On the subject of the actual games... Of course a cartridge encased in plastic is going to be more sturdy than a CD. But in the days when systems shifted from carts to disks, carts were just too expensive and couldn't hold nearly the amount of data. It was a trade off that had to be made. With increasingly large storage capacities, though, carts have had a spiritual successor in the form of DS and 3DS cards. I doubt, though, that cards will make their way to consoles though.