Discs being use for games
- Thread starter Yabba
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Discs are cheap to make, first of all. You can get a billion blank blu-rays made up very easily, but while a cartridge or hard-drive would be a lot more durable and with today's technology have a lot more hard-drive space than a blu-ray disc, they would be a lot more expensive per-unit to make.Yabba said:
Also, today's consoles pride themselves on being multifuncitonal, including being able to play blu-rays (or DVDs in the PS2 era). Switching to things other than discs takes that away, which now that it's been in two console generations some people have begun to expect it. It would be very costly to have two separate units installed in the thing--one two run games and one to play discs. So having them be the same thing helps them kill two birds with one stone.
And consumer familiarity, I guess. People don't like it when their familiar format changes, especially since format changes inevitably lead to new problems, many of which can be less desirable than the old way.
I can't really think of any reason not to use them to be honest. I may just be too used to disks, but they serve their function well enough to keep existing. There will come a time when disks leave us like cartridges and tapes have, but I think it's not happening anytime soon. If I had to guess anyway, disks may be one of, if not the last common physical media we get, digital may end up becoming the complete norm soon. For better or worse, not the biggest fan of a digital only future personally.
Cost.
The two cheapest storage options for games are internal (Console based) hard drives (Steam, XBox 360 hard drive module, PS3) or CDs.
For removable media (Stuff not actually part of the console in question), here's a rough price guide.
Blu-Ray Dual Layer (50GB) - $3.60 retail
Hard Drive (250GB, smallest desktop hard drive available on Newegg) - $54.00 retail
'Cartridge' (USB Stick for standardization) (64GB, closest to Blu-Ray disk available) - $35.00 retail
Obviously, game developers could get all of these options at severely reduced prices. But at even 10% of retail cost, the hard drive is still more expensive then Blu-Ray retail, and the 'cartridge' (I'm assuming that a modern cartridge wouldn't be nearly as intricate as old school system's. If they were, this would only drive the cost up more) only beats it out by 10 cents.
The two cheapest storage options for games are internal (Console based) hard drives (Steam, XBox 360 hard drive module, PS3) or CDs.
For removable media (Stuff not actually part of the console in question), here's a rough price guide.
Blu-Ray Dual Layer (50GB) - $3.60 retail
Hard Drive (250GB, smallest desktop hard drive available on Newegg) - $54.00 retail
'Cartridge' (USB Stick for standardization) (64GB, closest to Blu-Ray disk available) - $35.00 retail
Obviously, game developers could get all of these options at severely reduced prices. But at even 10% of retail cost, the hard drive is still more expensive then Blu-Ray retail, and the 'cartridge' (I'm assuming that a modern cartridge wouldn't be nearly as intricate as old school system's. If they were, this would only drive the cost up more) only beats it out by 10 cents.
Quick question while I'm at it, by the way... the PS3 can play DVDs right? I don't wanna fuck it up by trying.
Awesome. I would ask in the Advice Forum but it doesn't seem to get a lot of people. Also it felt on-topic. Thanks!AccursedTheory said: