I love DD, but only in limited forms. It works great as a rental service (think like Netflix), or if I actually get a digital copy I can copy to any device I own (like MP3s or other non-DRM music). However, like others I don't like buying something and having it stuck on their servers. That isn't buying, that is renting but trying to make it look like buying.

Just to counter some counter points above.

I like to be in control of my games (and music, and movies, and everything I'm suppose to 'own'). Thus I prefer having a physical copy. DD is a nice option but not a nice standard. Well, completely DRM free stuff isn't that bad though... You know, like GOG.com.

Exactly the reason why I don't like Steam. Steam is horrible DRM, it ties my games to a single account. If I somehow lost that account, I wouldn't be able to play the games I own. At least with other DRM methods cracking is pretty easy, and I also don't need a god-damn account to play them.

I would quit gaming.

I like DD, and I don't think we have many choices here, look what has happened to music market and PC gaming already.

fair enough...the market I am refering to is the consumer which you eluded to.  Digital distribution has continued to gain market share against physical media and is predicted to continue, it is by no means the majority and won't be for many years to come.  I didn't state it to offend anyone nor did I take offense at your post.  I feel in a very similar to you in the way 3D tv seems to be forced down our throats, I can't stand it.  My point was that I prefer DD and  the current trend of the market seems to be heading that way.

Indie games are ridiculously huge on PC. Games like Uplink, Darwinia, Galactic Civilizations, Mount & Blade, Runescape etc have yet to see a console release. In fact, I think at least half the games on Steam are probably Indie titles (this is just off the top of my head mind).

You've got to remember, a lot of these indie devs start off as modders using Source engine or doing UT maps, or mods for Fallout 3 & Oblivion etc. So it's not that suprising a lot of these indie devs work on PC first, and if successful expand into the costlier but potentially lucrative console scene.

Also, the winners and finalists for the Independent Games Festival 2010:

http://www.igf.com/02finalists.html#limbo

The vast majority are PC games. I think I only saw one X-box Live and one PSN title.

The fact is that physical media is not as permanent as it feels. I became fully on-board with digital distribution when some of my Battlestar Galactica DVDs started disintegrating after less than five years of ownership. If I had bought them on iTunes, I would have had files that could be easily backed up on multiple hard drives (you can rip, of course, but it's a tedious process). If I had just watched them on Netflix, then there would be nothing to lose at all.

It feels nice to have tangible things, but they take up space, they cost extra money to manufacture, they degrade, and they're subject to disaster. A digital service can handle the storage and backups for me while delivering content over the network to whatever device is appropriate, and they can do it cheaper than a plastic disc manufacturing and distribution network. That means that I either get to save money or I get to enjoy more content.

It's true that my ideal digital service doesn't exist yet. And it's true that the content owners are trying to scoop all the cost savings into their own bottom lines while they try to wrest more control away from the consumer. But there is a definite trend towards providing digital services that have better and better terms for the consumer. I can't wait to get rid of all my bookshelves and disc-swapping and never needing to worry that my data might fall apart or have its format go obsolete (having watched my father transfer all his LPs to reel-to-reel tapes to minidiscs and finally to a hard disc).

@ Doobie_Wop I couldn't have said it better myself

You  cant even own it, your just feeding your hard earned money to the company for no reason. You lose all your data; its all gone and you have to redownload it for a fee.

Plus not to mention major retail companies are goin to lose money in sales since its not physical media anymore. The only things they got left are accessories and the console themselves. Video games make up a HUGE piece of annual sales for retail stores.

Im quiting gaming all together if this happens. 

I had a bigger post in reply. Then decided that much context didn't matter. Instead I will sum it all up.

You won't care once you have to use it. Maybe a little at first from the change, but a year down the line. It won't matter. Yes there are some wrinkles to work out.

"Im quiting gaming all together if this happens. " by Red4adevil

Part of my post I decided not to bother with. Was about this exact mentality. Gamers have said that about the Xbox HDD. Gamers have said that about the entire conceptual idea of Motion Controls. Well these gamers haven't left gaming at all. If anything these new additions have thrived. I call BS that you will leave gaming when DD is standard. I would love to see the hypocrites who claimed HDD and MC were really bad for the industry leave. Probably lose half the total PS360 consumer base, but they aren't and will not leave. It's a hallow claim. You will end up using it and not caring.

I wouldn't know the impact of indie games because from 2007-2009, I was playing the World of Warcraft religiously. Looking back, I met some good people but I am utterly ashamed to even proclaim "I was a hardcore raider and the only geared orc hunter in my guild."

I just recently as of August got back into PC gaming. I have picked up Starcraft 2 and The Witcher, while I installed Crysis, which I bought for my old desktop but couldn't play due to ridiculous system requirements.

I find myself going back to the 2005-2007 period in PC gaming because anything after, I have played on my 360.

Thanks for the information :)