As a 33-year-old video game fan, I still remember the joy of opening a cardboard box of PC or N64 games to be greeted by a chunky manual or disc in a paper or plastic cover. I was especially lucky to find a paper map of the game's world. For games like "Baldur's Gate II," I even remember the wonderful ink and glossy paper smell of the manual.

I remember when I bought my first Xbox, the game came in a DVD jewel case. Some of them, like the original Halo and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, came with manuals that were worth reading. As the years went by, however, the amount of paper for the appendices that came with these cases dwindled

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And that's a good thing. As much as I love to put on my rose-colored glasses and reminisce about the PC and console games of yesteryear (I still have a big box of PC games sitting under my bed like an embarrassing secret collection), digital downloads are the future. That future will be driven by the PS5 Digital Edition and the rumored Xbox Series S. I own only four physical PS4 games, and the only Xbox One X disc I own is Red Dead Redemption 2. Still, sometimes physical copies of games are cheaper than their digital equivalents because the Internet is so horribly slow.

Thanks to automatic background downloads, sales on the PlayStation Store, and the frankly awesome Xbox Game Pass, I've started digitizing my entire game collection. I think I will do the same with the next generation consoles.

Downloading games, especially ones that are dozens of gigabytes, takes time, but the convenience of being able to launch whatever you want to play without fiddling with the disc is worth the pain of a long download The Xbox Series X and PS5's fast SSDs allow you to play games on the fly. The convenience will be even more pronounced with the ability to switch between games on the fly.

Being able to swap games on a whim means that dragging yourself off the couch to swap discs will seem even more disgusting. Having to insert a disc for a fully installed game because of digital rights management (DRM) is already bad enough.

I don't know if this will be an issue with the Xbox Series X or the standard PS5. However, I don't want to take the risk, so the PS5 Digital Edition and Xbox Series S appeal to me.

My colleague Henry T. Casey pointed out that digital-only consoles are a bad thing. This is because a digital-only machine should be a Blu-ray disc-hungry entertainment machine, not just a gaming machine. I can see where the esteemed editor is coming from, but I don't really agree.

I am convinced that most people interested in next-gen consoles already have one of the current generation consoles; both PS4s have Blu-ray drives and Dolby Atmos support, but oddly enough, the PS4 Pro does not have a 4K Blu-ray player. The Xbox One S and Xbox One X can both play UHD Blu-ray discs.

Do we really need another machine that can play the same disc? I don't think so.

Unless you have a terrible broadband environment like I do, you most likely don't need a 4K Blu-ray player because Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO, Disney Plus, etc. all support 4K streaming. And those who really must have a high-end Blu-ray experience are sure to have a dedicated machine and perhaps a full home cinema setup.

Thus, there is no particularly compelling need for a next-generation console that plays discs. And that is absolutely a good thing.

The PS5 Digital Edition and Xbox Series S will not only make gaming more convenient, but may also facilitate a proper surge in digital downloads. This could lead to more competitive game prices in online stores.

This somewhat odd issue has been around for some time, no doubt having to do with Xbox and PlayStation's near-dominance of digital downloads on their respective consoles. However, as more games become digital-only, other online retail forces could make digital downloads more competitively priced.

Even if that does not happen, online services such as Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Now offer access to digital downloads at regular but fairly reasonable rates, especially if you play a lot of games. This makes ordering physical games online, as well as going to a store to purchase them, seem like a daunting task that is not worth the effort. This strategy has worked for Netflix, Spotify, and other streaming services, and there is no reason why Microsoft and Sony could not build a digital gaming service.

Of course, this will not be good news for brick-and-mortar game stores. Also, the second-hand market and game trading will probably enter a downward spiral toward extinction. Sad for people like me who grew up with games that were actually available, but that's the price of change.

As far as the environment is concerned, this change is a good thing. Fewer physical copies means less plastic and other materials used for retail games. This is especially appropriate given that installing a game using a disc often prompts the user to download a significant portion of the ancillary content. It is better to download everything.

Other than using the odd disc for copyright protection purposes, I rarely bother with the physical copies of games I have. I doubt I'll ever throw them away, but I certainly don't want to add to them because I don't have enough space. And who needs to sort through all the terribly outdated and worthless stuff I've accumulated over the years?

In short, the next generation of digital-only Xbox and PlayStation consoles is a very good thing. Not only will they make gaming life better, but they will also help reduce the impact of new technologies on the environment.