More evidence has surfaced suggesting that next year’s Nintendo NX console will in fact use cartridges as its main method of content delivery rather than optical discs. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, despite the fact that both Microsoft and Sony utilise disc-based delivery systems for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, respectively, chip-based cartridges are gaining in popularity, thanks to “fierce competition” between Samsung and Toshiba Corp. to develop flash-based storage devices that can hold larger amounts of data.
For that very reason, various industry analysts contend that cartridges represent a “reasonable choice” of format for the Nintendo NX. Supposedly, due to the wider age range and audiences that Nintendo’s products appeal to, the use of cartridges would make it harder for children to damage them as opposed to the relative fragility of discs.
Notably, cartridge-based games actually load faster than their alternative, and are able to be mass-produced at a faster rate to boot. Former Sony employee and visiting fellow at Harvard University Atsushi Osanai told the site that cartridges are “no doubt today’s best format to physically distribute games.” Comments made by chip manufacturer Macronix earlier in the year seem to support the above.
Nintendo has yet to release any concrete details for the NX, but fingers crossed we’ll hear more at this year’s Tokyo Game Show on September 15.