Let's assume that the future of gaming isn't legal downloading of games.  Let's say 10 years from now we can still go to our local game store and still buy a game physically.  I would hate online distribution, I personally like to have a physical cartridge or disk than download it.  A lot of people are assuming that the next high Capacity "disc" that will be used in gaming is Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD).  I'm asking is it possible that Cartridge based gaming can come back?  Here's a little of my argument, right now you can get Solid-State Drives that are hard drives made from several flash drives (I guess), whereas the normal hard drives are made from cylintrical several disc like disc.  We know that Flash drives, such as USB, SD (mini and micro) and getting smaller and faster.  By the time when HVD comes out (theoretically holds 1 to 10 TB) wouldn't there be flash drives that can hold that capacity, AND you an access the data faster than a disc drive?  yes right now they're expensive, but they are getting chaeper, smaller and can hold larger capacity every year.  One problem that I can think of with flash drive gaming would be how too keep it cool in the next gen console if it's reading it at a really hgh rate.

I persoanlly hope so, I hate loading times that disc give me on my consoles, but I guess I'm more spoiled when it comes to speed since I liked it when I popped in a cartridge and the game would load instantly.  Also please don't say games don't have high loading times, they do, all disc based games do, they had a lot of background loading which I can tell in some games and it annoys me :P

I don't think they could ever get as cheap as disks.

Disk = loading times, less reliability of the support, price of the hardware and reliability of the hardware because of the moving parts...

For the handelds, just look at the success of the DS. I remember the first PSPs when everyone was using the memory sticks to play games because of the problems related to the UMD.

For the other consoles, I think the introduction of optical disk, then DVD was an error because of the long loading times, compared to the cartridges. I remember when we had to rotate the psone to read disks ^^ Worst were the countless disk read errors that occured with the ps2, or optical drive failures...

Now, I think these problems are behind us, but I still had two unreadable disks with my Wii, which I got replaced at the store. Moreover, with the rising capacity of the flash drives (up to 32/64 Go, and rising), I hope that manufacturers will come back to cartridges soon, for the better.

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 agree with you that I would like to see cartridge-based games as opposed to disc based games back again.

But: Solid State is still a lot more expensive than Hard Drive.

Also for some of your facts: Hard Drives are not multiple discs, it is just 1 disc... and SSD is a lot cooler running than HDD because there are no moving parts, so heat would not be a problem

I'd rather have loading than spend an extra 20 dollars for a 30 gig flash card

Mario Galaxy runs on a disk.

Not a single loading in that game.


your theory is broken :p

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)

Of course there is... Nintendo just happens to be one of the best at hiding loading times.... if you put your ear next to your Wii while playing the game (or if you have dropped it like I have it might be loud enough to hear from further away) you will be able to hear it reading the disc, which is when it is loading.
An example of hiding loading times is in Twilight Princess, the connections between two parts of Hyrule field with thin twisty pathways before you get to the open field are there to disguise the loading time.

@voty2000. Loading times are only one disadvantage of discs... but the actual price difference would not be anywhere near enough for publishers to put prices up by more than maybe $5 (and that is pushing it, I imagine printing the disc costs the publisher maybe 50p/30cents for each game for single layer DVD, while making a cartridge might bump that up to £1)

What is making game prices go up is the graphic whoreiness of the developers (and the consumers they feed) so yes, should consoles use carts prices would go up, but publishers would blame it on carts as an excuse, when the real cost inflation is coming from having to pay for more artists and spending more time making things look realistic.

I don't really care...