Nintendo Switch (Nintendo's next console)

OwaynOTT · 05-05-2016 10:55AM

Mr E wrote: »

Rumour: ROM Chip Maker Macronix Drops Hint Nintendo Could Be Abandoning Optical Storage For NX

I like the sound of this. There is something comforting about having a cartridge (rather than a scratch-prone disk), and the price of flash memory has really dropped in the last few years. Makes it more portable if there is a handheld component that you can take on the road too, so it makes sense.

I'd love cartridges back but only if they're Neo Geo Aes size.

Myrddin · 05-05-2016 10:58AM

Are cart sizes today actually comparable to multi layered blu ray discs though? This would seem a crazy decision to make given the freedom of space discs offer. What effect would it have compressing a high fidelity PS4 level game down to 8 or 16GB? Not a good one I'd wager...

CiDeRmAn · 05-05-2016 11:07AM

Abandoning optical storage is just code for a console that's download only, no more physical media, all Eshop all the way

Myrddin · 05-05-2016 11:47AM

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Abandoning optical storage is just code for a console that's download only, no more physical media, all Eshop all the way

I'd prefer that to going back to carts I think, but if they're going that way...they really, really, really, need to sort their online systems out & bring them up to date. Couldn't see myself buying much content if purchases still get tied to hardware rather than to account. The cart thing could have something to do with the 'mobility' aspect of the NX too

readyletsgo · 05-05-2016 11:53AM

Myrddin wrote: »

Are cart sizes today actually comparable to multi layered blu ray discs though? This would seem a crazy decision to make given the freedom of space discs offer. What effect would it have compressing a high fidelity PS4 level game down to 8 or 16GB? Not a good one I'd wager...

Don't cards generally go up to 128gb now? So by my (very simple) logic, it would nearly double the space from a blu-ray disc?
I'm sure Nintendo have made their own version of the carts with a lot of memory. Just like the optical disc for the gamecube.
Only problem I would see with carts is if they are the size of, let's say, Game Boy carts, kids will be kids and lose them. Happens with my nephew sometimes with his DS games, drives me nuts.

Also, if this is true, could it mean we could use our 3ds or even DS carts on the NX? Provided it's a home console? I would buy day one if that was an option, but I'm sure we'd still need the gamepad or a new version of the gamepad to play them and I'm unsure how I'd feel about that.

But overall I would be happy with 'carts' making a comeback if it's true.

talking_walnut · 05-05-2016 12:12PM

readyletsgo wrote: »

Myrddin wrote: »

Are cart sizes today actually comparable to multi layered blu ray discs though? This would seem a crazy decision to make given the freedom of space discs offer. What effect would it have compressing a high fidelity PS4 level game down to 8 or 16GB? Not a good one I'd wager...

Don't cards generally go up to 128gb now? So by my (very simple) logic, it would nearly double the space from a blu-ray disc?
I'm sure Nintendo have made their own version of the carts with a lot of memory. Just like the optical disc for the gamecube.
Only problem I would see with carts is if they are the size of, let's say, Game Boy carts, kids will be kids and lose them. Happens with my nephew sometimes with his DS games, drives me nuts.

Also, if this is true, could it mean we could use our 3ds or even DS carts on the NX? Provided it's a home console? I would buy day one if that was an option, but I'm sure we'd still need the gamepad or a new version of the gamepad to play them and I'm unsure how I'd feel about that.

But overall I would be happy with 'carts' making a comeback if it's true.

Cost would be the issue though. It costs a lot more to make a 128GB SD card than an equivalent Blu-Ray disc (pretty sure 4x layer discs go to 128GB too).

CastorTroy · 05-05-2016 12:23PM

Would prefer not to go the digital only route. Unless places like amazon start selling codes and they work here then they'll only be available at the expensive eshop prices.

MilesMorales1 · 05-05-2016 12:24PM

If they do all digital, I won't be buying. They can feck off with that ****e.

I was gonna say 'what about a DVD/blu ray player' then I remembered its 2016 and its probably not that relevant for Nintendo these days.

readyletsgo · 05-05-2016 12:28PM

talking_walnut wrote: »

Cost would be the issue though. It costs a lot more to make a 128GB SD card than an equivalent Blu-Ray disc (pretty sure 4x layer discs go to 128GB too).

Yeah the more I think about it.... Price for these high capacity cards could be a serious problem, bump up the price of games for us, and might put a lot of 3rd party devs off having to buy the carts. Like the n64 days, but cheaper now, but not as cheap as blu-ray. Donno.

MilesMorales1 · 05-05-2016 01:38PM

No direct at E3 at all? What the **** Nintendo?

readyletsgo · 05-05-2016 01:58PM

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

No direct at E3 at all? What the **** Nintendo?

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/05/nintendo_confirms_its_e3_plans_for_the_legend_of_zelda

If anyone is wondering

Banjo · 05-05-2016 02:17PM

readyletsgo wrote: »

Yeah the more I think about it.... Price for these high capacity cards could be a serious problem, bump up the price of games for us, and might put a lot of 3rd party devs off having to buy the carts. Like the n64 days, but cheaper now, but not as cheap as blu-ray. Donno.

They could go halvsies - you buy the game on a cart and it's basically your hardware key for unlocking the download. Games can still be bought from the eShop but if you download the Cart version, the cart needs to be present for you to play, and presumably has enough storage for your save game - because I'm ****ed if I want to lose another 300 hours of Pokemon to a digital platform shortcoming...

They'd also have to let you download the cart version without the cart present so if you're bringing Smash Bros NX over to a mates house they can prepare, you don't have to twiddle your thumbs for 2 hours and pretend to be interested in each-other as people while the console gets the update after your arrive.

It's not exactly the best of both worlds, but it would allow them to go near-full digital, with their own bandwidth and the console's storage options the only real limiters on game size, but retain the consumer's ability to reclaim some of a game's value by selling it on.

Corholio · 05-05-2016 02:25PM

What were they going to show in a Direct though? A barren Wii U schedule, and while there are some nice 3DS titles coming up, it would have been underwhelming because it's 'E3'. Chances are it would have been more underwhelming than last years was received, so there's no point just having one for the sake of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm sad to see Nintendo won't have an event of some kind, but it doesn't make sense to have one with no NX already been told well in advance.

Obviously something changed in their plans in the last few months, Zelda has a huge floor space which I suspect may have been for something else so I guess it's been damage control with this E3.

Allyall · 05-05-2016 04:28PM

Wouldn't collectors feature massively in Nintendos future plans?Or you would expect so anyway. So surely they would be shooting themselves in the foot by removing physical media?
Doesn't make much sense to me. No collectors editions etc.
The only real thing to collect may be Amiibo, which mightn't get as many people.
Just a thought.

sligeach · 05-05-2016 07:21PM

Mr E wrote: »

Rumour: ROM Chip Maker Macronix Drops Hint Nintendo Could Be Abandoning Optical Storage For NX

I like the sound of this. There is something comforting about having a cartridge (rather than a scratch-prone disk), and the price of flash memory has really dropped in the last few years. Makes it more portable if there is a handheld component that you can take on the road too, so it makes sense.

This is something I've been thinking about for a long time and this rumour has surfaced at least a year ago. But what I'm thinking is that there won't be cartridges either. I think Nintendo are a very greedy and stingy company.

How often do they do sales, bring out Selects versions? Rebuying of VC games over and over, their eShop games are more expensive or at least the same price as at retail, or look at the Special Edition prices, etc.

Going digital only would allow them to leave us with little choice and for them to milk the profits. They wouldn't have to worry about retail space for games. They'll say that being digital only reduces moving parts, disc spinning, reducing weight, loads games from the cloud, memory saves, allowing the NX controller to be portable.

It would bring up another problem. What retailer would sell the console if they can't make money from selling games? Give the retailers exclusive rights to digital Collector Editions like they're doing with some Wii U games and amiibo at the moment? It could all be nothing.

MilesMorales1 · 05-05-2016 08:45PM

I idly wonder if Nintendo is truly greedy (they are) or if they're truly oblivious to certain things. If they were really greedy, they'd do say, more remasters like Sony and MS have done. Or they'd have done things people want like, I dunno, rereleasing SNES and GBA stuff at full retail prices. Odd.

Myrddin · 05-05-2016 09:09PM

I don't think there's an argument for calling a for-profit company greedy, I think it boils down to value for money, instead of greed. I find Nintendo generally offer pretty high levels of value for money. Even when it comes to Amiibo (which I'm not a fan of thankfully), you're getting a physical product for your DLC purchase...which isn't the case with any other company.

Are they oblivious? I do have to wonder about that sometimes, more so than not in recent years. Maybe less so oblivious, & instead, on another planet

CiDeRmAn · 05-05-2016 09:25PM

We might be reading way too much into this.
This has all been extrapolated from a single report, and nothing has been announced.
Partially it is Nintendo's fault, for withholding information on the console for so long.
Perhaps there will be a surprise announcement at E3, who knows.
Either way we've heard very little of a concrete nature, but a shift to carts is a no win, given how expensive they are to produce compared to disc media.

MilesMorales1 · 05-05-2016 09:29PM

Us.

sligeach · 05-05-2016 09:49PM

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

I idly wonder if Nintendo is truly greedy (they are) or if they're truly oblivious to certain things. If they were really greedy, they'd do say, more remasters like Sony and MS have done. Or they'd have done things people want like, I dunno, rereleasing SNES and GBA stuff at full retail prices. Odd.

Themes. There's another thing they charge for that really you could make yourself for nothing. Mobile phones have been letting us for years choose our own theme, screensaver, wallpaper, message alert, ring tone and more for free. Nintendo though, make it so that you have to pay for themes because they've locked you out of the tools.

MilesMorales1 · 05-05-2016 09:53PM

sligeach wrote: »

Themes. There's another thing they charge for that really you could make yourself for nothing. Mobile phones have been letting us for years choose our own theme, screensaver, wallpaper, message alert, ring tone and more for free. Nintendo though, make it so that you have to pay for themes because they've locked you out of the tools.

To be fair, Sony does the same thing. PS4 themes are £2 a pop.

sligeach · 05-05-2016 10:17PM

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

To be fair, Sony does the same thing. PS4 themes are £2 a pop.

Then they're bad as well.

CiDeRmAn · 05-05-2016 11:14PM

I like my Welcome to the Rapture dynamic theme on my PS4, and I paid for.
Feck yiz all for making me feel guilty for it!

sligeach · 06-05-2016 08:55AM

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Us.

I'm at stage 2. I might be here a while.

MilesMorales1 · 06-05-2016 09:36AM

I'm at stage 2, kinda on the verge of moving into stage 3. Playing a Link Between Worlds is helping.

talking_walnut · 06-05-2016 09:41AM

Everyone is taking this very personally. Chin up guys! You'll make it through!

I picked up Twilight Princess last week to see me through for a while. Missed it on the Wii and Gamecube (despite having both). It's awesome so far. Can't wait to see where else the story goes. Also have Pikmin 3 to finish. I've been savoring it a bit too much and postponing the actual playing

Arstechnica have an article about why solid state storage would be a good idea for Nintendo. Nothing ground breaking but an interesting read.

Whatever they decide to do hardware-wise, I'm 90% I'll be buying it. It's just those games man. Too damn good.

Pac1Man · 06-05-2016 10:39AM

You can delete them if you click edit post.

talking_walnut · 06-05-2016 11:36AM

Pac1Man wrote: »

You can delete them if you click edit post.

Cheers. Couldn't see the option until I switched back to the Legacy site. Thought I imagined it existing.

CiDeRmAn · 06-05-2016 03:37PM

I'm at stage 6, I think I may be working through them backwards

Star Lord · 06-05-2016 03:48PM

I'm the same TBH, that's kinda where I started from. Though I had thought they'd reveal prior to E3, for a release later this year, revealing later for a March release makes sense.

Nintendo Switch (Nintendo's next console)

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