For hardcore gamers, it doesn't matter if the game is too easy nor has poor graphic display—it is how you play the game. Most of these guys buy CD games in bulk and finish off each one of them. And if you can make a "walkthrough" or gameplan (some consider it a sort of game cheat), then you are game master!
The advent of such consoles as Playstation 3 made way for gamers to delve into the world of downloading. Today CDs and DVDs are not the only source of great games. You can also get tremendous games through downloads.
To start with, let's have the freeware games for your PC. Just like commercial games, these free to download games have many genres. You can choose from a variety of action adventure, role playing and strategy to first person shooter and online multiplayer games. Not many gamers know that there are some freeware titles that could give commercial games a run for their money. And if you opt for an online multiplayer game download, you can even play it for free. Just log in to their site and sign in.
Maybe you are asking: if these games are free, then how do game developers benefit from these? The simplest answer would be through sponsors. Most of these developers don't have their own web sites and rely on hosts that feature their freeware or their mirror links (just type in "freeware PC games in Google to go to these sites). These hosts earn through online ads that they post in their sites. There are some developers who are experimenting on different games and release beta versions replete with some of the chapters of their soon to be released titles. Then you can choose to buy the full game once it is released.
If you are into classic games such as Mario Brothers and Pacman, there are some game specialists who have revived these classics through their custom built games. It runs in most PC operating systems so playing will never be a problem. Some sites even offer you a big collection of game titles you can download for just a single membership fee.
Commercial games have also entered the "webwagon". Their only difference with freeware games is that they have their own web sites (which also promote the game's disc box set). Especially with consoles with hard disk drives like the PS3, downloading games will be more popular than ever before. And different titles from well known franchises such as Halo, Guitar Hero and Grand Theft Auto keep the hype alive for game downloaders. The gaming world is breaking ground. And we would probably see more titles that people can easily download over the internet. Whether other gaming platforms will follow this trend or not, only time can reveal. But this is surely a great development that would keep gamers glued to their personal computers. Now if you are still undecided which game to download, there are always java and flash based games to keep you busy with.