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Comment by laurowyn | Hacker News Reader

At least with a console you have the option of buying a physical copy of the game and loading it onto the device, compared to mobile where you need to enable developer mode in order to load apps from alternate sources (and even then, it's not an officially supported method as the steps can change significantly between versions).

But I do agree that there will be a console war if this is continued. I would hope that it leads down the "I own this device" route and level the playing field in general - I've paid Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony the money for the device, therefore I should have the right to run whatever I want on it. Gatekeeping what can be run on a device is a significant problem that needs to be resolved, along with the right to repair (Apple's a good example of the problems) and the second hand market (Tesla is a good example of the problems).

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Which operating system requires developer mode to install apps from a different source? Not Android. It only requires you to enable the "Install unknown apps" permission from the source app, with this warning:

"Allow from this source? [ ] Installing apps from this source may put your phone and data at risk."

And it's not like this is hidden the way developer mode is. It pops up when you try to install an APK file.

I feel like that falls under "changes between versions".

Agreed, it's not as bad as it used to be. Android needed developer mode, iOS needed the device to be registered as a test device.

Except that the physical copy of the game is still gatekept by Microsoft or Sony. People complain about apple's app store and 30% tax but compare that to the craziness it takes to get on a console and it's not even close.

As a developer I pay Apple $99 a year and i can release my app to the store as long as it meets some pretty lose guidelines. To get on a console you have to basically audition your game and met some arbitrary guidelines that aren't published anywhere. Either a company can build a curated system or they can't. XBox, PS4, and the switch aren't monopolies for gaming and iOS or Android aren't monopolies for mobile.

> Except that the physical copy of the game is still gatekept by Microsoft or Sony.

And Nintendo.

I don't follow consoles these days, but the gatekeeping by region that console makers used to do (even if I understand the reasons behind them) was incredibly annoying as well.

I think the perception of game consoles is different from PCs and mobile devices. Even though the game console is a computer, they're still not seen by the public or governments as a general computing platform no matter how blurred the lines have become.

Absolutely, not saying it's a perfect system. But at least I can go to GameStop, or even Amazon (lol), and buy a physical copy instead of having to go to the console specific digital store to buy and download it. At least if the digital store shuts down, and/or the console goes out of support, I still have a physical copy of the game I can play.

Physical vs Digital is a whole nother holy war though.

> "At least with a console you have the option of buying a physical copy of the game and loading it onto the device"

Possibly not for much longer. Sony is releasing the two versions of the PS5, the "digital edition" of which has no BD drive and can't use physical game media. It'll be interesting to see whether it has much uptake.

I feel like that's an interesting approach though. My PS4 sits idle most of the time, the rest of the time it's playing a bluray movie. only fractionally ever playing a game on it nowadays.

I guess the sales numbers will tell the bigger story.

> It'll be interesting to see whether it's has much uptake.

It will. Physical media is a practical annoyance for most consumers.

The physical games also require approval from the console maker and they still get a cut. This is has been true since at least the mid 80s.

Yes, but I don't need the store to be online and supported to access my physical copy of an offline game. At least there's a chance I can continue playing if/when the store gets taken down.

Look at every retro console - their games still work on their platforms, and there's a second hand market for games. It's a shame they're no longer made, but at least there's a physical copy that can be traded instead of a digital copy DRM'd to an account on a store that's no longer operational.

That physical copy still has to be signed by Microsoft. It’s Sneakernet instead of Internet but everything else stays exactly the same.

Except I don't need the console's digital store to be online and active to be able to play a physical copy of an offline game.

Agreed, it's not a perfect system, but it's not exactly the same as the Apple app store - the only way to get software on to iOS for the longest time (recently, side loading has become easier and less gatekept, but still not the same as the desktop experience).

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