Gaming How much will a Switch game cost?

[MrGalaxy]

I think the Switch games will be expensive because of the Cartridge and the cost of ROM Chips (Maybe the Cartridges wont be Read only but they maybe Read/Write). I started thinking about that because the games would be really big, because of the new Graphics and stuff. And here in Switzerland SD Cards or so are pretty expensive. Post your opinion down there.

Greetings MrGalaxy

 

[Hyoretsu]

I think the Switch games will be expensive because of the Cartridge and the cost of ROM Chips (Maybe the Cartridges wont be Read only but they maybe Read/Write). I started thinking about that because the games would be really big, because of the new Graphics and stuff. And here in Switzerland SD Cards or so are pretty expensive. Post your opinion down there.

Greetings MrGalaxy

If they're r/w, I'm pretty sure we can just download any game from the internet and write it to our cartridge, just like a flashcard.

 

[Patodox]

A r/w cartridge? Naaaa, I can't believe that, opens a lot of doors to piracy.

IIRC the rumours and leaks talks the price around $50 USD.

I think the cartridge capacity will be around the 16~24GB, any "extra" storage needed by a cartridge game will be in the SDcard

 

[gnmmarechal]

A r/w cartridge? Naaaa, I can't believe that, opens a lot of doors to piracy.

IIRC the rumours and leaks talks the price around $50 USD.

I think the cartridge capacity will be around the 16~24GB, any "extra" storage needed by a cartridge game will be in the SDcard

This. It's literally impossible for them to be this dumb and make a r/w cart.

 

[foob]

I think the Switch games will be expensive because of the Cartridge and the cost of ROM Chips...

Me too. With far less scope for discounting. Unless maybe online. Plus reduced quality graphics and sound options compared to BD-based discs that every other home console is using.

 

[gnmmarechal]

Me too. With far less scope for discounting. Unless maybe online. Plus reduced quality graphics and sound options compared to BD-based discs that every other home console is using.

Optical media have a significant number of disadvantages, though, such as being slow & all.

 

[foob]

Optical media have a significant number of disadvantages, though, such as being slow & all.

Yeah. I think Nintendo made the right choice using cartridges for a portable, but not as a home console, which have far fewer size and performance constraints. This is an area where I think Nintendo had to choose between 2 different worlds: the world where big optical drives and larger hard drives are no problem (& preferred) and the world where they aren't ideal (portables).

The Switch is a device that is trying to be both things, and trying to balance these two worlds as best it can.

 

[VPokemon]

Their games will probably cost 49.99 for their premium games (Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, ect.) and like 30-20 dollars for the rest of them.

 

[Mikemk]

The games will either be $39.99 or $59.99 (Both are too high IMO). Where's this $50 nonsense coming from?

the world where big optical drives and larger hard drives are no problem (& preferred) and the world where they aren't ideal (portables).

I think you're confusing the 1990s world with the present day world.
Cartridges are cheaper, faster, higher capacity, potentially harder to pirate*, more durable, and more convenient for consumers.
Disks are familiar. Floppy disks were also familiar once.

Also, the base cartridge is rumored to be 32GB and cost $0.05-20. (A BD costs $0.15-30).
The DS's largest 512 MB cartridge was 2^7x the size of the smallest 4 MB cartridge.
The 3DS's largest 8 GB cartridge was 2^6x the smallest 128 MB cartridge. (Never used and discontinued due to 32-bit constraint. Nintendo is bad at planning.)
Assuming a similar pattern for the Switch, we could see a 1-4 TB cartridge Pokemon and Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest/Bravely. Stick that on a flashcart microSD.

* I doubt Nintendo will put in that much engineering effort though.

 

[foob]

The games will either be $39.99 or $59.99 (Both are too high IMO). Where's this $50 nonsense coming from?


I think you're confusing the 1990s world with the present day world.
Cartridges are cheaper, faster, higher capacity, potentially harder to pirate*, more durable, and more convenient for consumers.
Disks are familiar. Floppy disks were also familiar once.

I'd like to know where you got your costs comparisons from.

If cartridges were cheaper and faster and if discs weren't preferable to Microsoft and Sony, it would mean MIcrosoft and Sony would be using them for their home consoles, right? Are there any reasons why these companies would not be doing that now if they were cheaper and discs were not preferable? People want to play DVDs, CDs & Blu-Ray movies, and some might even benefit from backward compatibility with games. So discs are still preferred. Your response is the first I've seen that show they are cheaper, so I am curious as to where you got that info.

No confusion with the 1990s here. Discs are still obviously preferred for the main two console makers, which is why we have disc-based systems. No need to make comparisons with 1.44MB floppies to make a point. All these consoles can store multi-gigabytes on their hard drives or flash media for faster access.

 

[CMDreamer]

A R/W cartridge would be the first step into piracy, so no, that's not plausible. But.
It might use some kind of Flash ROM (Read Only Memory) to store game data (graphics, sound, logic, and so on), and, a R/W Flash (in the same cartridge) to store records, game advancement, profiles, etc.

I'm pretty excited about the Switch, in the sense that it has to be better than WiiU (don't own one) and represent a real diference with it, and not just an "upgrade".
Also, a NGC "virtual console" is not necessary (at least in my opinion), as awesome NGC games can be counted with two hands, and creating a VC just for those (each must have their favorites) would be a waste of technology (again IMO).

I hope the Switch is not just what we've seen so far.

 

[DocKlokMan]

Legend of Zelda up for pre-order at $59 USD.

 

[Deleted-355425]

1 kidney.

 

[chrisrlink]

The games will either be $39.99 or $59.99 (Both are too high IMO). Where's this $50 nonsense coming from?


I think you're confusing the 1990s world with the present day world.
Cartridges are cheaper, faster, higher capacity, potentially harder to pirate*, more durable, and more convenient for consumers.
Disks are familiar. Floppy disks were also familiar once.

Also, the base cartridge is rumored to be 32GB and cost $0.05-20. (A BD costs $0.15-30).
The DS's largest 512 MB cartridge was 2^7x the size of the smallest 4 MB cartridge.
The 3DS's largest 8 GB cartridge was 2^6x the smallest 128 MB cartridge. (Never used and discontinued due to 32-bit constraint. Nintendo is bad at planning.)
Assuming a similar pattern for the Switch, we could see a 1-4 TB cartridge Pokemon and Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest/Bravely. Stick that on a flashcart microSD.

* I doubt Nintendo will put in that much engineering effort though.

it better be a damn good Pokemon game i really hope the switch isn't the final nail in nintendo's wii U coffin better not blow it nintendo speaking of Pokemon didn't GF say theyll NEVER make a Pokemon metagame on a home console i guess their in a bind cause the switch is a hybrid XD