Is Nintendo going to back to cartridges (SD Cards) for the new NX?

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bluenote
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Is Nintendo going to back to cartridges (SD Cards) for the new NX?

Postby bluenote » December 1st, 2015, 1:18 pm

Hey everyone,

I came across this article and it makes a very compelling case as to if Nintendo may be planning on going to SD cards for the NX. The article is a few months old, but is a really good read.

http://gamingbolt.com/nintendo-nx-why-n ... g-ns-favor

Couple of things that caught my eye: The fact that indies may be able to release their games on SD cards (the smaller capacity ones). If indies use smaller capacity cards, they can afford to release their games on it, give them a retail presence and add much needed games to Nintendo's library. I mean, how cool would that be to walk into a Gamestop and see Nintendo NX's games, including all the indie games on SD cards??

This makes so much sense, the cost of sd cards is so much lower now, no load times and it still appeals to physical collectors. Plus, you can quickly play the card on either the console or handheld, if that is what the NX turns out to be.

Another thing the article points out is that Nintendo may be leaning towards SD cards rather than going all digital because it would cut out the lucrative retail space. They can't afford to go all digital, when Microsoft and Sony have such a strong presence.

I don't know about you, but this is getting me really excited for the NX. If this comes to fruition, it'll be a day one purchase for me.

What are your thoughts?

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Rev
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Re: Is Nintendo going to back to cartridges (SD Cards) for the new NX?

Postby Rev » December 2nd, 2015, 12:27 am

I've lost a lot of faith in Nintendo over the last year. With how they've been handling the Wii U as well as poor marketing and a slew of bad decisions I hope they can turn it around. Still, the NX better have something worth separating it from the crowd as they're already way behind in the generation. I think SD cards would be pretty neat but I'm not sure if Nintendo would actually do it. I'm thinking Nintendo is going to go all digital which if that happens I refuse to buy the console. Hopefully they don't go that route...

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scotland
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Re: Is Nintendo going to back to cartridges (SD Cards) for the new NX?

Postby scotland » December 2nd, 2015, 1:22 pm

All this is still speculative, but maybe Ninty is going to flashcarts. This would leverage their handheld base that is comfortable with them to boost sales of a flashcart console. The console would be a way to play your portable games with a GPU boost on a big screen, with online multiplayer. It might also mean Ninty is giving up on 3rd party AAA again, but may gain more indie support. Its another Blue Ocean idea to not go head to head with MS or Sony, but tread a new path that sees a console as almost a peripheral to a portable.

Shapur
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Re: Is Nintendo going to back to cartridges (SD Cards) for the new NX?

Postby Shapur » December 2nd, 2015, 10:11 pm

I'm not following the logic as to why SD cards would allow indie developers to release games at retail. The article mentions Nintendo could offer small(2gbish) cards for free, but why would they? I mean even if they would, a 2 GB SD card isn't going to be cheaper to manufacture than a Blu-ray(or even a DVD).

Also the point about adding abilities to the console via cartridge seems a little fanciful. SD cards are very small, not like SNES carts. There is no way to cram a useful chip in that little thing within a reasonable console lifetime.

NX17

Re: Is Nintendo going to back to cartridges (SD Cards) for the new NX?

Postby NX17 » December 2nd, 2015, 11:24 pm

Honestly, more than anything it sounds like Nintendo is going digital only. They put in a patent for a 'disc-less' console. They've become ridiculously aggressive on supply side control over their games. Games go out of print and aren't brought back, and they don't put anything on discount anymore. The next console is supposedly a sort of hybrid, so digital makes sense because then you don't have to worry about a storage medium that fits both. Nintendo's always been dogged on region locking and piracy, and doesn't like used game sales much either. I can definitely see them going in this direction. I remember a theory a while back floated about them having kiosks at stores to buy games and store on an SD card to take home and play for those who don't have a solid internet connection. That would solve the point of sale problem for those who aren't hooking their system up online.

I don't mind Nintendo going in this direction if they want to provide better value, I just doubt they will based on what they do now. I agree with some of their philosophy, I think games have been made into a commodity lately. Just look at the Steam sales, and you can end up with 20-30 games for $60. I don't think it's a bad thing for games to be cheap necessarily, but people get so many that tend not to be played that they all end up having no value. And a lot of the older games are like corpses with no support when a new OS or driver breaks the game, or the online services it was based on no longer exist (like Games for Windows), or it has archaic DRM remnants.

At the same time I think there should be some medium between games out for a few years for $2.50 and what Nintendo does which is keep them at $60 mostly or let them go out of print. Nintendo's idea of 'value' is to offer launch games with it's expansion for $60 with New Super Mario & Luigi Bros games. That combo was a pack-in years ago, and launch games in the past would be $20 players choice after a couple years. They don't seem to do that anymore.

Hardcore Sadism
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Re: Is Nintendo going to back to cartridges (SD Cards) for the new NX?

Postby Hardcore Sadism » December 3rd, 2015, 1:14 am

Nintendo sounds like they are making an Android tablet.

Not exactly an approach I would be proud of......

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Rookie1
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Re: Is Nintendo going to back to cartridges (SD Cards) for the new NX?

Postby Rookie1 » December 3rd, 2015, 12:05 pm

It makes sense in terms of cost cutting. You could skip out on a disk drive, which will reduce size and parts. With the amount of storage that is available for dirt cheap now on "SD Cards" its not a bad idea. I wouldnt mind it.

Voor
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Re: Is Nintendo going to back to cartridges (SD Cards) for the new NX?

Postby Voor » December 3rd, 2015, 7:44 pm

I say "go for it!" With The Playstation and Xbox out there and household names now, Nintendo does not have the same sacredness as it did when I was a kid.

Nintendo's franchises don't dominate like they used to, so without that, they have to try something different. This may be a good idea worth trying.

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scotland
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Re: Is Nintendo going to back to cartridges (SD Cards) for the new NX?

Postby scotland » December 5th, 2015, 8:52 am

NX17 wrote:I don't mind Nintendo going in this direction if they want to provide better value, I just doubt they will based on what they do now. I agree with some of their philosophy, I think games have been made into a commodity lately. Just look at the Steam sales, and you can end up with 20-30 games for $60. I don't think it's a bad thing for games to be cheap necessarily, but people get so many that tend not to be played that they all end up having no value... At the same time I think there should be some medium between games out for a few years for $2.50 and what Nintendo does which is keep them at $60 mostly or let them go out of print. Nintendo's idea of 'value' is to offer launch games with it's expansion for $60 with New Super Mario & Luigi Bros games. That combo was a pack-in years ago, and launch games in the past would be $20 players choice after a couple years. They don't seem to do that anymore.


Nice post.

I am guilty of overspending on digitial GOG and Steam sales where I have a library of cheap but unplayed games. That and mobile means consumers sense of price and value on modern games is adjusted way down, and older games should be dirt cheap. Nintendo wants to be the quality brand as we see with Apple or BMW and holds its value.


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