People making their own physical copies of "digital only" games

[Rick Dangerous]

Check out this thread from The Cover Project forum:

 

http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=22545.msg210563;topicseen#new

 

It appears people are making their own physical copies of "digital only" switch games.

 

How it works:

 

-Buy blank switch cases, have art inserts printed up and insert them

 

-But micro sd insert for switch cart space in game cases (wiggy creating and selling these on TCP-Or they come in certain retail game cart holders)

 

http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=23139.msg206496#msg206496

 

-Put digital games onto individual smaller micro SD's that fit them (and potential future updates)

 

-Create and place small cartridge labels (this just getting started.)

 

Kind of a cool idea and something I might pursue. Seems like a good way to create your own physical copies as much as is possible.

 

Any interest or total folly?

Edited February 19, 2018 by travistouchdown

[Punisher5.0]

I had a similar idea for flashcarts on retro systems. Like buy a China SD2SNES and put a large MSU1 game on there. Put it in a unmodified cart shell and slap a sticker on it. Maybe even make a box for it. It would be super inefficient but I think there would be something cool about it.

[Rick Dangerous]

I would think the above might be silly, but smaller SD carts necessary to hold one game are quite cheap these days...so it would really only be like $15-$20 to get everything together for a physical copy.

[Bill Loguidice]

I thought that the Switch didn't like changing out SD cards? I admit I haven't tried to swap mine out yet.

[Flojomojo]

I thought that the Switch didn't like changing out SD cards? I admit I haven't tried to swap mine out yet.

No, it's fine with that -- all the game progress is saved (some would say locked) to the internal memory.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/10/guide_how_to_use_two_or_more_micro_sd_cards_in_your_switch_for_limitless_storage

 

As someone who was deeply involved with coverproject stuff on Sega cd, 3DO, and Dreamcast, this isn't for me (give me one big card with everything downloaded to it), but I can see the appeal of a bookcase full of games.

 

I've also seen people do similar things with putting GBA cartridges in DS cases with custom labels for shelf display/storage. I'm more of a "tin lunchbox full of loose cartridges" kind of person, myself.

[Tanooki]

Seems kind of practical but not very cheap. Given mostly aside from Nicalis no one puts manuals in there anymore, you're pretty much on the nose using the printed 3D holder for MicroSD within the Switch snap, a Switch case, and some nice color ink/thick glossy paper to make your own cover art for the case. The only difference here is removing your usual large memory card under the stand there to use that as like a SlotB to load a game you wish to play instead of from the usual SlotA up top.

 

It's really not a bad idea if you have the tools, talent and time to do it. I could see doing this with a few favorite games or some of the more expensive stuff that goes pretty high into the $30+ club that has no physical alternative.

 

 

I've done this before a couple times with some Ys games and Pier Solar to some discs as installers when I was without a USB HDD and ran out of room on a pair of thumb drives I was using then and i liked the outcome.

[Video]

Cool, but its still locked to that switch so, other than the cool factor there's not much point is there?

[Rick Dangerous]

Cool, but its still locked to that switch so, other than the cool factor there's not much point is there?

 

Well....locked to your account anyway. You could log in on another switch and use it.

[Tanooki]

That's true, they're no longer system stuck, finally Nintendo grew up some and made them like others in that they're account locked instead. If you install your user account to another system that card should read just fine like any other game would once the account is activated.

[Flojomojo]

Are you sure that's how it works? How many Switch consoles can one log into with a single Nintendo account? Does it deactivate the last one when you do this?

[Tanooki]

I think the idea from what I read before was that you can't have the same account logged in in two (plus) places at the same time. You don't need to kill your account, just log it out on Switch A, and log in on Switch B(C, D, etc) and its fine. One license, one logged in account on some system. Just like PSN with Sony. I've had accounts on a few devices, but unless it's logged in you can't use the games flagged to it. An icon is there, but a total look but don't touch scenario.

[TPA5]

The idea of having a box on the shelf is neat, but the SD card seems a bit of a jumble. I'd print boxes though, just for shelf-decoration.

[Video]

Oh cool. Good to hear that at least in this regard Nintendo is getting up to date.

[Andromeda Stardust]

am i the only one who thinks this is a bit nutty? i get the custom case idea but microsd card for each game is borderline ocd. super nt came with a custom box for the super turrican dx pack in which was a nice gesture.

[HoshiChiri]

Eh. Don't get the wrong idea, I love physical games- but there is an appeal to the digital market, and this seems like going out of one's way to eliminate the positives of digital out of some desperate need for an object to show off.

 

I'd be much more interested in some sort of multi-cart case... for example, slap a neo-geo logo on the case/SD card holder, then print up a booklet of key art for the various neo-geo ports that would all be saved to the same card. At least that way you get some of the convenience of storing multiple games on the same memory.

Edited March 16, 2018 by HoshiChiri

[Tanooki]

I could see that argument, but one would have to suppose someone also is a braggart and loves to have people over or take dumb pictures of their stuff to show off like some child about their stuff with that whole I have more than you or haha look what I got attitude about it.

 

I think it would be fairly safe to say that for some it's entirely not about that, but preserving their right of control as much as can be exercised over such game. Sadly even like this right of first sale is still shot so you're still fairly stuck, but as long as you have an active account and not shut down or otherwise TOS banned, the game will still work on your hardware with a login/pass active.

 

I do like your idea of the multicart case. Make a box art design much like the NGPC SD Kit was given on its sticker and unofficially supported NGPC clam shell art sleeve too. Offer this matching set, buy a shell from Nintendo and stuff it in there. Update the library as needed and print another page for the manual to stuff in the case with maybe nothing more than a color shot of a scanned MVS Mini Marquee for the controls, perhaps a page 2 or 3 using the mini poster art the games came with too that tend to have a few moves, functions and minor story elements at times too. That would actually be pretty slick to see someone do that.

[Swami]

So, when the Switch servers shut down in six years or whatever, you can't play digital games anymore? You have to be logged into your account to use them? Also, I expect the SD cards and Switch carts will degrade to unplayable in 6-10 years. I guess that's fine if you're okay with that. I suppose by then the pirate "roms" will be online and a homebrew jailbreak will be found. Apparently, the Xbox 360 jailbreak is pretty nasty to do, though.

[Bill Loguidice]

31 minutes ago, Swami said:

So, when the Switch servers shut down in six years or whatever, you can't play digital games anymore? You have to be logged into your account to use them? Also, I expect the SD cards and Switch carts will degrade to unplayable in 6-10 years. I guess that's fine if you're okay with that. I suppose by then the pirate "roms" will be online and a homebrew jailbreak will be found. Apparently, the Xbox 360 jailbreak is pretty nasty to do, though.

There's a lot of hand-wringing in certain segments of the gaming population over the loss of digital games at some unspecified future, but for someone like me, who's enjoying digital games now (and frankly vastly prefers them and their many advantages to physical games in most cases), it's not really a pressing concern. Sure, I'll lose some most likely (and have in the past when certain "lesser" digital stores went away), but I'm sure there will definitely be plenty more to take their place. 

I remember similar concerns over the loss of data on our cassettes, disks, CDs, etc. Sure, while some succumb to bit-rot and various other ailments, from my own experience with said media I think a lot of that was overblown, especially with the perspective of many decades past when they were supposed to have already failed. We found ways around that issue anyway, and I'm sure there will be ways around the digital issues too (as you also stated). It's just not something I personally worry about, especially in a world where we have more games to play (with the number growing ever day) than any one person can enjoy in their lifetime.

[Swami]

20 minutes ago, Bill Loguidice said:

There's a lot of hand-wringing in certain segments of the gaming population over the loss of digital games at some unspecified future, but for someone like me, who's enjoying digital games now (and frankly vastly prefers them and their many advantages to physical games in most cases), it's not really a pressing concern. Sure, I'll lose some most likely (and have in the past when certain "lesser" digital stores went away), but I'm sure there will definitely be plenty more to take their place. 

I remember similar concerns over the loss of data on our cassettes, disks, CDs, etc. Sure, while some succumb to bit-rot and various other ailments, from my own experience with said media I think a lot of that was overblown, especially with the perspective of many decades past when they were supposed to have already failed. We found ways around that issue anyway, and I'm sure there will be ways around the digital issues too (as you also stated). It's just not something I personally worry about, especially in a world where we have more games to play (with the number growing ever day) than any one person can enjoy in their lifetime.

As someone interested in game archiving, you are right that the flash storage issue will probably be overcome. It's interesting, though, that collectors of switch games will not have anything rare or of substantial value with flash-based cartridges being the physical media, as everything will be repros in 15 years, unless it becomes all about the original inserts or sealed packages with dead carts inside. It's not an issue for me, though, as I'm not a serious collector. Just a point of interest.

[Austin]

On 2/19/2018 at 9:35 AM, Rick Dangerous said:

Any interest or total folly?

Add "Shelf Queens" to the list of options.

[Keatah]

On 2/19/2018 at 9:37 AM, Punisher5.0 said:

I had a similar idea for flashcarts on retro systems. Like buy a China SD2SNES and put a large MSU1 game on there. Put it in a unmodified cart shell and slap a sticker on it. Maybe even make a box for it. It would be super inefficient but I think there would be something cool about it.

 

I do this with my favorite top-quality PC games and applications. Except I use the ubiquitous USB HDDs. They're superior in longevity compared to anything Flash based. They're cute little cartridge sized boxes that look good on a shelf. Easy to backup and migrate to another one should the need arise. Got a bunch of them, one for Astronomy stuff, ebooks, Doom, and X-Plane. And more. Makes it fun to curate and collect stuff.