This thread is all over the place.  The last I checked it was about how MS believes in digital distribution but they have yet to release any full length 360 games via that method.

You didn't quote anyone, so I assumed you were making a general comment. That doesn't exactly help keeping the thread on topic...

Did Sony release any full length PS3 game online? As far as I know, they released GT5:P (basically a cut down version of a game) and Siren split in chapters (or at least I recall seeing a thread about that).

It doesn't seem like either Microsoft or Sony are very different in terms of game distribution right now.

So, I'm thinking.. if DD is pushed and Physical Mediums go the way of the Dino... how will I lend pals of mine games that I will probably never play again?

Hehe, you're making the same mistake I made earlier in this thread.

Unless of course you're ignoring games like Geometry Wars and Penny Arcade Adventures..

 USB keys?

I would say that Sony is ahead of MS in digital distribution for games.

Warhawk (Blu-ray)
GT5P(Blu-ray)
Fatal Inertia (This was a full dvd release on 360)
Siren (10 gig episodic download)(Blu-ray)
Socom Confrontation(Blu-ray)

Gebx,
either give us an example of a download you did on the 360 that saved you a trip to the retailer to buy the same game or just stop the trolling imo............

You just can't get over the fact that Blue Ray won and that in all likelyhood the next-gen Xbox will have a Blue-Ray reader.....

Keep in mind the VoD is highly compressed, because it can be, as are all the data types you mentioned, and the number of consumers who actually use them digitally are massively dwarfed by the number that use physical media. We're talking about 100% digital distribution. The distribution you see now is a mere drop in the ocean of commerce, and it already taxes the infrastructure of the internet.

Does anyone who doesn't live within 3 miles of a DSL repeater station have anything to add to this discussion, or do people actually believe that everyone and their dog has a 3.0 Mb/sec downstream connection to their home? Or that even a remotely large number of households do? Urban areas are not the majority of the population, nor do they represent the the majority of consumers (at least in the USA, where I live). If you have a fast internet connection, you are in the vast minority, even to this day, and you need to step back and get a bigger perspective than the little minitown/convenience store/next-to-the interstate highway neighborhood you live in.

This isn't going to change without *substantial* fee increases for ISPs, etc. This goes for commerce bandwidth as well. Those fee increases will make large-scale digital distribution financially undesirable, unless there's something standing in the way of physical production and transport (like an oil crisis). And no, services like Steam, and the current XBL are not large-scale, from that perspective. Lol if you think so. Sure Steam and D2D service millions... once in a while. Therein lies the difference. If I could put a hard number on the bandwidth that retailers effectively put into the hands of consumers each day via physical media, it would be downright astonishing, I guarantee.

Digital subscriptions won't overtake physical sales as long as MS doesn't put a HDD into every console.

Some numbers on broadband speeds:

http://www.speedtest.net/global.php