-cheesy
Steam is the natural progression to my heart! <3..... and wallet =[

/Cheesy

hmm while i see why always on can be an issue for portable devices... why you guys have one with living room console???? i mean mine is always on anyway...
i'm trying to understand... i have more issues with DRMs and zone locked content....

It does have it's advantages, if I go to let's say Wal-Mart I'm going to have that 50 or so games they always have to choose from and the odd new ones, atleast if your online you have access to the entire library. But it's just something about not physically owning the game that seems unsatisfying for me. Maybe 20 years of buying the physical game can do that but for the new generation this is probably much easier.

well same was said about music...

and i agree with iwnership... but i'm sure the law will evolve eventually on that part and the ecosystem too... it will need to... one day you'll have digital licenses for everything that you can transfer ownership of... i'm sure of it... when is the real question...

i'm all for the always on.... because that will force providers to improve their network in every industry that needs data transfer... drop data caps.. and have competitive prices and/or service....

always on is a non issue if you have hotspots and 4g or whatever will be current access everywhere....

once again most of the resilience and negative about all that(streaming, cloud, always on, digital distribution) is mostly related to the current legal and technological infrasstructures currently enforced and in place... but the concept itself beside materialism and sentimental value is way better suited for efficient clean responsible consumption and longterm ownership.... things arround it must catch up... then it'll be perfect...

one day video game or digital content will be like comic books/strips back in the days... you can either buy each volume/chapter/dlc of game separately or have a subscription for the entire serie heck even special edition where they ship you the rest (i don't see why DD should kill collectors edition btw, you can still buy vinyl version of a lot of new albums in music) and then one day you can sell them back threw the network...

True, the only problem is that music is so quick and easy to get, and if it acidentally get's deleted you can just as easily download it again. I remember even when I had dial up it was still about 10 mins for one song. But games these days are 15GB+ not to many people can download something that big that quickly, I have a fast interent and it still takes a while, not to mention install times are even longer. Next gen is around the corner to, so game sizes will probably double or even be close to 50GB.

I know it'll come, but it's not going to be practical for some time now, maybe another 10 years.

yeap hence what i said being an issue because of current infrastructure not concept.... that's also why i believe in chapterized games and dlc.... like crimson alliance does if you don't want all clases or alan wake: american nightmare is suppose to be several capters.... you download the game client once and then chapters you buy for 10 bucks and those can contain update for the client... a lot like mmo's today do.... 

i see that as a + for us customer... because you can buy games for cheaper and then if you don't like it you don't feel bad since you didn't get everything... if you love it get the subscription package for cheaper than buying them one by one.... a lot like you can take a season pass on zune for tv shows...

and a big + for devs because they have a stream of income earlier in development...... can address fans concern along the release of new content... and have already an idea of the game reception... and can invest more resources on IPs that get some traction..... react faster on the one that slow down.... and kill the bad ones before they invest too much assets in it...

if done right we'll all gain from it on many levels... quality, price, pace of released content etc...