And the sad thing, even reviews aren't a reliable way to judge a game. Reviewers can be (for lack of a better phrase) bought off by developers. Not to mention the problem of their tastes won't always mesh with yours, so you're still faced with a hit or miss on game titles. In this, rentals would conceivably thrive. Rent a game and try it out. Like it? Buy it (new or used- your CHOICE).
The problem with the samples/demos made available is that they often grossly misrepresent what you will ultimately get out of the game. A lot of titles ramp up what it offers in terms of game play to ease you into the story and/or UI of the game. So a luke warm demo falls short of what the game offers so you might pass on what could have been a great game. Likewise, a demo could seem to be awesome, but you could later find out that the short interface you got in the demo is ALL the full game offers. So you wind up feeling gyyped.
I'm not a fan of pure digital content though. If you need to get a new console for whatever reason (RROD, theft, damage, etc)? All those past sales are gone. You now have to repurchase all those titles. The developers would LOVE that, customers would get screwwed, ergo not a good, equitable solution.
I could see the argument of allowing the sale of used games, but participating in online use of the game would require a fee to the developer. Customers who get the game new would have this cost incorporated into the cost of the initial purchase. Second hand customers would get the game at a discount, but have to pay the developer cost to access online gaming. This way, the developers could still make some profit off of the second hand market. And customers who aren't up to their eyeballs in expendable income can still enjoy a lot more games than they otherwise would not if they were strong-armed into new sales only as is being bandied about in the industry.
frostdawn99's comments