I'm a little annoyed with physical distribution right now.

I pre-ordered Too Human a few months back on Amazon, because the game looked fun, it's got the kind of story I like, and Dyack is a funny guy. I've waited patiently for the release date to come, and it has, but my actual disk is only getting put in the mail now. I should get it tomorrow, while the game hit the street two days ago.

The game data exists in its final form. Why do I need to wait for it to arrive on a silicon platter? The point was driven home when Amazon mailed me a code to unlock special armor sets in the game as my "pre-order bonus". I entered the sixteen character code in on Xbox Marketplace, and the 80 kilobyte file that will tell game I can have the armor downloaded without a hitch. I can't actually *use* it or anything, as I need to wait for the game itself. Oy.

Steam does it right. You have an account. You have games you own. You can download them to any compatible computer you like and play them. If you assume that the Steam service will last, then it's demonstrably better than a shelf full of cardboard boxes and silicon wafers smeared with data. It takes a great deal of work to get these digital distribution and licensing systems functioning properly, as I'm sure Valve will attest, but Microsoft and Sony (and even Nintendo) could do it and do it right.

Just send me the data already.