Digital: One of the best things about digital games is that because retailers don't have to pay for boxes, discs, and manuals (not so much nowadays), they can offer huge sales without losing money. Steam has daily sales that sometimes go over 75% off, and PSN and Xbox Live have both seen great sales throughout the years as well. The downside to digital games from a price perspective though is that, when a company has sole control of the price (like Nintendo and the E-Shop), they don't have to try as hard to compete with other prices. This can cause titles to sit at the same price for months, years, or the entire duration of the consoles lifetime. It would be great if there was some sort of rule that digital retailers put up, like dropping the price 25-50% a year after release, and it would certainly help prevent sales stalling.
Retail: Retail games have, for the last several generations, set a solid MSRP that almost all retailers stick to. Gone are the days of $100+ SNES RPGs, replaced with a standard $60 for major releases, and $40 for budget titles. There is of course some fluctuation within this, but for the most part you can count on a game being a certain price when you go to purchase it. As far as sales go, because there are so many stores to shop at, it's not hard to find a good sale. Clearance is something that won't ever happen to digital games, and of course the same goes for buying used, and this is often the cheapest way to get games. Rarely though will retailers offer the same kind of flash sales that digital can, so it's rare to see a game drop more than $20 in the first 6 months of release.
Winner: Retail
It's really tough to say which is the cheaper way to buy games. Sales for digital games are often more extreme than retail games, but they are also fewer and farer between. It's tipped slightly toward retail with second hand games, but with so many games coming with online passes nowadays, buying used is becoming less and less appealing.
Digital: Probably the best reason for buying digital is that you get the game right then and there, without having to leave your house. That can save gas, shipping prices, and time, which all add up in the end. The problem though is that so many areas still have poor internet speeds. A full game might take a whole day to download, possibly limiting the use of your console for the duration. For smaller games this isn't a big deal, but for larger AAA retail games that often exceed 10GB, it can seriously throw a wrench in your gaming plans. And then there is the fact that not all games are even available digitally, thus making the choice for you.
Retail: When you buy a game on a disc, you have it ready to plan as soon as you put it in the console (excluding of course updates and installs). You don't have to watch a progress bar, waiting to play your game, your all set from the start. But gas costs money, shipping takes time, and there is always the chance a game won't even be at the store when you get there. You don't get the same guarantee as digital games, and hunting around for a copy when you could be already playing the game, is not a fun thing to do.
Winner: Tie
It's really all dependent on your location which is faster and more convenient. If you live across a GameStop or Walmart, it only takes a few minutes to run in and get the game you want. Likewise, if you have a blazing fast internet connection, you're only out a little while waiting for the game to download. If you live in a rural area, with slow internet and no close stores to buy from, then one way really isn't better than the other. It's all location, so that is something to take into account.
Digital: Honestly I'd buy most every game digitally if it wasn't for this: console hard drives are small. It only takes a dozen or so games to fill up the stock drives on 360 and PS3, and the Wii and Wii U have it even worse. Soon you'll be buying a bigger drive just to keep all your stuff on the system, which costs money that could have been spent on more games. The nice part of digital games is you don't have to bother with putting in and taking out discs, and they don't take up any room in your house, but this is really just a convenience and not a necessity. And the other factor is "what happens when these consoles get replaced"? Will I still be able to download all my games? This is a question that the companies still need to answer. If I'm going to potentially lose my games after a couple years, that could be a huge problem, and a definite deterrent from buying them that way.
Retail: Depending on the size of your collection, you might be looking at a lot of boxes and shelves around your home. Mine is currently spilling out of my bookshelf, finding it's way all over the house. It can be hard finding new spots for games, but for most people this isn't a problem. The thing I like about retail games is that it's mine. No one can turn it off or lock me out of it (except for a few rare online only games), and I'll always be able to play it, provided I don't scratch it all up. And some people like me just enjoy showing off their collection. It's silly and generally pointless, but hey, so are a lot of things people do.
Winner: Retail
Digital is still in it's infancy on consoles, so until hard drives get bigger and we get some sort of garentee as to how long the servers that let us download our games will be active, downloading will continue to be a somewhat risky decision. Retail games are almost unanimously usable for as long as you want, and for collectors it's the only way to go. I like being able to jump in and out of multiple games without leaving the couch, but I think the world as a whole could stand to move around a bit more.
Digital: This is really where digital games truly shine. There are a ton of great games from the NES to the PS2 that I never got to play. Things like the Virtual Console allow easy access to classic games at way less than it would cost to buy an actual copy, and often times these games come with new features. Virtual Console games can all use save state gaming, even for games that never had a save feature, and Xbox and PS1-2 Classics can be upscaled to modern resolutions, giving a nice visual upgrade. These games are also generally small enough that downloading them is a completely feasible option. And using modern controllers is often much more enjoyable than the ergonomically backwards originals. It's a great way to catch up on gaming's history, and one of my favorite features of modern console.
Retail: There's something to be had for playing a game on the system it was released on. Super Mario Bros. feels like a totally different game on the NES compared to it's many rereleases, but this is often an extremely expensive root to take. First you need the console, then controllers, and finally you have to hunt down the actual cartridges and discs of the game you want. These can be very pricey, and is my biggest obstacle for playing these games. A Link To The Past is 800 Nintendo Shop Points (or $8) on the Virtual Console, but good luck finding a cartridge for under $30 outside of thrift shops. Not all games are this expensive of course, but it's rare to find a copy for less than you can download it for. You can score great deals if you're lucky, but serious collectors better get ready to lighten their wallets
Winner: Digital
As Much as I like collecting games, digital is easily my prefered way to play older hard to find titles. It's a lot to ask to drop $40 on a game released several decades ago, but $10 and less (as most are priced digitally) is awesome! If you already own a stack of retro games, then by all means don't throw them out, but for people just getting into these games digitally is a much better option.
Summary
In the end it's really up to you how you prefer to get games. I think for most titles retail is the best option, but personally I find older games benefit greatly from their retail releases. If you're still using dial-up (you poor, poor person) then it's stupid to think you can suddenly start downloading all your games, but like it or not games are eventually going to be all digital. You can see this happening on Vita and PS4, with every title being available both digitally. But until memory gets cheaper, and internet speeds faster, I don't see digital only happening for a long time. So what's your favorite way to buy games? Leave your answer in the comments and let me know!
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