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[bud]

Here’s yet another bit of data that corroborates our speculation that the Xbox 360 has been architected as a trojan horse for digital delivery of all game content.

In a speech given last Friday at Howard University in Washington D.C., Bill Gates stated that neither HD-DVD nor Blu-ray will matter in the long run and that both formats will be replaced eventually by plain old hard disks. This hints at one reason why Microsoft excluded “next-generation” disc media from the Xbox platform. It would be incredibly costly (and short-sighted) to stick a next-gen optical disc format in the Xbox 360 when their technical gurus believe that there’s a chance that digital delivery of games could become commonplace in the Xbox 360-PS3-Revolution generation of consoles.

Gates said, “The format that’s under discussion right now, HD versus Blu-ray, that’s simply the last physical format we’ll ever have. Even videos in the future will either be on a disk in your pocket or over the Internet and therefore far more convenient for you.”

There are, of course, major challenges to overcome before digital distribution of games becomes commonplace. For one, super-duper high speed bandwidth needs to become far more commonplace. Only half of those online in America have broadband. For another, companies need to be sure that their digital products will not be replicated without their consent. Both problems are solvable. Whether they’ll be solved this generation or next is the big question.

Read the full transcript here: http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/speeches/2005/10-14Howard.asp

If old close it.

 

[TranceVibrator]

Doubt it... I love having a collection on DVDs/games in their cases looking nice in my bookshelf. If everything becomes downloaded, wtf am I gonna do when my HDDs become full. *bzzt*

 

[Foil]

Downloadable games... Personally it's nice since you could get any game you wanted without the hassle of trying to track it down in a store. Could mean cheaper games for us too. However I need the physical media in my hands, I don't like the thought of videogames going purely digital downloads. It also begs the question as stated above? What if the HDD fills up? You're screwed.

 

[Doube D]

Everyone and their mothers knows that the entire xbox division at microsoft is there for one purpose, to take over your living room. Gaming is just the bait. The x360 however looks too much like a console for any serious techie to entertain as the central entertainment hub (not to mention that it doesn't even come standard with a hard disk). So ye, won't happen this generation for MS, but we'll see what happens down the line. This gen they will most likely try to fine-tune the live network they got going in preparation for full on assault come x720.

btw, obviously sony are seeking the same result.

Nintendo is the only one that actually wants to focus on gaming (good thing too, cause that the only thing they are good at).

 

[Wax Free Vanilla]

The day games move to downloadable form is the day I quit gaming, fuck that bullshit.

 

[funcojoe]

The day games move to downloadable form is the day I quit gaming, fuck that bullshit.

Why?

 

[Shaheed79]

I have several friends who attend Howard University so I'll ask if any of them went to this event. Strange he would give a speech at Howard but I think he donates a lot of money to the UNCF.

 

[----]

Doubt it... I love having a collection on DVDs/games in their cases looking nice in my bookshelf. If everything becomes downloaded, wtf am I gonna do when my HDDs become full. *bzzt*

Buy a bigger one? I don't see how that's a problem. People said the same bullshit about music CDs. Then people realize it's nice to be able to carry around your entire collection on one tiny drive.


Bill Gates made some similar comments in an interview...

DP: There has been a lot of debate about the next generation Blu-ray and HD DVD technologies in recent weeks. It seems more and more companies are backing the Blu-ray standard. The current debate seems to harken back to the Betamax vs. VHS format war in the 1970s and 80s, where Betamax was ostensibly the superior technology yet it did not gain wide acceptance. Why is Microsoft not backing Blu-ray today — a technology that many consider to be superior?

Bill Gates: Well, the key issue here is that the protection scheme under Blu-ray is very anti-consumer and there's not much visibility of that. The inconvenience is that the [movie] studios got too much protection at the expense of consumers and it won't work well on PCs. You won't be able to play movies and do software in a flexible way.

It's not the physical format that we have the issue with, it's that the protection scheme on Blu is very anti-consumer. If [the Blu-ray group] would fix that one thing, you know, that'd be fine.

For us it's not the physical format. Understand that this is the last physical format there will ever be. Everything's going to be streamed directly or on a hard disk. So, in this way, it's even unclear how much this one counts.

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2005/10/14/news/13474.shtml

 

[ziran]

Everyone and their mothers knows that the entire xbox division at microsoft is there for one purpose, to take over your living room. Gaming is just the bait. The x360 however looks too much like a console for any serious techie to entertain as the central entertainment hub (not to mention that it doesn't even come standard with a hard disk). So ye, won't happen this generation for MS, but we'll see what happens down the line. This gen they will most likely try to fine-tune the live network they got going in preparation for full on assault come x720.

btw, obviously sony are seeking the same result.

exactly.

delivering digital content via the internet has always been microsoft's goal. so much so, that their competition is not only sony (who want the same) and nintendo, but, viacom, news corp., time warner, etc.

 

[123rl]

And for the same reason that I think MP3s and video on demand are ridiculously stupid, I think this is a horrible idea

So say I pay for a download and it's cheaper than the physical copy - for argument's sake, it's £15 cheaper. I'm screwed up the ass if I don't like the game or if I get bored of it. I sell on all my games that I finish and get back at least 40% of the cost. I wouldn't be able to do that with downloads, would I? (rhetorical question btw). What if the hard drive crashes? Does that mean I'm going to lose a dozen games and hundreds of pounds worth of games? How would I get that back?

I also like owning a physical copy. Maybe it's just me but seeing a cabinet of games, or collections of certain franchises makes me proud of my investment and time/money in collecting (and playing, of course)

 

[TranceVibrator]

Nintendo is the only one that actually wants to focus on gaming (good thing too, cause that the only thing they are good at).

Damn straight that's a good thing. I'm actually a little pissed off big name companies want to turn our gaming consoles into home entertainment hubs...

I ask this, if there weren't 3rd parties making games, which out of the 3 console makers would still be able to function? Well, taking into consideration that Microsoft and Sony wouldn't have been able to purchase their 2nd parties, Only Nintendo would be left as they seem to be the only one making 1st party games... that holds a lot of respect to them in my opinion. Sega was the same way too. But now they're dead as console makers lol! I'm really actually very happy Nintendo is still around to keep that "old skool" gaming thing going. Shame the popularity of the bigger names has forced them to take some odd directions to keep the interest on them...

Just my opinion. Might be wrong with the 1st party shit :lol

 

[Striek]

It would be incredibly costly (and short-sighted) to stick a next-gen optical disc format in the Xbox 360 when their technical gurus believe that there’s a chance that digital delivery of games could become commonplace in the Xbox 360-PS3-Revolution generation of consoles.

Theres no chance of this happening on a scale that would render a HD-optical format useless. Quite the excuse.

 

[Foil]

Buy a bigger one? I don't see how that's a problem. People said the same bullshit about music CDs. Then people realize it's nice to be able to carry around your entire collection on one tiny drive.

We're probally talking about 'next next-gen' games here. They're going to be huge? Lots of people would probally have 20-50 games on the thing. Would the HDD's be big enough to hold all that?

 

[TranceVibrator]

Buy a bigger one? I don't see how that's a problem. People said the same bullshit about music CDs. Then people realize it's nice to be able to carry around your entire collection on one tiny drive.

Yes, but you have those CDs to keep backups of all your music. Once your mp3 player gets full, you can just delete the music as you know you have it on CD anyway. Download mp3s? Back them up on a CD. They're not nearly as big as a modern videogame which goes into the gigs. Plus they are saying they want to stop you from making copies of things you download! pfft.

 

[----]

And for the same reason that I think MP3s and video on demand are ridiculously stupid, I think this is a horrible idea

So say I pay for a download and it's cheaper than the physical copy - for argument's sake, it's £15 cheaper. I'm screwed up the ass if I don't like the game or if I get bored of it. I sell on all my games that I finish and get back at least 40% of the cost. I wouldn't be able to do that with downloads, would I? (rhetorical question btw). What if the hard drive crashes? Does that mean I'm going to lose a dozen games and hundreds of pounds worth of games? How would I get that back?

I also like owning a physical copy. Maybe it's just me but seeing a cabinet of games, or collections of certain franchises makes me proud of my investment and time/money in collecting (and playing, of course)

1. Game publishers are pissed off that you're able to buy used games. They want this to stop ASAP. Publishers make no money off of used game sales and it decreases sales of new games. There's no reason for publishers to keep this system alive.

2. You can back up your games/movies on another drive and the service you downloaded from remembers everything you've ever paid for and downloaded. You can download the file again once it is linked to your account as paid for. This is how Xbox Live Arcade is going to work. (Much better system than iTunes where if you lose your files you're screwed)

3. People said the exact same thing about their CD collections. Now everyone has an iPod.

 

[Thaedolus]

Personally, after Half-Life 2, I won't care if all games go downloadable in the future. So what if your HDD fills up? Just delete the games you don't play, and download them again later when you feel the urge. Personally my rather large back-catalog of games doesn't get played too often, but should I ever want to I wouldn't mind clicking and waiting for it to download in a reasonable amount of time. Assuming the business model of the company isn't completely wack, you should be able to download again free of charge. (See post above) That's how Steam works, I just formatted my HDD the other day and didn't bother to back up Steam because it's so easy to just redownload.

I really wouldn't mind if games went that way. Honestly I'd probably buy a lot more games that way.

 

[TranceVibrator]

Redownloading could be a problem for people on bandwidth limits. I know we're talking a fair while into the future here, and hopefully we'll all be on unlimited plans by then, but still it is a massive hassle if you have 200gig+ worth of content you need to redownload. Having the media in your hands just seems so much more convenient...

Sure, give us the option, but I really hope they don't force us onto the download thing so then we can all be happy

 

[Servizio]

I thought this was a bigger deal until I realized one of my most played titles this gen was Half Life 2 and the only bit of physical evidence I have that I "own" that game is a bit of paper with my free download ticket printed on it.

If they can supply above average content management, and a balance between quality/download time/hard drive real estate taken up, I can see a lot of people switching to download only gaming. I've often thought of selling off my physical collection save for a few rarities and getting by on emulation, and things like GameTap and the Live Arcade, and the Revolution library make that seem more feasible.

Of course, I think as long as Wal-Mart remains the number seller of games and broadband penetration remains so relatively low, you're not going to see this happen.

 

[Syb]

It'd take days to download a game on my connection.

(512k DSL)

 

[DDayton]

I don't trust companies to be around long enough to ensure that my digital purchases can be downloaded/accessed at any time. Hard copies ensure that my games/music/movies/books/etc. are permanently mine.

Used game sales are a good thing, if only because they keep alive ancient games. Few companies keep a game in stores for even a whole year at this point...

 

[Foil]

Well there are some big pluses to it.

1) No more "dirty disc error" messages.
2) No more used game discs scratched to hell.
3) No having to drive and waste gas to pick up a game.
4) No more going to 100 stores only to not be able to find an older title you want.
5) Cheaper prices (hopefully).
6) No more friends "borrowing" your games.
7) No more EB clerks telling you to "buy it used!" or "want a strategy guide friend?"
8) The end of ugly Graetest Hits boxart, sadly though all boxart.

Hmm, this could eliminate the disc drive in systems all together could it not?

 

[123rl]

1. Game publishers are pissed off that you're able to buy used games. They want this to stop ASAP. Publishers make no money off of used game sales and it decreases sales of new games. There's no reason for publishers to keep this system alive.

2. You can back up your games/movies on another drive and the service you downloaded from remembers everything you've ever paid for and downloaded. You can download the file again once it is linked to your account as paid for. This is how Xbox Live Arcade is going to work. (Much better system than iTunes where if you lose your files you're screwed)

3. People said the exact same thing about their CD collections. Now everyone has an iPod.

1 - I know that. If I'm buying a new release then I'll only buy new games. I'll only buy 2nd hand if I can't find a new copy and it's out of print (which happens far too quickly, IMO). I have no guilt about selling it on afterwards though. IMO it's no different to lending it to a friend...are they going to try and stop that next? You register a game and it can only be played on that console...(probably will happen tbh)

2 - That's not what I expected but it's good. As TranceVibrator said though, it's a problem for people with download caps. In the UK some broadband ISPs have monthly caps as low as 3-4Gb! I'm on an unlimited bandwidth account but I still don't like the idea of downloading all that when/if things go tits up

3 - I don't have any MP3 player. I hate the format. I'm sticking with CD until the format disappears altogether...when it does I'll just stop buying new music.

 

[----]

I don't trust companies to be around long enough to ensure that my digital purchases can be downloaded/accessed at any time. Hard copies ensure that my games/music/movies/books/etc. are permanently mine.

Used game sales are a good thing, if only because they keep alive ancient games. Few companies keep a game in stores for even a whole year at this point...

That's why music download services let you make X number of backups. You also have no problem downloading old music off of iTunes/Napster. As far as ancient games this type of service works better. When retailers stop carrying a game or they run out of shelf space and have to clear out inventory old games get lost forever or become incredibly difficult to find. With a download service the old games would be available forever and would never be hard to find.

Well there are some big pluses to it.

1) No more "dirty disc error" messages.
2) No more used game discs scratched to hell.
3) No having to drive and waste gas to pick up a game.
4) No more going to 100 stores only to not be able to find an older title you want.
5) Cheaper prices (hopefully).
6) No more friends "borrowing" your games.
7) No more EB clerks telling you to "buy it used!" or "want a strategy guide friend?"
8) The end of ugly Graetest Hits boxart, sadly though all boxart.

Hmm, this could eliminate the disc drive in systems all together could it not?

OMG The Phantom! :lol

It won't happen that quickly. We will have a mixed disc/download system for a long time.

 

[TranceVibrator]

Actually, that's a good point 123rl. Even 320 bitrate compressed MP3's don't sound nearly as good as lossless CDA. If we're forced to download everything, we'd be stuck with shitty sounding music! We're moving into the HD era (!!1) now, how can downloaded content keep up the quality? HD-DVD and Bluray both hold around 25-30gig each on average. That's loads more than the whole 360 HDD. Thats loads more than my monthly download limit! :lol Will downloaded content be forced into massive compression and we'll end up with SD quality video anyway? So many questiosn

 

[Gek54]

1) No more "dirty disc error" messages. (HD failure is not uncommon)
2) No more used game discs scratched to hell.
3) No having to drive and waste gas to pick up a game.
4) No more going to 100 stores only to not be able to find an older title you want. ("Title no longer available for download")
5) Cheaper prices (hopefully). (Only if you are counting tax)
6) No more friends "borrowing" your games. (You must transport your entire system to play at a friends)
7) No more EB clerks telling you to "buy it used!" or "want a strategy guide friend?" (Guess again)
8) The end of ugly Graetest Hits boxart, sadly though all boxart. (Guess again)

 

[capslock]

What a bunch of fucking bullshit, if this is the real reason MS didn't use a next-generation optical drive, why didn't they make a harddrive standard with each XBox 360?

 

[123rl]

Actually, that's a good point 123rl. Even 320 bitrate compressed MP3's don't sound nearly as good as lossless CDA. If we're forced to download everything, we'd be stuck with shitty sounding music! We're moving into the HD era (!!1) now, how can downloaded content keep up the quality? HD-DVD and Bluray both hold around 25-30gig each on average. That's loads more than the whole 360 HDD. Thats loads more than my monthly download limit! :lol Will downloaded content be forced into massive compression and we'll end up with SD quality video anyway? So many questiosn

Mono soundtracks as standard in every game! :lol

 

[----]

1) No more "dirty disc error" messages. (HD failure is not uncommon)
2) No more used game discs scratched to hell.
3) No having to drive and waste gas to pick up a game.
4) No more going to 100 stores only to not be able to find an older title you want. ("Title no longer available for download")
5) Cheaper prices (hopefully). (Only if you are counting tax)
6) No more friends "borrowing" your games. (You must transport your entire system to play at a friends)
7) No more EB clerks telling you to "buy it used!" or "want a strategy guide friend?" (Guess again)
8) The end of ugly Graetest Hits boxart, sadly though all boxart. (Guess again)

You are aware that the PS3 and Xbox 360 already have small removable external hard drives. You will not have to take the entire system to bring your entire collection to a friends house. Also I can't imagine "title no longer available for download." Does that happen with the downloadable music services? What would be the reason? The possibility for cheaper prices comes from the fact that publishers no longer have to pay for production stamping, packaging, transportation, and warehouse storage. Of course with increasing development costs being cited as the main reason for price hikes I doubt there would be much change.

 

[Seth C]

Mono soundtracks as standard in every game! :lol

Or compressed Dolby Digital 5.1...you know, just like they use already...

 

[Gek54]

The possibility for cheaper prices comes from the fact that publishers no longer have to pay for production stamping, packaging, transportation, and warehouse storage.

Possible yes, but we havnt seen that with Steam games have we?

 

[DDayton]

Hah. Downloadable games would NOT mean that games would be around forever... I'd expect games to be harder to find, quite frankly. "Big name" games would be around forever (and, coicidentally, the same big names can be purchased used all over the place). Older games would get progressively harder to download as the years pass, and ESPECIALLY as we keep seeing platforms change... reprogramming and emulation won't be at the front of all publisher's eyes.

Don't forget licensed games... we'd never see them again. Imagine if Capcom made a "Download Only" game featuring a license... and it was popular with a niche crowd, but never got mass market appeal. They'd never carry it once their license expired, would they? How would anyone else ever play the game again?

 

[----]

What a bunch of fucking bullshit, if this is the real reason MS didn't use a next-generation optical drive, why didn't they make a harddrive standard with each XBox 360?

Interesting thing is that this would however explain why the hard drive has to be removable. Which in turn explains why it can be optional.

I think the important thing to understand is that this generation is simply the testing ground. It's going to first start out that you can download game demos and smaller games like the Xbox Live Arcade games. Next they might try to phase in a mixed system of using both retail optical discs and downloads. And then in 1 or 2 generations it might shift to downloads only. It would never be like the Phantom was intended to be (ie. overnight everyone would be expected to download games only.) It's going to be a gradual change.

 

[DCharlie]

"What a bunch of fucking bullshit, if this is the real reason MS didn't use a next-generation optical drive, why didn't they make a harddrive standard with each XBox 360?"

i had a thought about that... it revolved around this : What if the bundle is infact that retard pack?

Ie: you get rapped for a 20 gig drive, then MS announces games via "steam" style delivery, but oh... you'll have to buy the 200gig drive for that! sorry.

Retard pack owners laugh, 20 gig drive owners get miffed.

highly unlikely, but you gotta admit it would be funny for all the retard pack owners.

 

[Azrael]

In the long run it's heading in the direction of total digital content delivery, but in the near to mid term there's a lot of value in having a higher capacity disc media like Blu-Ray. I think at least for the next decade downloadable games will serve a complimentary role to disc media, providing a non-retail, low-cost outlet for indie games, while mainstream fare gets put on disc. Right now the bandwith and HDD space isn't there to be downloading libraries of high-def movies and games to a HDD, so a higher capacity disc format than DVD-9 is needed.

 

[Danj]

Hard drives to replace optical media? What kind of crack are these guys smoking? For one thing, hard drives are much less robust than CDs or DVDs; if you drop a hard drive on the floor, there's a good chance of it breaking, but if you drop a CD then it's unlikely to be damaged unless the floor surface leaves a huge scratch on it or something. Also, hard drives can be damaged by power failures, which are not uncommon these days, whereas such a thing wouldn't affect a CD.

 

[----]

Hard drives to replace optical media? What kind of crack are these guys smoking? For one thing, hard drives are much less robust than CDs or DVDs; if you drop a hard drive on the floor, there's a good chance of it breaking, but if you drop a CD then it's unlikely to be damaged unless the floor surface leaves a huge scratch on it or something. Also, hard drives can be damaged by power failures, which are not uncommon these days, whereas such a thing wouldn't affect a CD.

Yet despite this people are now buying their entire music collections off of iTunes. Next year they'll probably be buying movies as well.

In the long run it's heading in the direction of total digital content delivery, but in the near to mid term there's a lot of value in having a higher capacity disc media like Blu-Ray. I think at least for the next decade downloadable games will serve a complimentary role to disc media, providing a non-retail, low-cost outlet for indie games, while mainstream fare gets put on disc. Right now the bandwith and HDD space isn't there to be downloading libraries of high-def movies and games to a HDD, so a higher capacity disc format than DVD-9 is needed.

It also depends a lot on how much compression technology advances. You can get an entire HD movie on a regular DVD already though.

 

[robertsan21]

What about those who dont have a fast internet connection at home?

my family in sweden have ADSL, it takes hours do download 800 megs, imagine downloading a Game or film!!

here in malta where i live i have ADSL aswell and that is even slower than the one i have in sweden.

there is no way in hell that next gen discs " Blu-ray + DVDs" will NOT be used by the majority of homes around the globe in the coming 7-10 years!

 

[TranceVibrator]

Yet despite this people are now buying their entire music collections off of iTunes. Next year they'll probably be buying movies as well.

Their funeral :lol

 

[Danj]

Yet despite this people are now buying their entire music collections off of iTunes. Next year they'll probably be buying movies as well.

Right, but you can back up an iTunes music collection by burning it to CD. You don't honestly think they'll let you burn movies or games to DVD though, do you? Yes, I know Steam allows you to make a backup of HL2, but I reckon that's the exception rather than the rule.

 

[Borys]

From almost a year (from the moment HL2 launched) I keep on saying that DL content - music, movies, games and APPLICATIONS will be standard in the near future (2010) and people always laugh.

Your PC and your console will be only a THIN client displaying data that servers sends you back.

That's the future, whether you like it or not.

It's quite close in PC area and a little bit further in the console space but it's there, LOOMING!

I can't wait to DOWNLOAD my LEGITIMATE copy of DNF next year

Full STEAM ahead!

 

[norinrad21]

Why?

Could mean the end of boxarts and all those cool special edition stuff. Are you telling me you would rather download a game than to hold it in your hands, wait for the ups guy to deliver and hold out on all the excitement with just having to hold a game in your hands?

ok that didn't make sense

 

[----]

Their funeral :lol

Well to be fair to Apple, I have heard that if you lose your entire iTunes collection you can call up Apple and they can help you recover it. It is frowned upon and not easy, but I don't think you're totally screwed.

Right, but you can back up an iTunes music collection by burning it to CD. You don't honestly think they'll let you burn movies or games to DVD though, do you? Yes, I know Steam allows you to make a backup of HL2, but I reckon that's the exception rather than the rule.

Xbox Live Arcade will let you copy the games onto memory cards or HDDs already. What does it matter? The only way you can play the full game is with your gamertag unlocking it. Lets say you buy a game off of Xbox Live Arcade. You can go over to your friends house download the game onto his hard drive and start playing it there without having to pay for it again. The catch is that the full game will only be available if you connect with your gamertag. Once you leave your friend will only be able to play the demo version and has to buy the game with his gamertag to play the full thing. You can make as many copies of the game as you want on HDD's and memory cards though. In fact MS wants you to do this because without your gamertag all you're doing is distributing demos.

 

[Ryudo]

Part of the joy of having a game is getting that tangeable disc and cover/manual. When this type of thing ceases to be, so will i as a gamer.

 

[Ghost]

Its a good idea considering Xbox Live can already remember what you've bought so you can always get it again if you have to delete it to make space on your hard drive, or if your hard drive craps out. But the bandwidth just isnt there (And i dont see how it could be there in the span of 360s life time) to download a full next gen game in an acceptable amount of time to a console user who just wants immeadiate fun.

 

[Victrix]

I'm fairly certain the 360 will not result in a pack of oiled Greeks emerging from my console

Really, what's the complaint here? I've been impatiently waiting for serious digital delivery of games for a long time.

 

[goomba]

“The format that’s under discussion right now, HD versus Blu-ray, that’s simply the last physical format we’ll ever have. Even videos in the future will either be on a disk in your pocket or over the Internet and therefore far more convenient for you.”

Reminds me of his famous words of

"640KB ought to be enough for anyone"

I bet there will be many more generations of "phsical formats"

 

[----]

Its a good idea considering Xbox Live can already remember what you've bought so you can always get it again if you have to delete it to make space on your hard drive, or if your hard drive craps out. But the bandwidth just isnt there (And i dont see how it could be there in the span of 360s life time) to download a full next gen game in an acceptable amount of time to a console user who just wants immeadiate fun.

Well the way that Yahoo's game rental service and Gametap currently do it, and the way the Phantom was supposed to do it is that it doesn't download the entire game. It just downloads the part of the game you are playing and while you are playing it downloads the next part. To play Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow or Beyond Good and Evil on Gametap you don't have to wait for the entire DVD to download to your computer.

 

[Ghost]

So how does that work when you get to the end of the bit you've downloaded?

 

[----]

So how does that work when you get to the end of the bit you've downloaded?

It's already downloaded the next level by the time you get to it. Gametap also says you can play other games on the service and watch other content from the service while the game is downloading in the background.

 

[seanoff]

So if i have 30 HD movies with extras @ 30gigs each i will need approaching 1TB of disk space.
God help me if i have more than that. I'll need a fucking SAN just for my movies, then add in some games, some bloatware and whatever. so say 2TB. I don't trust my drives so i put in a RAID array. Min disk space now = 4TB Then i'll need something to serve all this shit, a network, some sort of server.

How much is going to cost.

Now i'm looking at full rack just to store my stuff. Then i'll have to back it up somehow to what, optical media probably.

No thanks.

I'll but an optical drive, (PS3 $400) and some very stable media thanks save me a lot of trouble