digital distribution will not work until most of us get gigabit internet and harddrive capacities to 5-10 TB (4k-8k cutscenes and uncompressed audio) in the next 5-7 years and honestly i don't see it happening.

First of all, good to see you're back and went back on your decision to leave.

@ the bolded...honestly, at this point, I'm indifferent since I think this generation will be my last.I'm very disappointed in the policies MS announced yesterday, yes, but overall, gaming has been losing its fun factor to me for quite some time now, and I'm not sure I'll be enjoying it 6/7 years from now, so I doubt I'll be gaming when the 9th gen comes.

But one thing's for sure, I doubt I'll lose interest in seeing what happens to this industry, who rises and who falls..I like how unpredictable a new generation is, so even if I'm not gaming, I'll still be watching the events closely.

physical format is doomed, next gen well still see some retail games, big ones, but the following gen will be already fully digital, except maybe niches and whatnot that will still ship physical copies, always under preorder and way more expensive

I can see the digital distribution continue to grow on developed markets and reduce the production numbers of the physical media. So they can appeal to the upcoming markets as well.

If you don't count Nintendo then I suppose so.

which businesses?  certainly not gamestop or any other games retailer.  certainly not gamefly or any other rental service.  there will be opposition to this and the retail side has power,. especially if ps4 doesn't do this sort of DRM manditory as sony has stated.   (...and before you tell me about that patent and that "up to third party" quotes let me remind you that the patent is a hardware solution.  if sony doesn't plan to do anything and watermarking feature isn't in the hardware third parties will be very hard pressed to establish their own online verification server setup.  hard enough that it just won't happen.)

back to my point,..  if there is an option at retail and retailers perfer the non-drm version and consumers perfer the non-drm version MS/EA/Activision and anyone else having a wet dream over this will have to go fuck themselves.   EA will be bankrupt within a year if 80% of the consumers go wiiU/ps4 and EA goes full xbone.  ..so they won't (in that senario).     and then physical media's lifespan will be lengthened.

it's like the minidisc.  the market rejected it so we didn't go there.  just because a businessman has an idea doesn't mean they get their way.  ..or maybe it's more like digital music and DRM,.   it took a while but we (consumers) won the war.

I have no problem with it on principle--I've been playing PC games for years and love Steam, both for how great the service is and it's flea market sales.

My main problem with it is how...ambiguous Microsoft's handling of this is. All of these measures tell me they don't want to deal with retail anymore--especially the part where publishers decide whether or not to allow used games at all, which shows just how "committed" they are to resales. Plus the system is clearly designed without any regard for people who don't have access to reliable broadband, if any internet at all.

But they know they can't just flip off Gamestop and Best Buy and go full digital just yet. Nor are internet speeds fast enough for most people to live with an entirely digital system. Yet they're doing all they can to control or stomp out aspects of console gaming (unrestricted used games, borrowing, resales online) that they can't monetize right now.

Hence the messy, convoluted mess of restrictions on retail discs. The main reason I loved consoles despite being closed, weaker platforms than PC is the ease of use and the ability to handle games more freely. This gen, with it's patches, updates and frequent mandatory installs, took away the former argument for consoles; the next-gen stands to eliminate the latter.

At this point, exclusives are the only reason to get the next-gen consoles now. Exclusives that are less justifiable on consoles that tout how PC-like and dev friendly they are to work with. *sigh*

Nintendo and Steam maybe. But sony has a pretty horible consumer record, and has lied to its customers before on big issues.

http://boingboing.net/2005/11/14/sony-anticustomer-te.html

I will worry about next next-gen in 7 years from now. :)

Guys watch your quote trees.


OT: I absolutely love the Steam model and give me the choice between having a physical disc (for anything) and a digital copy that goes where I go and I'll pick the digital copy every time. I've always preferred digital to physical copies.