Microsoft intelligently designed their system to have a smaller disc capacity to take advantage of next gen internet speeds. Thats why I put it here rather than in the gaming forums as the Wii doesn't have a HDD and the PS3 doesn't have games you could reasonably download anyway. Obviously many people already do so with Steam so yes, you got here first apart from the rental part.

If Microsoft started offering you the chance to download and buy/rent games which are older than say 3 months (to not piss of the retailers too much) would you take advantage of that feature? Lets say you can download the game for $25 and play it once to completion or 28 days, whichever comes first and then pay another $25 if you want to keep it for life or straight up pay $45 up front and own it from the start. Im not sure about the price that they would charge, thats just a rough guess.

Its a safer way to make a purchase and you obviously didn't pick the title up when it was released because you were either not sure about it or didn't have the money at the time. Pay $25 on what is essentially a far lower risk, essentially its about the difference between the new and used trade in prices from gamestop without the hassle of dealing with those blood suckers. Unlike rentals from other places, you have time to finish a game and you don't have to worry about the local place having the game you want in stock. Furthermore you can easily convert a rental into owning a game, so for example if you're short on cash you can make your purchase in two steps rather than one large payment.

It gives users another option if they want to just play games once, there are a lot of titles that may not justify a full price purchase, but are worth a single playthrough. It gives developers an extra source of revenue, perhaps even enough to help some of the smaller ones sustain themselves between releases and it can help keep money out of the slimey hands of gamestop (Who are essentially doing this themselves without giving the developers a cent in royalties), so do you like the idea?

Thoughts/Comments/Suggestions?

Thus the problem with downloading. I'd be willing to download to rent/buy online but it's much cheaper for Developers to sell online so I expect benefits/discounts. A full fledged game such as MGS4 or GTA 4 wouldn't be that bad if it was a new release and sold for $45 online but most games would be better at the $30-$40 price range. And $25 for a rental is rediculous even if it is for a month. As most people have said you can use Blockbusters current system to rent a game for a month for about $10 so I think something like a 2 week rental for $6-$8 seems reasonable.

Why not? I would definately give it a try.

The system will be quiet as hell, almost no loading screens, Disc can't break etc.

And when you are really hyped for a game, you could start to download at midnight when a game is released. Then go to bed, wake up and play. better than waiting for the stores to open or checking the mail every hour :)

Also, I don't think it matters that Microsoft used a DVD versus Blu Ray. Their are several games on the Wii Channel and PS Network that don't have to use 25 Gigs of space to look good/play good. A PS3 downloadable game could be very good and only use 1 gig of space.

I bought a Wii for my brother. Along with it (and a new game), I gave him a few of the games I had already completed or didn't want to play anymore. This is something I'd like to be able to do with downloadable titles (although I understand there are problems involved).

On the 360, I could download titles as long as they're cheaper than in retail stores. I'm good at finding deals so that likely means 20-30 € 3 months after the title has been released. Anything more than that and I'll just buy a physical copy for nearly the same price.

Already brought burnout paradise & tekken from the PSN. Wouldn't buy to many though as the HDD would fill a little to quick for my liking

It's not practical on a 360.

If a game just fits on one dual layer dvd it will be 9.4 gb, plus a bit for save data.

That means those who bought the most expensive 360 at launch would be able to buy 2 of these games.

Even if you shell out the dough for an elite, it would be a dozen games. Still not enough.

But anyway, I would buy whichever was cheaper, assuming there was a console that could actually do what you say

I would but the price has to come down a bit. Right now for gamefly I pay 30 bucks a month for 3 games a month keep it as long as I can or if I beat the game in a week return it get another game. I can keep right now fall out for $43. Once the prices are comparible to those other rental companies I wont do it.

Its just another reason for 20gb owners like myself to upgrade eh? Besides, the games are 6.8gb not 9.4. So that means the 60gb owners could fit 3-4 games easily and the 120gb owners quite a bit more.

If you're going to trade in anyway, why not rent?