Thinking of 400GB games... The idea makes me feel old and lighted headed.

I would disagree with almost every statement you have made.

CDs may not be going anywhere, but CD sales are falling through through the floor. When was the last time you saw someone put a CD in a portable player?

Maybe things are different where I live, but almost no one I know buys physical CDs, everyone buys online for their ipods.

Harddrive failure? Like I said, the big three all keep a record of what I have downloaded, so if I do need to redownload I can do it for free. Game consoles aren't the same as computers, with 400 different parts from 400 different companies running 400 different programs and constantly barraged by viruses so HD failure doesn't happen as often. They are dedicated systems. In short, I have never experienced a console HD failure nor have I heard of anyone having an HD failure on a console game.

Broadband not becoming advanced? FiOS is now available where I live, and that is the biggest advancement in a decade.

I, too, like having physical copies of things I collect and own, but that thinking is becoming outdated.

On the HDD failure, that happens about as often as Bluescreens. People complain about them like they happen everyday but in reality it's pretty rare.

what kinda game needs that many GB's. isnt a DVD only 4? and then single layer blu-ray is 30GB right? i cant imagine how long it would take to make a game that needed that much space

They used to say that about games on CD. "We'll never need more than 700 megs for a game".

About 45 Dual layer DVDs, does are the ones they use on the XBOX 360

But Kojima didn't compress the HD audio, that's why he almost filled a whole 60GB blu-ray.

And, just like in the pass, HDD space will increase.

Dual layer DVDs are 9GB. And Dual layer BR are 60 GB.

what addition to games could they come up with that would need more space. they would have to either just make the game bigger or come up with something more complicated that required more space

how many games combined on one disc could fill that 400GB?

Bigger Maps, better sound, more weapons or vehicles, more gaming mode, better graphics, you name it...

About 12 games with 30GB size.

Well you can disagree with it all but that doesn't mean i'm wrong in the slightest. :rolleyes:

Lets discuss why eh?

Hmm, when did portable CD players suddenly become the only CD playing equipment? They aren't used too much anymore because there are mp3 players and smaller technologies available. Sales might have decreased but thats only cos there's more choice.
I saw someone today use CDs to play music and I do as well, everyday.

I think they just may well be. Is it a small town or a city?
Either way, if people are more likely to have iPods and the like, then yes you are more likely to get digitally distributed media. However if any serious music lover listens to music, they want the original CD, so they can listen to it at home or in the car on their phat sound system.
At the end of the day, it depends what technology is being pushed by companies. iPods are a fad and normal mp3 players have fast become just as popular. It doesn't mean it is something that is "popular" because people prefer it. It just means that is the technology available and Digital Distribution is what is available for it.
As I said before, Digital Media is a choice, not something that should be forced onto people by these fat cat companies.

But I have seen it and so have a lot of others. In fact, just because a console is a dedicated system, doesn't mean its hard drive won't fail. The hard drive itself is not made by Sony or Microsoft and neither are a lot of components in a console. This means that the hard drive is just as likely to fail as in any PC because it has moving parts and the same MTBF (mean time between failure) rate. Being a dedicated system means nothing as far as the HD is concerned.
Anyway in my experience, the only console that hasn't had a problem with data loss is the Wii and that is because it uses Solid State Technology to store things.

I meant the companies offering broadband services are not advanced and are actually stepping backwards with products and services they offer.
Broadband can get advanced till its green in the face but if the services that companies offer are not viable, you will not have any kind of progress.

According to who is it becoming outdated?

I and plenty of people will never think so.

He didn't outright say that it would never happen. Just that it would take time for it to.
"Experts" used to say a lot of things like that about PCs and consoles anyway. It'd be nice to think that they abstain from absolute dismissal about a certain subject these days.

Xbox/Wii DVDs = 6~8GB depending on the console. Those are dual layer DVDs. Single layer are not used for games. Asingle layer Blu-ray is 25GB, dual obviously 50. There have been games that have used most, if not all of the Blu-ray on PS3. Uncompressed audio takes up a lot of space.

and MMM, Hard disk failure happens more on consoles than you think. Probably one of the most common causes people need to send a PS3/360 in for repairs (outside of RROD for 360, of course.)

lets assume they are going to make a game that uses up most of the space on this 400GB disc. how much would making that game cost? how much time would it take? how many people would it take? could the game console handle having to search for each item on that disc and displaying it all on the screen? and finally, i think the price WE the consumer would have to pay would skyrocket. would it be the same price of buying 12 games?!

true, MGS4 used almost all of the space on a DL BD.

This is of course purely fan speculation, there has been no official statement by Square on this topic.

People are already DLing tons of games for all three console game systems. "World of Goo" is one of the highest rated Wii games ever, and it is only available by DL.

I am not sure how you can argue that DD is not the wave of the future when it is already happening.

We are seeing it happening in gaming today. We are seeing fiber optic lines spreading like tentacles across the US and we have already seen how people have embraced the technology in not only music, but in PC software, as well. I can't even remember the last time I went to a computer store and bought a box with a program in it.

Yes, there are people that will always want to buy their CDs to have a physical copy. But I think it calling iPods a "fad" is a bold and risky statement. As technology makes music transfer easier and easier, the need for fragile CDs is reduced. I remember 25 years ago people talking about how they would never give up their records because they sound so much better than "digital CDs". People complained that the CDs were too small, and the shrunken cover art would keep people from wanting them. True music lovers would never buy CDs

But the younger generation had no passion for the big clunky records and art.
We know what happened in the end.

I am not going to predict the future, and I never said physical media will be completely eliminated, but digital download is where I would put my bet for the present and future gaming systems.

I can argue it because it simply isn't a fool proof option yet. Just because people download a game or two, it doesn't make a particular technology "the wave of the future".
I've been downloading games myself for years. Stuff like "Steam" has been available on the PC for some time. I've downloaded a few games from there but the annoyance of having to redownload games everytime I format or something, makes me just want a hard copy which I can refer to whenever I want, without having to wait an hour or two before I can reinstall something.
Its difficult to get people to relate when they haven't downloaded and installed WoW over the internet.
It took a total of 7 hours because Blizzards P2P filesharing is so crap.

I'm afraid I don't put my bet in it either, just because CD/DVDs are nothing like Vinyl (so the comparison is moot) and it's way less riskier to have a hard copy game or piece of software, than a DD one.
Like I said before, the prices of reliable hardware will have to come down by a lot for this method to be a viable option.
Storing things on CD/DVDs are way less risky than on a hard drive. The only risk involved is human error and how he/she takes care of their copies.

So, find a better storage solution, better download software, less stingy ISPs and perhaps an option for relevant media memerobilia to be sent via post (like the cd booklets etc) and you might have a case.