I like this...everyone contributed...*hugs* for the next gen console :).

I've always been a physical media gamer personally.  I do get some digital downloads but not usually the ones that take forever to download.  I don't have that kind of patiences lol.  As for DVD vs Blu-ray movies I'll take Blu-ray any day.  Ever since I bought my first BD movie I have perferred them.  I don't know how the next generation consoles will come out but I personally hope it's not digital download only.

Who needs HD-DVD anyway?

And of cores SONY did not exactly help by jack Trenton saying MGS4 could not be down on 30 ether. 

I remember when micosoft said they dont need installs. look at what happened now. some systems don't have the hdd built in it too. I know some of the new slims couldnt play halo reach co-op because the 4gb slim doesn't have a hard drive. If you dont want bluray then you absolutly need a hard drive. With DLC (Forza for example), its almost like buying an incomplate game imo. At least they don't charge you for that.

C'mon now, Microsoft needs bluray.

Call me old fashioned, but digital distribution (DD) just isn't my style. I prefer a physical copy symbolizing ownership when I put $50 to $60 down on a game. For instance, I recently bought a new gaming laptop and have started purchasing games for it. Sure I could have paid for and downloaded both Starcraft 2 and The Witcher, which both would come pre-patched saving me the time and hassle to patch the retail version. However, my like for game manuals and the box as a memento is very endearing and very, very ingrained.

As for blu ray, it seems the most logical choice 5 years from now. There was a thread here a month or two back about how small the blu ray market is.

Squilliam commented on it quite a bit. From the comments and the links, I remember Blu Ray being invented in 2005-2006 and 4 to 5 years later it is only 10 to 12% of the total home movie market. In contrast, DVD was invented around 1995 and came mainstream in 2000-2001.

If we are going by history, then it will be another 2 years before blu ray replaces DVD controlling for DD. Taking DD into account, blu ray may take up to 10 years to fully replace DVD. Just my opinion because there was no competing technology on the scale of DD with YouTube, Hulu and NetFlix when everyone was converting from VHS to DVD.

The guy has a certain point. We will obviously see a day when all physical media is vastly eclipsed by downloadable content. Eventually physical media will die out and is doing so rapidly in the music industry - mainly because the file sizes are so small, typically just a few MBs per song.

However, with visual media it's quite a lot different because of the file sizes which are currently increasing dramatically with HD and will no doubt do so again with the advent of 3D. The same is true with games, over the last 20 years the file size has massively increased from literally a few KBs on the NES to GBs on the PS3, 360 and Wii.

Really Microsoft are going to have to be pragmatic and adopt a new larger method of storage for the next generation and when they do this the logical choice would be Bluray. Games are far too large for the average more casual consumer to download, they just want to purchase their game and play it.Plus to the casual gamer picking up the odd title at the supermarket is what they do and enjoy doing.

The days of disks and high street stores for digital media will one day be up, but we're a long way off that point just yet.

Either

1) Nextbox will still be DVD based and will suffer for it, or

2) Nextbox will be DD only and may suffer for it, or

3) Nextbox will use a storage medium that's the next thing after Blu-ray, and may suffer for it (like PS3 suffered for using the expensive Blu-ray), or

4) Nextbox will use Blu-ray and do reasonably well out of it and this guy will look like a dick for having made these comments; at least to those who remember he said them.

Seems to me like the outcome with the highest chance of commercial success is 4). Which means this guy is gonna look like a bit of a dick in a few years time to those who remember these comments. Of course 99.995% of people don't even know he's made these comments and 99% of the remaining 0.005% of people will have forgotten he said them by the time nextbox comes out. So really it's a pretty safe bit of trash talking he's doing there.

I completely agree. I mean, can you stream movies in 1080p? Can you watch them again in 2 months without having to pay extra? I prefer owing a physical copy of everything I pay for. This way I can have a collection and even sell them at some point.

Why will he look like a dick? He said X360 don't need Blu Ray, he didn't say Nextbox don't need Blu Ray. The needs for one console differ of the needs for the next one.