Switch Nintendo NX having cartridges

[Jack Lovejoy]

Well, here it is. Do you think it will be bad for Nintendo? I mean, this will cause loading times to be instant, but cartridges are more expensive than Sd cards. (I need to win in an argument with Gligar13's vid about the cartridges)

 

[grahamf]

Cartridges aren't really that expensive. These would be ROM units which are less expensive to make than rewriteables. The main thing is that even Bluray disks are too slow to keep up with current games, forcing people to install the games onto the computer's hard drive. I don't know off hand but I believe it only costs about $1 or less to make a 3DS cartridge, and a NX cartridge would be only a little more - and would scale. For example, a 30GB $60 game could maybe use a $2 cartridge but a 500MB $10 game could use a $0.25 cartridge, making the price of the cartridge negligible in both cases. This would be beneficial for indies as it could make it cheaper for them to have a physical copy of the game - and therefore a physical presence in stores that would raise awareness and increase sales.

Having a cartridge could possibly give the NX a noticeable speed boost over even the PSNeo and Xbox One and A Half in some aspects. Possibly the aspects that matter more to players, who knows?

 

[Segata]

I am all for carts coming back. More reliable. They don't cost much to buy or manufacture anymore.

 

[Y0shiM0n]

I would like it, but there would be some drawbacks, such as no backwards compatibility with the Wii U (Though if they do cartridges, it might be backwards with the 3DS) and I am not sure, but some people might see it as a bad thing that it is in a cartridge, if it looks like how the N64 ones did. They are uglier than disks. Though I am sure they will be much nicer than how the N64 ones did.

 

[grahamf]

TBH what's wrong with no backwards comp with the Wii U? The latest Wii U games will be ported over, and the majority of titles will reach the Virtual Console service. It frees them up from having to always support the two screens. I'm content with holding onto my Wii U.

We might be looking at a AMD CPU here, which would make Wii U games incompatible without porting. The NX might be able to run a port of Dolphin for Gamecube/Wii compatiblity, but I don't know about the Wii U (The CEMU developers are a bit vague).

I can see them selling a "NXDD" peripheral that adds a disc drive though, and people who bought the digital versions would be unaffected anyways.

 

[Lightning_Ninja]

Assuming the console is in fact a hybrid, this might just be for the handheld component? Not totally sure.

 

[grahamf]

I'm under the assumption that NX games are the same for both the handheld and the console, but scales between the two. Like a PC game that pares down effects on a low end system but then you can enable all the effects on a very high end system. The cartridge should be compatible with both systems.

 

[pwarbi]

While I can appreciate we all probably look back on cartridges fondly, as it reminds us of our gaming days in the past, I'm not sure if Nintendo are making a mistake here.

I'd much rather they just stuck to the norm, and concentrated on the actual specification of the console rather than tried to bring cartridges back into the equation, as while in the beginning it will be a novelty, I've got a feeling that after only a short while, that novelty will soon wear off.

 

[grahamf]

I don't think it's a novelty. Already Xbone and PS4 games HAVE to be installed onto a HDD because not even Bluray has read speeds fast enough for game playback. That means when you get home with a shiny new game you have to spend half an hour waiting for it to install. Ditto if you bring a game to a friend's house.

With a cartridge the game is available to play immediately, and may even have faster load times than a game installed on a hard drive.


And I think we're forgetting something that might be important: Cartridge games like in the 3DS and N64 all have something in common - the game progress can be saved to the cartridge itself. You can bring your game AND your game save with you to your friend's house - and if you sell your console you will still have your save.

I hope that it has a dual-save system like the Gamecube, where you have two places you can save to and transfer saves from (the cartridge and console memory)

 

[Y0shiM0n]

Those are some good points, @grahamf. They should also make an option to save your memory to the console and USB drives, like how the Wii U does. That way, you will have backups.

 

[Segata]

Also flash memory cards or carts can me manufactured about the same or less than discs now. That wasn't possible during the N64 era.

 

[Shane]

I'm all for cartridges as second-hand discs are always scratched.

 

[Segata]

^ Why I love Japan. When I import old games they are so pristine they still smell new sometimes. They have the registration card and the stickers/posters whatever else they released with. People there take REALLY good care of things. The US. Lucky to find the case no marker drawn on it and not scratched to hell.

 

[grahamf]

To be fair, the games that people would consider selling on an international basis would have to be in good enough condition to make the hassle worth it. And no one will sell a pristine copy at a garage sale (or even an intercity trade) if they knew they could get much more selling it internationally. There is probably countless crappy versions that never leave Japan.

 

[Segata]

^ Well no. It's just a well known thing among collectors. Stores will sell anything and collectors find the same kind of care buying used over there. Not to mention a lot of them put them in plastic wrappers much like comic book collectors do. US in general is just more careless. Gaming is a more serious culture there in the past. Gaming WAS Japan for the 80s and 90s. US it was just something to buy kids like the copy of Aladdin on VHS. When I buy a game imported for 3 dollars and it smells new. I doubt they were worried about getting more money because condition.I get obscure stuff all the time and really cheap. Of course some didn't treat it great but the ratio is far far far different. Japan and Gaming is like Texas and Football.

 

[Shane]

Off-topic but some day I'd like to go to Japan, maybe even move there if I like it.

 

[Segata]

Take me with you. My dream is to move there but health and money say no.

 

[pwarbi]

While I can see there a more positives than negatives when it comes to cartridges over discs, it still seems to me as though Nintendo were looking for a novelty aspect, something that would make the console stand out, they weren't doing it necessarily because of those points.

Installing, downloading and saving a game from a cloud server is the way that consoles are heading these days in my opinion, and I just think that Nintendo choosing cartridges instead if this method night be a decision that they end up regretting.

 

[Shane]

My brother, who doesn't own a Wii U, says he will buy a NX if it uses cartridges. He is extremely nostalgic and misses cartridges and hasn't gamed a whole lot since the N64. We don't always agree on games, me and him, but we both share a love of Kirby and the Rainbow Curse.

My brother in law, in contrast, owns a Wii U but won't be buying a NX for a year or two regardless. He's mad that they're releasing a new console so soon.

 

[pwarbi]

I don't think Nintendo had much of a choice but to release it as soon as possible, as they're haemorrhaging money at the moment and need to keep up with the others.

Sony and Microsoft are going to take a lot of catching, but I think Nintendo still has a good enough reputation to be able to compete, but that needs to start as soon as possible if they're in with a chance.