Topic: Cartridge Comeback?

[Bill Aurion]

Nintendo isn't a follower...but a leader...If anyone heads to cartridge-base first, it will be Ninty...

I would much rather have cartridge-based media, because it's much more durable, a must in my house

[Shift Key]

The main problem with the N64 cartridges was their size, definitely. Not size as in memory capacity, but their shape.
These cubes could be integrated into a form of flash card like they have with Memory Sticks and SD memory, so the size problem can be forgotten.

Optical media's main flaw is the accessability of the media - mainly the delays that occur when changing between sections of disc. Sadly it's quite obvious when dual-layer DVDs change layers during a movie.

As for people saying that optical media would remain forever, they are stupid.
CDs superseded casettes which superseded  vinyl, and DVD superseded video casettes. Something will replace optical media, its just that people are too ignorant to look into the past and notice.

I can see it influencing the gaming industry, but while Sony and MS push DVD as their media of choice for their consoles, I don't expect it to be widespread in the future. The RIAA may be interested in this though...

[soracloudtidus]

Ofcourse optical media will be replaced some time in the near future, the question is when? And will it be replaced in the next generation of systems? Remember Nintendo has labs working on stuff like this, and I'm sure the thought of going back to cartridge has passed their minds. Will they go back? only time will tell. Now if they go back to cartridge they  have to do some heavy marketing telling people why are they back on this media and why is better than optical media. If this media is way better than optical media then it is only logic to use it, but I can hear the little fanboys complaining about how Nintendo goes back to catridge and the optical media is way better. If we see Nintendo back on cartridge I wouldn't be surprise since they like to be innovators and different from the other companies.

[ExtremeGcube]

We had a nobel prize winner named Alan Mcdearmid(not sure on the sp) come to my campus and give a lecture on his work with semi-conducting polymers.  He said that with it, it is possible to create more disposable products as well as the whole advanced shopping checkout where everything is in the cart and all of the items have a plastic chip with this technology in it with a transmitter(they had a shelf life of 6 months) you walked through a gate and it rung everything up.  He also mentioned creating a grid using a normal printer and transparency's.  The polymer stuck to the ink so you printed the grid you wanted on the transparency, sprayed it with the polymer and then pressed another transparency onto it.  the ink is removed after the polymer is dry with a chmical and you get that electrical grid.  He was very adament on the disposability and shelf life on these items though.  Because one is moving into organic natured substances it may introduce a faster degeneration then other non-organic substances.  I am sure many will think this post is off topic but I hope you found it interesting and maybe look up the name and the work to learn more about it.

[ThePerm]

im sure this will have an effect on everythign if it works out really well...for instance graphic chips could have alot more programable shaders. Also if you could have tons of storage what are things that all games have? They all have chunks of code....imagine if their were huge chunks of code a game could tap into built into the system that could take advantage of this...also? Do you know how much data we store in our minds? Its crazy!

[KDR_11k]

EGC: That sounds like RFID...

[rogue_gamecube]

Hmm, five years eh? Damnit... Well, there goes my Mac G5 purchase. I just hope my three year old beast can hold on another 5+ years for this. Oh, and I do think the age of the Jetsons is coming. Faster than you may think. Anti-gravity is right around the corner, 64-bit processors are out and in 5+ years this new data storage will revolutionize everything. And, think about it: Identity chips that gets planted in your skin. No more credit cards, simply keep on walking. Hmm, any ideas on how I can keep my P866 going for 5+ years? I think I better drop a grand for a 2ghz something. Damnit...

[Avinash_Tyagi]

I kind of see this being used more in the realm of embedded memory chips and cartridges/rom memory cards at least for the forseeable future only because of the popularity of DVD and CD's.  People will be oppose switching over when much of their information is located on optiacl media.

[Majexto]

That is really cool, if only they could figure out some way to make it rewritable in a sense, it could bring a whole new world to miniature handheld computers.  A palm pilot sized fill fledged pc.  That would be cool.  The only problem i see with this is cost.  Too bad the article didnt say how much the technology cost.  Its pretty cool, the only thing id hate about it is i leave disks laying around alot and if i layed one of these around i sure wouldnt be finding it.

[manunited4eva22]

No offense or anything but 64 bit has been around for over a decade. If anything the next revolution is AMP (asymmetric multiprocessing) incorporating many many CPUs, along with cell type SMP, as they are far more powerful in design than 64 bit alone.  

Will this technology have profound effects on the computer industry, yes.  Will it be the most important in the next decade, no, computers will definately begin to change shape in other ways in the next decade.

[Lamech]

People complain about theyre CD players and DVD players being obsolete, but theres two reasons why cartridges arent going to make you lose your precious things. Think about it, we are just now starting to phase out floppy disks and casettes... that took awhile.. nothing is instant. Youll still have CD stuff coming out and watching your back until you upgrade... which in todays technological world, you will. Your DVD player has a shelf life of about 5 - 8 years, just dont buy new ones all the time. We seem to be in the "disposable" era. Everything we make, we make to last a little bit, then throw it away and buy a new one because its cheaper than fixing it and its upgrading. Thats how every new media comes in. So don't fret. You'll find you love cartridges more. Durable and long lasting... no more cracked or scratched CD's sound good to you?


PS: Speaking about technology having a short life-span... I figure its only fair to warn you guys that those awesome Plasma TVs are being found in recent lab tests to have a life of about 5 years in the average home... if you smoke or anything like that.. 2-3 years... ouch. Spending thousands of dollars for somthing that dies that quickly doesnt seem worth it to me. Thought I'd warn you before you spend all your money ^_^

[KDR_11k]

That "disposable era" is also called consumerism. It's the perfect state for companies: You buy things that are theoretically usable infinitely over and over again. Think PS2 failure rate. Normally you would buy the console only once and that's it, but with that failure rate you have to buy it over and over again, each time producing a lot of waste that hurts the envronment even further... Capitalism is self destruction.

[Pikkcuber]

I seriously hope we go back to anything other than a Disk.  Do you know how much it sucks buying a 50 dollar game and then lose it a week or two later because you dropped it or accidently scratched it on the case.  And the whole cleaning thing is a pain.  I will go and say it now not many people will agree with me but im gonna say it,  I would sacrifice graphical quality to go back on a cartridge.  And even pay a couple bucks more if i have to. Wasnt it nice to pick up a snes game out of the console put it down right on the table next to your food, drink, little brothers..... and not worry at all.  Then you have to buy a case for those mini cd's unless you want to haul around a ton of game boxes around.  Boy will i be glad when cartridges come back.

[KDR_11k]

Pay more for games? You must be american, the rest of the world pays the equivalent of 70 US dollars for a disk game (compared to 50 for PC games...)