly used it.
Do I love Microsoft? No
Am I a 360 ” fan-boy”? No, the Wii and DS are great as well.
Do I hate Nintendo? No, I love much of the first party Wii library and the DS is totally amazing.
Am I a blind Nintendo fanboy like many of the voters here?
Most certainly NOT.
“This poll is useless”….yes.
Yes it is. =)
LOL@ FanBOYS !
June 5th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
wii shop channel is too annoyingly slow to get my vote. Live wins
June 5th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
The PSN is the easy winner here. Download full PS1 and PS2 games, arcade games, PSN exclusive games, entire PS3 games, and demos for PS3 and PSP.
Live has nothing on the PSN and is overloaded with horrible crap.
And the Wii Shop Channel… Sucks. VC is pretty cool, WiiWare sucks and lack of arcade games suck.
June 5th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
I should add though that nothing can really compete with games like Super Mario World and Sin and Punishment. The VC games are pretty great. The overall service is sorely lacking.
June 5th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I voted for the Marketplace.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
@Liraco what games are on steam, my google button is broken :p.
I voted for the VC yet steam would be up there yet I’ve never trusted valve enough for some reason? The VC has all the stuff I wanted to play and every thing that I’ve been wanting to play for many years. Sin and punishment equals a win easily. Plus I don’t have to worry about DRM on my PC. Maybe steam does not have this problem but I’d rather have some thing like that on a console. Now if it had the right games thing I would be happy to crown the new winner of my retro and indie dollars.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
I voted based on the games I always wanted to play and own legaly LOL.
Wii Wii we are all not fanboys and if you would realize nintendo doesn’t really have any true fans people just like their games. Just look at GC sales… you call that fans? I don’t… no one showed up to that party and it was a nintendo fest. To me the VC is like being in the 16bit era again… all of my favorite games started there and most of the one before where improved. I also voted for the VC because it’s a frigging console power house the whole gen is there and the games rock and we haven’t even gotten the good stuff! Well a large part of it! I don’t have to pay for the service either I just pay for games. To most of you it seems expensive yet I still hold these games at a high value since I grew up with them and many of these games have not been topped game play wise so when I put down 500 - 2000 wii points I don’t mind since it’s better than 50-70+. Really you can not find these game any where any more, roms don’t count and if they do then it’s no wonder you Pc runs slower than it use to. You do the math.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
@Run line 10: Steam’s library is pretty diverse in terms of having newer content as well as older stuff. There are some true classics on there that everybody ought to play, like Psychonauts and Beyond Good & Evil, and at the $10 price point it’s really hard to go wrong with those. There’s also plenty of new releases - I bought Assassin’s Creed on there the week it came out, and I’ve really been enjoying that. Everything auto-patches whenever a patch comes out, the interface is clean, etc etc.
The download speeds (in my experience, apparently at least one person has had a worse time) are very good, and the DRM is extremely reasonable - as long as you’re only logged into Steam in one location simultaneously, you can put all your Steam games on as many PC’s as you want. Anywhere you are, just download Steam, log in, and start installing your stuff. I have Steam games on my home PC, my work PC (with boss’s permission of course
), my laptop, etc etc. And coming soon, they’ll have server-side storage for save games and config files, so not only will you be able to play your games anywhere, your save games will go with you, hassle-free.
So yeah, I’m definitely a Steam fan. After being burned by a couple of Direct2Drive games, Steam is really the only PC-based digital distributor I trust. Anything that isn’t on Steam, I go buy the box.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I should say that one exception to that is the distribution Gabe & Tycho set up for their Penny-Arcade game. I did trust that, and it worked out fine.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Thank eric I just got back from that page after looking at the 25ish pages of all of their games. Seems like a solid system and it has some indie stuff on there but it mostly has a newish release feel. It’s what SONY and MS wanted to do on the consoles. That’s cool and all yet those games don’t get that excited as the VC games do. I’m very retro for games that worked flawlessly. I still play quake 3 and what ever else yet I may download this and try some demos now this would rock if they had the new DMC4 on here along with the rest of the HD console ports. They should also start a center for the mod people out there that like buying tutorial videos from the pros.
Thanks I think I found a new way to waste bandwidth at my house buy when it comes to new game I want a box with it! Unless it is indie… I’ll just end up buying toys from them any way with the like-ness of their characters.
It’s crazy how your age depends on what is cool and what is not. or maybe it’s about what your into more. There is some thing to be said about what we all expect as gamers.
June 5th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
This thing called ‘Steam’… I own a Mac and BTW PC gaming is not my thing. FPS’s, RTS’s & Simulations… That is pretty much about it… Games that are kind of like the 360 but you don’t need to upgrade your graphics cards, monitors, etc. every 2 years.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
I think the poll should have clarified whether we were voting for the “service” or the “games on the service”.
From the way its worded, it sounds like we’re voting on the “service” but I think most people took it as the “games on the service”. Hence, the Wii coming out on top.
I myself prefer the games on the Wii service but CLEARLY the “service” aspect of the Wii Shop Channel is outdone by such rivals as XLBA and Steam.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
I went for Marketplace.
It really is great, sure you have to buy points in amounts where you will have maybe ten points left over but oh well, shit happens.
They have demo’s up for almost any game that has been or is being released, and being able to download a movie any time and watch it then is great.
June 5th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
When the consoles wise up and start taking ideas from Steam, buying digital media on them will be worthwhile. The problems each have are as follow:
Microsoft: The point system, being unequal to dollars is stupid. STUPID.
Sony: Last time I used it (a few months back) the system was clunky and broken (O takes me to the root system? WTF?). I do say thank you to them for selling me stuff in American currency, which is the currency I use in every other aspect of my life.
Nintendo: The system is clumsy and slow; and of the 4 different Wiis (including my own) that I’ve seen people download stuff on, every single one has REALLY slow download speeds. A NES rom shouldn’t take a minute to download.
Steam, of course, is the one I voted for. They’re always doing sales on different items, price drops exist (if an XBLA title has been out for two years, you can drop it from $10 to $5. I don’t see why you can’t. Same with less desirable virtual console titles. We’ve seen you sell titles for more then the specified price, Nintendo,why not for less?), just like Sony they sell me things in the currency I use, and I always get download speed of around 700k/s, which is much much faster then my Xbox and Wii COMBINED.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
I chose the Wii Shop Channel. It’s simple, easy to navigate and you get a cool animation waiting for you download.
I don’t like the Xbox 360 store because the points don’t translate into exact dollar amounts. 1600 points will cost you $20. On the other hand the Wii $20 gets 2000 points. There isn’t any of this conversion or fooling to trick you.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:45 am
isn’t it a bit biased considering this is a website promoting nintendo and therefore more than 50% of its audience are probably nintendo fanboys/girls although i myself LOVE everything nintendo does I still voted Xbox marketplace because I found it a better experience
June 6th, 2008 at 6:31 am
I have to say, they all have their pros, but i steam has something going for it, it’s not just pushing it’s own wares, it’s actually distributing games from toher companies like popcap and introversion software, the other three, they mainly just sell their own stuff, dont get me wrong, that cool too. That’s why I leaned slightly more towards steam in this poll.
June 6th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I prefer boxes, but Steam is unparalleled in the variety it offers.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Austin: I wouldn’t say we “promote” Nintendo here at Infendo.