Optical drives need to be kicked to the curb! Flash is the next-gen future.

[NJ5]

Another idea: if next-gen games really require caching of data to a medium with higher throughput and lower latency, just use those 5 dollars to add a few GB of flash memory to the console itself. Then while the player is watching the intro videos and menu screens there's plenty of time to cache some content into that memory ;)

Look, I'd love it if flash memory was affordable enough to make your predictions a reality. I just don't think it will happen in time for the next generation.