Hey, I had an N64 up until late last year. It was damned fast. With the introduction of the original Playstation, we had
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load times. Yes, we can fit a lot more data onto those 750MB disks than the cartridge tech of the time. Now they're giving away 1GB Flash drives with a box of cereal. You can easily buy 16GB drives now, and that's got 4x the info of a DVD.
It'll be much easier for "Them" to lock down each game with a globally unique serial number when you're burning Flash drives; much, much harder than when you're pressing CD / DVD runs. Microchip will sell you chips (by the reel, of course) that are pre-programmed and have an incrementing sequence in one section.
Actually 16GB is 1/2 od a dual layer DVD not 1/4. As well it's manufacturers cost that drove the n64 out of contention and out of consideration with 3rd parties. While a DVD is under a penny to press in bulk flashram still has a higher cost per unit memory which the manufacturer/publisher bears. Even in retail a Flashstick for 8 gigs is around $25, a DVD-RW is a dollar. BD's aren't that much more expensive to press then a DVD. It'll take a giant advance in the expense Flashrom/Flashram production before we'll see it replace optical media. You're probably better off betting on digital downloads to tak over after BD.