I hate memory cards!

[JB]

Was sitting down to play on my Dreamcast for a bit. But something was missing.

After a half-hour of rummaging around the house, I seem to have lost both of my VMUs.

This sort of thing doesn't happen with integrated save space.

 

No real point. I'm just complaining.

Edited June 14, 2006 by JB

[ZylonBane]

I hate people who place the blame on inanimate objects when they lose them.

[jaybird3rd]

Was sitting down to play on my Dreamcast for a bit. But something was missing.

After a half-hour of rummaging around the house, I seem to have lost both of my VMUs.

This sort of thing doesn't happen with integrated save space.

 

No real point. I'm just complaining.

I imagine it's even worse with Playstation memory cards, which are smaller and even easier to lose than a VMU. Makes me appreciate my Jaguar Memory Track cartridge.

[sega saturn x]

They have those nifty slots IN the controller for a reason.

[liveinabin]

Memory cards are crap. I rarely use my PS2 (spending more time on the Xbox and DS) but, when I do, it just winds me up that I have to fish around for these stupid little 8meg cards.

It's also an unfair hidden cost. They sell PS2s and GCs at a set price, with all the leads, mains adaptor and 1 controller all in the one box. A lot of the time theres even a pack in game as well (or at least a demo disc). So why the hell do they not include a memory card, a device that you absolutely need to play anything? It's dumb.

 

At least with the next gen, that's no longer an issue, the PS3 and 360 both have hard drives (unless you bought the core system, but that's another madness entirely) and the Wii has 512Mb onboard and takes SD cards (so stick a 1Gb in that slot and you can forget about it for ever).

[Video]

I've never had problems loosing the memory cards for anything. I useually keep them in the same box I keep the games in. Or if I have a LOT of memory cards for that sytem, they have their own box.

 

Like the Playstation, I have 14 memory cards for that console. I've never lost one of them. I have two for the PS2, 4 for Dreamcast, 8 for N64, and 1 for the X-Box, just for taking saves to friends houses.

 

What I don't like about memory cards, is they sometimes die on you. I've never had integrated cart memory die on me. I've had a few of them loose their memory from being unpluged for to long, and even had to replace the battery a few times on different games. But I've never had one just out and out quit working. I've got 2 PSX memory cards that don't work anymore. And one of them had all my NFS saves on it too...arrguh. Luckily, I had copies of them on my Dex Drive for my computer, but that won't write to memory cards anymore. :/

 

Seriously though, memory is so CHEAP nowdays, there is no excuse to not have quiet a bit built into the system. Or at least include the memory card with the sytem, if it doesn't have a hard drive, or maybe even if it does have a hard drive for copying games to friends systems.

 

At least the PS2 was backwards compatible with the Memory cards. Now if I had a way to copy my X-Box games to the 360...

[Famicoman]

I always keep my VMU in the controller, but mine is missing as well. JB, if you find 3 vmus, toss one my way.

[xenomorpher]

I bought a few VMUs at EB awhile ago, they where only 99 cents. I have around 20 PS2 games and I only needed one memory card until I gotten Action Replay Evo. I keep my memory cards on top of my TV and the rest in the systems or controllers.

[MCHufnagel]

While I agree that it is a rip-off not to provide a memory card with the system, I simply keep one ore two cards in their slots. My PS2 for example, has a PS2 card in slot one while a PSX card is in slot two. Can't lose them that way! Any other loose cards are right by the system they belong to.

 

I look forward to this and future generations with hard drives!

[shadow460]

I always keep my VMU in the controller, but mine is missing as well. JB, if you find 3 vmus, toss one my way.

 

Let me have the batteries out of them first, please.

 

I keep VMU's in the controller, and I never put batteries in them. My Saturn memory card stays in the system's cart port.

 

Oddly, with the way the N64 pad is designed, I either can't hold it comfortably (happens with the Transfer and Rumble paks), or I find I've got to constantly switch devices. I have a drawer for all those little paks and N64 related stuff.

I usually keep Sony memory cards in the PS2 game cases that I play the most. I even stick the PSX memory cards into the PS2 game cases. The hardest time I've had getting one out was when I accidentally tumbled a load of CIB Saturn and 7800 games off the shelf while trying to get at my wipEout Fusion game.

I think I've changed the Saturn's internal battery twice, I've changed batteries in Pokemon Silver and Shining Force: Sword of Hajya, and my Pokemon Gold cart had its battery changed sometime before I bought it.

I've changed so many VMU batteries that I gave up on them. I also gave up trying to keep the junky wups, I meant nickel-cadmium battery in the Dreamcast charged up.

 

Here's a tidbit: Did you know that Sony recommends you insert the memory cards after the system is powered up? Sony once claimed that power spikes in the memory card slots were unlikely, but possible, at startup.

This might save a memory card or two, but I've never had any problems starting it with memory cards installed.

Edited June 15, 2006 by shadow460

[JB]

I hate people who place the blame on inanimate objects when they lose them.

I hate memory cards for many reasons. The fact that they can be lost is but one of them.

 

 

 

 

Also: I found my VMUs!

...

They were sitting right on top of the screen, between my SNES and Genesis...

I feel really stupid.

[AtariJr]

I hate people who place the blame on inanimate objects when they lose them.

I hate memory cards for many reasons. The fact that they can be lost is but one of them.

 

 

 

 

Also: I found my VMUs!

...

They were sitting right on top of the screen, between my SNES and Genesis...

I feel really stupid.

 

no offense but id rather a memory card (which at first i didnt like but now i appreciate them ) then having things on a harddrive or on the cart themselves, so when you go to a freinds house and play on either thier cart or their system you cant access your data..... now i realize you can take files from your hd and put them on a memory card, but then again.. it comes to some use. I just remember always playing F-Zero X at my freinds house. He had everything unlocked and it was so fun. He would then come over and forget to bring his cart and we werer stuck with half the cars and trakcs with no X cup to choose from.

 

I will say on specific games like San Fran Rush 2049 on the DC, it pisses me off that all VMUs have to have the game save stuff for each of the players to access the unlocked cars and what not.... everytime i beat a new part i have to update all 4 of my vmus so they are up to date on multiplayer.. man thats annoying.

[sega saturn x]

Ok in no way shape of form is it hard to keep track of these things. But in case you are having some trouble, put them in a little plastic bag and write memory cards on it then staple it to your underwear. Problem solved.

Edited June 15, 2006 by sega saturn x

[Cheese007]

AR 4 in 1=destroyed my Saturn's cart slot. But it is helping me beat Sonic R so I'm not complaining (I suck at this game).

[Lord Thag]

Memory cards are fine to transport data, but I detest being forced to use them exclusively like on the PS2. The XBOX really spoiled me in that regard. There should always be some form of internal storage. Also, I've lost years worth of save games (on more than one occasion) due to faulty flash memory. I'll take a hard drive anyday, thank you.

Edited June 15, 2006 by Lord Thag

[AtariJr]

Memory cards are fine to transport data, but I detest being forced to use them exclusively like on the PS2. The XBOX really spoiled me in that regard. There should always be some form of internal storage. Also, I've lost years worth of save games (on more than one occasion) due to faulty flash memory. I'll take a hard drive anyday, thank you.

 

yep, hard drives never crash lol...

Edited June 15, 2006 by AtariJr

[JB]

Ok in now way shape of form is it hard to keep track of these things. But in case you are having some trouble, put them in a little plastic bag and write memory cards on it then staple it to your underwear. Problem solved.

Sorry, but a chunk of plastic that's only 2 inches long IS easy to lose.

 

 

Memory cards are fine to transport data, but I detest being forced to use them exclusively like on the PS2. The XBOX really spoiled me in that regard.

XBox?

The SegaCD spoiled me in that regard.

 

But that's exactly my point of view. They're a great OPTION, but a lousy DEFAULT.

Edited June 15, 2006 by JB

[BydoEmpire]

I have a lot of ps2 games I need to catch up on, but every time I play a new game i have to spend a few painful minutes deciding what to delete to make space because I refuse to buy another ps2 card. I finally bought a cube 1000 block memory card a few months ago. Which kind of sucks this late in the system's life, but I've been doing a lot of cube gaming and I'm sick of shuffling my teeny tiny Cube cards around, trying to remember what's stored where. I don't hate them because I lose them, but there are lots of other reasons. I guess that's one good thing about the "next gen" - everyone will have some form of mass storage (assuming you can save wii games to the 512 megs of flash ram).

[Lord Helmet]

My memory card never leave their homes (stuck in their consoles) My old PS1 is collecting dust on a shelf. It hasn't been played in probably 4-5 years, but the memory cards are still stuck in the front of it...just in case.

[Lord Thag]

yep, hard drives never crash icon_shades.gif lol...

 

True, but they fail much less often than memory cards, at least with me. When you loose your second 200% Symphony of the Night save game, the whole memory card thing starts to loose it's luster.

[Bruce Tomlin]

I have a lot of ps2 games I need to catch up on, but every time I play a new game i have to spend a few painful minutes deciding what to delete to make space because I refuse to buy another ps2 card. I finally bought a cube 1000 block memory card a few months ago. Which kind of sucks this late in the system's life, but I've been doing a lot of cube gaming and I'm sick of shuffling my teeny tiny Cube cards around, trying to remember what's stored where. I don't hate them because I lose them, but there are lots of other reasons. I guess that's one good thing about the "next gen" - everyone will have some form of mass storage (assuming you can save wii games to the 512 megs of flash ram).

I think the thing I hate most about memory cards is that most of them were not designed with larger capacities in mind, so larger capacity 3rd-party cards had to use bank switching. I think the GC is probably the first system where you didn't have to bank switch for a larger capacity.

 

It does suck when a card dies. I had a memory cart for Saturn die on me once, and I'm pretty sure that somehow it scrogged its code in flash so as to brick itself. Then there is RAM+battery based memory (both commonly used for in-console and in-cart saves) which dies when the battery goes flat. And in-cart RAM generally can't be copied to a memory card or anything else, so it's worse than having to use a memory card.

[Albert]

Memory cards definitely are a pain, and definitely something the console manufacturers take advantage of to help prop up their bottom line. Companies like Sony know that everyone will have to buy at least one memory card (and likely several), and at $20+ a pop, they are mostly profit. The inclusion of hard drives in newer systems is a big step forward as far as I'm concerned, as long as you can backup your game data somewhere else. I see this as the way of the future, and I doubt proprietary memory cards will be with us much longer since you can connect external card readers to the newer systems.

 

And if you think memory cards are easy to lose, Compact Flash, SD, Memory Sticks, and the like are even worse.

 

..Al