Hiya!

Well, I have some bad news for myself. In my region of the Philippines, the government announced they’ll be extending the “enhanced community quarantine” order until the end of the month. I am very miffed about the extension, to put things mildly. Not because we won’t be opening up stores and make life feel a little more normal but because I had big plans for when I could finally go out once again.

My plan is very simple, too. I would go to my nearest shopping mall (probably decked out protective gear because of all the fear surrounding the current outbreak), eat my fill at Yabu (my favorite Japanese restaurant) and go to DataBlitz (the most well-known video game store here in the country) and buy me a copy of Final Fantasy VII Remake. Then I’ll go home, boot up my PlayStation 4, load up Final Fantasy VII Remake and play the heck out of it!

You may be thinking I’m a total dummy as Final Fantasy VII Remake has already been released and I could just buy it online. I could easily go to the PlayStation Store, buy and then download it anytime I want without having to leave the comfort of my own home. I will acknowledge this to be the truth. However, with some games like Final Fantasy VII Remake, I am simple compelled to get a proper hard copy for my own peculiar rationales. There are some games I’m perfectly okay with just buying online but there are just some special games I need to be able to hold in my hands.

For example, when it was revealed Capcom was making Resident Evil 3 Remake, I was one of the first people to go to the PlayStation Store and put my money in for a pre-order. I simply had no qualms with getting a soft copy of that specific game. Why? Well, for one, I really loved Resident Evil 2 Remake! It was a game I was thoroughly engrossed in for a couple of months. It was something I played without going online and seeing how to solve the puzzles as I really wanted to do everything by myself. I even developed a few tricks of my own for Resident Evil 2 Remake! That’s how obsessed I was with it!

However, I never felt the need to actually get a Resident Evil 3 Remake disc. I felt just ordering and downloading it online was just fine. My reasoning behind this is because there was no way Resident Evil 3 Remake was going to be as groundbreaking as its predecessor. Even from the trailers, which looked objectively stunning, by the way, I could already tell it was borrowing heavily from Resident Evil 2 Remake.

Some of the zombies models were similar and even some of the items, like the bolt cutters, were copy and pasted into the game! For some odd reason, I kind of knew it was going to be a smaller game as well. Perhaps it was because it was coming bundled with Resident Evil: Resistance. It’s like Capcom was saying, “See? You’re not just getting one game, but two!” I still love the game but we all have to admit the fact it’s just a weaker version of Resident Evil 2 Remake on most aspects.

There’s also a part of me which has become wary of the stuff you can buy on the digital store. Publishers ultimately have full control over what games you can and can’t buy and can change it at will. There have been so many games that I wanted to play but can’t because it’s not “in stock” on the online store. Konami appears to be the worst offender here but, sometimes, it’s not their fault. They did have games like The Simpsons Arcade, X-Men Arcade and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled have been pulled out of the online stores due to the company losing the respective licenses. Konami has also tried to change history by getting rid of the cringy dialogue from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night because they’re ashamed of the abysmal translation but they seem to have forgotten how memorable the game has become because of it at the same time.

Then there’s PT. Oh, glorious PT, a game that will only be an urban legend for so many people.

Probably the most despicable thing Konami has done recently, in my opinion, is them attempting to erase PT, AKA Playable Teaser, from existence. For those who aren’t familiar with the story, PT was a free demo Konami put out on August 2014. It just had the player, using a first person viewpoint, loop around in a repeating hallway of a house but things get creepier and creepier with each loop. There wasn’t much of a story but the imagery was frightening with things like a zombie who appears around the corner, a living baby fetus in a sink and eyeball picture frames following you around. The puzzles were insanely difficult and, in fact, gamers aren’t really sure how to solve them exactly. It turns out PT was a preview of Hideo Kojima’s proposed sequel to the Silent Hill franchise.

Gamers everywhere wanted to play PT for themselves because of how frightening it was, even if it could be completed in 2 hours. It was still a thrill ride and fans really wanted to experience Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro’s vision for Silent Hill.

Then, without warning, Konami yanked it from the PlayStation Store. This was all because of their falling out with Kojima. What’s worse is Konami made it so you can’t download it again even if you did before! This means PT is lost in time and the only remaining ones are the copies in the hard drives of the PlayStation 4 owners who had the hindsight to not erase it!

This shouldn’t be a big deal in the grand scheme of things. However, if Konami can totally erase a game from the Internet, what’s to stop other publishers from doing the same in the future? There may come a time when your complete digital library of games will be scrapped from the servers and you won’t be able to play those games which you purchased with actual money since they’re just not in the ether anymore!

This is why, even in the digital age where I can stream movies and download games, there are always going to be some things I want to actually physically own. While I can’t really think of a single movie, besides The Little Mermaid (which I already have multiple copies off), that I would want to own, video games seems like the more volatile item that can be lost forever if I don’t have in disc form. Final Fantasy VII Remake is that type of game and, while I am going to be under “house arrest” for another 2 weeks, I hope I can just wait it out so I can enjoy the experience for myself in its grandest form.

Or I could just go to YouTube and watch people play it first.

Byee!

Are there any movies or video games you have to get in physical format? Let me know what they are in the comments section below!