The Future of Gaming Distribution

What is the future of entertainment, and more importantly, video game distribution?  We have all seen how much Apple’s iTunes has taken off and has superseded WalMart as the number one music distributor in the United States.  So, where does that leave games?  Microsoft seems to think it has the answer as it has recently rebuffed notions of a Xbox 360 Blue-Ray player for movies and is currently focusing on putting more downloadable content on its Xbox Live service.  I have personally downloaded two beta releases of games through Xbox Live and have found it to be an extremely convenient way to access games.  For those PC gamers out there however, I need only to point to Direct2Drive.  If you have ever downloaded anything from Fileplanet then odds are you have the File Manager which both Direct2Drive and Fileplanet use to download digital content.  Buying games on Direct2Drive (or even Gamestop’s downloadable content service) is extremely easy, and one need only have a fast internet connection and a few hours to wait.  As more and more people get high speed internet I see a future where much of the world’s digitized media is accessed through the net and not through a traditional retail chain.