Why this is scarier than the content in the demo.

If you have bring up to P.T. to anyone who has played it, you will find that the tech demo elicited a common reaction in people.

The game was odd, interesting, and most importantly scary.

For those that are unaware, the game demo was directed by Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and was a precursor to the next Silent Hill game. Unfortunately, following the fallout between Konami and Hideo Kojima, Silent Hills has been cancelled and P.T. has been taken out of the Playstation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace.

What does this mean for you?

If you had previously downloaded the game from either of these channels, make sure that you keep the game on your hard drive. You will no longer be able to find the game in your account “Downloads” folder, since it has been removed from online servers.

Only locally on your console will this content be stored.

Why is this such a bad thing?

There is the constant struggle between the physical game copy and the digital copy.

While I personally do not care to buy the physical version of a game, as a record collector, I can understand the appeal of the physical box. In the past — not so much in the current era — physical games come with cool box art, a physical disc, and an instruction manual. They are a THING to collect.

Digital games offer the exact opposite. While you get nothing in the physical space, you are treated to ease of access (simply turn on your console) and lower prices, since there is nothing to package. The digital consumer expects games to be released at lower prices.

The major con of the physical copy — minus the price — is how fickle a product a game can be. A disc can be scratched, smudged, lost, stolen… the possibilities are endless. With a digital copy, as long as the server stands, you own the game.

Even if your download is corrupted, you can simply redownload it

With the ability to simply remove content that has previously been download, these large developers show what can happen in the future. While P.T. is a free download the precedent remains set. As a consumer, I now understand that my digital purchase can be lost forever. That virtual edge dulled by the armor of a greedy reality.

It is not difficult to imagine a future where EA can simply remove last year’s Madden release to sell next year’s copy. This is a dangerous issue if not resolved soon.

Now that you CAN’T play the PT demo, find out what we thought

In one of our special episodes of Hype N’ Grype, the entire team at ThreeHeadedBoy played through the P.T. demo on PS4. Watch us crap our pants.

Chime in

Are gamers entitled to the digital software they buy? I am actually not sure how terms and conditions are drafted for some of my favorite digital shops, but who is to stop some expensive lawyer from adding that one line of text to that one section of the user agreement?

Maybe you are more familiar with the way this process works? If so, get involved and comment below!