The future of video games? Pay as you go?

[skookum]

Ok, so I said I would never be back. I kept lurking and just couldn't stay quiet any more. I guess that makes me a hypocrite. Oh well. HOWDY Y'ALL!!!

Anyways, here's what this whole UBI DRM thing got me thinking about. What with requirements of a constant internet connection and the move towards online saves, I wonder if video game companies' ideal end state is to move the entire game to their servers, thus leaving nothing on their users computers for them to copy. Software engineering and bandwidth problems aside, this model of interactive computer entertainment delivery seems to meet the big software companies' interests perfectly, namely making money and controlling who gets access to the code. You can already play Flash games online. What with the massive amounts of RAM computers are coming with these days, and the increases in bandwidth coming in the next decade, I'm willing to bet that copying a major hit on to you hard drive so you can play at your leisure will become a thing of the past. Instead either you'll have to rent access to a title or pay a per-use fee in order to play the game. Call it a virtual theme park if you will, where each game represents a different ride in the company's theme park server. When the user logs off the game simply gets wiped from RAM to prevent copying.

At least they won't be able to charge you $8.00 for a hot dog.