While speaking at a panel discussion in Mountain View, California, Microsoft VP Peter Moore said that he believes that the death of physical game media in inevitable.
“Let’s be fair. Whether it’s five, 10, 15, 20 years from now, the concept of driving to the store to buy a plastic disc with data on it and driving back and popping it in the drive will be ridiculous…. We’ll tell our grandchildren that and they’ll laugh at us.”
Supporting Mr. Moore’s prediction for the future, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aime made an interesting announcement at DICE 2006 concerning the Nintendo DS. Reggie explained that DS download stations will be in retail outlets across the US and Canada in the very near future. Which essentially means DS users can visit theses stations and wirelessly download new games, demos, trailers, etc. You will be able to play with these files or games you download until you shut your system off, at which point they will be lost.
Even Blockbuster Video has announced that they will now be offering online rental services, where movies and games are delivered directly to your home.
The idea of being able to download the newest game for your Xbox 360, Sony PS3, or Nintendo Revolution is a concept that many of us would simply love. However as Moore points out, the extinction of retailers wont happen over night, but already we are seeing other means of getting media. But for now, retailers are still the largest and most lucrative means of getting new games and media in the hands of users. The idea of being able to download the newest game for your Xbox 360, Sony PS3, or Nintendo revolution is a concept that many of us would simply die for.
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