Switch 2 Speculation

[Charlietus]

There would be no reason to go with SD Express in that case.

That's kind of the point I had been bringing up for a long time - if Switch was going to continue to use standard SD cards, it would either mean forcing mandatory installs onto the faster internal/embedded storage and without any good storage upgrade potential, OR, they'd simply have to give up trying to chase 3rd party games with stronger I/O demands that the new gen consoles have opened up.

For me, both these options would be massive problems for Nintendo. Hence why I guessed that SD Express could well be the answer quite a while back. Alleviates all these issues in one stroke, along with ensuring no fuss backwards compatibility for physical and digital with just the one SD slot. And it helps Nintendo save on needing to include lots of internal storage as stock while helping consumers need less expanded storage. It'll also hopefully mean many games, like with Switch 1, are very playable Day 1 even without an internet connection.

The other option could have been to go with something like an internal 2230 NVMe drive like Steam Deck, while having the SD slot for BC and to slot Switch 2 games in for mandatory installation. Thing is, storage expansion is then an issue, cuz Nintendo is not the sort of company that would want you opening up the system to upgrade it, and I'm not sure there'd be any elegant way to offer an external expansion port in a smaller portable device like this.

Nevermind, didn't read the response well enough.

 

[cheapchips]

The storage for the cartridges wouldn't need to be fast if you needed install games on the storage or the SD express. It's not like blu rays are fast at all, they just get used as storage.

That's a crap user experience for Nintendo customers. I don't think they'd go for installs from carts. Which leaves some sort of higher bandwidth cart, however it's done.

I'd forgotten about his artcile from April where they said that Ninendo are using Samsung 5th Gen V-NAND for internal memory and game cartridges. Samsung are the 9th generation V-NAND, so it's an older process.

The article might just be wrong.

New Nintendo Device after Eight Years: Mainly Built with Samsung Components

The upcoming Nintendo Switch 2, the first new gaming device from Japan’s Nintendo in eight years, is expected to incorporate a significant amount of technology

www.businesskorea.co.kr

 

[Charlietus]

That's a crap user experience for Nintendo customers. I don't think they'd go for installs from carts. Which leaves some sort of higher bandwidth cart, however it's done.

I'd forgotten about his artcile from April where they said that Ninendo are using Samsung 5th Gen V-NAND for internal memory and game cartridges. Samsung are the 9th generation V-NAND, so it's an older process.

The article might just be wrong.

New Nintendo Device after Eight Years: Mainly Built with Samsung Components

The upcoming Nintendo Switch 2, the first new gaming device from Japan’s Nintendo in eight years, is expected to incorporate a significant amount of technology

www.businesskorea.co.kr

It's not that bad on other consoles honestly. Higher cost storage medium means higher prices for games, so I'd accept to wait 5 minutes for games installs.

 

[cheapchips]

It's not that bad on other consoles honestly. Higher cost storage medium means higher prices for games, so I'd accept to wait 5 minutes for games installs.

It was more a comment on what I feel Nintendo consider an acceptable user experience. I don't think installs from carts and managing internal/external storage that comes with that is very Nintendo at all.

 

[LiveGamer]

It was more a comment on what I feel Nintendo consider an acceptable user experience. I don't think installs from carts and managing internal/external storage that comes with that is very Nintendo at all.

Streaming speed for developers, BC with old SD Cards, cheaper game cards. Out of all the options mandatory installs fixes all issues at the expense of user experience.

 

[ILikeFeet]

Except cost. What would a high speed game card cost to make versus a slow one you can copy to fast 'internal' storage?

What are the options for ROM carts?

NAND flash chips like high capacity Switch cards. the limit would be the interface which connects the reader to the SoC.