Are solid state drives the next big thing?

[HatefulGravey]

Someone mentioned this in conversation with me and at the time I completely shrugged it off. Now I'm thinking more about it this could happen.

 

It would make since that that next move in console gaming was solid state drives for games. Kind of a return to carts but a bit better. The main reason being game size is up to the developer. Just get a bigger drive for a bigger game. This would make the size of a game just about limitless.

 

The thing that would make me happiest would be DLC stored on the games drive. I would need less HDD space on the system for DLC, and I could have the DLC in the future provided I did my part to protect the drive.

 

Solid state drives are often harder to break then disk media or any kind, they have as much storage space as the game needs, and whats more, no disk drive to screw up. It would be far easier to make a longer lasting connection for the solid state drive then a lazer disk reader and a drawer for the disk.

 

Cost is an issue. Disks are CHEAP, but like anything else solid state drives will get cheaper over time too, and if the companies that make these games want it to happen they can make it happen.

 

So what do you guys think. Would this be a good thing? I have some reservations, but over all I like the idea better then disk media on the surface.

[godslabrat]

As a MacBook Air owner, I'm all about solid state drives. This is a development that's at least 5, if not 10 years overdue.

 

But, I don't think the price would ever drop to the level where they'd be more cost-effective than a DVD or Bluray. You might see systems with SSDs instead of HDDs, but every game released on its own SSD? Great idea, but I don't see it happening.

[Rex Dart]

I was just marveling the other day at how you can get 16GB Micro SDHC cards, which hold much more and are much smaller than most discs (just get more of 'em). You can fit 100GB in a NOSTRIL if you're so-inclined. You can build a RAID array out of several of 'em. They're dirt cheap and faster than nearly any optical disc. No moving parts, lenses, motors, belts? Nice.

Point is, I agree.

 

edit: don't hold the idea of solid-state media to the narrow definition of currently-available solid-state drives. It's all non-volatile RAM. Any kind will do.

Edited March 8, 2011 by Rex Dart

[+HammR25]

Yes solid state drives are the future along with download only games.

[HatefulGravey]

edit: don't hold the idea of solid-state media to the narrow definition of currently-available solid-state drives. It's all non-volatile RAM. Any kind will do.

 

That is more in line with my thoughts. I should have been clearer. Those SD cards and such are cheap, atleast for the maker. They charge high prices for them but that even that is dropping pretty fast. I would want something a bit bigger for sure, just so they are harder to lose as much as anything else. I have seen Mirco SD cards, the size of the nail on your pinky, that hold as much as 64Gb. That is a lot of space. I don't know what the disks hold right now, but it can't be too much more then that.

 

Yes solid state drives are the future along with download only games.

 

Sadly I think I agree with that too. If nothing else is stops those evil people that buy used games. They better have some really big solid state drives though. I play a lot of games.

Edited March 8, 2011 by HatefulGravey

[+RevEng]

edit: don't hold the idea of solid-state media to the narrow definition of currently-available solid-state drives. It's all non-volatile RAM. Any kind will do.

With that definition solid state drives aren't the next big thing, they're the last big thing. The Wii already uses a SS NAND flash for game storage.

 

Console manufacturers will never return to robust physical storage like carts. Doing so would only serve to support the second-hand market which they'd rather see die.

Edited March 8, 2011 by RevEng

[SlowCoder]

Console manufacturers will never return to robust physical storage like carts. Doing so would only serve to support the second-hand market which they'd rather see die.

This, unfortunately I believe to be true. We may get 1 more media-based console out of our friends at Sony and MS, but they'll probably push hard for the download-only's. Then any media based options will be shoved out of the window on the next next generation, leaving us with only the download option.

[Mord]

The thing that would make me happiest would be DLC stored on the games drive. I would need less HDD space on the system for DLC, and I could have the DLC in the future provided I did my part to protect the drive.

 

Essentially this is how the PSP2's new format is suppose to work from what I remember reading. Part of the cart would contain the game itself while the rest would have space available for adding DLC, and (while they avoided mentioning this in their list) bug patches.

 

I don't know if the game itself would be rewritable as well with bug patches applied directly to the code or not however. The article on kotaku didn't really specify.

 

I don't know how I feel about DLC handled in this way compared to the current way of downloading it to a specific console. On the one hand, at least the DLC is game/cartridge specific so as long as the cartridge is working you'll have what you paid for. But on the other hand I still hate paying an extra 30-70 dollars on a 60 dollar game just to make sure I have the full game, especially when at times that content is already printed on the disc that was sold to me.

 

So odds are I'd continue avoiding all paid DLC and just downloading the bug patches and potentially freebie DLCs for the games I bought. I can think of all sorts of ways that Sony would screw over even this kind of setup though.

[Ze_ro]

The Wii already uses a SS NAND flash for game storage.

As do some models of Xbox 360 (the newer 4GB models anyways).

 

I think cloud-computing devices like OnLive are the REAL future of video games. I'm not a fan of the concept myself, but I think it's pretty much inevitable.

 

--Zero

[madmax2069]

The Wii already uses a SS NAND flash for game storage.

As do some models of Xbox 360 (the newer 4GB models anyways).

 

I think cloud-computing devices like OnLive are the REAL future of video games. I'm not a fan of the concept myself, but I think it's pretty much inevitable.

 

--Zero

 

The Jasper 360 did as well

[Cynicaster]

I'd get behind this concept.

 

As for micro-SD, it's cool technology and all, but how small is too small? I mean, if games came on cards like that, people would be misplacing/losing them left and right. I know they probably wouldn't use micro-SD, I'm just making the point. I think games about the size of credit cards would be perfect. Easy to file, big enough to include art, etc.

[Itchy Koala]

^^basically turbografx games with higher memory capacity

[Video]

We'll have to eventually go back to physical media (carts) as discs are simply reaching the upper limits of what can be done...at least with light. I'm sure you could compress discs even further if you used xrays, or microwaves or something to read them, but with current visible and IR light, we've pretty much gotten the most we can get.

 

However, you can multi layer discs, if the focus was good enough, you could probably put 10 layers on a single disc, in bluray terms, that would be a quarter a terabyte per "disc" (can't remember if those are 25 or 30 gb discs...)

 

The actual data on a cart is much smaller physically and you can control the tolerances a lot better without moving parts (another issue with disc media, as the compression goes up, reliability goes down)

 

As for size, yea, credit card was appropriate. I find even the DS carts a little small. I liked the GBA fine myself, but that's the smallest I'd like to mess with.

 

I don't know about something like SSD though, it wears, even if you just read it it wears. I don't seem to recall SD doing that, but I could be wrong. I'm sure the tech will improve as time goes on, but right now, it's to expensive and unreliable to use.

[madmax2069]

We'll have to eventually go back to physical media (carts) as discs are simply reaching the upper limits of what can be done...at least with light. I'm sure you could compress discs even further if you used xrays, or microwaves or something to read them, but with current visible and IR light, we've pretty much gotten the most we can get.

 

However, you can multi layer discs, if the focus was good enough, you could probably put 10 layers on a single disc, in bluray terms, that would be a quarter a terabyte per "disc" (can't remember if those are 25 or 30 gb discs...)

 

The actual data on a cart is much smaller physically and you can control the tolerances a lot better without moving parts (another issue with disc media, as the compression goes up, reliability goes down)

 

As for size, yea, credit card was appropriate. I find even the DS carts a little small. I liked the GBA fine myself, but that's the smallest I'd like to mess with.

 

I don't know about something like SSD though, it wears, even if you just read it it wears. I don't seem to recall SD doing that, but I could be wrong. I'm sure the tech will improve as time goes on, but right now, it's to expensive and unreliable to use.

 

as taken from wiki

 

25 GB (single-layer)

50 GB (dual-layer)

100/128 GB (BDXL)

[nathanallan]

In the mid-late nineties, there was a PCI card you could get to stack ram up to use as a disk drive. I am thinking about building that SD card array in the space of a 3.5" hdd, and then if a "disk" goes bad you use whatever program to see what sector it is, then replace a cheap-o SD card.

 

Rex Dart called it. SD cards, not the micros, will be what takes over. They are just too easy and cheap not to. Even if they go obsolete, they will still be around for a long time. Same goes for CD/CD-R disks. Why are they still out there as a mainstream medium? Because they're EASY to crank out. Same goes for SD cards.

 

Solid state drives? imho they will all be SD based very soon, and raid arrays will be in out pockets, the shapes of external hard drives.