Friday, March 9th 2012
Durango Out in 2013, Lacks Optical Drive: Report
Microsoft's next-generation Xbox game console, codenamed "Durango", will arrive in 2013. More importantly, it is said to completely lack an optical disc drive. The lack of a disc drive could mark a milestone in the evolution of console game distribution. Microsoft already has a high-volume digital distribution platform in Xbox Live, its significance in a post-disc console era will only increase.
This is not to say that Microsoft will completely do away with physical media, an interchangeable NAND flash-based media could also take shape, seeing how prices of NAND flash-storage has come drastically down over the past couple of years. It would be a going back to solid-state game cartridges, for home consoles. Some portable consoles use solid-state media even today.
Source:
Mail Online
This is not to say that Microsoft will completely do away with physical media, an interchangeable NAND flash-based media could also take shape, seeing how prices of NAND flash-storage has come drastically down over the past couple of years. It would be a going back to solid-state game cartridges, for home consoles. Some portable consoles use solid-state media even today.
77 Comments on Durango Out in 2013, Lacks Optical Drive: Report
Edit: dimaster was quicker with posting. The reasons he gave are indeed the reasons.
Flash cards would give speedier installs and random read accesses, but of course not anywhere near of SSD speeds.
Can't tell if this would work or not tbh on one hand I pretty much buy all my games on the likes of steam etc though on the other hand I have 30Mb download so I can whereas a lot of the population still struggles to get anything close to 5Mb download.
Then there's the talk of using nand/flash rom etc which would work though any kind of solid storage is many many times more expensive than optical media :rolleyes:
And I don't know if its just me, but I always like to keep my Game cases.:cool:
America needs to realize how much we are lacking in the internet speed.
And I honestly think that digital distribution will take over anyway (in PC it's doing it at amazing rates), so they only need to cover demand in those areas where internet connection is slow, so volume for retail sales should be a fraction of what it is today, shrinking every year until it apporaches zero. IF flash cards do indeed cost more it's probably a cost they could swallow during the first years after which the cost of distributing would approach zero too, due to digital taking over. They save up by not including the optical drive too.
* Does anyone really expect prices to stay like they are anyway? I certainly expect "next-gen" games to cost $5 more than they do know, just because they are "next-gen".
PS: I started using Steam when I had 512 Kb/s connection and I didn't die. It took several hours and sometimes a day to download, but nothing happens, really, you stay alive and all is well. Game is the exact same the next day, I promise.