Gaming Lounge

[Kriven]

Cartridge printing? That'd be way more expensive than 10 bucks if it's a pint-on-demand job. Bulk production is significantly more efficient, but digital games are even more efficient than that.

It wouldn't be that expensive. Most games are on either disc or SD Card devices, neither of which cost more then ten dollars to manufacture.

Oldschool cartridges would be more expensive, but all you have to do is print out a CD or SD card with the game packaged on an emulator (just like for a digital release). It's really just copy-paste.

(Also you have the same ownership rights whether its cartridge or eShop)

You really don't. If you have a physical device with the content readable from it, it cannot be wiped in the way a digital purchase can be. This would prevent products (and DLC) from disappearing, a problem which has already happened on a number of other digital-exclusive services.

And again, since it's on-demand, the manufacturing cost is felt by the customer, not the publisher, so there isn't any harm in offering it as an option.

Edit: As an example, I purchased about sixty dollars worth of eShop games for my Wii back when I thought digital was the most incredible thing to happen to the industry. As soon as they gave us the option of storing these games on an SD Card, I did that. My Wii will no longer acknowledge the games as mine.

With physical copies, I can bring the games to my buddy's house and play with them.