This is most definitely the way the industry is going. And I think I heard all of these arguments before, let me think about where....Oh yeah, the music industry, and lets look at the transition they are making now. Hopefully Microsoft has learned from their mistakes and can capitalize on the extra knowledge.

What do you mean, exactly, by a "digital system" rather than a "traditional expensive piece of hardware"?

Either way, I'm not paying $60 for a game that I can't resell, so if that's the way the industry is going, then count me out, I suppose.

Any system based on digital distribution is either based on a huge investment in next gen broadband by both the cable companies in consumers (a hard sell especially outside the coasts) or huge hard drives that would let you play games PC style with large installs (think 1TB+ to really hold enough). Either seems like a pretty bad idea given that a lot of games like MGS4 push 50GB and with more graphics and textures that will only get higher. I am almost positive 100+ GB 4-6 layer blu rays are the wave of the video game future unless there's some amazing unforeseen revolution in US broadband or Hard Drive technology. Hard drives seem to be headed towards speed (solid state) rather then capacity since 1TB is enough for almost all other applications.

Good luck to them! They'll really need it when the piracy goes full bloom

 I feel this way too. If I buy old games off ebay or whatever, I try to buy the box wth it, unless it doubles th games price or something.

 On top of that - and I've brought up this point before in digital distribution discussion threads - the secondary market acts as a check against publishers. Being able to buy and sell used games ensures that prices drop faster, that consumers have a "safety net" for when they buy bad games, and that publishers take a hit for releasign subpar games. Absent that, publishers can set whatever price they want without having to worry about competing against the secondary market, early-adopter gamers are stuck with $60 piles of crap when a game turns out to be bad, and budget-minded gamers no longer have the option to purchase used.  That's not a big deal for $10 games, but for full-priced games, you bet it is.

In other words, in a full digital distribution scenario, everyone loses but the publishers.

this guy honestly thinks MS will give up their next xbox project...

your opinion is destroyed by your bias, you know.

The problem with a completely digital kind of console would be that many X's more people just play by themselves or w/ a friend/relative/etc than do the online console-gaming thing. If MS ever tries to do this, they would be laughed out of the gaming business as the PS3 almsot was

Wasn't some junk of a console called the Phantom supposed to do that?