NX - is 32GB storage enough?

@techhog89: You sure on that? My 3DS cartridges have dlc installed to them and im sure the patches too or would be easy. I have no space at all on my 3DS, so my games must have no patches ever.

Seems your right though, patches are installed to the SD card. Seems only special cases were stuff is installed to cartridges. Example, my Fire Emblem Fates cartridge has both versions and the DLC expansion installed to it for a total of like 3+ gig.

DLC is not installed on the cartridge. If it's on the cart, it's because it was there from the very beginning. Only the game itself and save files are on the cart.

@techhog89: That seems to be the case with mine. My DLC was on cart day one when i bought it. So theyd just have to make extra space to fit DLC and patches, should be easy.

No, it's not that simple. Making it rewritable would increase the cost of the cart, and that's on top of the increased cost from using a larger cart than necessary. Carts are already more expensive than discs, so they'll want to optimize costs as much as possible.

@techhog89: It doesnt have to be rewritable, just needs enough space to install DLC and patches. Which wouldnt be bad, Nintendo already does custom carts for different games.

Then when GTA calls, just make custom cart for them. Leave room for expansions. Game can be 50g, but Nintendo can give them 100g cartridge.

Okay, explain to me how the system is meant to install DLC and patches if the cart can't be written to.

@techhog89: The cart can have a dedicated space that is rewritable. Its how we do saves. So just make the dedicated space bigger.

And that would still increase the cost of it by the same amount for the same reason, so it's the exact same issue.

@techhog89: Who said cost was an issue? We know its gonna cost. Innovation always cost. But that doesnt mean we dont move forward and advance our tech.

Are you trolling me?

@techhog89: No, cost will go up some. Tech aint cheap. You expect us to use cheap discs with poor loading forever?

Well, I guess this is where I gracefully bow out of this argument...

@techhog89: Nintendo could cover the cost of the carts, since they own the carts and the company who assembles them. Or they could cover the difference at least. Would help companies who cant afford them. Might even be better then Nintendo paying for disc license.

32GB on board storage is terrible for 2017. What is the SD card max out now? Do 200GB SD cards exist? They need at least 200GB the NX is basically a gaming laptop they need more than 32GB

@Coolyfett: They do, but they cost too much. But i dont see why someone would want that much space anyways. Ive been gaming on PC for awhile, and games take up space fast. Even a 1TB can fill up in no time. I think instead of space, we should go for speed.

What if it only took you a minute to install a 10g game? Then would you need much space?

Not only that, my SSD 500GB can get full pretty fast but I'm not in the danger zone yet.

@davillain-: Oooo, i think i figured it out. Way to sell cheaper device with less space and no disk/cart reader. Nintendo could make a supplement device. On that device, you could install harddrives inside. Could also have a disc reader to read and register old Nintendo discs.

Could also force it to download your stuff as you play. Transfer stuff, etc. It could even boost your graphics. They could also have to where you can turn your PC into a supplement device.

But that could make it to where you dont need a whole bunch of devices. And if you dont have PC, then just buy Nintendos supplement device.

@iandizion713: I could see that happening since you can get them a lot less nowadays.

One key caveat people are forgetting. Nintendo NX is portable. Disk based HDD is far from ideal to bring on the go. The size of the NX makes 2.5 HDD impractical, which is why they put in a SD card slot (which I would assume support up to 128 GB with firmware upgrading it further).

Face it, the NX is a whole new ball game and a convergence we should've all seen coming.

I definitely think it is low, but like others I would wait to see what the entire storage picture is. Right off, all game installs and patches probably don't take up storage because that can all be on the cartridge. Second, it might be optional and even preferable to download games onto SD cards or proprietary cartridges. I don't see the downside of doing it that way, and there is potential benefit from how easy it makes playing your downloaded games on other NX systems or lending your downloaded software to friends.

This post makes no sense. No, they don't own the company that makes the carts or the memory for them. You're also acting like Nintendo gets or makes carts for free and third-parties are the only issue. That or you think that Nintendo is a charity.

@techhog89: Nintendo just bought two production companies. And instead of paying for license to use CDs, they could issues licenses for their carts. Will be just like the old days.

Dunno want the NX is still so if true this storage space might work for what they're doing. But Nintendo is one out of two current console makers that supports external hard drives for games, the other is Microsoft.

We don't know how much on-board storage the NX platform will have. So I'm kind of rejecting the premise of the question at this point.

When I look at this situation though, I note that I'm already having trouble managing memory on my PS4...and it has way more than 32GB! :P

So I think my point with that is, it's not so much about how much on-board storage you have. It's really about what kind of options are available: for example, cloud storage and the ability to connect to external storage (it would be especially great if software could be run directly from external storage, even though I know why it's unlikely for this to happen).

In terms of NX, my #1 hope is that when you buy a game...it's assigned to your My Nintendo account (like PSN) and you can re-download whenever you want. I see that as a bigger concern than on-board storage itself.

@djura: You can already do that. I just did a system transfer and lost everything. But all my games are still on my account waiting for whenever i decide i want to redownload. I just keep them there since i dont want them taking up space.

Just go to settings and search your redownloadable/downloads software section.

Only thing i dont like, is i cant remove games from my account. I hope Nintendo can make it to where we can remove games we dont want. Like i bought this game for 1 dollar and now its stuck to my account. I can delete it, but every time i do the redownload thing, it comes back.

@iandizion713: Oh, that's good. I know that Nintendo didn't used to do that. So I'm glad it's been addressed. :-)

They still need to buy the chips from another company, and owning those companies doesn't make carts free even if they didn't need to buy the chips. Also, citations please.

@techhog89: What do you need citations for? Nintendo owns everything but the Sandisk memory i believe. Which Sandisk was bought by Western Digital.

Why are you calling this unlikely? Wii U already does, as does XB1. Wii and 3DS do it if you count SD cards, and PSP and Vita if you count Sony's cards.

Citations for the companies they bought. Also, they use Macronix for cartridge memory, not Sandisk. Also, what do you mean by "everything?"

@techhog89: O, i guess they use both. So game card is deveolped by 3 companies, Nintendo, Sandisk, and Macronix. So Macronix does chip, Sandisk does memory, and Nintendo the rest i guess.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_game_card

I meant they own everything but the memory. The two companies were JESNET and Ajioka. This will help Nintendo produce and ship the carts all in house pretty much.

@iandizion713: The chip IS the memory. Maybe Sandisk just makes the chip for save data.

Or maybe the 32GB game cartridge is compressed data and will be installed on the main systems hard disk drive..........kind of like how many xbox 1 and ps4 games are installed with game data first before playing.

@cdragon_88: then why would they use carts? the advantage if carts is that they can access and read data faster (faster than a HDD). if the game is just going to be installed to a HDD then it makes the cart redundant.

i mean the game will be compressed on the cart in some way of course (it wont be storing raw textures and wav files for example) and they may be using something like zlib to further increase bandwidth (basically the data would be read to ram and decompressed quickly....a common trick used on all consoles even with disc drives).

but an install makes the advantages of using a cart moot.

Why? If the game doesn't go over the limit of 32Gb then it stays cart. If it goes over 32GB then it is installed partially on the HDD. Most likely the cart will do a double duty. NX is a hybrid system, the mobile portion should suffice with the 32 GB. When the game needs to go console mode--it installs on the HDD, again, if it exceeds the 32GB mark. It's a hybrid system, carts can also install data--you don't need disc for that. The better question is, why would you include a disc? It's not needed, the cart should suffice on both fronts for console mode installs and mobile game limits.

@cdragon_88: Anedoctally, with 3DS games, DLC is often installed on the SD card, which increased loading speed.

@techhog89: Fair enough - my understanding was that you can't automatically do this without some fiddling around. I remember that one of the big frustrations (I think it was with the Wii) was that you had to transfer games back-and-forth between the internal and external memory. If that situation doesn't exist anymore, then...booyah. :P

I think that was true at one point on Wii, but was eventually changed. 3DS, Wii U, and XB1 never had an issue.

@iandizion713: ok fair enough. Never owned an SD card, had many mini SDs for the cell phone, but never the actual full size SD Card. Sounds like SD Cards is the way to go.

Was it enough for Wii U?

Hell no.

Official specs aren't announced yet. So what's this conversation about?

If you require cut-scenes and flashy distractions in your games, you don't shop Nintendo anyhow.

Agreed.

That stated, if true, the cartridges will need to be cheap to accommodate the cost to consumer/publisher.

Yes I'll just buy an external hard drive the same one I have for my Xbox one

And it's just as big as the 360 s hard drive so complain about size this thing is smaller then a game case and frankly even 500 gb would go fast so why does it matter at least it doesn't force you to install every game so yes it is enough

Nintendo is run by old men who remember the days when socializing meant talking to the person in the next village.