Why can't you store data on the DS itself, instead of the game cartriges?

[Sean Hollyman]

I'm sure many people wished that they would someday be able to have multiple different game saves on Pokemon games, without having to start a completely new game, or buy a new game itself, so why not just store the data on the DS itself, instead of the cartrige?

I mean tech is advancing, so I don't see how it would be such a hassle.

 

[Qitz]

From what I've messed with so far, the 3DS stores it on the memory card in the system itself.

Granted, I've yet to mess with any 3DS Pokemon game, and wont for a while since the next one is just DS but yeah. Doesn't make too much sense to only allow one save for any game.

Even if it's to discourage trading your high level pokemon at low level, well, people will do that anyways.

 

[Epona]

I'm sure many people wished that they would someday be able to have multiple different game saves on Pokemon games, without having to start a completely new game, or buy a new game itself, so why not just store the data on the DS itself, instead of the cartrige?

I mean tech is advancing, so I don't see how it would be such a hassle.

For that matter, tech is advancing and you should be able to hold more than one save file on a card. I think the reason they don't is because it sells more copies when you can't share it with your siblings.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

There a whole lot of ridiculous "why don't they's" in the world right now that have been floating around for years with no end in sight.

Why don't they make better batteries for phones?
Why can't I get more than 64GB on any iTouch or iPad?
Why do I need to be online to play certain games?
Why can't Microsoft get their s*** together and bring out a 360 whose default function isn't to die?

The sweet and simple answer to many of these questions is corporate greed. So long as there are more greedy a**holes who are only concerned about their bottom line and how to increase it, we will never get the asinine problems solved.

 

[BernardoOne]

Having more than one save in Pokemon would be easy. Its not a technical question, its a sales question.If only one person can have a save, then other people have to buy a new copy to have a save of their own.

 

[GeneralFungi]

I think it would be asking too much of players to remember every pokemon in their party when they have multiple saves. You would need to keep track of things like moves, items, and all kinds of other things. It just seems like a lot to keep track of already, and that's before we have multiple games to keep track of.

And while technology is advancing, there's still quite a lot of data that needs to be saved on a pokemon cartridge.

 

[Something Amyss]

There a whole lot of ridiculous "why don't they's" in the world right now that have been floating around for years with no end in sight.

Why don't they make better batteries for phones?
Why can't I get more than 64GB on any iTouch or iPad?
Why do I need to be online to play certain games?
Why can't Microsoft get their s*** together and bring out a 360 whose default function isn't to die?

The sweet and simple answer to many of these questions is corporate greed. So long as there are more greedy a**holes who are only concerned about their bottom line and how to increase it, we will never get the asinine problems solved.

The last one has been dealt with, and two of the other three come down to feasibility.

So...Yay conspiracy theories?

 

[madster11]

Why don't they make better batteries for phones?

They do. It's called 'not buying an iPhone'. Go check out Amazon and search for batteries for pretty much any android made.

Why can't I get more than 64GB on any iTouch or iPad?

Market doesn't demand it.

Why do I need to be online to play certain games?

Because companies are like the government: They're full of idiots and as soon as something happens they need to be seen reacting with super speed and unnecessary force. Thus when pirating starts happening, they bring out shit like SecuROM and always-online.

Why can't Microsoft get their s*** together and bring out a 360 whose default function isn't to die?

They have. The slims have a miniature failure rate and before them the Elites didn't die as often as the originals.
The biggest fix to this, however, is '50hz'. I've noticed that there's roughly 1/2 the failures in countries that use 50hz electricity than those that use 60hz.

I'm sure many people wished that they would someday be able to have multiple different game saves on Pokemon games, without having to start a completely new game, or buy a new game itself, so why not just store the data on the DS itself, instead of the cartrige?

I mean tech is advancing, so I don't see how it would be such a hassle.

Well it's fairly simple. Gamefreak are greedy assholes.

There's a bunch of GBA, let along DS games that allow multiple saves on the 1 cart. But if gamefreak ever did that and stopped bringing out multiple versions of the same game, they wouldn't be able to afford that new volcano-lair and moon laser. They might even have to lose their solid gold houses.

 

[Kilo24]

Because the hardware designers didn't want to put in an additional storage component, possibly due to cost, size concerns, battery consumption, and/or complexity of design. Likely a combination of several of them.

 

[Something Amyss]

Ugg, you're just a corporate apologist.

Shows what you know!

...I'm a spokesperson. I'm Kevin Butler's evil cyborg twin from an alternate reality.

Just kidding. But, seriously, I don't think the DS has very much memory at all. I imagine it's mostly to keep the costs of making the system down.

Well, the DSI products and the 3DS have SD card slots, and data can be saved there. Or, could be.

The problem is, Nintendo's about ten years behind the time with technology. Even WiiU is still going to have limited online functionality. They're just entering the HD market, and while I'm not that fussy about graphics, a lot of core gamers are. For some reason, they didn't seem to think an HDD was a valid option for the Wii, and you couldn't even play games off memory cards to begin with.

A lot of the time, the argument is "people don't want this." I'm sure the fact that they can make their console cheap doesn't hurt, but there seems to be some serious issues with being in touch with the market.

 

[Something Amyss]

Because the hardware designers didn't want to put in an additional storage component, possibly due to cost, size concerns, battery consumption, and/or complexity of design. Likely a combination of several of them.

But there's an SD slot, so clearly that's not true.

 

[Kilo24]

Because the hardware designers didn't want to put in an additional storage component, possibly due to cost, size concerns, battery consumption, and/or complexity of design. Likely a combination of several of them.

But there's an SD slot, so clearly that's not true.

The DSi model and the later DSi XL swapped out the original model's GBA cartridge slot with an SD card slot. I didn't realize that myself until I looked it up; my own DS doesn't have a SD card slot.

Since they dropped that reverse compatibility, they may have had to in order to make removable storage feasible. Don't forget that in the 4 years between the original DS release and the new model, flash memory got a lot of technological development due to smartphones and digital cameras; it's quite possible that that development changed removable storage for a mass-market product from too expensive to being viable. The fact that the 3DS has both internal storage and removable storage lends credence to this theory, though I personally don't know if 3DS carts usually save games inside the cart or on external/system storage.

Inertia probably is a big deal; since the original model didn't have the SD slot, Nintendo wouldn't want to have some games only playable on the newer DSes at the risk of confusing and/or pissing off customers.

Your point is still quite valid, though. Hardware costs aren't likely to be the only major factor. If you find anything else, I'd be curious to hear it.

...
A lot of the time, the argument is "people don't want this." I'm sure the fact that they can make their console cheap doesn't hurt, but there seems to be some serious issues with being in touch with the market.

Having an inexpensive-to-manufacture console is a bigger deal for Nintendo than it is for Microsoft or Sony. They're focused on games, and can't rely on other corporate divisions to soak up the losses. It took until the 07-08 fiscal year for Microsoft's XBox division to make a profit, and it cost more to manufacture a PS3 than Sony sold them for for the first year or two. Such gambles would be a much bigger risk for Nintendo, so they're looking for ways to innovate with their consoles that aren't as expensive as staying at the cutting edge of technology.

Whether or not they're out of touch is debatable, but public perception of that is affected quite a bit by the marketing needed to put a positive spin on their business strategy.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I actually very much like saving my games to the cartridge. Some games will allow you about three saves and it's much better than having to buy expensive memory sticks (I'm looking at you PSP) or relying on the internal memory capabilities of such a small system.

 

[Aiedail256]

As for the DS specifically, well...this:

Don't forget that in the 4 years between the original DS release and the new model, flash memory got a lot of technological development due to smartphones and digital cameras
...
Inertia probably is a big deal; since the original model didn't have the SD slot, Nintendo wouldn't want to have some games only playable on the newer DSes at the risk of confusing and/or pissing off customers.

That said, now that the technology has advanced, two things:
1. If the 3DS doesn't have the ability to copy game saves freely between game carts, onboard storage, and SD cards, then I'm disappointed (though not surprised).
2. How about bringing back the GBA slot, eh?

As for pokemon specifically, this:

Well it's fairly simple. Gamefreak are greedy assholes.

Platinum's ROM is 128MB; Black/White's is 256. But the save file for both is only 512KB. Makes me wonder what the hell was going on with the original Animal Crossing (apparently the ROM was 14MB , and we all remember that the save file was so huge that the game included a free memory card).