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It has often been said that Nintendo always had the right idea with cartridges, as they are better than CDs in every way, but they were way too far before their time. I am sure that Nintendo wants to get back to carts as much as myself and Koopa Troopa do, but there's just no practical way of doing it while keeping costs down right now.
Yeah, it would be too expensive right now. I'm hoping that more advances are made in the next couple years that'll make cartridges an option again, atleast for game consoles. Obviously Sony/Microsoft can't do it, not if they want to do the whole "Home Entertainment System" thing, but if it somehow became cost effective, I think Nintendo could do it because they aren't tethered by the need to be compatible with someones DVD collection.
I'm dreaming, I know, but I can't help it

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But with technologies such as that, and the ability to print data on plain paper becoming more and more pronounced, optical media is bound to go the way of the cassette tape and the vinyl record within the next decade.
Excellent point... speaking of paper, I found this
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/e-ink.htm(Electronic Ink) awhile ago when I was searching for information about LCDs(its amazing what some of the things we use everyday are actually made of). I think E-Ink is just really awesome, trust me it is a good read. If I remember correctly it consumes roughly eighty times less power than LCDs, and only needs to be updated when something changes(i.e. in games, if the game is paused there wouldn't be any need to update, thereby saving power). It isn't fast enough for gaming yet(it is for video though; sorry I don't have a link to it anymore), but if it were fast enough it might be a really good option for the next GameBoy. These screens are supposed to be four times brighter than an LCD, so lighting would be easier I think. I don't know how this compares to OLEDs(in efficiency/cost), I'm still trying to find more information on both.
(I am now a frequent visitor of "howstuffworks.com")