"Whether it's five, 10, 15, 20 years from now, the concept of driving to the store to buy a plastic disc with data on it [and] popping it in the drive will be ridiculous," top Xbox executive Peter Moore said at a panel discussion last night.

The talk, dubbed "The Era of Connected Gaming--An Inside Look At An Industry On Revolution," delved into issues surrounding video game connectivity and the future of game media distribution.

Moore's vision might not bode well for brick-and-mortar retailers like GameStop, but he stressed that physical game media--DVDs, UMDs, CDs--were ultimately doomed. "We'll tell our grandchildren [that we played games from physical discs] and they'll laugh at us," he predicted.

Moore also took a jab at Sony and Nintendo when he stressed the importance of game consoles offering a wide-reaching online experience, describing offline gaming as "an inferior experience." Compared to the Xbox and Xbox 360, the PS2 has limited online capabilities. Nintendo's Revolution has virtually no online gameplay at all.

The panel, which also included luminaries from heavy-hitters like Ubisoft and Sony Online Entertainment, ultimately concluded that extensive multiplayer interaction was ultimately the future of video games.


News-Source: http://www.gamepro.com