As far as video games go, which format do you prefer, and why?

If cost and storage space doesn't matter, cartridges. They allow for faster loading times, take up less space and are potentially more durable.

I've never honestly given a shit. I want to play the game, I don't care what the box art is or what the format is once I hit start. However the moment a medium starts to limit what a game can do, that's where I have a problem with it. 

All I know is this bullshit basically handed the entire console market to Sony for essentially no good reason and for that reason I dislike it becoming an issue.

This format nonsense ended the NES/SNES era, and IMO that was the most glorious intersection of great 1st, 2nd, and 3rd party support on any platform, and I will always be a little bitter over that because we will probably never have that ever again. 

Damn! . . ."slowly claps and nods in an agreeing manner".

On topic, cartridges, cause of durability.

When the storage space of optical discs were much higher than cartridges, that was the preferable option, but since they've pretty much caught up it doesn't really matter much now.

Carts. Especially in retro games. Modern too assuming the price is the same.

I've never had an issue with cartridges not working (well, not since the NES days...). I've had disc drive issues with PS1, PS2, and Xbox 360.

My Master System has had trouble reading cartridges for some reason, I still don't know why.

Cartridges, easy.

Prefer digital. Not in the poll. Internet here in Canada is good except remote areas. All my stuff is digital, movies, music and games. Don't want the physical clutter to carry around.