Hollywood and the games industry spent much of the last few years bickering about which high-definition disc format would replace DVD, with Blu-ray eventually winning the skirmish. But online distribution of games is becoming increasingly mainstream, which could make the whole debate moot.
Millions of console users are now regularly downloading games direct to hard drive, while PC blockbusters such as new instalments in the popular Half-Life series are released online before hitting retail shelves.
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii all have the capability to download games from vast libraries, while even PSP handheld owners can download classic games to play on the move.
Online digital distribution services like Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and Nintendo's new WiiWare service (which launched in Australia today) are providing an appealing outlet for risk-averse game makers worried about rising development and marketing costs and piracy.
Digital distribution eliminates retail margins and ensures manufacturing, marketing and distribution costs are lower.
The online services have also proved that cheap and simple games can be just as financially lucrative as modern disc-based blockbusters, encouraging innovation and risk-taking by developers and publishers, helping to combat piracy and enabling greater diversity of gaming titles at lower prices.
After years of relentless technology advances rendering old platforms and games obsolete, digital distribution is also allowing the industry to let nostalgic gamers relive their misspent youth by providing retro classics to download. Many of the most popular games on the Xbox Live Arcade service are classics like Pac-Man, Frogger and Bomberman, while the Wii's "Virtual Console" service now offers Australians more than 200 old games to choose from, originally released on systems like the SNES, Megadrive and Neo Geo.
Telstra has also been experimenting with online distribution for the last few years using its Bigpond Games Shop. Users can pay a monthly subscription fee to play all the games they want, or download and purchase games outright, like IGN’s popular Direct2Drive service.
Half-Life developers Valve are one of the pioneers of digital distribution, establishing the Steam online service which allowed Half-Life 2 customers to pre-install the game to their PC hard drive and play it on launch day in November 2005.
Steam now offers many games for download, including innovative gems like Darwinia and Rag Doll Kung Fu that struggle to find their way onto store shelves because of their niche appeal.
Valve's Half-Life 2: Episode One and Episode Two also signaled the emergence of another trend in modern gaming - episodic content.
Sony in particular have been touting the benefits of episodic content since before PS2 was released, heralding a future in which customers will purchase and download games in shorter TV-style like chapters.
Sony is finally putting their money where their mouth is, experimenting with a TV-style episodic game for the first time later this year. Sony will deliver the next instalment in its underappreciated Forbidden Siren series of horror games in a dozen downloadable chapters downloadable via the PlayStation Network.
Games scheduled to be released this week on Nintendo's new WiiWare service include Lost Winds, Star Soldier R, Dr Mario & Germ Buster, Toki Tori Take 2, TV Show King and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King.
"The combination of low development barriers and unique game experiences, through use of the Wii remote, will enable developers to try new ideas with lower risk in a quicker, more creative and affordable way," says Nintendo in today's launch announcement.