The expert who somehow knows all things science and engineering, like they're all just basically the same. Just once I'd like to hear, "I'm an astrophysicist, not a cybersecurity expert. I don't have the first clue where to begin hacking any computer, let alone an alien one that I've never seen before."

Bonus points if the characters have to look for a different solution due to their lack of on-hand expertise in a particular area.

It's not about being friendly. It's about not saying the exact same comments in every single Nintendo thread. It's repetitive and boring.

It's not by almost any definition

"What should the logo look like?"

"Well, start with Doom. Then just kind of end there too."

Although DOS emulation is very good these days, this is really cool!

If it had been, don't you think Square could simply remake it in one game rather than splitting it into the multi-game saga that it always has been? It would never work!

You said

Another problem is that physical is a red herring. You don't own modern physical games any more than you own digital ones,

This is false. Most games do have the full game data on disc (or card). There are some specific examples, usually AAA titles like Hogwarts and Jedi Survivor, where there is either online DRM (I gather you mean online DRM, as that is the only thing that would make sense in context) or the title was too big to fit on one disc and they cheaped out. This is somewhat more common with Xbox hybrid discs; the disc will generally contain the Xbox One version, while the Series X version is a download. PlayStation 5 games generally have the full game on disc. Switch cards have the full game.

For the most part, if you buy a physical game, it has the game data on it.

as the famous The Crew shitshow has demonstrated. It doesn't matter if you still have the fancy disc, if you can't even go past the main menu when the publisher decides to shut down the game.

If it's an online-only game, of course it's not playable if the servers shut down. Don't want to pay for a time-limited game? Don't buy them. (I don't.)

In the end DRM is the only deciding factor, not if the game is digital or physical.

This is also false. DRM (again, presumably you mean online DRM in this discussion) is not the sole deciding factor. The actual deciding factors are the things are cited above.

When you say that physical and digital are equivalent, you're just factually wrong. There are certain cases where the physical disc isn't sufficient, but by and large, this sweeping statement is incorrect.

You mean The Crew, the online-only racing game?

"It doesn't apply to an online game, therefore it doesn't apply to any situation."

But I agree that it's best to purchase DRM-free copies.

To be fair, there's never been a time when Final Fantasy 9 could've been a single game. It's simply never been possible.

The same way you beat any game in the 1980s and early '90s: lots of pattern memorization based on trial and error. In the arcade, that means lots of quarters.

Once a game like Dragon's Lair was memorized, you could play through the entire thing on only a couple quarters, to the astonishment of arcade bystanders.

Kids and teenagers had more time back then because smart phones and Instagram and YouTube didn't exist. People underestimate what a huge time sink those can be.

No one had Internet access. You could play a game, play an instrument, read a book, go to the mall and the arcade and maybe catch a movie, go outside, or watch whatever happened to be on the 3-4 network TV channels (or possibly cable if your family had the money). And TV back then was mostly terrible.

So if you had $10 in your pocket, that was an entire afternoon of entertainment at the arcade and movie theater.

“Making this change gives us more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech for them to explore, discover and enjoy.”

Yeah, because that's what I think when I go into a Best Buy: "they could really use more space."