gaming Should we go back to Cartridge based games?

[The Milkman 186]

Why not a new kind of cartridge? That would be really good. The space that it can use would be like a pendrive or like a SSD, in my opinion that would be pretty good.

It can also have special protection for the data, like allowing to back it up directly from the console.

But now that i think about it, the cartridges would have a disadvantage, maybe a lot of glitches will appear in the game, think about OoT or Mario 64, those games can be easily bugged.

And the other disadvantage is that new consoles have to be created for cartridges.

[null1 606]

Why not a new kind of cartridge? That would be really good. The space that it can use would be like a pendrive or like a SSD, in my opinion that would be pretty good.

It can also have special protection for the data, like allowing to back it up directly from the console.

But now that i think about it, the cartridges would have a disadvantage, maybe a lot of glitches will appear in the game, think about OoT or Mario 64, those games can be easily bugged.

And the other disadvantage is that new consoles have to be created for cartridges.

 

That's what I'm saying, a new type of cartridge using modern SSD tech. Or just a console with SSD data storage for downloaded games since most media is digitized these days. I'd still like the cartridge though.

[Ethan Pow 332]

Don't we already have this, its called SSD, and its used like a Cartidge but its MUCH smaller and can hold MUCH more data. Unless I am being a silly Pony.

 

That's what I'm saying, a new type of cartridge using modern SSD tech. Or just a console with SSD data storage for downloaded games since most media is digitized these days. I'd still like the cartridge though.

 

It seems its already been mentioned.

Edited July 24, 2012 by Ethan Pow

[null1 606]

Don't we already have this, its called SSD, and its used like a Cartidge but its MUCH smaller and can hold MUCH more data. Unless I am being a silly Pony.

 

 

 

It seems its already been mentioned.

 

Some posts it seems people think I want us to go back to the old N64 class of cartridges. I don't.

 

And yes it's been already mentioned.

Edited July 24, 2012 by DeltaTangent

[Xebec 74]

Because of the amount of content on todays console gaming putting 4-10 gb of content on a cartridge would be WAY to costly to mass produce and cost way to much to us

 

The whole reason we use disks is because they can store more. Did you know final fantasy 7 was going to be on n64 but the memory complications stopped it?

Alsodid you know Pokemon black and white are only like 68 megabites? Because of lack of space. Take a game like Mass Effect that already needs 2 disks because it has 14gb worth of content..... Do you know how much that would take up?

 

 

Thats my 2 cents

[The Milkman 186]

Or just a console with SSD data storage for downloaded games since most media is digitized these days. I'd still like the cartridge though.

 

I like a lot the idea of the new kind of console, you get the data of the game/video/music safely and it won't be damaged in any way, unless you would like to damage it by yourself which i find pretty useless.

Basically like Steam, but in a console.

Edited July 24, 2012 by The Milkman

[Pan the Fabulous Ferret 2,642]

Well I don't think cartridges would be efficient nowadays... but the ones that are already made sure are fun, in fact im going to go play Majoras Mask right now...

[SPLinux 380]

I would love some kind of SD/Flash based cart made to look like a cartridge, you could have just as much space as a DVD and even more, and you could have cover art on the media again, i miss those days when you could see what game your playing by looking at your system instead of your system eating it with it's disc drive.

[Nas 2,873]

Cartridges are exting and they would stay extinct, in my opinion.

 

I'm all for nostalgia, but cartridges were just not the way to go anymore, we eventually found out how to put game data on the wonderful new media called the compact disc, and it went on from there. First Sony, then Nintendo, then Xbox, pretty much everyone joined in. I mean, carts can get dusty, if you lose them you lose the game data; with CDs, you can save data into an external memory device (memory card, system memory, etc.).

 

It's pretty much the same issue with handheld devices these days, after all this time, Nintendo still uses cartdriges for their games. But that might be different, because game media for handhelds can only be so large in size...

[Crispy 5,563]

Current day Solid State Drives can hold up to 240GB, Skyrim's full size is over 8GB. It would work fine.

 

If it was installed on an N64 class cartridge, yeah, it be the size of an F-150.

 

I was gonna answer this yesterday, but then Batman.

 

It would work, but the cost of building solid state drives mixed with how much return the developers/game makers are going to want to see...

 

A cheap HDDVD or a Blu-Ray disc encoded with game data (i.e. a game) costs $60 bucks. Can you imagine what they'd charge for the pre-loaded SSD's?

[FALCON PUNCH 244]

the times when you would blow on a cartridge and people would look at me funny the good old days, but I think cartridges are more durable because the other day i found my fo3 disk cracked ((((

[Razputin 7]

I'm okay with CDs, but to be honest, I prefer cartridges by how easily they can be fixed (blow on them )

[A Blithering Div 247]

This is more or less what I was trying to get it. I don't think it's necessarily that discs are becoming obsolete or even that it's the disc's fault that loading times are as bad as they are, it's more the console's fault rather than the disc's fault that the loading times are what they are on top of possible bad programming too. It's that consoles aren't made to run high-grade graphics and other functions as efficiently as it should. That's why PC gamers usually have faster running games because they have the power to back up the programming.

 

That would be because the console manufacturer's have to keep costs down. With the 360, adding more RAM would have been not much more expensive, the console would still cost a bit more especially at the time (as when I built a C2D rig in 06, 1 gig of DDR2 800 went for $100). The PS3 is a bit more understandable as it uses XDR RAM rather than DDR. While XDR is faster, it is also much more expensive. But yes, consoles are nothing more than gimped RISC PCs.

 

Though the novelty of playing Skyrim off of a cartridge the size of a F-150 sounds hilarious, I don't think it's the best idea in practice.

 

A 16 gig SD/CF/<insert flash memory here> card easily fits my Skyrim install. But the read speeds are far slower than a hard drive and the memory itself is more expensive. Again, it would be dollars per unit of media vs cents per unit of media.

Edited July 24, 2012 by A Blithering Div

[Tom 891]

I think that's more of an issue of the programming or console hardware more than it is the disc's fault.

 

This is partially true, the blame can be placed on both the programming and the medium.

As discs are inherently slower since they require mechanical parts, spinning the disc and magnetic heads/lasers. Unlike ROM are purely electronic, and hence faster.

 

But slower loading can be dealt with quite easily, as demonstrated in Metroid Prime. Where the next room begins loading when you get in a certain proximity of the door to said room.

 

But the DS/3DS cards are cards, not cartridges. They work similarly to SD Cards, and are cheap to produce.

Cartridges are too expensive, CDs are convenient.

 

Not true, the DS' cards have both ROM and flash memory. Making them a bit more complex than a SD card. And also very similar to old game cartridges.

 

if you lose them you lose the game data; with CDs, you can save data into an external memory device (memory card, system memory, etc.).

 

While that is true for old game consoles, it wasn't due to cartridges. Old consoles didn't have any/much internal storage. And often no external memory either.

In such a future wherein we readopt cartridges there would be no reason to stop producing consoles with internal memory. So your argument is void.

 

It's pretty much the same issue with handheld devices these days, after all this time, Nintendo still uses cartdriges for their games. But that might be different, because game media for handhelds can only be so large in size...

 

The 3DS' card can hold a maximum capacity of 8 gigabytes, although none of it's games use that much.

The Xbox 360 uses dual layered DVDs, with 1 gigabyte used for anti-piracy/security measures. Leaving only 7 for the developers.

[Nas 2,873]

I prefer cartridges for the novelty and nostalgia. For example, I'll pop in my old Ocarina of Time or Pokemon Emerald and when I hear that satisfying click that proves that it's snapped in, I just go "ahhhhh." It just feels so...right. If every game was like that the novelty would become more of an annoyance.

 

This I agree with. Carts are source of fierce nostalgia, but unfortunately it just doesn't add up to the evolution of technology nowadays. Same thing goes with downloadable games, like Virtual Console. You don't insert a cartdrige or hold that familiar M-shaped controller when you play Ocarina of Time, or Super Mario 64 on your Wii, so it feels a little dry. But back to what I was saying, cartridges are the media type for consoles these days, and i persoanlly think it's the way it should be, so we'll just have to experience nostalgia the way it's supposed to be experienced, on old consoles/systems/etc.

 

So in this case, it reveals another reason why it would be generally accepted not to go back to carts.