would you still buy a cartridge based console made in 2008+?

if another cartridge based console was released these days, would you buy it?

i think i would, as i love cartridge based consoles, i love the feel cartridges have to them. plus they load faster and are sturdier.

just imagine the possibilities of a cartridge based console with today's technology.

 

And the prices
Compact flash would probably be the best choice, and making it the most pirated console ever :lol:

 

Not if it's going to suffer from a modern N64 syndrome. If it was perfectly capable of competing with disc based systems I'd buy it but some how I can't see it. making a cartridge that could hold at least 4gig of data is going to be very expensive compared to pressing a DVD like disc.

Yakumo

 

The big issue would be cost. The RRP of games is already quite insane, without a proprietory cartridge format sending prices even higher. I'm just not prepared to pay £60 for a game anymore, which is the kind of prices we'd be looking at. If another format had the same game for £29.99, which would you choose?

As far as loading times go, I welcome the HDD install option coming to the 360. I don't welcome the HDD prices, however.

 

A cartridge system would always been more expensive and offer less storage for developers than a disc system. So no. It doesn't make sense.

 

Yes. Can't beat the satisfying clunk as a cartridge pushes its way through two plastic flaps and clutches beautifully into position.

PCB connector sex at its finest and sluttiest. The CILFS of the golden age are great but bringing in some fresh plastic would be awesome.

 

Yeah cartridges "feel" right, but to be honest. They seem so unreliable now. My SFC carts are losing my saves and my FF6 cart has scrambled graphics now!

If my PS2 has a problem, I buy a new PS2. If there is a problem with a cart you have to replace the carts one by one. I have never had a CD or DVD stop working on me.

Anyhoo, for me, Hard Disc installs are the future for me. Or partial installs at the very least. Handheld devices should follow the example as well imho. We do not carry music cds around, so why do I have a box of umd with me now?

 

If there was a way to make it more affordable while still holding as much as at least a dual layer DVD I'd totally buy it.

It'll never happen though. It probably costs next to nothing to press a disc compared to the price of manufacturing a cartridge.

 

I also agree that the costs of such a system's games and their required capacity in the modern era would make it too costly for many consumers. Even the cheapest 8GB SD card is £13, and that's just to make it compete storage-wise in the modern era!

The fact is that even if you were intending to build a system harking back to the classic era, the costs would make it accessible to only the most-hardcore retro enthusiasts. Take the XGamesStation as an example at a price of just under $100 for a system that can barely do 16-bit.

So for that reason, I'm out.

 

Well a ROM version of a SD card should be cheaper, and faster than a DVD, but is still considerably more expensive than the later.

I agree that the feeling of a cart is unique, but the related storage issues were a problem 12 years ago, and today well, is just impossible to go back.

But 10 years from now when NAND SSDs become commonplace (and games are 50GB and up :lol using those will be much like using carts was.

 

You need to replace the battery, this is very easy. For the graphics issue you probably need to clean the cartridge metal contacts. For some reason people don't seem to believe that you ever need to clean your game cartridges. But the fact is you do need to do that. Once you clean it you will get much better results. Honestly most of the problems with the NES probably had little to do with the cartridge ZIF socket and more to do with people never cleaning their carts.

If a new cartridge based system were made, which is certainly possible, it would require new technology. Like a cartridge with some kind of massive cheap optical memory or something. I would welcome such a device as discs are so easily damaged. But it's not very likely with the Compact Disc concept so well developed and accepted.

 

You mean like the DVDRAM, which came in caddies?



Thats not so different from the UMDs, and those are only "popular" 'cause its the only legal way to play PSP games.

I believe the era of disc is going to end soon, with most consoles moving to internal HDD storage, and then SSDs.

 

i liked the minidisc, too!

 

If you include handhelds then proberly its a YES from me

 

Yeah those were cool, weird that sony didnt consider them for that late 90s proto-PSP (it used memory sticks instead) since back then it would have really helped to revitalize the medium, since the ipod was nowhere to be found.

 

:thumbsup:


Holographic storage needs to happen like, now.

 

Ignoring everything about it costing to much and not getting enough storage ...etc and just concentrating on the idea of a cartridge console then YES i'd love a cartridge console and would definatley buy one.


It would cost too much and maybe not offer any advantage over dvd or optical disc technology which is a shame.

 

This, coming from the guy that slated UMD.

 

You cant compare a late 90s (98-99) PSP using MD and one released between six and seven years later with the UMD.

Back in the late 90s a 32MB CF card would cost you a fortune, while even the lowest type of MD was 140MB and went for little more than a CDR. Back then it would have been the best option, but nowadays with cheap flash memory and HDDs, the only reason why Sony went with yet another useless form of media has more to do with the old media arm of the company than with actual convenience.

Lets not forget the PSP was to become the "walkman of the 21th century" and the UMDs were supposed to be the next big thing after the DVD.

None of that happened...