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TWRoO on 07 January 2010
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loves2splooge said:

Flash memory is just way to expensive. Even if you consider the fact that 6.8 GB is all most games need at this point (usually games that require more than 6.8 GB these days have excessive cinematics. If game developers weren't obsessed with creating hollywood blockbusters or J-soap operas, we wouldn't need multiple DL DVD discs. Call me an old fart but I'm not impressed by "cinematic experiences" anymore like I was when I was a teenager and the whole FF7 and MGS thing felt new to me. I just want to play the freakin' game.), by the next Gen that won't be enough. So even 8 GB flash memory cards wouldn't be enough to house games and 8 GB flash memory is pretty darn expensive. A lot cheaper OEM than buying from a store but still very cost prohibitive I'm sure. Game prices would have to go up.

Now for stuff like DS, flash memory works for them but their capacity is tiny. Only 256 MB max. Now seeing that the DS has been out since 2004, the Next Gen DS flash cards will have a good deal more capacity. But I bet it won't be all that much. Maybe the cards will hold like 1 GB this time. But I think it'll be a long time before you could feasibly release games on a 8 GB flash card at a reasonable price to the publishers for home console releases. And by Next Gen, 8 GB won't be enough anyway I'm sure since games will become more graphically intensive and thus require more capacity (even without the cinematics).

I believe some DS flash carts are 512MB already (4Gbit) and the maximum is still unknown.

The DS successor will probably use at least 2GB to start with, and will only increase from there as the system ages (assuming the next handheld uses carts... which it probably will)

An advantage handhelds have over home consoles is that they use their own speakers and screen, which naturally don't need to have huge sound files or huge FMV files for cutscenes, which is really what takes up most of the space on the PS3 games that supposedly take up 25GB (for instance MGS4 supposedly took up the whole disc, but I bet half of it was for music and sound, which could have been compressed to half it's size and no one but those with uber sound set ups would have noticed any difference)