Next Xbox - No Disc Drive?

[Lilly]

You can actually run the original discs of those few games on the 360, but the ones that are compatible with whatever emulator the firmware was packaged with are few and far between. At least I can play Halo 2 on a 360 without buying it again digitally, but still...

If they're moving towards an SD-based media solution for installation disks, I'd be all for it personally. "Hardcore gamers" are so tortuous to their consoles that the lasers in their disc drives always die well before their time, from the PSX to the PS3. (I see "dead" Playstations and Dreamcasts at thrift stores all the time, when all they really need is a new laser.) To add even further insult to injury, most of them just throw their prized system away like trash and buy a new one instead of ordering a new drive. Maybe I'm just being frugal here, but seriously, where's the logic in that? D': This would be a godsend to a console's lifetime and guarantee that the system's ability to read our media will be the least of our problems in the years to come.

If not, it's a stupid move forcing everyone, even people who don't have a internet connection/wireless router, or at least a decent one, to download them all from an online store. Hell if I ever pay $60 for a game that I obviously can't refund if I don't like it.

Gamestop's bad enough for just compensating you with store credit instead of cold-hard cash, and not having a physical copy would be even more insulting, expecting us to paying full-retail for something we can't even put on our shelves. If all the hate about these rumors keep building up, something tells me they'll shove a disc drive in the darned thing anyway, or at least in a more expensive, "elite edition", while providing a cheaper bundle without it at all.