It looks like Microsoft may be giving up on the HD disc market. They are predicting, in short order, that discs will become irrelevant in the VERY near future as consumers prefer to download content, music being the prime example.

So my first question is, "what about that HD-DVD thingy you guys were pushing a couple of months ago? Was that just an attempt to cash-in on our ignorance of the upcoming digital download (DD) revolution?"

I'm also curious about the ,"why now" factor. We've been downloading music for years now, where's the shift?

I like DD, don't get me wrong. But I have quite a few problems with it.

First, media outlives hardware. I have all sorts of rare Japanese games I've kept over the years. If my N64 or one of my PlayStations went belly up, I could track down another... but if the content were on a built in hard-drive? Ugh. I shudder just thinking about it. Second, discs are portable. I teach videogame classes. It is far easier to drag a disc to the university than my PS3 with all of it's DLC. Even when I can, why would I want to download something twice? Finally... why not do both? Why can't I download disc based games to my hard-drive or backup DD to discs? It seems to me that is what the consumer really wants.

Back to the topic at hand. Sorry MS, I'm not buying it. I can't download HD quality movies, and won't be able to in the near future. Until y'all sort out that DRM nonsense, I'll take my Blu-ray discs any day.

[Source: GameIndustry.biz]