Xbox 360 To Get Full Retail Games on Demand

[wraggster]

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/06/msft-e3-2009-keynote0473-rm-eng.jpg

Microsoft's E3 keynote was so jam-packed the company decided to wait until afterwards to announce what might be the biggest new feature of them all: on-demand access to full retail games. The service will launch in August with 30 titles to start, and new games will be added weekly, with pricing to match retail. The best part? Purchases can be made directly with a credit card, no pesky Xbox points required. More pics of the system after the break.

Update: Don't get your hopes up, MS tells us that the point system isn't going anywhere, it's just being supplemented with credit card purchases. Also, game rentals aren't happening yet, but they said it "sounds great for the future."

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/01/xbox-360-getting-full-retail-games-delivered-on-demand/

[rmedtx]

I don't think this is a good idea. I like to own the disk in it's original package. I would not buy a game I cannot really own. Specially since it is a mess when you sent your 360 for repairs. In most cases you don't even get the same one. Even when you could retain the game as purchased. It will take too long to download. MS is pushing for this service because they don't want to support Blu-Ray for their coming console. Internet companies are greedy they will try to make money out of this too.

[Qmark]

MS is pushing for this service because they don't want to support Blu-Ray for their coming console. No.
MS is doing this to screw the 'used' market. A crappy game on a disk can be unloaded at a gamestop to cut the losses. Digital downloads don't have this option.

[Graxer0419]

I can't see this being that popular. The games will probably cost their retail price, and there will be no selling the games when you are finished with them. Also, hard drive space will be a big barrier. 360 HDDs range from 20Gb to 120Gb and a retail game can be up to 9Gb by its self on a dual-layer DVD filling up almost half of the available space on a 20Gb hard drive. Its also useless for those who have the arcade XBOX bundle. They don't even have a hard drive!

[beetroot bertie]

I can't see the UK's broadband infrastructure even being able to support this on a mass scale. It would take me ages to download a possible 9GB file and my 20GB drive wouldn't have enough room on it anyway.

Still, I guess there will be some people than welcome it. At least we have a choice.

Maybe a suitable price reduction would make this more attractive as opposed to "pricing to match retail". Come on, no disc, no manual, no box, no packaging, no logistics of a physical product yet a retail matching price - no thanks.