How?

50GB/16sec = 3.126GB/s. 

Even if the kiosk was able to provide those +3GB/s, most USB 3.0 Flash Drives can't write at speeds beyond 250 MB/s, and that's a best case scenario. An SSD could reach 500 MB/s (again a best case scenario), making it a case of waiting a few minutes... but how many people have SSDs, and how many would go to a store with one to copy the games?

They want to be the centre of the living room yet not being even able to watch a DVD would have ended that there and then.

However, it would have reduced costs dramatically, so question is, why didn't they do 2 versions? One with the drive if you want it, one without for a lot cheaper.

The steam summer sale made me realize how far away we are from 100% digital distribution. I bought hitman absolution and it took me a week of on and off downloading to finally finish

If physical media costs so much to make why do digital games cost the same. They need to reduce the cost of these games so it encourages consumers to convert to digital. I for one do not like digital downloads as i like to be able to sell games after i have finished them but i feel that companies are ripping people off as digitil should be cheaper than physical.

Also the other problem i see is if your console breaks down you lose all your games. With physical media that isn't an issue.

You don't lose your games, you just have to re-download them as they are tied to your account... except for Nintendo which still has to solve this, but they will.

I agree about the price though, the difference should be higher but that would piss off stores.

About reselling games I agree that it's an important thing for some, and in part that's why I only buy digital games during the Steam Sales, I don't mind losing the option to resell a game I got for less than 10 €.

There is a way, but it would be complicated.  Essentially, when someone buys a disc based game, give them the ability to add the game to their digital library.  If they elect to do so, the installed game receives an different license.  The disc license is assiciated with the digital license, that way if the game ever is sold or someone attempts to add the game to their digital library, it deactivates the original. 

There are still some complications involved in even this method.

If you have blu-ray / DVD movies it means you've already got a machine to play them on. If you don;t have any Blu-ray / DVD movies it probably means you watch everything streaming or downloaded (legally of course). So what makes the optical drive essential to being the living room hub? It's actually the HDMI in which makes the Xb one the potential centre of the living room.

Yes, that machine is, more commonly now either, a Xbox 360 or PS3 (PS2 originally for many people, they just upgraded to 360 or PS3 later). I know 7 off the top of my head who own a games consoles and many DVDs/Blu-Rays but don't own a stand alone DVD/Blu-Rays player.

Commonly in the TV 'set up' there will be a TV box of some sort then a DVD/Blu-Ray player. This is traditional and most common as not everyone plays games, however for many gamers that DVD/Blu-Ray player is swapped for a games console that can do those things as well. A movie player is a key feature, while streaming is on the rise, people still buy DVDs and Blu-Rays.

MS has the TV features but if they remove the DVD part, then customers will still need a DVD player. They could buy a Sony one.

I have somewhat a similar position. As I could never see myself paying £10-20+ for anything in pure digital format, it just feels wrong to me. The only time would be if they did massive reduction to a £1-2 price point. But at that price point it would mean less profit to publisher than me me happily buying the same game in physical format for £10-20.

I prefer a 20GB physical media than download these 20GB from Internet.

lol