@SamuelRSmith

True say. But I don't think you will have ads on xbox live saying "Used games section". Also I doubt someone in the buy/sell section of craigslist will waste time to sell a 4 dollar game. So they won't be easy to find at all if someone wants to buy used.

But if you want to sell something to a freind or trade, I think it benefits MS/Sony/Nintendo to add 100 points to the transaction rather than see it happen the illegal way and not get anything.

To do this there obviously needs to be a secure network like xbox live... since I can play any wiiware game i want without modding my system for free, that wouldnt work...obviously someone could just re-sell the game over and over if they could copy it.

The platform owner has an incentive. Set up a marketplace for the re-sale of digitally distributed copies, but force a surcharge on the service - 20-40% of whatever the seller profits on the item.

That way they are giving an incentive for keeping the copy (the fact that they won't get as much as they paid), they make money, and then the seller still gets the right to sell something he doesn't want.

Trust me, it'll happen. Within a year there will be a few services to offer it.

Well, in just three short paragraphs, I've been owned.

I bet you are incredibly wrong.

Why would a company no longer allow a downloadable game to be downloadable? It takes very little $$ to keep a game available for download. So, unless it is a yearly series game like Madden or similar I would bet that all downloadable games out now on xba, psn, vc, ww, etc will be available on the next generation systems.

This way they automatically start with a large library of inexpensive games to play and it would answer the question of what happens to all of my dlc from previous gens.

@superchunk

I actually bet that Madden's business model will change with the development of DD.

Offering the base version of the game for cheap (like, perhaps, £30 instead of £40-£50), and then having the yearly updates for £5-£10 a pop. However, the base version also increases each year with graphical updates and such.

Basically, it allows people who would only buy a Madden/Fifa/Rugby/Tiger Woods/etc every couple of years the ability to keep their games up-to-date with all the teams, league tables (I don't know much about sport). True fans of the franchise, who still want the latest and greatest version of the game can still go out and buy the new base version.

Releasing, say, a £5 update per quater could milk an extra £25 per year out of someone who would usually just want the base copy of the game every couple of years.

It would also mean that EA wouldn't have to spend millions each year trying to reinvent a game based on the same set of rules to warrant consumers to upgrade to the latest version.

Sorry if that was hard to read.

And, yes, Superchunk, my post had very little to do with your one, but "Madden" just spurred me on to post this.

Ok, I'm convinced all current downloadable titles will be available on the next gen consoles (I did say it was a worst case scenario, and one that I maintain could, although unlikely, be possible especially if a company stopped producing consoles). But I take the point.

Just 1 more thing. What happens if my console breaks? If my PS1 stops working I'll get another - no need to buy the games again. And are there insurance policies that cover digitally distributed games?

Each console has a different policy. I cannot speak for any of them aside from Microsoft, but Microsoft has gone a long way in what they've done to protect digitally downloaded content.

It used to be that if your console broke, some users ran into problems ensuring their content still worked. But now, all you have to do is use their DRM transfer tool, which sends all of your licensing from your old (broken) console to your new (working) console. 100% free. The only hassle is that you have to re-download the games to just validate your new system. But again, it's 100% free and works for the life of you being a gamer.

So everything - gamerscore, downloaded games, downloaded content, all transfers to your new system if it breaks.

On xbox360 and ps3 yes. I don't know about the wii.

Xbox has a gamer tag so any console that you put your gamer tag on will have access to all the games you bought previously...for free. However up until recently you could only play those games if you were signed in as you...no other gamer tag on that console could play those games.

Microsoft released a digital rights tool found on xbox.com...that lets you transfer games to different xboxes in case the console breaks. This can only be done once a year (for now) but it allows you to take your Braid game from your broken console...move it to a new console...and let your shiny new gamer profile play it without any issues.

PSN has a simmilar deal but I think they let you redownload the game on 5 different consoles? I could be mistaking...I did it on 2 consoles with the same PSN ID and it worked great.

Wii, I have no clue...

Seeing as mrstickball has covered the Xbox side, I'll deal with the PS side:

When you get a replacement console, or whatever, just log into your account and redownload your stuff.

Like the Xbox, all downloaded content can be retrieved, and all the trophies and shit can be synced across.

EDIT: Not only am I late, but my post seems to have considerably less detail than above.

Due to pace of change playing older games can always be tricky - digital's got nothing to do with it really.

As for new generation it would of course depend upon the HW but there's no reason for Sony/MS and anyone else (Steam for example) not to hold a record of your past purchase and (assuming its compatible) allow you to download and play it on a new console.

Given the current importance of Live/PSN and the success of Steam I doubt digital games (particularly popular ones) will just get 'turned off'.

As for selling on digital games... it would be nice, but I can't help thinking one of the big attractions to publishers of DD is preventing you from doing this. I really doubt we're going to see it as an option, not unless they get some money - so for example you re-sell your rights through them to a friend at a discount: they sure aren't going to back anything for free given how much they hate the fact the don't see a single dime on every second hand game currently.