The long, cold winter of 2013 – 2014 is coming to a close—whether it likes it or not, and based on the weather for much of this week the answer is decidedly “it does not like it one bit because it is kicking and screaming its way to the door”--and spring at last is upon us. And games seem to be taking notice of the change in season bringing along one big change in particular: a new distribution channel. If the reports received so far follow through, we're in for a whole new place to get the latest games: Redbox outlets.
Admittedly, referring to Xbox One, Wii U and PlayStation 4 titles as “next gen” is slightly disingenuous as it's really current-gen, but given how many gamers out there are still rocking their previous systems, it's worth making the distinction for a while longer. But the current reports say that, starting March 25—this Tuesday, the standard day for new release movies to make their appearance for the last two decades or more—a set of Wii U games ranging from “Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze” to “Super Mario 3D World” were spotted on the coming soon pages for that days. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, meanwhile, were set to get “Call of Duty: Ghosts,” “Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag” and “Thief,” all on April 1.
It didn't take long, according to reports, for Redbox to delete the aforementioned listings, but long enough had passed to allow speculation to run across the net, which normally takes somewhere around, oh, fifteen seconds or so. This is, if true—and most indications suggest that it will end up being just that—a great idea for Redbox. Like any other video rental chain, keeping up with the latest and greatest is just part and parcel of the operation. Failure to do so casts a negative light on the whole operation, and that means Redbox needs to keep up. Perhaps a bit slower than some other alternatives, but this is one of those situations where “better late than never” does still apply.
It's hard to believe how close we came, right around the last E3, to never having this kind of news to talk about again, but we do. Microsoft may well have almost killed the disc, but the rest of the infrastructure simply wasn't in place to support Microsoft's idea. The next generation, well, that may prove to be enough to change things. The rise of Google Fiber, some new technology in wireless Internet coverage from things like the pCell...these things have some real potential to shake up Internet connections as we know them currently. But for now, the disc is clearly here to stay, and nothing less than Redbox bringing it in makes for perfect proof.
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