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What physical media format will the next gen consoles use?


Dreakon13

What format will the next major consoles use?  

59 members have voted

  1. 1. What format will the next major consoles use?

    • Discs/Blu Ray (possibly multiple discs per game ala RDR2)
      50
    • Cartridges/Flash Memory (ala Nintendo Switch)
      2
    • Other (please reply below)
      7


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As a pseudo-collector myself, seeing Red Dead Redemption 2 on two discs is a little concerning.  Feels like the more complicated (and expensive) it gets to fit these big games onto physical media, the less inclined publishers/developers will be to go that direction.  Which has got me thinking... what format do you think the PS5/Xbox Two will go with?  Do they stick with BluRay's even if it ends up installing from multiple discs?  Do they follow the Nintendo Switch and go with flash memory/cartridges?

 

The former (BluRays) would be cheaper but would probably work out fine, but shipping games with 2-3-4 discs would be awfully gaudy and reminiscent of a dying era.

 

The latter (Cartridges/Flash Memory) would definitely be smaller and more cutting edge, though mass printing games to 128GB+ flash cards would be hella expensive.

 

Is there something else?  Discs with more capacity than BluRay?  Something I haven't thought of?

Edited by Dreakon13
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UHD Blurays can store up to 100GB on triple layer discs. Since Xbox One already supports that format with the S and X, I would expect that MS' next console will aswell, with the option to release games on such discs. Sony will probably aswell.

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2 minutes ago, soniq said:

UHD Blurays can store up to 100GB on triple layer discs. Since Xbox One already supports that format with the S and X, I would expect that MS' next console will aswell, with the option to release games on such discs. Sony will probably aswell.

Was about to reply the same thing. It seems like a logical solution.

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i'm guessing that one day we will just rent games in a cloud or smth. for example. 10$ for 2 weeks or smth like that, and in that case, console games still would be cheaper than buying games on steam. And if someone would like to buy a game for himself to play online, then it would be also digital, but maybe cheaper, somewhere along the disc prize nowadays. Somewhere in the future we will switch entirely to cloud gaming.

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I would  hope that physical media remains, whatever form it would take. I used to collect digitally on 360/ One because it was cheaper but I missed the days of having an actual game to hold. Had to sell much of what I had anyway but thankfully have bought most of it back! Digital/ streaming may be more convenient and economical space-wise, but it will never beat owning the actual disc for me

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Hopefully physical media will still be around. IMO, there appears to be a major push by several sectors of the home entertainment industry to turn the current distribution methodology into a "socialism as a service" strategy. Basically, a world where the consumer owns nothing and every form of entertainment medium is 100% controlled by the distributor - more specifically with access and pricing. The increasing availability of more and more streaming services is evidence to me that these companies are attempting to desensitize the public to the overall idea.

 

Personally, I love having options and not being at the beck and mercy of a remote distributor and their finite licensing agreements. Not to mention:

 

  • The digital divide that still exists in the world and the impact that an "always on" console would have in regions on the wrong side of it. 
  • The even more severe security implications of a personal account breach and/or another major network breach. Yup, 100% access to nothing that's not currently on your HDD
  • ^ Speaking of which, even higher demands for larger physical and virtual storage space.

To take away physical media is one of the most anti-consumer moves that a company/industry can make and is one that doesn't deserve my time or money.

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4 minutes ago, merciful84 said:

Hopefully physical media will still be around. IMO, there appears to be a major push by several sectors of the home entertainment industry to turn the current distribution methodology into a "socialism as a service" strategy. Basically, a world where the consumer owns nothing and every form of entertainment medium is 100% controlled by the distributor - more specifically with access and pricing. The increasing availability of more and more streaming services is evidence to me that these companies are attempting to desensitize the public to the overall idea.

 

Personally, I love having options and not being at the beck and mercy of a remote distributor and their finite licensing agreements. Not to mention:

  • The digital divide that still exists in the world and the impact that an "always on" console would have in regions on the wrong side of it. 
  • The even more severe security implications of a personal account breach and/or another major network breach. Yup, 100% access to nothing that's not currently on your HDD
  • ^ Speaking of which, even higher demands for larger physical and virtual storage space.

To take away physical media is one of the most anti-consumer moves that a company/industry can make and is one that doesn't deserve my time or money.

Depending on how it's done you could lose access to your installed stuff as well. If it requires a license check [as it does on secondary accounts as is] or if the person who gets your account [however] would reset every active system and thus lock you out of it that way.

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I do realize that cloud-based gaming is likely to grow more and more over the next few years, but I personally don't like the idea. I like being able to own my games, not have to rely on somebody else to provide the game whenever I want to play it. Plus, if there are any network issues, you immediately lose access to games. I'd rather have discs (as I suspect it will stay for a long time). New tech will probably be invented as the demand for more GBs stored on a disc grows.

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How is this a question? Sony(and several others) create new Blu Ray standards. If the next console doesn't use standard Blu Rays then it will use BDXL.

Sony isn't stupid enough to ditch physical media or use cartridges for the level of games their console typically get. People hated that Nintendo stuck with carts for the N64 and used miniDVDs for the Gamecube but the Switch struck lighting I guess their physical media choice is the reason and must me emulated. 

 

 

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Most of the time you can buy the disc cheaper than digital. And you can resell it, so hopefully it will stay.

But nowadays the disc version is only a half-hatched egg because you often need lots of patches to play the game without problems.

So it would be a great thing to get something like CD-RW and you can burn the patch right on the game disc. Just a dream.

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Other:

 

It will be a liquid paste that you excrete out of a tube into the new upcoming Tx-51 slot that allows backwards compatibility with PS1 games.

Using the tools in the premium kit (Sold separately) it will let you liquidate your older discs with the new 98 - T Sony ladle.

Edited by NightRusticDawn
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It'd be nice if we could move towards small high capacity cartridges/flash memories in the future. Discs (be it high capacity multi-layered Blu-Rays or even, as someone else commented, Archive discs) may be a cheaper route, but I'm concerned about the durability of the moving parts on those disc drives. They may be able to hold a lot of information in a cost-effective way but the fact that they wear out with time and use and require replacement every now and then is less than ideal. Not to mention that, for some people, actually caring about their discs can be a challenge. With this I mean, people don't usually care if their discs get scratched or bent and whatnot. The amount of not working games on discs out there can be staggering.

 

Cartridges, on the other side, may be more expensive and are not able to hold just as much information, but they are certainly more durable over time and easier to maintain in my opinion.

 

Either way, as long as the format stays physical, I'm fine. It'd be a sad day in console-gaming-land if one of the major 3 manufacturers decides to go on a full digital route ?

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