When the 3ds comes out i hope they dont make card games for it because it is a bother to have a whole bunch of game cards to carry around im not sayin they should be like psp but they should atleast sell it online and in the store. i mean even if you go to gamestop or something you still got to wait around 20 mins to go and come back and play the game so nintendo should have an online store i hate going to game stop every time and imagine if u dont have a ride

Nintendo has already shown us the new 3DS cartridge they plan on using. Sorry, man, but retail will never die -- not in this or the next handheld generation, anyway.

Dude, do you realize that downloading retail games would take too much memory? The 3DS has to have game cards. A 3DS Full Game Download store doesn't sound like it's going to happen, because if Nintendo keeps going the way they are, the 3DS is going to have less than a Gigabyte of internal memory.

Well, I'm sure Nintendo is going to attempt to shy away from "physical software" as they are going to implement DLC with the 3DS Ware Channel but I don't they will make a complete departure from physical software as it really hurt SONY with the PSPgo. Oh, wait it was the price of the dilapidated PSPgo that hurt them most.

Poor SONY, they really seem to enjoy shooting themselves in the foot. Ah, but the less the merrier, eh Mario?

Long live Nintendo!

The DSi had DLC too in the form of DSiWare, but that didn't mean the DSi was getting rid of cartridges.

Nintendo will eventually go into digital distribution for all their games sometime in the future, but not now, next gen, or maybe even the gen after that. It's really up to Nintendo when and how they do it.

Sometime in the future there will be a console with enough memory to handle hundreds of huge games. I think Microsoft will be the first to make one.

I respect that.

And without retail, Nintendo would be majorly... yeah, this is the first time I have said this, but things would be screwed. What if some of us can't access the internet to download? Some of us handheld gamers are region-locked. Not everyone wants to use the internet just for game downloads. You'd pay the same price you just mentioned up there buying Nintendo point cards every minute, ray62. Finally, no offence, but it seems you noted quite a personal reason for this idea in the first place, which might be considered selfish on other gamers who don't have the same opportunities as most of you do.

The game cards 2 gigs each so even with a 32 gb sd card (which would cost a lot!) you'd only be able to hold 16 games.

Retail is still alive and well, and seeing how the PSPgo tanked, I'm sure Nintendo wouldn't be that dunce to go down that road.

NO NO NO

Do you feal that safe spending that much online? You could get hacked, and be bankrupt within a day. That would suck, and I sure don't feal going to the store to buy 3 points cards for 1 GAME.

With cartridges you can play on multiple systems. I do like the DSiWare idea. Cheap, short and fun.

My dear fellow, I never said that Nintendo would abandon cartridges. Please read what I wrote again my good friend.

The whole industry will end up going that way. Retail games, while nice to have for some, are a horrible business model for the people that actually produce and publish the games, involving huge risk, horrible margins, and logistic nightmares.

One day, perhaps. But keep in mind, we still have physical media for movies, music and books. Humans like having something "real" and tangible, so until there's a serious fundamental shift in their ... erm, our ... natures, there won't be a complete elimination of physical media.

People like going to shops and browsing. Sad, but true. High-street retail ftw!!!

_{humans are weird, me included}

HI MACHU!
I like getting retail games in stores. Helps me differentiate retail from downloadable games and SOMETHING SOMETHING BLAH!

I think it's only because it costs say $10 to play a CD in your car, instead of purchasing a $200-$2000 digital device. Laptops, mp3 players, etc are convenient; but not enough.

Uh,No.Mostly cause what would happen if you have no sd card or anything and you somehow loss all your games?This is why I prefer Retail.Retail FTW.

@SuperZ:

_{ahahaha xD}

@the shpydar: seconded. we're just too fixated on physical media at the moment. :3