I'm part of the beta for the new dashboard and they just released the games on demand content so I thought I'd let everyone know the prices before it launches.
In short, don't get your hopes up, not only do Australians get screwed over on the number of games (at the moment, we have 5 but thats supposed to DOUBLE when the new dash officially launches, its not like we need all 22 games the americans get anyway), we're being royally fucked over on prices. Payments seem to be ONLY credit card rather than the choice of card or points and prices differ wildly from the preview video I saw where oblivion was 1600msp
List So Far
Bioshock: $49.95
Call Of Duty 2: $49.95
Viva Pinata: $29.95 (Finally, a bargain! Shame you get what you pay for)
Oblivion (STANDARD Edition, not GOTY): $49.95
Mass Effect: $99.95
Yup, a hundred fucking bucks for mass effect that I can get on the sale table at EB for 25. I paid 10 bucks less for mass effect when it was new and was the game that made me get a 360!
And Oblivion being the NORMAL edition? I can get the game of the year edition for the same price and not have to buy all the DLC.
I think they're in little danger of being overburdened with my money
The full list has been posted on page 2

I don't know the AUS economy, but I trust those prices are expensive for you or you wouldn't be complaining.
The simple fact digital distribution isn't cheaper than retail is ridiculous... at least Steam has community features and usually better DRM, which makes it worth the same price... these games are functionally identical though.

Well for the most part they're pretty much on par for retail IF you have shops that don't sell at lower than the recommended price (a hell of a lot of places do for these older games) but there's no denying the fact that you get less for the same amount of money and to be honest, I don't think the added convenience is adequate compensation. Mass Effect, however, is just a flat kick in the knackers

Well, digital distribution always follows the suggested retail price set by the publishers... that's just a cold, hard, nasty fact of the business. Even in the US, where Steam is supposedly so much cheaper, I can still get most games cheaper through amazon or gogamer.
It says a lot about what we can look forward to in an all digital future... games will only be on sale, or drop in price, when the publisher says so. It's a lot different from current retail.

you paid $90 for mass effect?

AU, not US

Most of those games I've seen around for $20AU. I think it's a great idea with way overpriced games, as you've said. For the prices they're charging, I could get the games cheaper via retail stores, and then I'd have a manual and DVD that will work on any 360, and I don't have to worry about the HDD dying and having to re-download the games (I'm assuming they will allow that).

Yeah the games will be the same as the arcade & DLC content, tied to console ID and gamertag so if you have a new console, you can keep playing them with the same ID and if you have other people in the house they can play the stuff on the console it was bought from (there's some licence transfer thingy too but I don't know how that works)
Basically I think that this is going to die a death here if they don't drop the prices. Its not cheaper, you get less (admittedly you lose the least important parts but I personally like manuals) for your money and the sad fact is that we live in a fucked conuntry for the internet, the amount a single 360 game takes is often a quarter of the monthly downloads for many people. Mass effect is 6.8gb, bioshock 4.5, oblivion 5.9, on a 20GB/month connection which are sadly rather common, that's your downloads mostly gone.
Oh I have just noticed an option to buy with points, must have missed that before but Oblivion sitting at 3000msp is a LOT more than the video I saw (which was a preview of the new dashboard things streamed on the 360 itself) where oblivion was clearly listed at 1600msp which is a price I WOULD have paid for it

The arguements you just made are more against digital distribution in general, rather than this particular system. If you have limited monthly download ability and like manuals, one would assume you would be buying retail regardless of the pricing.

Apparently Japan is also getting screwed in terms of games offered -- ie, the majority of them being readily available for under $10 in stores, etc., if you look for them and most likely being their original release price of $40 to $80 via Games On Demand.
Just another incentive for me to not buy an XBox360.

Imagine 10 years from now when you have no choice but to pay those prices. A game that's been out for 2 years will still be $50, and there's nothing you can do about it.

For me i think the annoyances are still compensated for by the number of good game games being that large. I'm a picky bastard so the fact I have more than 17 in 2 years is remarkable, I think I only got to 14 with my original xbox in 3 years and half of those were impulse buys designed to stop boredom induced psychoitc rage that were average at best)
Yes and no, for me, DD is pretty much confined to games that I can't get physically or, in the case of GOG, take the work out of getting the bastards to run. For this sort of setup, price is everything. There's no retailer markup and I VERY much doubt the extra coin is going the devs

Ahh the very reason for sites like ebay. I buy a fair number of my games from englad because even with a shit exchange rate and postage, it still works out notably cheaper than paying RRP here

Sounds pretty bad... I wonder if it's a culture thing, like... americans buy tons of crap, so they make more at cheaper prices. That's a reach... I'm just spitballing.
Anyway, it will only get worse as digital distribution becomes the standard, and publishers have complete control of pricing at all times.