Gamestop has launched their Digital download service. It comes complete with 30-minute trials of some games and a list of titles including both casual and more hardcore games. This means they will not go obsolete (for those that love to hate them).

Currently there are over 1000 titles that you can receive and still maintain your dignity by not setting foot in the shop. Eidos, Capcom and PopCap are all signed up already and I’m sure there are more to come. Granted, the majority of them (over 800) are casual games that were available in various other places prior to being available there.

Games ready for digital download include:

• Zuma’s Revenge
• Scrabble
• Bejeweled 2
• Dragon Age Origin
• Need For Speed Shift
• Modern Warfare 2
• Champions Online
• Borderlands
• Batman Arkham Asylum
• Section 8
• The Sims 3 World Adventures

This must be Gamestop’s reply to the continued success and expansion of other digital distribution sites like Steam, GamersGate and now with Digital River getting into the mix and signing on major publishers, they probably felt that in order to remain competitive they needed to go this route. I have long said that digital delivery is the future and look, now every platform has it - Xbox 360 (LIVE), PS3 and PSP (PSN), Wii and DSi (DSiWare, Wiiware, Virtual Console), iPhone (App Store), Nokia (NGage) and of course the PC which has been doing digital downloads fro a very long time. Welcome to the future my friends. Now if we could just get the major consoles to release brand new AAA titles digitally complete with user manuals readable from the respective dashboards, life would be grand and we could spend less time waiting for shipping services & in-store pickups and more time playing the games we love.

Now the true battle of digital delivery can begin and will be fought with incentives, pre-order bonuses and customer loyalty programs. Battle lines are being drawn, sides are being chosen, which company will you choose?