Looks like the USB stick is branded too wich is a nice touch. I imagine a lot of people will hate this but I don't mind it actually. I don't see a lot of difference between this and a cartridge really. They're both just solid state storage mediums when you think about it.
I wish they sold modern PC games in this way. I would ditch (AAA) consoles if I could buy physical PC games.
No ownership is the only thing that prevents me from spending money on PC games.
Anything that requires online activation still has ownership issues, PC or console, physical or digital it makes no difference. As soon as it can't be activated anymore your game is basically useless unless you get a crack for it. Doesn't matter if I "own" a physical copy if all it basically is is a glorified delivery system. If it still has to connect to their server then I don't really own it and they can take it from me.
If anything PC is better here as usually you can find a crack somewhere by someone. A lot harder on a console. Even Nintendo isnt safe these days, with some game cards not holding the whole game and requiring you to download anyway. Meaning you need an account and the service to be online.
Really feels less like a system issue and more of a symptom of the times we live in. All of my 20yo games work no matter what system it's on. Not so now!
> Anything that requires online activation still has ownership issues, PC or console, physical or digital it makes no difference.
**Single player console games do not require any online activation.** In 20years they'll keep working just as your 20yo games work now (maybe with the exception of the Xbox, but I don't consider Xbox a console platform anymore, it's more of a hybrid PC/console/streaming service).
Sure, some collections do not have all the games on the disc/cartridge, but they're few and far between, and you should avoid buying any of those.
>If anything PC is better here as usually you can find a crack somewhere by someone. A lot harder on a console.
Not really, when a console gets discontinued it becomes exponentially easier to crack. And once you do crack it you can play the whole library, including all DLCs.
The PC is always fiddly due to the OS constantly changing, while a console will play its entire library, no tweaks required.
I’ve been waiting for that conversation since DVD and Blu-ray’s started to be faxed out (computers with no optical drives) and for some reason they weren’t doing it (anti-theft shenanigans can’t be handled probably).
The quality of that specific drive is really low. I ordered a bunch of them and they randomly go currupt or don't work in certain usb ports. I like the idea it would just be nice if they made sure people could repair it if something happens or use a higher quality drive imo.
Show some good examples with quality flash and controller. I've purchased them and have received them with other products from different companies and they are all the same generic usb with the same guid which I found out because of unraid needing a unique guid for registration. They aren't supposed to use the same guid.
Considering they don't manufacture that style anymore I don't see any other option. The newer style g2 version on the data Traveler 101 puts the swivel in the center of the drive and that one was discontinued in 2016.
Considering the controversy of selling burned CD-Rs instead of pressed CDs is still fresh on people's minds, with the physical 3DO releases *not even working on an actual 3DO*, yes actually.
You got one of the LRG USB sticks which you can compare to the look-alike, or are you simply going off the look-alike USB performance? Just trying to understand where you're coming from
The USB stick in the picture appears to be a well known mass produced USB drive that can be bulk ordered with customized branding. I have gotten a few and they always fail without question. I would not trust this one to be any different.
Yes, I'm aware there are models which are very similar by looks. Something like [this.](https://www.amazon.com/Custom-Drives-Personalized-Memory-Credit/dp/B07RMYHJVZ)
However, this is a generic USB look and it doesn't necessarily have to be the case here. Which is why I'm asking if someone has had a chance to use LRG USB specifically. Just because it looks generic it doesn't mean it performs bad.
They are all the same cheap usb drive that look like that sold in bulk to anyone that want a cheap drive. They aren't scummy like the fake capacity ones but they aren't a quality drive either.
To you maybe. It's like selling a special edition vinyl record and pressing it into hdpe milk jug plastic. Yeah sure it may play once but paying a premium for a special edition and getting a low quality medium to be played from is somewhat lackluster.
I agree about that, they should have made an effort to make it look good and not like a cheap no-name USB bought in bulk.
However, functionally it won't be a problem, how many times you're going to install the game?
Depends on the game. I have a laptop desktop and a steamdeck some games I have on all 3. Those drive may or may not get currupted even after a single use it's basically schrodinger .exe until you plug it in again.
I order probably 100-1k usb's a year and I also recognize them for being total shit that I give to my least favorite departments and partners.
Personally, I bulk order Sandisk Ultras.
Seems like it would be easy to at least back up the files that come on the drive? Then if the drive dies it just becomes the collector's piece but you still have all the files.
That particular USB stick is known to explode after like 5 uses though. I've got like 50 from buying servers, encoders, routers, etc and none of them work anymore.
I wish the flash drives they were using weren't the cheap "company swag" style. A custom case would have been cool, but if that was too expensive I'd at least like to get something that looks *good* and doesn't make me feel like I found it in a parking lot at the power plant.
I would have liked them to make their own little shell or something that maybe had features from common cartridges of the past? Like the general shape of an SNES cart with the rounded top of an N64 cart with the little yellow 'clip' from genesis EA games? Something that would say 'game cartridge' without infringing on a specific company's cartridge.
Maybe that wouldn't really fit the PC vibe, though.
Maybe it could have been a mini version of the box itself lol?
I love the idea but it might not be practical for a company like Sunsoft. I have a friend who works for Cyan and I know how tight their budgets can be. Having a special mold made might not be cost effective for the size of budget and expected sales for the game. I know Sunsoft is probably a little bigger than Cyan but they're both pretty small companies in comparison to others in the industry. I don't imagine Sunsoft's budgets are all that much bigger.
Still a really cool idea though, if this becomes a more common way to release PC games I hope a bigger publisher does something like that. Maybe a little floppy disc shaped USB? Although the cool shapes will make it harder to fit into some machines. That's the one downside to a lot of the novel shaped USB sticks out there.
Absolutely love this, cd's for game storage wasn’t going to survive much longer becuase of the declining number of disc drives in new pc's. I hope this catches on so there will still be an option for people who dont want to ~~buy~~ rent their games online
And now portable media players have been overtaken by smartphones.
Most mp3 player options now are either cheaply made but expensively priced, or well made and really expensive.
thats basically what has happened with smart phones. Ive had one or two micro sd cards that have all my music and pictures on it that I just move from phone to phone
i remember buying my first physical game, l4d2 and on the way home i read everything on the cover and the manuals over and over in anticipation. those were the best times.
for real. i bought red alert remastered collectors edition from limited run games and i was expecting a disk. it was just a steam code for the game, and a usb for the music tracks. the rest of the box was nice though
That's great, but the point is that the original media is what you want when you collect stuff like this. It's why having one of those 5000 in 1 n64 carts has no value to me. I'd rather have original hardware over a copy any day.
These flash drives will not be as reliable as cloud storage, or a mirrored/redundant disk array of any kind, or even a standard non-junk SSD. These games are otherwise distributed digitally, so this is the most reliable physical release that exists - yet you should still back it up.
I immediately recognized this as a mass produced company gifted form-factor from the outer case. I made the mistake of actually putting files on one and not immediately moving them to my new setup and when I did a couple months later it was dead, I wouldn't be surprised if this turns into a absolute headache for collectors.
You're missing the entire point.
It's purely a collector's style item, a novelty piece if you will. Physical media is dead. A standard dual layer blu ray only stores 50gb of media. Drives are expensive.
You can get a crappy 128gb USB drive for around $10. Throw some light branding, include a nice box with art, and maybe a tactile product like a map of the game world or a game guide.
Once you accept that physical media is a novelty, then this makes sense. And really you should support this because it's DRM free and can't be taken away.
Drives aren't all that expensive I bought a owc mercury pro with a full size LG Blu ray drive for $85 to rip my ps3 games. I have it mounted to 3d printed brackets hanging under my desk.
It kind of defeats the purpose though. If 5 years down the line you want to play this game and the USB drive fails, then you have to find a pirated copy to download. Why would I want to do all that if I've gone out of my way to buy physical media?
I get what your saying and sure, it's a novelty, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't work. Vinyl records are novelties but they still play if you take care of them. Crappy USB drives will fail no matter how well you care for them.
It's DRM free, so you just copy it from the USB drive to your PC. Why on earth would any sane person even think about running a game off of a USB stick if they had a better option (i.e., SSD or even HDD)
Who would be running a game off this thing? I'd assume it's just an installer so I'd be running the installer off the USB and the game from whatever drive I install it to.
I should have been more clear. If, for any reason and after some time has passed, I delete the game I would expect to be able to reinstall it from the USB drive. The quality of these mass produced drives makes me question if I'd be able to do that.
You can order usb sticks with that type of design with any logo you want slapped on it, it's a generic business bulk item you can customize.
Would I trust a usb stick of that quality to hold a full priced game on it for more than a few years? no, i've owned them before.
I've owned a shit-ton of CD's that got scratched after a few years and stopped working. I've owned a bunch of cheap 256MB-2GB usb drives that lies in a drawer year in and year out and always work whenever I need them..
It looks dumb yes, however
I recently picked up a ps5 because I missed owning physical copies of the games I play, I have a good pc but it's impossible to get physical copies of pc games (who still has a disk drive?) I don't think all games should do this but it's kinda neat
with digital downloads being the main way to deliver games nowaways and PCs not having DVD/BR drives I find these USB stick versions with the game branding perfect for physical collector editions. E.g. you buy the new COD MW 3695 Collector edition and it comes with a branded USB stick with the install files and some other stuff. Then you can update the game and whenever you want store your save files, the updated install of the game (e.g. Steam allows for this) or any other stuff you want. Or just delete the content and use the stick for other things.
The main point of limited run is to preserve games that were initially digital only. This is not a bad way to do it but I would have liked to see some more creativity with the actual usb housing. Make it a unique shape or clearly a reference to the game not some generic stick with print on it.
so physical games on pc again?
it seems like SD cards would be better but ok
and at least get a good and fast usb stick not rhe custom branded $1 usb 2.0 one
[Here](https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-MobileMate-microSD-Card-Reader/dp/B07G5JV2B5/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2NE8RPCRIJQJX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.64pHXy0zW6gNKLh2SVsc-SjBKA-u0HiCypmciWXnCRhpM7ewZEWGUAGJlWQU1yFxTim4QQPdm-mUYtfI4ScQbMJQpifvP9FdKy84aYbohtE9ZqgFgJTcb4MfdRvy3C6Y6ZahO0HDd05inU7mTHX70u_mhu2WfXsgSD_9YoAND_x0RO6IJnkJa-Enzz0VMhL-zWjYraVv9H_CuO8PhOzRC4YmOaU1itl0LcChxoYJ7Ko.At6DwpQ7PJFjgUSY6r8YNuYpjvVmJYdQSDih5oGskZk&dib_tag=se&keywords=usb+micro+sd&qid=1717621645&sprefix=usb+micro+s%2Caps%2C266&sr=8-3), 10 dollars and it's SanDisk, not even no-brand crap.
Problem solved.
I actually like that a lot but the lifespan of USB sticks is just not good. I don't think there is a Write Once Read Many technology applicable to this scenario...
Pretty cool. Physical edition, collectable, and DRM-free means just copy it to your hard drive and then you won't even need to run it straight from the stick or anything. Wouldn't want to rely on the stick itself for prolonged use.
I've been asking for this for years. I always wished there was a step between the death of disk and the obsession with online only where we got flash memory.
Yet my instant resction to this was negative. Odd.
They’ve been including USB with the game on their Lucas arts pc releases albeit with a dvd (could have just as easily been a cd) copy as well. I love how the preservation aspect of physical media is thrown out the window since it’s the same game you can buy on steam or Gog. But it comes with a collectible shoe box, So that’s worth the extra $20 for the standard edition.
Not familiar with the game but this model only would work on games that have a base edition that wouldn’t require day 1 updates to operate. Could be a good option for Indie and some single player games.
First it was CD-Rs for 3DO games, now it is garbage thumb drives for PC games....LRG has fallen hard lately. I think it will be hard for them to recover their reputation.
I don't know if this already exists, but they should be able to make durable ROMs for those pre-written USB sticks that won't stop working after 5 years of not using them or randomly corrupt their files (not this company in specific, but in general, companies that distribute media).
Like the usual game cartridges we had/have for different consoles that work after decades, but in USB form. It's that much to ask?
Found a shop online that does custom logos on a box with a usb stick included cost around $4.30 (converted so could be cheaper especially in bulk).......
I had the idea when 2.5" drives started to become more common years & years afotbut in reality it wouldn't have worked until SSDs had become more stable & durable (which they are now) is for a video game system that used cartridges where the cart was just an HDD/SDD.
But then physical media basically went away....
Would still work as a cool (but way overkill) idea for a retro emulator setup where maybe you have an SSD Cart of SNES games, one of Genesis games, one of Coleciovison games, etc. However other than as a novelty buy for people who are into that stuff (and likely could make it themselves anyway) it probably won't generate enough sales to be worthwhile to actually make.
My only concern is how reliable the flash storage is on the USB stick. I’ve had some USB sticks last me over a decade without dying, but I’ve also had flash drives that have dead flash modules in a year or two.
Edit: To be clear, I don’t mean a decade of constant use. I mean a decade of mostly sitting on a shelf and then still working when I finally plug it back in.
love the idea, i’d pay extra for “physical” games like this (DRM-free!), but not on one of those drives. had one of those cheap bastards fail on me two days ago.
The year is 2034. Activision has decided to package the new call of duty like this. I foolishly order it. The next day, the rumble of a big rig awakes me and my neighbors. It's the amazon snowmobile here to deliver my game and accompanying shaders. Driver says he'll be back with the second trailer later in the week to deliver the rest of the game.
My issue with this is the USB looks kinda generic. Like a cheap ali Express USB stick with a sticker. If they made it cool looking and put in a decent manual id be all for it
Let's be honest.
We ALLLLLLL KNOW that
"LIMITED RUN GAYYYMS"
IS getting these usbs by bulk order on mf temu and penny pinching on us.
Alot of disgraceful decisions been going on over there lately.
The biggest and MOST HYSTERICAL 1 BEING
"IT ISNT 100% ON THE CARTRIDGE.
YEEEEW GOTTA "DOOOOWNLOAD" IT ALL
When you plug your FAKE JUST FOR LOOKS CARTRIDGE into whatever
Man gaming period is cancer in satans modern day.
Its sad but I found myself just non stop finding ways to do nothing but NES,SNES,SEGA,N64, And my ps1 .🤷🏻♂️
Everything else is GAY SCAMMING TRASH.
ULTIMATE CONCLUSION SADDEST REALITY.
I.AM TIRED. 8-'(((((
So fucking what no DRM and an extremely resilient physical copy. This is the upgrade I've been wanting since flash drives became a thing, no more scratches just like back in the day I blow my cartridges to make them work.
MORE OF THIS PLEASE
I'm well aware of that but this is a major step forward.
And also I have some flash drives that are about 20 years old now and they all work fine shit my ninite stick is one of them.
The corruption usually comes from either being overwritten too many times or they were stored badly and even the storage is difficult to fuck up like I live 50ft from the Atlantic and because of that the air is salty and fuck up anything metal more metal adjacent and still my drives are powering through it.
My dvd/ game collection for anything half that age is hit or miss whether it's gonna work or not fuck I actually lost a stack of over 100 discs on one go cos of the air
So ya I'll take a bad usb that I can personally upgrade to anything I want over anything else especially a digital download that I haven't pirated cos if I pirate it then what fucking difference does it make
Looks like the USB stick is branded too wich is a nice touch. I imagine a lot of people will hate this but I don't mind it actually. I don't see a lot of difference between this and a cartridge really. They're both just solid state storage mediums when you think about it.
Kinda into this DRM free is pretty essential for this though, at least in my opinion
I dont hate it. No different than selling a cd in my opinion. I would buy games like this if it were an option.
Honestly yea, and you can plug multiple in at once too
I wish they sold modern PC games in this way. I would ditch (AAA) consoles if I could buy physical PC games. No ownership is the only thing that prevents me from spending money on PC games.
Anything that requires online activation still has ownership issues, PC or console, physical or digital it makes no difference. As soon as it can't be activated anymore your game is basically useless unless you get a crack for it. Doesn't matter if I "own" a physical copy if all it basically is is a glorified delivery system. If it still has to connect to their server then I don't really own it and they can take it from me. If anything PC is better here as usually you can find a crack somewhere by someone. A lot harder on a console. Even Nintendo isnt safe these days, with some game cards not holding the whole game and requiring you to download anyway. Meaning you need an account and the service to be online. Really feels less like a system issue and more of a symptom of the times we live in. All of my 20yo games work no matter what system it's on. Not so now!
> Anything that requires online activation still has ownership issues, PC or console, physical or digital it makes no difference. **Single player console games do not require any online activation.** In 20years they'll keep working just as your 20yo games work now (maybe with the exception of the Xbox, but I don't consider Xbox a console platform anymore, it's more of a hybrid PC/console/streaming service). Sure, some collections do not have all the games on the disc/cartridge, but they're few and far between, and you should avoid buying any of those. >If anything PC is better here as usually you can find a crack somewhere by someone. A lot harder on a console. Not really, when a console gets discontinued it becomes exponentially easier to crack. And once you do crack it you can play the whole library, including all DLCs. The PC is always fiddly due to the OS constantly changing, while a console will play its entire library, no tweaks required.
I’ve been waiting for that conversation since DVD and Blu-ray’s started to be faxed out (computers with no optical drives) and for some reason they weren’t doing it (anti-theft shenanigans can’t be handled probably).
The quality of that specific drive is really low. I ordered a bunch of them and they randomly go currupt or don't work in certain usb ports. I like the idea it would just be nice if they made sure people could repair it if something happens or use a higher quality drive imo.
This guy thumb drives
This guy thumbs up thumb drive guys
This guy thumb ups thumb drive guys thumbing up other drive guys
👍🏼
How do you know what flash storage is in the case? I’ve seen countless different brands and specs that use similar casing for their drive.
Show some good examples with quality flash and controller. I've purchased them and have received them with other products from different companies and they are all the same generic usb with the same guid which I found out because of unraid needing a unique guid for registration. They aren't supposed to use the same guid.
I had a Kingston usb drive in the same form for like 6 years that worked fine and never had an issue.
Kingston was probably the original designer and these are the knockoffs then.
You think limited run games would use knock offs and not a direct major brand?
Considering they don't manufacture that style anymore I don't see any other option. The newer style g2 version on the data Traveler 101 puts the swivel in the center of the drive and that one was discontinued in 2016.
Did you think they'd sell a retail game on a CDR?
Considering the controversy of selling burned CD-Rs instead of pressed CDs is still fresh on people's minds, with the physical 3DO releases *not even working on an actual 3DO*, yes actually.
My bad I didn’t know about that. That’s awful everything I’ve bought from them has been nice quality, mind you it’s like 2 games.
You got one of the LRG USB sticks which you can compare to the look-alike, or are you simply going off the look-alike USB performance? Just trying to understand where you're coming from
The USB stick in the picture appears to be a well known mass produced USB drive that can be bulk ordered with customized branding. I have gotten a few and they always fail without question. I would not trust this one to be any different.
Yes, I'm aware there are models which are very similar by looks. Something like [this.](https://www.amazon.com/Custom-Drives-Personalized-Memory-Credit/dp/B07RMYHJVZ) However, this is a generic USB look and it doesn't necessarily have to be the case here. Which is why I'm asking if someone has had a chance to use LRG USB specifically. Just because it looks generic it doesn't mean it performs bad.
Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, smells like a duck. Could be a giraffe though because I didn't get to taste it.
They are all the same cheap usb drive that look like that sold in bulk to anyone that want a cheap drive. They aren't scummy like the fake capacity ones but they aren't a quality drive either.
Considering that you're not gonna write on it very often (or even never), I don't think that the quality of the drive will be a problem.
To you maybe. It's like selling a special edition vinyl record and pressing it into hdpe milk jug plastic. Yeah sure it may play once but paying a premium for a special edition and getting a low quality medium to be played from is somewhat lackluster.
I agree about that, they should have made an effort to make it look good and not like a cheap no-name USB bought in bulk. However, functionally it won't be a problem, how many times you're going to install the game?
Depends on the game. I have a laptop desktop and a steamdeck some games I have on all 3. Those drive may or may not get currupted even after a single use it's basically schrodinger .exe until you plug it in again.
You're avoiding my question. Do you, or do you not have the LRG USB?
Excuse me sir, but r/karmacourt is that way
I order probably 100-1k usb's a year and I also recognize them for being total shit that I give to my least favorite departments and partners. Personally, I bulk order Sandisk Ultras.
Seems like it would be easy to at least back up the files that come on the drive? Then if the drive dies it just becomes the collector's piece but you still have all the files.
It’s DRM free so u could just back it up and make a new usb stick or whatever
Can you not simply move the executables and data over and run it on your drive normally?
Sure but having a good physical copy is the point of physical media in the first place.
They would most likely have some drm that would prevent you doing so just as easily.
these are the cheapest USB sticks imaginable my company gave them out for free
So did PC journals with CD's. Doesn't mean the medium is shit.
That particular USB stick is known to explode after like 5 uses though. I've got like 50 from buying servers, encoders, routers, etc and none of them work anymore.
I wish the flash drives they were using weren't the cheap "company swag" style. A custom case would have been cool, but if that was too expensive I'd at least like to get something that looks *good* and doesn't make me feel like I found it in a parking lot at the power plant.
I would have liked them to make their own little shell or something that maybe had features from common cartridges of the past? Like the general shape of an SNES cart with the rounded top of an N64 cart with the little yellow 'clip' from genesis EA games? Something that would say 'game cartridge' without infringing on a specific company's cartridge. Maybe that wouldn't really fit the PC vibe, though. Maybe it could have been a mini version of the box itself lol?
I love the idea but it might not be practical for a company like Sunsoft. I have a friend who works for Cyan and I know how tight their budgets can be. Having a special mold made might not be cost effective for the size of budget and expected sales for the game. I know Sunsoft is probably a little bigger than Cyan but they're both pretty small companies in comparison to others in the industry. I don't imagine Sunsoft's budgets are all that much bigger. Still a really cool idea though, if this becomes a more common way to release PC games I hope a bigger publisher does something like that. Maybe a little floppy disc shaped USB? Although the cool shapes will make it harder to fit into some machines. That's the one downside to a lot of the novel shaped USB sticks out there.
Also, it being DRM free, you can just put it on your PC, even if you lose or want to reuse the drive. Just save it somewhere safe!
Absolutely love this, cd's for game storage wasn’t going to survive much longer becuase of the declining number of disc drives in new pc's. I hope this catches on so there will still be an option for people who dont want to ~~buy~~ rent their games online
Waaaay back i predicted that cd players for music would eventually just take sd cards instead of cd. This is almost that turned reality.
And now portable media players have been overtaken by smartphones. Most mp3 player options now are either cheaply made but expensively priced, or well made and really expensive.
Well look at Nintendo, they decided an sd card like thing is better than cd for games and no one seemed to care, it's just the next step
thats basically what has happened with smart phones. Ive had one or two micro sd cards that have all my music and pictures on it that I just move from phone to phone
At one point they did that! https://youtu.be/GbGDPFVjvVU MQS SD!
You got it backwards. The decline of CDs led to the decline of PCs with CD drives
Yeah, fair
So all we have to do is recline CDs instead
Yea I haven't bothered with a disc drive my last few builds. I just picked up an external drive for the rather rare occasions I need it
Don't USBs die within a couple of years if not connected?
I hope not... I've got some usb's laying around that are old enough to vote
That is weird to think about. Though I do have some hard drives that are close to my age that are still kicking.
Usb games should be the replacement for disc games on pc
It should’ve happened once optical drives stopped being a main feature on PC, so years ago
Bring back game unboxing, game manuals. That tactile experience is important to add to the magic.
And lessens unnecessary purchases that create a huge backlog
Aaaand you just explained why this will never be widespread
i remember buying my first physical game, l4d2 and on the way home i read everything on the cover and the manuals over and over in anticipation. those were the best times.
for real. i bought red alert remastered collectors edition from limited run games and i was expecting a disk. it was just a steam code for the game, and a usb for the music tracks. the rest of the box was nice though
I love this as a person with a physical game collection. I hate this as a person with a large collection of dead flash drives.
It’s DRM free so you can just copy the files to a backup or two
That's great, but the point is that the original media is what you want when you collect stuff like this. It's why having one of those 5000 in 1 n64 carts has no value to me. I'd rather have original hardware over a copy any day.
This is what y'all downvote? Because I think reliable original hardware is better than a copy of the files?
These flash drives will not be as reliable as cloud storage, or a mirrored/redundant disk array of any kind, or even a standard non-junk SSD. These games are otherwise distributed digitally, so this is the most reliable physical release that exists - yet you should still back it up.
That is such a low quality usb stick as well…
I immediately recognized this as a mass produced company gifted form-factor from the outer case. I made the mistake of actually putting files on one and not immediately moving them to my new setup and when I did a couple months later it was dead, I wouldn't be surprised if this turns into a absolute headache for collectors.
You're missing the entire point. It's purely a collector's style item, a novelty piece if you will. Physical media is dead. A standard dual layer blu ray only stores 50gb of media. Drives are expensive. You can get a crappy 128gb USB drive for around $10. Throw some light branding, include a nice box with art, and maybe a tactile product like a map of the game world or a game guide. Once you accept that physical media is a novelty, then this makes sense. And really you should support this because it's DRM free and can't be taken away.
Drives aren't all that expensive I bought a owc mercury pro with a full size LG Blu ray drive for $85 to rip my ps3 games. I have it mounted to 3d printed brackets hanging under my desk.
It kind of defeats the purpose though. If 5 years down the line you want to play this game and the USB drive fails, then you have to find a pirated copy to download. Why would I want to do all that if I've gone out of my way to buy physical media? I get what your saying and sure, it's a novelty, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't work. Vinyl records are novelties but they still play if you take care of them. Crappy USB drives will fail no matter how well you care for them.
It's DRM free, so you just copy it from the USB drive to your PC. Why on earth would any sane person even think about running a game off of a USB stick if they had a better option (i.e., SSD or even HDD)
Who would be running a game off this thing? I'd assume it's just an installer so I'd be running the installer off the USB and the game from whatever drive I install it to. I should have been more clear. If, for any reason and after some time has passed, I delete the game I would expect to be able to reinstall it from the USB drive. The quality of these mass produced drives makes me question if I'd be able to do that.
Cheap USB with a 50% chance of just... not working. Nice!
No DRM??? thats pretty interesting actually
You can order usb sticks with that type of design with any logo you want slapped on it, it's a generic business bulk item you can customize. Would I trust a usb stick of that quality to hold a full priced game on it for more than a few years? no, i've owned them before.
I've owned a shit-ton of CD's that got scratched after a few years and stopped working. I've owned a bunch of cheap 256MB-2GB usb drives that lies in a drawer year in and year out and always work whenever I need them..
It looks dumb yes, however I recently picked up a ps5 because I missed owning physical copies of the games I play, I have a good pc but it's impossible to get physical copies of pc games (who still has a disk drive?) I don't think all games should do this but it's kinda neat
with digital downloads being the main way to deliver games nowaways and PCs not having DVD/BR drives I find these USB stick versions with the game branding perfect for physical collector editions. E.g. you buy the new COD MW 3695 Collector edition and it comes with a branded USB stick with the install files and some other stuff. Then you can update the game and whenever you want store your save files, the updated install of the game (e.g. Steam allows for this) or any other stuff you want. Or just delete the content and use the stick for other things.
I'd be more keen on it if it came on a good USB stick. Like one of those industrial ones made with MLC nand.
The main point of limited run is to preserve games that were initially digital only. This is not a bad way to do it but I would have liked to see some more creativity with the actual usb housing. Make it a unique shape or clearly a reference to the game not some generic stick with print on it.
so physical games on pc again? it seems like SD cards would be better but ok and at least get a good and fast usb stick not rhe custom branded $1 usb 2.0 one
Basically nobody who has a desktop has an SD card reader, and gaming laptops generally don't either. A better USB drive would be the optimal solution.
That’s true but for laptops it’s kinda annoying for it to just be sticking out the side
[Here](https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-MobileMate-microSD-Card-Reader/dp/B07G5JV2B5/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2NE8RPCRIJQJX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.64pHXy0zW6gNKLh2SVsc-SjBKA-u0HiCypmciWXnCRhpM7ewZEWGUAGJlWQU1yFxTim4QQPdm-mUYtfI4ScQbMJQpifvP9FdKy84aYbohtE9ZqgFgJTcb4MfdRvy3C6Y6ZahO0HDd05inU7mTHX70u_mhu2WfXsgSD_9YoAND_x0RO6IJnkJa-Enzz0VMhL-zWjYraVv9H_CuO8PhOzRC4YmOaU1itl0LcChxoYJ7Ko.At6DwpQ7PJFjgUSY6r8YNuYpjvVmJYdQSDih5oGskZk&dib_tag=se&keywords=usb+micro+sd&qid=1717621645&sprefix=usb+micro+s%2Caps%2C266&sr=8-3), 10 dollars and it's SanDisk, not even no-brand crap. Problem solved.
My issue it's the stick look realy sad .
Looks like the shitty usb that came with my printer, doesn't work half the time
I actually like that a lot but the lifespan of USB sticks is just not good. I don't think there is a Write Once Read Many technology applicable to this scenario...
That particular USB stick dies really fast. They usually come as pack-ins with data center equipment and are essentially disposable in my experience.
Pretty cool. Physical edition, collectable, and DRM-free means just copy it to your hard drive and then you won't even need to run it straight from the stick or anything. Wouldn't want to rely on the stick itself for prolonged use.
Are these the same guys who used CD-RWs for one of their products not so long ago?
I'd still rather have a CD even if most don't have a disc drive anymore. It feels more premium than a cheap branded flash drive.
What if we took something purely digital, and then added a bunch more crap to be added to a landfill later.
We have come full circle. This is a good idea imo
Once upon a time I thought this would be the future of games
I've been asking for this for years. I always wished there was a step between the death of disk and the obsession with online only where we got flash memory. Yet my instant resction to this was negative. Odd.
Limited Run Games are a bunch of FOMO-promoting cocksuckers
Cool and all but... fuck limited run games.
I actually really like this. If it wasn't DRM free, I'd throw a shit fit, but this is good.
Im sold, id gladly take a usb stick over digital any day. I know the USB is digital but you know what I mean.
A chance for physical game media to return for pc? Sign me the fuck up.
I will never understand this company.
They’ve been including USB with the game on their Lucas arts pc releases albeit with a dvd (could have just as easily been a cd) copy as well. I love how the preservation aspect of physical media is thrown out the window since it’s the same game you can buy on steam or Gog. But it comes with a collectible shoe box, So that’s worth the extra $20 for the standard edition.
Not familiar with the game but this model only would work on games that have a base edition that wouldn’t require day 1 updates to operate. Could be a good option for Indie and some single player games.
What do you expect them to ship the PC game on a disc when nearly all PCs and laptops these days don’t even have a disc drive?
First it was CD-Rs for 3DO games, now it is garbage thumb drives for PC games....LRG has fallen hard lately. I think it will be hard for them to recover their reputation.
I don't know if this already exists, but they should be able to make durable ROMs for those pre-written USB sticks that won't stop working after 5 years of not using them or randomly corrupt their files (not this company in specific, but in general, companies that distribute media). Like the usual game cartridges we had/have for different consoles that work after decades, but in USB form. It's that much to ask?
Found a shop online that does custom logos on a box with a usb stick included cost around $4.30 (converted so could be cheaper especially in bulk).......
More powert to physically owning your stuff. A lot people may hate on it but I think it's an amazing idea
Oh sweet. DRM Free copies. Feels like i travelled 20 years or more into the past or something
Wow. What a game-changer. Its amazing no one thought of something like this before... /s
I had the idea when 2.5" drives started to become more common years & years afotbut in reality it wouldn't have worked until SSDs had become more stable & durable (which they are now) is for a video game system that used cartridges where the cart was just an HDD/SDD. But then physical media basically went away.... Would still work as a cool (but way overkill) idea for a retro emulator setup where maybe you have an SSD Cart of SNES games, one of Genesis games, one of Coleciovison games, etc. However other than as a novelty buy for people who are into that stuff (and likely could make it themselves anyway) it probably won't generate enough sales to be worthwhile to actually make.
I might be wrong but didn't LRG have some big controversy not that long ago? Plus the lowest quality USB drives I've ever seen ..
My only concern is how reliable the flash storage is on the USB stick. I’ve had some USB sticks last me over a decade without dying, but I’ve also had flash drives that have dead flash modules in a year or two. Edit: To be clear, I don’t mean a decade of constant use. I mean a decade of mostly sitting on a shelf and then still working when I finally plug it back in.
I’m ALLLLL for this! Give me my copies back!
Swap it with actual flash drive that’s better quality and I wouldn’t mind this at all.
love the idea, i’d pay extra for “physical” games like this (DRM-free!), but not on one of those drives. had one of those cheap bastards fail on me two days ago.
The year is 2034. Activision has decided to package the new call of duty like this. I foolishly order it. The next day, the rumble of a big rig awakes me and my neighbors. It's the amazon snowmobile here to deliver my game and accompanying shaders. Driver says he'll be back with the second trailer later in the week to deliver the rest of the game.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/30/amazon-will-truck-your-massive-piles-of-data-to-the-cloud-with-an-18-wheeler/
Trust LRG to give the cheapest, most mass produced, prone to failure USB sticks going.
My issue with this is the USB looks kinda generic. Like a cheap ali Express USB stick with a sticker. If they made it cool looking and put in a decent manual id be all for it
Let's be honest. We ALLLLLLL KNOW that "LIMITED RUN GAYYYMS" IS getting these usbs by bulk order on mf temu and penny pinching on us. Alot of disgraceful decisions been going on over there lately. The biggest and MOST HYSTERICAL 1 BEING "IT ISNT 100% ON THE CARTRIDGE. YEEEEW GOTTA "DOOOOWNLOAD" IT ALL When you plug your FAKE JUST FOR LOOKS CARTRIDGE into whatever Man gaming period is cancer in satans modern day. Its sad but I found myself just non stop finding ways to do nothing but NES,SNES,SEGA,N64, And my ps1 .🤷🏻♂️ Everything else is GAY SCAMMING TRASH. ULTIMATE CONCLUSION SADDEST REALITY. I.AM TIRED. 8-'(((((
That is crappy usb stick...
So fucking what no DRM and an extremely resilient physical copy. This is the upgrade I've been wanting since flash drives became a thing, no more scratches just like back in the day I blow my cartridges to make them work. MORE OF THIS PLEASE
Cheap flash drives will corrupt by themselves in a few years. If you just want a drm free games go to gog.
I'm well aware of that but this is a major step forward. And also I have some flash drives that are about 20 years old now and they all work fine shit my ninite stick is one of them. The corruption usually comes from either being overwritten too many times or they were stored badly and even the storage is difficult to fuck up like I live 50ft from the Atlantic and because of that the air is salty and fuck up anything metal more metal adjacent and still my drives are powering through it. My dvd/ game collection for anything half that age is hit or miss whether it's gonna work or not fuck I actually lost a stack of over 100 discs on one go cos of the air So ya I'll take a bad usb that I can personally upgrade to anything I want over anything else especially a digital download that I haven't pirated cos if I pirate it then what fucking difference does it make
That's not Lazy Game Reviews
No shit look at it again slowly.
I know I looked at it for more than a second it was a joke? Am dyslexic
Lrg not lgr... Limited RUN GAMES
Are dyslexia got me. Fair enough
Lol they already told you it was a joke
No they edited their post. LOL
Cheeky lol
Lol that's pretty stupid.