PC games distributed in flash memory?

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Jd1680a

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#1 Jd1680a
Member since 2005 • 5960 Posts

It may be possible for publisher to decide to distribute games in flash memory some day into the future. There is already a 16 gig flash memory avaliable on newegg.com for $140. If the cost to produce one 16 gig flash memory were around $1, it might be more convincing for publishers to switch to flash memory instead of Blu ray. Publishers would end up saving money on shipping and material costs if they went to the smaller and light weight flash memory.

A single Blu Ray disc could hold up to 30 gigs of space. It will take about six or seven years for PC gaming to think about switching to Blu Ray and make it standard. By then 64 gig flash memory would be avaliable at affordable cost, making even more plausible for PC publishers to switch to Flash memory.

What does everyone here thinks of games being distributed in flash memory? Doyou think it is possible?

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EntwineX

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#2 EntwineX
Member since 2005 • 5858 Posts
Nah, I doubt we see it in near or even not so near future. It might replace old traditional HDDs if they can make it faster, tho atm they seem to be concentrating at making it bigger. It's just a tad bit too expensive compared to optical media, I really like the idea itself, but if something will replace game distribution via DVDs etc. it's digital downloads imo. And as a format DVDs should go a long way on the PC, we used to have 6 CD games, 6 DVD9s could hold a lot of data without being a huge issue.
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GodLovesDead

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#3 GodLovesDead
Member since 2007 • 9755 Posts
This isn't a half-bad idea. But I still go for digital downloads.
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DJGOON

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#4 DJGOON
Member since 2005 • 603 Posts

hmm doubt it simply for the fact discs are read only and flashdrives are not. Apart from the piracy issue as a developer a CD serves as a "point of truth" in that you can be guarantee that all files on a disc are from the version build and have not been modified.

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SuperBeast

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#5 SuperBeast
Member since 2002 • 13229 Posts
The future of gaming is digital distribution, plain and simple.
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zeus_gb

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#6 zeus_gb
Member since 2004 • 7793 Posts
Before they considered doing that they'd have come up with a new copyright protection system.
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zeus_gb

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#7 zeus_gb
Member since 2004 • 7793 Posts
Before they considered doing that they'd have come up with a new copyright protection system.
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kyrieee

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#8 kyrieee
Member since 2007 • 978 Posts
I read about a music store in the UK selling music on portable USB memories, so why not
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nutcrackr

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#9 nutcrackr
Member since 2004 • 13032 Posts
DVD will be around a while and the media is pretty cheap to copy to.
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Nitrous2O

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#10 Nitrous2O
Member since 2004 • 1813 Posts

If games could somehow be "locked" to flash drives for copy protection purposes, and be an alternative to the nasty DRM restrictions lately, and an alternative to games, especially single player games, being tied to servers and an internet connection for install "permission" (which is nearly all digital downloads) otherwise your games are useless...

Then I'd be all for it!!! :) The problem, what's the life span of typical flash drive though?

I want my games available to me 10-15+ years from now, which is one of my problems with digital downloads (you are risking the servers will still be running, and there's no choice in the matter, you're forced to buy internet FOREVER, your game isn't a one time purchase, you'll be paying for it the rest of your life, if it's even available to you at all).

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ROXLYDE

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#11 ROXLYDE
Member since 2007 • 90 Posts
It sure would eliminate a lot of scratched and dirty medium problems.