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Disks or Cartriges?

Disks or Cartriges?

  • Disks

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Cartriges

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Don't Care

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0

Emma

The Cassandra
Site Staff
Joined
Nov 29, 2008
Location
Vegas
Cartridges are better than discs for gamers, but there's a reason we won't see them return any time soon.

For one thing, pressing discs is faster and cheaper for the video game company than producing equivalent sized cartridges. They're more likely to be broken, which means you have to buy a replacement disc eventually. Also, it's supposedly easier for programmers to design for discs.

Essentially, discs were chosen not because they're a better medium for the consumer, but because they're cheaper and more convenient for the gaming companies. It's simple economics and corporate greed at work.
Which is exactly what I said. Currently disks have a better cost for what they can have on them. Once flash memory is cheap enough to surpass that, they'll switch back to cartridges exactly because of this greed. It'll be cheaper to produce at that point. Hypothetically speaking, say that a disk and a cartridge cost the same to produce, which they will at one point, except for the fact that the cartridge can hold five times as much data as the disk. Economically since they're there same cost per unit otherwise, it'll be cheaper to use the cartridge because one cartridge would be cheaper than five disks. This will be the case in reality eventually. We are reaching the physical limit of what optical disks can possibly hold. The Blu-ray based format that they're all switching to is about all they're ever going to hold. Squeezing anymore out of them will be more and more expensive. Flash memory though, we're a very long way from reaching the limit on. As the capacity we can reach on them increases, the unit cost of flash memory will decrease. That is why 1 GB flash drives that were $60 to $80 eight years ago are now $10 or less. Even that though is still too expensive yet, but it'll get there. The movie industry is actually already dabbling into it already. Some blu-ray players can play movies directly from flash memory cards. Usually these are the digital copies of movies, common now, manually saved to the cards. This very fact tells you that it's the way of the future.
 

El Bagu

Wannabe Mr. 1-8-1
Joined
Jul 5, 2008
Location
In Woods. N of River!
I did choose cartridges and my reasons are not nostalgic ones but I do believe that disks are too vulnerable and that they can be spoiled in far too many ways. What I do like the most is the cartridges for the GBA, they can take a hit or to and I like that!
 
Joined
Apr 2, 2011
Location
everywhere and nowhere
Definitely Cartridges! I mean discs are ok and all. But you have to have a memory card to bring save data to a friends house, and it gets kinda annoying. All you have to do with a cartridge is bring it over! No little memory cards to get lost! that's my opinion any way. :)
 

Y2K3

Lushier than Mercy!
Joined
Apr 14, 2008
Location
Newfoundland, Canada
Hmmmm. I'm sure to be honest. I like cartridges more in the sense that the game actually saves on them instead of on a memory card or within the system itself. But Discs are easier to maintain, they look nicer, stack easier and they are much smaller. I've also had more problems with cartridges than I have with discs in the sense that they're too dirty or they weren't put into the system correctly, etc (Yes, all trivial things, but I haven't had near as many of these problems with discs).

I would probably lean more towards discs, but it's still hard to say.
 

Brandikins

Airbending Slice!
Joined
Dec 6, 2008
Location
New Albany, Indiana
I will admit that discs are much more efficient in lasting forever and not malfunctioning nearly as much, but.....

I voted for cartridges, purely for the sake of nostalgia. I also prefer VHS tapes over DVDs due to the same reason. They're inefficient to today's standards, but I grew up with them, and that's why I like them. Who remembers blowing constantly on our N64 games in an attempt to make them work?

Plus...cartridges were on the Magnavox Odyssey (which was the first ever home video game console made in 1972). So, cartridges were around for nearly 30 years. I'm pretty sure we'll have virtual reality before discs become as old as cartridges.
 

Kazumi

chagy
Joined
Dec 3, 2008
Location
Canada
I prefer disks, as they are much cheaper to manufacture and can store a lot more data than cartridges. If we were still using carts for our home consoles these days, we wouldn't have nearly as awesome graphics/sound/gameplay, because of the lack of room. Games would also cost us a lot more to buy, because cartridges are actually fairly expensive to make. That's why NES/SNES/N64 games were fairly expensive back in the day compared to games that you can buy now.

However, if we are talking about flash media cartridge type things, then those win for sure. The new PSVita is using them, and they are quite awesome. They are fairly cheap, store lots of data, and can be accessed MUCH faster than disks.
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2009
Location
The Universe
I don't really care one way or another.

Although I have to admit that I would lean slightly more towards discs, simply because i'm more motivated to put them in a safe place when they're not in use. Cartridges just get tossed into a drawer, while they might be sturdier they can be a pain to clean out when they get dusty.

This. But really, I never fool around with the technology I have, so it doesn't really matter for me.
 
Joined
Jan 27, 2011
i only like disks on the PSP because they have a plastic barrior to reduce the chance of it being scratched, that's aboutt it, other than that i prefer the cartrages
 

amaterasu

Writer
Joined
May 21, 2011
Location
FL, USA
Gender
Female
I will admit that discs are much more efficient in lasting forever and not malfunctioning nearly as much, but.....

I voted for cartridges, purely for the sake of nostalgia. I also prefer VHS tapes over DVDs due to the same reason. They're inefficient to today's standards, but I grew up with them, and that's why I like them. Who remembers blowing constantly on our N64 games in an attempt to make them work?

Plus...cartridges were on the Magnavox Odyssey (which was the first ever home video game console made in 1972). So, cartridges were around for nearly 30 years. I'm pretty sure we'll have virtual reality before discs become as old as cartridges.

I remember doing that. I also remember freaking out when I first went to the bottom of the well and the Shadow Temple. In 3D? Bring it on *****!
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2010
Location
Trapped in a ring of Benzene
Which is exactly what I said. Currently disks have a better cost for what they can have on them. Once flash memory is cheap enough to surpass that, they'll switch back to cartridges exactly because of this greed. It'll be cheaper to produce at that point. Hypothetically speaking, say that a disk and a cartridge cost the same to produce, which they will at one point, except for the fact that the cartridge can hold five times as much data as the disk. Economically since they're there same cost per unit otherwise, it'll be cheaper to use the cartridge because one cartridge would be cheaper than five disks. This will be the case in reality eventually. We are reaching the physical limit of what optical disks can possibly hold. The Blu-ray based format that they're all switching to is about all they're ever going to hold. Squeezing anymore out of them will be more and more expensive. Flash memory though, we're a very long way from reaching the limit on. As the capacity we can reach on them increases, the unit cost of flash memory will decrease. That is why 1 GB flash drives that were $60 to $80 eight years ago are now $10 or less. Even that though is still too expensive yet, but it'll get there. The movie industry is actually already dabbling into it already. Some blu-ray players can play movies directly from flash memory cards. Usually these are the digital copies of movies, common now, manually saved to the cards. This very fact tells you that it's the way of the future.

FALSE, gaming companies will NEVER go back to cartrridges. This will even be true even if it would cost a company almost nothting to make a cartridge. A cartridge is really sturdy, and extremelly difficult to break, except by doing stupid actions. Disks on the other hand can be broken, scratched, crack, or damaged in many different ways, admit it, we live in a world where items in general aren't designed to last. An average person would just go buy a new disk if theirs broke, or got scratched, which would produce more revenu for the gaming companies. The only way they could benifit for going back to cartridges would be if they made them less sturdier. Even if they could produced a cartridge for less, they would be less likely to break and would actually cost gaming companies money.

With that all said. I loved cartridges, in fact I still have my SNES games sitting in a box near my video games, and if I really wanted to I would grab either my SNES or NES out of storage to go play those old games.
 

SinkingBadges

The Quiet Man
FALSE, gaming companies will NEVER go back to cartrridges. This will even be true even if it would cost a company almost nothting to make a cartridge. A cartridge is really sturdy, and extremelly difficult to break, except by doing stupid actions. Disks on the other hand can be broken, scratched, crack, or damaged in many different ways, admit it, we live in a world where items in general aren't designed to last. An average person would just go buy a new disk if theirs broke, or got scratched, which would produce more revenu for the gaming companies. The only way they could benifit for going back to cartridges would be if they made them less sturdier. Even if they could produced a cartridge for less, they would be less likely to break and would actually cost gaming companies money.

This is actually likely. But the same thing was said of Blu-rays. They were more expensive to make, and had the same attributes as DVDs. Though, I guess what the math boy means is that the developer's ambitions won't be fulfilled by disks and cartridges will seem better with more space to put stuff in them.

Eventually, companies will have to adjust to which medium is considered more effective and allows for more. Or that's what I got from it. I guess only Matt would be able to explain his post.
 

PhantomTriforce

I am a Person of Interest
Joined
Jul 12, 2010
Location
Ganon's Tower
I voted for cartridges. Breaking cartridges or disks is not a problem with me, as I always keep them away safely where they belong. However, the main reason I chose cartridges over disks is the saving. The last console that I owned that used cartridges was the SNES, and for that, games were saved in the cartridge itself, not to a separate memory card or to the console. I just felt that saving the game to the cartridge was much more wise and a more efficient thing to do.
 

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