The only way MS could have changed the outcome of the format war, was if they bought Sony (or paid them billions to go with HD-DVD).

Not sure how many people know this statistic, but over half the moves every made, belong to Sony. That's over 50% of all movies ever to be copyrighted, are Sony property. I said that twice, because it's hard to fathom that one company owns so many movies.

Anyway, from day one, the format war was a simple one. Whatever format Sony picks, will win. They picked Blu-ray.

It is obvious what M$ wants, money and to screw u down for it. By doing this they will cut huge costs and take most profits. Could u imagine a world with only M$ as a platform and to have what they force us to have. This is what they truly want, not just to be number 1, but to be the only one.

BD's have way too much momentum to be touched. I can imagine that they will last as long as VHS. Digital down loads however have way too many walls to breach before it can begin its reign. IMO it will be many, many years before it's mainstream. It is comming, but not within 2 years.

What's the bet that the next Box will be fully DDL. Good luck if it is!

I don't get how people can say that this will never happen. Just check the past.

1. it happened with text-files (.pdf .doc anyone?)
2. it happened with pictures (It is hard to find a regular camera, not a digital one)
3. it happened with music (iTunes worlds biggest music retailer)
4. it is happening with movies (Xbox Live VoD, Apple TV, PSN, amazon.com, netflix - all of them offer VoD)

How can you say that this just won't happen with games? Xbox Live Arcade is extremely popular (Xbox Originals), PSN offers full length games on PSN right now, even Wii offers older games for download, Steam is increadibly successful... This is just starting these days. It will just go the regular way.

 Could you give me a source for this? As far as i heard, Warner Brothers is the biggest player on the market.

As far as I'm concerned, I would already be ready to buy games online... I just need the possibility to plug in a big hard drive to the Wii/360, and bye bye game shops for me. They take the biggest cut out of game sales and usually provide a crappy service.

Faster loading times, less noise, potentially cheaper games, less crap around the house. Bring it on.

If Nintendo opens the Wii for external USB drives I have an extra 750GB hard drive I can use (and an extra enclosure)=P 

Hmmm, 750GB Wii

5-10 years? So basically the same time frame its going to take Blu Ray to become the dominant format?

Or lets be optimistic and say Blu Ray is THE format in 4 years... meaning the Blu Ray would be the dominate format for a total 1-2 years until Digital Distribution is widely available to everyone? Woopee doo!

check the facts before jumping on a conclusion that IF, something widely 100mbps+ broadband its implement, that would be a miracle even in america.

for DVD-like movies its possible (enconded to like 700mb)... but never for HD movies that go over 15gb... it would take days to download it even at a 2mbps connection.

and even like that people would likely download HD rips of blu ray movies. :P

@Jo21: "even in America"? Last I checked, USA was not among the best countries in terms of broadband adoption...

From what I know, broadband is expensive in USA, even in big cities. What is the typical broadband connection/price you can get in, say, New York City?

PS: FYI, 100 mbps connections are common in Stockholm, Sweden, and cheap too ($50 including taxes). Not that you need such a fast connection for downloading movies or games... Both in Portugal and in Sweden (the countries I'm informed about), you can get a very fast connection (8-24 Mbps) for 20-40 €.

Now this will make Gamestop and Best Buy really angry... MS will antagonize all the big retailers. They will throw their full support to the Wii since it is the console light years behind for big time digital distribution given the specs of its hardware.