ShadowMountain

Fantastic post, can't believe no one's commented yet (though it is a little long :-p). 
 
I pretty much agree with all you've said except maybe the second to last paragraph since I can't forsee that happening for all games - mainly because declining sales with each new piece of content may be less economically beneficial than charging a higher price and 'locking in' a user for all the content. I'm not 100% certain on that, it's just another possibility. 
 
But yeah, I think you're right on with the the rest; not being able to re-sell games or swap with friends etc. Some people compare it to music but I disagree with that comparison because whereas with music you can store it on mutiple mp3 players, hard-drives etc (so you'll always have a back-up if there is a fault) with games its on one drive and one system so you can't swap (unlike music) or create multiple copies for safety. Also downloadable music is relatively cheap compared to (full e.g xbox games on demand type) games and I think that for something relatively expensive, people still want a physical copy as proof of purchase or ownership.  Also I like displaying my collection on my shelf - at least for most of my games.
 
In addition, retail shops, however bad or unpleasent for the knowledgable gamer, are a huge advertising space for sony, microsoft etc. Imagine if microsoft released all xbox games online from day 1 of the 360 - loads of sales would have been lost since since  you would have to actually own an xbox first before being able to know what games are on it! At least with retail a 'casual' consumer can go in without owning the console or visiting game websites to find out what games are available.
 
I think the right way to go is not 100% digital distribution but a combination, releasing games in retail and online. Like how it is now : )

The best kind of chick is the unconcious type...BECAUSE THEY CAN'T SAY NO!  
 
..i'm kidding guys...really :-p

So far this generation, I've let the whole 'band' genre of rythm games pass over me completely, mainly due to the insane UK prices at the time and the fact we never got the superiour Rock Band 2 instruments. However on a number of good sites now  The Beatles: Rock Band    is available for a very good price (around £90) and it is my intention to buy it along with Rock Band and Rock Band 2, but it got me thinking: is it too late? 
 
To understand where I am coming from hear this: I played and loved the original Guitar Hero. I was never that good at it, but I managed to complete it on medium and do about half of hard mode. Then I bought Guitar Hero 2 and you know what? I got bored with it half-way through. The appeal and novelty wore off and I was back to playing immersive rpgs, frantic fps' and good solid adventure games.  I know for a fact that a guitar only rythm game of that style no longer appeals to me so I will be buying the Rock Band games primarily for the drums - but would it be the same again? What is so different about the Rock Band experiance from the Guitar Hero experiance? Because if it is a similar experience with nothing noteworthy enough to make it feel different then I think I would rather save myself a bunch of money.  
 
I mean at the time back in old Gamespot days I remember Jeff, Ryan and Alex Navarro being pretty excited about Rock Band and that E3 (05 or 06 I think it was) where they had the whole crew playing at the end of the coverage was awesome. I know for a fact those guys played a hell of a lot of Guitar Hero before so for Rock Band to excite them there had to be something special about it but was it just hype?  
 
So I ask again: Is Rock Band still relevent? If you are a fan please convince me and if not then please try otherwise! 
I'm appealing to the community as (most) of GiantBomb is populated with level-headed dudes and well-informed opinion. Apologies in advance for this terrible, rambling mess of a first post!

I don't think the problem here is old vs. new mario kart, but rather it is you having had 'enough' of that style of game.  

As a personal example, I loved Mario 64. Collected every star. Then I played Banjo-Kazooie ans It was arguably better than Mario 64 and again, 100% completion. Then came banjo-tooie - I tried to like it but felt kinda 'tired'. Then DK64 and again, I didn't get far. I almost felt sad for not liking it. Then a few years later, mario sunshine and I just run-out of steam while playing it. Finally, Mario Galaxy - one of the highest rated games of all time on metacritic. I even tried playing it with my sister but I wasn't really enjoying myself - it felt like a chore. This is when it dawned on me - the games are still good, but it is me who is the problem. I simply had my fill of that style of gameply with the first 2 games I played. 
 
Thats one of the reasons why these days I only play short games (shooters or racers) that I can finish quickly or long games with a completting story to get you through it (like rpgs). To further the point, I only really liked mario kart 64 and didnt like the rest. Mario kart Wii was my little sister's first mario kart however and she played it like hell. After only a few days she got better than me and then went ont to master the game. 
 
I think a rambled too much. I hope you get my point though...