[richymcdermott]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...-drive-report/

[Temptamperu]

Eh F**k that. I as a games hoarder hate this plan and if its kinect type controller only, I am going Sony.

[Zeouterlimits]

Rumour would be a better title than report imo.

Considering our retail 360 games aren't tied to our accounts like Steam, it would be insanity. With Halo 4 and GTAV coming out this year (we'll see about GTA), it would be crazy to come out in 2013 and not be able to be able to play your copy.

The PS4 being so different to PS3 worries me that they won't be able to emulate it and therefore no BC there either. Of course a more traditional hardware style and API support, like that in the Vita, is a much much better idea, and will no doubt lead to better ports.

[Andy!!]

Originally Posted by Zeouterlimits

Rumour would be a better title than report imo.

Considering our retail 360 games aren't tied to our accounts like Steam, it would be insanity. With Halo 4 and GTAV coming out this year (we'll see about GTA), it would be crazy to come out in 2013 and not be able to be able to play your copy.

If you read the article, it does mention some way of getting your 360 games on there possibly using some kind of HDD transfer.

It's certainly a good idea from the point of view of nerfing the 2nd hand market. Interesting, anyways.

[Overheal]

From the Gob of Gabe:

So, you know, people were worried when we started using Steam initially because, oh my gosh, if I don’t have my discs what happens when I get a new machine? And after they’ve done this a couple times they’re like “oh my god, this is so much better, I’m so much more likely [...] to lose my discs than I am to have any problem with my Steam account, that seems way better than having a physical token that I use to access my content.”

[drunkmonkey]

Originally Posted by Andy!!

It's certainly a good idea from the point of view of nerfing the 2nd hand market. Interesting, anyways.

There going to stimulate the second hand market with a foam football?

[sink]

There are a number of reasons I see this is a likely possibility.

1. A propriety flash storage format will be extremely hard to pirate.
2. Flash memory is dirt cheap compared to what it used to be, when buying in bulk wholesale prices for 8gb chips are just a few dollars and falling all the time.
3. Games can still be sold through shops as well as downloaded.
4. Flash memory is writeable allowing Microsoft to permanently link games to accounts and eliminate the second hand market.
5. Microsoft has no interest in Blu-Ray, unlike Sony it stands to make no profit out of the sale of a Blu-ray film.
6. Streaming a film directly a Microsoft console however provides tidy little income stream. Without the option of Blu-Ray people are more likely to use the streaming services available.

I don't think it's a good thing for consumers but it's definitely an attractive option for Microsoft.

[calex71]

As others have pointed out in other threads over and over again, this quite simply won't happen.

Up to 50% of xboxs are not online, people have slow broadband and low data caps and so on. If they went the digital only route then they would lose half of their install base.

A lot of thinks need to change before a digital content only xbox emerges, and that is not going to change by the time they release the next generation console.

[Andy!!]

Originally Posted by drunkmonkey

There going to stimulate the second hand market with a foam football?

No, they are going to kill it with one.

[sink]

People are getting confused.

No optical disk drive /= download only

There are other formats available, namely flash memory.

[EnterNow]

Originally Posted by sink

People are getting confused.

No optical disk drive /= download only

There are other formats available, namely flash memory.

Flash memory versus 50GB dual layer Blu-Rays? No contest.

[sink]

Originally Posted by EnterNow

Flash memory versus 50GB dual layer Blu-Rays? No contest.

Few games on PS3 use more than 30GB. The maximum capacity of a single flash chip is currently 128GB and doubles every year with theoretical limits of many TB's, while prices continuously fall. You can put more than one chip in a cartridge. Read speeds and access times are infinitely faster with flash.

[ScumLord]

Originally Posted by calex71

As others have pointed out in other threads over and over again, this quite simply won't happen.

Up to 50% of xboxs are not online, people have slow broadband and low data caps and so on. If they went the digital only route then they would lose half of their install base.

A lot of thinks need to change before a digital content only xbox emerges, and that is not going to change by the time they release the next generation console.

Just because 50% of people don't currently have their xbox connected to the internet doesn't necessarily mean they couldn't do it if they wanted to does it?

I'm sure their intention is to target the western countries where they can get guaranteed sales.

[Overheal]

also think ahead to two years from now. and look two years behind. Ireland enjoys internet speeds right now that you wouldn't have been able to imagine 5 years ago.

[Andy!!]

Originally Posted by sink

Few games on PS3 use more than 30GB. The maximum capacity of a single flash chip is currently 128GB and doubles every year with theoretical limits of many TB's, while prices continuously fall. You can put more than one chip in a cartridge. Read speeds and access times are infinitely faster with flash.

Bring back carts!!!!!!!!

I'm all for this now.

Hope I get to blow into them if they start reading incorrectly