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upnorthsox
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So 2023 then?
Don't tell me you've never made a mistake on a Sunday morning!
That depends if her driver's license had a similar typo on it.
Ok. bye.
Back to your friendly neighbourhood Nintendo programming.
I think we just found the new gimmick that Nintendo will be using with Nintendo NX -- physical cartridges.
ArsTechnica Article:
The savvy reporters at British media-reporting site Screen Critics were first to notice a major financial report from Macronix, a Japanese company that has provided memory-related chips to consoles as far back as the N64. Macronix had already commented on serving as a chip supplier of some sort for Nintendo NX in January of this year, but in speaking about its current fiscal year (which, for Japanese companies, ends in March 2017), the company spoke about higher expectations for its "NOR Flash" business linked to the launch of the new Nintendo hardware.
This leaves open the possibility that Macronix will simply provide the kind of BIOS or system memory chips that it has made for systems such as the Wii U and PlayStation 4. Still, the announcement's verbiage hints to an expected jump in sales percentage around the NX's launch window that would make more sense if linked to software sales, as opposed to console sales—assuming an average games-to-console sales ratio of over 2:1, at any rate.
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ArsTechnica Article:
The savvy reporters at British media-reporting site Screen Critics were first to notice a major financial report from Macronix, a Japanese company that has provided memory-related chips to consoles as far back as the N64. Macronix had already commented on serving as a chip supplier of some sort for Nintendo NX in January of this year, but in speaking about its current fiscal year (which, for Japanese companies, ends in March 2017), the company spoke about higher expectations for its "NOR Flash" business linked to the launch of the new Nintendo hardware.
This leaves open the possibility that Macronix will simply provide the kind of BIOS or system memory chips that it has made for systems such as the Wii U and PlayStation 4. Still, the announcement's verbiage hints to an expected jump in sales percentage around the NX's launch window that would make more sense if linked to software sales, as opposed to console sales—assuming an average games-to-console sales ratio of over 2:1, at any rate.
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This is probably for the portable version of the NX ( which will be the successor to Nintendo's current portable), you don't want a portable device that could be dropped and has to run on the limited power of a battery to rely on a delicate spinning 16.5GB mini-BD disc. Formfactor issues as well. With no moving/mechanical parts and with kids as the target audience having solid state media will reduce warrantee issues and much heartache from falls/drops as well.
Even with mobile smartphone games eating into their revenue, there has to be a successor to the 3DSXL, and what we know of official statements and leaks about the NXhandheld and console, Nintendo is pretty smart in trying to intertwine both the portable and console ecosystems together. Much like Microsoft is trying to intertwine all its consumer platforms together.
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I'm wondering though if it will boost Nintendo's margins. Under the cartridge model, third parties had to pay Nintendo to do the manufacturing for them, so they incurred risk if games didn't sell and there were a lot of cartridges sitting in warehouses.
They should be doing everything to attract third parties.
They should be doing everything to attract third parties.
Nintendo no longer manufactures cartridges. Macronix supplies them with cartridges. They own no shares of Macronix. Macronix generates +4x the revenue of Nintendo. So they will not be buying Macronix.
only if its 128 bit color
cheapchips
Veteran
My instinct is to agree but a couple of thoughts spring to mind: How does inventory work for 3DS, because there's plenty of carts out there for the system? Is something about the process much better than the old days of home console carts?
Also, how far to digital download will the market have shifted by next year?
(and carts might still only apply to the portable version anyhow)
east of eastside
Newcomer
My guess is that NX will be cartridge based and have a cartridge slot that accepts both a physically smaller NX handheld carts and physically larger NX console carts.
Games shared between NX handheld and console will be on the smaller carts. The larger carts will be console exclusive. The reason for this is to provide a shared library in some cases, while being able to message clearly which games are NX console exclusive.
All in all, cartridges are part of a larger digital transition strategy for Nintendo allowing consumer not ready for the shift a physical alternative.
That the system contains a small amount of flash instead of an HDD is possible, if the SCD is sold as a proprietary additional storage device.
Cartridges and SCD storage will be part of the promised 'new concept'.
Not having a disc drive also will give Nintendo a nice 'excuse' as to why NX is not b.c. w/ Wii U games.
Games shared between NX handheld and console will be on the smaller carts. The larger carts will be console exclusive. The reason for this is to provide a shared library in some cases, while being able to message clearly which games are NX console exclusive.
All in all, cartridges are part of a larger digital transition strategy for Nintendo allowing consumer not ready for the shift a physical alternative.
That the system contains a small amount of flash instead of an HDD is possible, if the SCD is sold as a proprietary additional storage device.
Cartridges and SCD storage will be part of the promised 'new concept'.
Not having a disc drive also will give Nintendo a nice 'excuse' as to why NX is not b.c. w/ Wii U games.
Hum. A storage medium similar to SSD (or simply is SSD). A smaller form-factor that can pack 50-60GBs of data. The typical 50-60GB SSD goes for about $30-60 in the marketplace. Nintendo of course purchasing everthing in bulk will reduce overall pricing for these SSD like carts, and could be a winning combination if true.
Nintendo NX could have some serious bandwidth (data streaming / loading) advantages over disc drives. If this is true....
From what I remember reading about Nintendo Carts it sounded more like 30 - 32GB sizes. Also, the reports from the manufacturer was more about ROMs and to be produced in smaller quantities than existing Flash cells market. With those quantities and limited consumers of the ROMs (Only Nintendo) I don't think Nintendo would benefit from the economies of scale as they would if it was using normal Flash cells.
I don't see any financial benefits for Nintendo using something that isn't plain SSD style and paired to digital downloads or software loading kiosks.
I don't see any financial benefits for Nintendo using something that isn't plain SSD style and paired to digital downloads or software loading kiosks.
Well, the original VCS had "64-color"*, so Nintendo NX would be a decent upgrade from 1977-era tech...
*Not 64 bit color.
I don't see the point in different sized carts. It would just fragment Nintendo's ecosystem without any benefits to it. A tiny cart can already hold more solid-state memory than would be economically feasible to sell to the public. ...Unless Nintendo wants to go back to the era of $90 games cartridges, but I doubt they'd be keen on that. They'd get laughed out of their own headquarters.
east of eastside
Newcomer
The point is that not all NX console games will be able to be playable on the handheld, so different cart sizes is one way to message that in the branding/packaging so that is easily understood by Nintendo's younger consumers.
Mario Kart and Smash Bros are $40 on 3DS, $60 on the Wii U. How do you market a shared library? Do you sell $60 handheld games or $40 console games? Segmenting by cart packaging size would be a way to differentiate console/handheld versions when they are not the same.
Are you sure about that? I've heard nothing from Nintendo suggesting this. Quite the opposite really, since NX is supposed to be a shared ecosystem and Nintendo has explicitly stated this, so that development for the handheld can overlap with the home console and other way around. (Which means I will finally get to play Luigi's Mansion 3, when it releases for NX!)
Well that will be an interesting conundrum to see how Nintendo solves, won't it?
The thing is, a cart cannot hold enough data for modern console games anyhow; upwards of 50 gigs of flash (or mask-programmed ROM) would be too expensive as a medium, assuming Nintendo aims to compete with current consoles for the home NX system.
They may as well go with just the one size of cart, and then have home users download additional data for high-rez assets.
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