Any chance carts could make a comeback?

[dsheinem]

Two big reasons for the move from carts to CDs (and then DVDs/Blus) were cost and storage. It is still true, of course, that it is easier and cheaper to produce disc based media. But, as flash memory gets cheaper, I could see game companies reconsidering the advantages of carts. Additionally, proprietary carts may provide for better prevention of piracy...

Put it this way: as a consumer you can get 25GB blu-rays for $2-$3 each. You can get either a notebook drive or some forms of flash memory for about $20-$30 for the same amount of space. Yes, this is 10x the cost, but companies could pass on some of that cost (an extra $10-$15) to the consumer - thus making the extra cost to the manufacturer not quite so high. So - would it be worth an extra $10 per game or so ($10 cost to both the manufacturer and consumer) to get a game that was on a more durable medium and that would be (potentially) less easy to pirate?

Thoughts?

[Hatta]

With the death of HD-DVD, the only other options are blu-ray or download only. I highly doubt Microsoft will adopt Sonys format, and the network infrastructure just isn't here in the US for 25GB downloads. Obviously something's going to happen. I don't know if SSD cartridges is it, but it will be interesting to see.

[noiseredux]

never thought about it -- but the piracy prevention sure would (should?) seem attractive to the companies.

The only console currently using carts is NDS. How's the piracy prevention there?

[dsheinem]

The only console currently using carts is NDS. How's the piracy prevention there?

horrible.

but some company could probably come up with something better...

[noiseredux]

The only console currently using carts is NDS. How's the piracy prevention there?

horrible.

why (how) is that?

[dsheinem]

The only console currently using carts is NDS. How's the piracy prevention there?

horrible.

why (how) is that?

Widespread sale of M3 and R4 carts and the like. I think most cereals in Japan include them as prizes inside.

[noiseredux]

yeah before the flashcarts (playback of ROMs) comes into the equation, how is it so easy to extract a ROM from a NDS cart? Like you pointed out, you can't stick a cart into your cheapo BestBuy computer and copy it onto a 99 cent blank cart. I'm just curious how the copying of these carts has been so widespread since your original post made a good point about curbing the piracy if carts were used.

[Hatta]

You can always just desolder the chip and dump it. But then, they can encrypt the contents of the chip. Of course, that encryption key is also on a chip that could be desoldered and dumped. It'll always be doable by a talented hardware hacker.

[Breetai]

I highly doubt Microsoft will adopt Sonys format....

Why not? It is the new standard. Sony computers run Microsoft software in Sony's showrooms in Japan, for example.

[lisalover1]

Any chance carts could make a comeback?

Why not? The Gizmondo used SD cards to store games, and that worked out pretty we... oh, wait...