Will Game Cartridges Make a Comeback?

sk8pmp writes "With the cost of solid state memory going down, will we see the return of the game cartridge? Or will digital distribution reign supreme and transition our entertainment into the cloud? This editorial explores the beginnings of the cartridge vs. disc battle of the '90s and theorizes a second one in the future. 'Imagine if you could marry the vast spaces of discs with the blazing fast speeds of solid state memory. Can you say "no more load times"? You pop the game into the top of the console, so the game is sticking out the top like in ye olden times, and you could see the sweet artwork on the front of the cartridge. The nostalgia is killing me!'"

Comments

I dunno

[jmknsd]

Blowing into a USB port just isn't the same.

They never went out of style

[tepples]

I don't see how cartridges ever went out of style. Nintendo DS games come on cartridges. PSN on PSP downloads games to a Memory Stick PRO Duo. Wii downloads games to SD. And there are even still new NES games coming out, like Sivak's Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril and ProgAce's Bio Force Ape vs. Dur Butter.

Re:They never went out of style

[julesh]

I don't see how cartridges ever went out of style. Nintendo DS games come on cartridges. PSN on PSP downloads games to a Memory Stick PRO Duo. Wii downloads games to SD.

Of course, these are all platforms where either (1) media size is critical or (2) writability is critical. Also small game sizes helps. The fact is that memory cards are much more expensive per GB than Blu-ray discs, and therefore unless there's a *major* advantage to offset this cost BD is quite clearly the way forward for any new game system. And except for handheld devices and downloadable content, I don't see it.

Re:They never went out of style

[MBGMorden]

And there are even still new NES games coming out, like Sivak's Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril and ProgAce's Bio Force Ape vs. Dur Butter.

Apparently you're confusing "went out of style" with "completely ceased to exist".

Just because I can find a green leisure suit on an internet site somewhere doesn't mean I will still look normal walking down the street in it.

Re:They never went out of style

[Syncdata]

You just nailed it.
There could be a thousand different reasons why Rom chips would be superior to an optical disk, and in the end it would not matter. Disks are cheap to burn, and you don't have to worry about commodity price fluctuations. Price to manufacture is the only concern that trumps all others. 60 dollars per new game is high enough, and game companies are not going to decrease their margins on games, nor will distributors or retailers. Any increase in price will be passed to the consumer. Let's face it: We all hate load times. But we've gotten used to them.

No.

[Locke2005]

Downloadable content is the future, not bits permanently etched into chips or optical disks.

"Cartridge" is too loaded a word...

[Delusion_]

...for solid-state media, for my tastes. It has connotations of low capacities and clunky housings.

But it does bring up a good question - what's the next media format? Is Blu-Ray, DVD, and CD the last family of media formats (since they can all be read by BD devices) before we go to all-online distribution? I suspect that we're done with cheap universal physical media formats in the near future.

Music stores are pretty much on their last legs, as much as it pains me to admit that. When physical game software dries up (PC or console) It has the added supposed-benefit (to the software industry) of eliminating the second-hand software market, which is something the industry has been trying to quash for what, 20 years?

Whatever makes the most sense

[adeft]

The medium switched to disks because they were cheaper to make, held more information, and worked. If cartridges take on these qualities, then there would be no reason to avoid them.

Re:Can it really be cheaper than a plastic disc?

[MBGMorden]

Doesn't necessarily have to be. Discs are dirt cheap, but solid state is getting cheaper too. The original reason CD's took over was because they held a lot more than solid state and they were a LOT cheaper. Cartridges were faster and more durable, but that wasn't enough.

Today, solid state still has faster and more durable, and they've actually exceeded plastic disks in capacity. About all that's left is raw cost, but the difference is shrinking. If it gets small enough, it's not unrealistic to expect that the optical disc could fall out of favor.

That said, the disadvantage that BOTH of them have (namely being a physical item requiring shipment) will IMHO cause both to fail compared to downloaded content.

Re:Don't blow

[StikyPad]

Blowing is a horribly inefficient way to clean cartridges.

That's why you suck.

Re:Don't blow

[Killall -9 Bash]

If your console's cartridges don't have those idiotic tiny plastic teeth *cough*DS*cough*, use rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab instead. It's fairly close to the method used in the official NES cleaning kit.

true story:
>
Once upon a time when I was 14, I wanted to clean the connectors on my NES cartridges... reading the NES instruction booklet, and the booklets of the individual games, I learned that I shouldn't use water or alcohol to clean with, because these solvents may damage the circuit board. So instead of a $.99 bottle of alcohol, I paid $10 for a tiny bottle of cleaning solution with a crappy applicator, because it had the NINTENDO seal of approval. Ingredients contained in the cleaning solution: alcohol mixed with water. FUCK YOU NINTENDO.