6th May 2016, 7:40 AM
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/05/wh...lly-smart/
According to this article, 32GB flash carts are getting so low in price that production costs are favorable against Bluray. More than that, it negates the modern need to "install" your games to your console due to much faster access times. Flash isn't as fast as the old EPROM chips, but they're fast enough.
Also, they can actually do what rumors have been saying Nintendo "would do" for years now, and set a section of that cartridge as "writable space", so DLC and patches (up to a limit) could actually be stored on the cart itself instead of in system memory, saving even more room for users. There was basically no possible way that implementing that with rewritable optical disks would be in any way reliable or long-lasting, but with flash carts it's a whole other story.
I think Nintendo making sure their hardware is comparable with MS and Sony's is an "about time" situation. Nintendo cutting costs with the Wii by deciding to skip a generation of hardware improvements was a good move at the time, but it's clear now that 3rd parties aren't very interested in making software aimed at an older spec when they don't have to. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if all these rumors about XBoxOne.Two and Playstation 4.5 were MS and Sony's way of cutting Nintendo off at the heels and making sure Nintendo couldn't claim their console was more powerful. Nintendo may be down, but MS and Sony know better than to ignore them.
According to this article, 32GB flash carts are getting so low in price that production costs are favorable against Bluray. More than that, it negates the modern need to "install" your games to your console due to much faster access times. Flash isn't as fast as the old EPROM chips, but they're fast enough.
Also, they can actually do what rumors have been saying Nintendo "would do" for years now, and set a section of that cartridge as "writable space", so DLC and patches (up to a limit) could actually be stored on the cart itself instead of in system memory, saving even more room for users. There was basically no possible way that implementing that with rewritable optical disks would be in any way reliable or long-lasting, but with flash carts it's a whole other story.
I think Nintendo making sure their hardware is comparable with MS and Sony's is an "about time" situation. Nintendo cutting costs with the Wii by deciding to skip a generation of hardware improvements was a good move at the time, but it's clear now that 3rd parties aren't very interested in making software aimed at an older spec when they don't have to. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if all these rumors about XBoxOne.Two and Playstation 4.5 were MS and Sony's way of cutting Nintendo off at the heels and making sure Nintendo couldn't claim their console was more powerful. Nintendo may be down, but MS and Sony know better than to ignore them.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)