Are you happy with Digital Distrubution prices ?

Keep in mind, this is for retail games. Not download-only titles like Braid :)

It depends on the game, the service, and more.
 
I prefer retail boxed copies of games, always.  The prices on Steam are fair, MS keeps prices too high on XBLM, and Sony's not really cutting many prices either.  I don't think I've ever bought a $50+ download-only game, but even if I did once or twice (I can't remember), the concept is unappealing.  If I'm going to pay that much I want the box and a physical disk.
 
The small priced games are more than fair.  $15 for Castle Crashers?  $5 for some 2 year old PC game?  That's the benefit of digital distribution to me.

I guess I'm happy with them. I mean I'm as happy with them as I am with retail prices, but I very rarely buy games at full price, either digitally distributed or at retail. I nearly always wait for a sale - because it's usually only a couple of weeks before a store somewhere knocks at least £10 off the price. Heck, for some games you can even find a good deal on release day. There are only a few rare cases (e.g. Modern Warfare 2) where the games will stay at full price for a long time.

@Diamond: I should've clarified it even more. This poll is solely for retail/big games. I think everyone is pretty happy with small games like Braid or Shadow Complex. I just wanted to see what people think of $50 Steam/PSN/XBL version v/s $50 retail box :)

I do think digitally distributed goods could be priced a bit lower, especially on the consoles. I mean you don't get anything physical. What you buy is tied to an account and can't be sold or traded. You are paying for.... bandwidth and server space and I think that's it? There is no way publishers are making less of a profit via digital distribution than they are through brick and mortar stores. However, on the PC the only games I buy are digital downloads, Steam, GoG, Impulse, or bust is pretty much how I roll when it comes to PC gaming and for some reason those services don't charge me tax so they are actually cheaper for me than going to the store and buying a boxed copy, which I like.

I have really benefited from the sales that direct download services like Steam and Direct2Drive have offered in 2009.  I'd say that my PC gaming has increased exponentially over the preceding years (WoW excluded) thanks to those reduced prices.  I admit , I would not be enjoying Dragon Age: Origins had it not been on sale this past month.  And, I would not have bothered to upgrade my graphics card had I not experienced that game.  So, one part of the PC gaming industry has benefited from lower priced games online. Chances are, now that my system is beefing up, I'll try other PC games when they go on sale.  I passed up my chance to get Crysis & Crysis Warhead cheap this past holiday because I knew my graphics card was under powered for that game.  My CPU and RAM were at the recommended levels, but not my aging GeForce 8500.  So, by pricing a game in an inviting way, Steam has hooked me into more future purchases. 
 
The same can not be said of XBLA and (to a lesser extent) PSN.  Despite what Microsoft and Sony may tell you on occasion, I doubt the publishers set the prices as firmly as claimed.  Most developers complain that they run into strong arm tactics on XBL when they want to make DLC free or very cheap.  And, when it comes to whole games, I think the majority of the software is overpriced.  None of these games come with all the hands-on material items that justifies a full price tag, and yet because of relationships with brick-and-mortar retailers, the online prices are inflated to meet the boxed prices.  Additionally, there aren't enough sales for hot games and old games are too often priced the same as they were when they first hit the services.  
 
Finally, I've stopped buying games entirely on XBLA because I've run out of HDD space.  I want to buy a new one but the cost of a larger 360 HDD is laughable and I won't pay it when I could buy one for my PC or even PS3 that is 4 times larger for less money.
 

• I wait for sales on PC direct download services and reap the benefits by buying more than I would have if the games were full priced.
  
• I never buy full games for the X-Box 360 and Playstation 3 from their direct services.  And, I am hesitant to buy most DLC since it's about 25% to 50% over priced, but sometimes I cave.  Occasionally, I buy smaller games like Everyday Shooter or Geometry Wars 2 if I hear very good things about them and the price seems to be justified by the quality.
  

If we're talking downloaded retail games, a la the Xbox Originals or the full-fledged games on Steam, I can't dig it. I normally buy games about 6 months or so after they are released, so by that time, the retail price has gone down considerably. Unfortunately, more often than not, the price for digital download never adjusts accordingly.
 
I do like Steam, how they have constant sales (unlike Xbox's stupid DOTW) and bonuses when you buy certain games, but for now, I'm going to keep buying my games in a store.
 
EDIT: As for download-only titles, if it's something I'm desperately looking forward to, like Braid or Bionic Commando Rearmed, then I'll pay the money to get it, but usually I'll just wait for a DOTW or an Amazon code discount. That's why I have stuff like Battlefield 1943, Secret of Monkey Island SE, and Castle Crashers that's untouched in my Xbox queue- I bought them "cuz it was cheap".

I'm of the kind that doesn't care about physical boxes. If I could I'd load every single one of my games onto my consoles and forget there even was a disc. Prices on retail downloadable games are usually the same or slightly less, so I can't complain. A plastic box and a disc means nothing to me, as long as I can play the game that I paid for. 

Mostly, I'm ok with the prices. But that's when they are similar to the console prices. However, once they're being knocked off, I find the prices disagreeable :P. However, something like the Fallout 3 GOTY pack with all the DLC is a fair price to pay. Really depends on the quality of the game as well for me.

I used to be a big fan of buying new games off steam but after a while I just don't think it's worth it for anything other than indie games that don't get retail releases.  Paying full price for a game, then having to download 5-12gb off steam's busy servers, which in some cases has taken 3 full days of downloading....It's not worth it.  If I can get a game ridiculously cheap off a steam sale then I'll deal with the slow downloads but otherwise I don't bother.

I prefer physical copies of retail games.

They're usually pretty good priced, and I never see physical copies on sale ever. Discounted over time, maybe, but never actually on sale. So that helps the prices. Also buying old games on steam for 3$ is awesome, something brick and mortar can't quite offer. Also since the digital distribution services don't pay for every copy sold (I assume it's a lisence, and all parties involved get a slice), you can sell things for cheaper, since you didn't "buy" it, there's no loss of profit really for having it on sale for a while, or offering it slightly cheaper than a brick-n'-mortar store can.

On Steam: For the most part yes, very happy. It's quite rare for a Steam game to stay full price indefinitely - either the holiday sales, or time simply passing, will ensure that even the highest of RRPs fall. And of course I need to elaborate on just how good those sales are. I bought over 50 games in the last one for a mere £100, and in the future I can see myself taking part in the sales again. As a person just recently jumping back into PC gaming, Steam is an absolute godsend. Extending beyond the store front, they seem to have a well thought out operation with useful features and the end user in mind. 
 
On most other places, specifically the PlayStation Store: I would say it's been lacklustre, and some services can just die in a fire. The PlayStation Store in particular is a mixed bag. It looks absolutely great - much much better than the shitty 'interface' you get with the Live Marketplace - and there is a lot of great, exclusive content up there. However, the pricing has actually seen an increase at one point in the EU, which is just ridiculous. It makes the service appear as money-grubbing, and frankly it's hard to support something like that. The majority of my distaste comes from buying (and subsequently selling) a PSP Go. The prices of the games are too steep compared to the UMD version, and many are broken in some way as a result of too much compression. You end up paying extortionate prices for tampered goods, with no chance of a refund. At least I know my Steam games will WORK or at the very least have a workaround when I buy them. 
 
I've barely delved into the Live Marketplace, but I blame that on its interface. It's too ugly, tricky and time consuming for me to even bother. I also really dislike the idea of paying with points, as it's only used to trick the consumer into not knowing how much they're really spending. There is a lot of shovelware on all DD services, but Live Arcade seems to have the lion-share. Which is a shame as there are so many great titles such as the remastered Rare classics, Rez HD and Ikaruga. Maybe i'll swallow my pride, take a day off and jump in for real some time.

I'm at the point where I'll pay more for a game to be able to get it for steam.  Having to hold onto the cd's, installing and then having to manually patch is annoying.  Its nice to just have a list of all the games I own in one place and it makes installing and patching a thing of the past.  I do usually just buy whatever is on sale on steam unless there's something new that i really want.

I wanted to hit C, because I RARELY download games, but I had to hit D because I don't have a gaming PC...which means no Steam.

I tend to not buy games through a download service until the price becomes as close to zero as possible.  Pretty soon, I will have bought more games through Steam than through XBL because Microsoft does not know how to price their games.  $20 for Perfect Dark Zero? $30 for Call of Duty 2 and Need For Speed: Most Wanted? These are goddamn launch titles.  4 years old.  Their "weekly deals" would be better if they were called weakly deals because the price never drops to the point where a game or DLC is an insta-buy like Steam does.  $2.50 for KOTOR or 400 spacebucks for DLC for Tiger Woods 07?

I really like digital distribution, but the problem is that due to me not getting a physical disc I really only trust Steam because I'm confident they will be around for the long haul. There are a lot of great deals out there, but I don't mind paying full price for a game online in theory. But the fact is that I don't believe I've ever paid more than 20 bucks for a digital downloaded game. Beyond that I would prefer to have the actual disc in hand.

I have always thought Nintendo can bennefit more from selling there emulated games at lower prices trying to get people hooked on trying the old games.  Its not like old Nintendo games are going to suck that many hours into your gaming time.  There like old arcade machines not much dept in them, there good for quick plays asking for $5 for 1 NES game is way over priced.   I would put money on it that there are NES games that have never been purchased on there service once.
 
For XBLA I tend to wait around till I see it half off.  This past December saw a bunch of sales on there that made me pick up a few.  But they are pricing themselves better then Nintendo's service in my book.
 
For PSN can't comment since I don't own  a PS3.

Just downloaded street fighter alpha 3 max and FREE disgaea 2 add-on characters. Digital distribution can be awesome

When my console comes with this
 

Personally I'm not. Imo the prices are too high for a DIGITAL form of sale. I mean, you don't get the box, manual, DVD and everything else that comes with it, that's at least 15$ less. So the digital prices should be like 35$ or so.

Steam Sales!!! Though I have been changing My Mind a bit the last few months. I am a messy person, ergo, install codes get lost, discs get broken. I Love having a Steam List so I finally have a nice overview of which games I got. Having said that, I preffer waiting for Steam sales. I got like 20 games for the price of One over the Christmass Holiday Sales. Also, these sales have made PSN and Xbox Live Arcage prices allot harder to swallow. I got STALKER for 2€, while a "smaller" gama like Fat Princess is like 10-15€. I hope Sony and Microsot are gonna follow suit and start offering better deals, and not like just -20 percent like they have so far.