I think catrige is a bad word used here.

I can see how it is confusing people. I do not think he ment in a traditional sense, but rather one full of small flash solid state discs in them or something along those lines.

I don't know if that kind of thing wll be available next gen because I think it will be too expensive.

However it will also depend on how technically advanced next gen consoles will be. By that I mean is if Sony decides to go with a new format again that say holds 1TB a layer on a disc, then read times would be extremely slow and would require a fair bit of hdd install space.

I really think that some sort of solid state is the future as gamers will want speed and are already getting sick of load times. but maybe 2-3 gens from now when it should be cheaper.

@Bardicverse: It definately is a possibility. Going by numbers we've seen from the three manufacturers, it appears that majority of the consoles are still offline, so if someone wants to go online only, it's going to lose a huge chunck of potential market. Having cartrige(s) where you could go download the games on a friends house or games store/supermarket would be a necessarity.

@SamuelRSmith: That's what i was after. I believe the bitmap example is pretty standard already.

Yes, solid memories follow the moore's law. Optic medias jumps randomly their size.

Nowadays it is possible to make cartridges with some gigabytes very cheap, if anyone starts using holographic medias, soon they will go back to cartridges. I think next generation they will use blue laser medias as default (probably blu-disk) and in the 9th holographic or solid state.

DLC will be optional for a while, anyone wants to loose the "internetless" market.

There are still too many countries who don't have the internet infrastructure to be regularly downloading 20GB+ games on a regular basis to thousands of customers. For many, even in the next couple of years it would taken them weeks to get a single game.

Solid state could work with downloads in tandem for those who don't have the means or want to download full games, some people do like having a tangible copy.

Plus in the not too distant future, solid state will go past magnetic media like hard drives in both capacity and in cost, they already outperform disks, so it's just a matter of time before disks become obsolete. That means your storage device in your console could likely be solid state anyway, so why not use carts as well as it would be using the same technology as internal storage?

no...

wtf......hahaha

Yes.

Honestly I do not see downloading as replacing physical media. The issue is not that it is impractical. The issue is one of faith. The same issue that plagues the plastic versus cash debate that has gone on for over twenty years. Consumers will have no confidence in a product that cannot be converted into a physical asset. That said downloading will not be desirable for the vast majority of consumers until such a time as it is permitted by manufacturers. That consumers can use their devices to burn those games to a physical media. Which they are adamantly against.

Downloading through services such as Netflix isn't about purchasing a product. It is simply a rental model. Were you spending money to actually acquire a movie or a video you would want assurances that your purchase could be physically protected, and that it had an exchange value. Whether the industry likes that or not. Nobody wants to place excessive faith in a consoles storage if that same console is under the direct control of a corporate entity. Especially if that entity is not committed to full assurances of back up.

I have said it dozens of times. The first console manufacturer which allows the most basic feature of burning downloaded content to a physical format will have a massive advantage in the market place. It bypasses the very need for larger hard drives, and it provides real security to consumers.

Try to say that to my internet provider... (20GB per month dload cap).

Probably not, even if you make a cheap cartridge with 100 gig capacity the ability to stamp copies of DVDs makes the process much more affordable.