Internet HDD is here to stay, IMO.

But at least, they don't have to install the whole game onto HDD if they go cartridge.

Do you know what size we are talking concerning solid state media? The next console could be even smaller since it doesn't need to be the size of a disc.

The thing is a physical media will be needed in the near future for the transition to cloud computing. I've had these past two years a laptop similar to the macbook air (no dvd-rom), but I've been using both internet and flash media to cover that need. The future is moving away from moving media; be it CDs, DVDs, HardDisks and into the SSD, where media will be accessed quickly via streams or downloads.

You must never heard of steam. I can tell you its very feasible and your projection for game sizes is way too large. Take a look at the pc market.

That future is quite a long way away.

A lot of us are still on slow connection and/or bandwidth cap.

Most everyone here are actually on 60GB bandwidth cap. That's not anywhere close to feasible for doing everything on the "cloud".

At the same time, we're no where near the kind of high speed that we could do everything quickly without external storage.

However, laptop wise, mine has been going without the DVD drive for 4 years or so and I don't find the need to use it.

I only actually used the DVD drive, maybe, twice in the last 4 years on my laptop. The rest of the times, I use usb key or portable drive.

That future is long term, reason why I said we will need physical media in the near future for the transition. Not everything can be done by the cloud, you would still need a flash drive or hard disk. But I've been using cloud to sync text files or scripts to different computers, stream my music and from time to time stream video files. So it is coming, I've noticed changes in way I use my laptop from one year ago.

Also I see myself buying an SSD and a new battery for this laptop in two to three years time to extend it's life.

Seriously though even if we had 1000000000000000000000mbit internet connections with unlimited downloads.

Physical media would be here as there is a demand for it. People like having a nice physical item. A game box a game manual ect..

Well, was anyone really expecting anything different?

My bad, I was talking just about "moving media."  Of course that's a new term for me as I'm not as fluent in this kind of subject.  But yeah if solid state is that small, and it's the better and more affordable option, then console size wouldn't be an issue.

As far as Nintendo goes, I don't think they are concerned with something like the ability to play dvds or blu ray so I guess that negative of not supplying a dvd drive wouldn't apply to their plan.  One issue though is that a dvd sized game, or even the old N64 cartridges, felt way more like a game than a small little 1X1 inch square.

I mean one of the reasons I am against digital media is because it cognitively affects how people view their video game library, or a potentual purchase.  It is not reverred as much and is looked at as something not worthy of playing as much (for the spontaneous gamer who is new to gaming).  And that can be solved with physical media, but a 1X1 inch square is almost just as degrading.  It works well for a small handheld, but for a console I want something that is big and I can hold in two hands.

If I am going to the store to buy a tiny square, it might as well be digital.  But I guess that is a solvable issue since they can always make it bigger by adding casing/fluff.

well it doesn thave to be the size of a SD card.

It could be say the size of 4 DS games two x two arrangement or even 6 DS games 3 x 2 arrangement and still be relatively small. Tis would provide enough label space on the front like the good old cartidge days.

I'm hoping that we'll be sticking to physical media for another couple of generations yet. Worldwide internet infrastructure is not yet up to standard to support a download only economy when you're dealing with file sizes measure in multiple gigabytes, and won't be for a good few years yet.

By all means, introduce it as an option, but physical media should maintain its preferential status.