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[Delusibeta]

We don't know that at all.

This whole "surely they'll allow patches to be written onto the game carts" theory is easily the dumbest theory I've seen in gaming in ages. No, the carts will not be re-writable, all patches will be stored in the 32Gb of internal storage or in the MicroSD.

 

[notaskwid]

What are those 64gigd+ games that people are talking about? I dont think I own any.

 

[Recall]

That would be a really compressed game if true

Really?

I don't believe you.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

IIRC Wii U discs were 20GB. Bigger I'm sure is an option but at what price?

Wii U discs are 25 GB.

And unless Nintendo has changed their game card policy with Switch, bigger will absolutely be an option.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

So, that's the smallest a Switch card will be?

Going by Nintendo's history with game cards, this means we'll be seeing much larger ones throughout the Switch's lifecycle.

Yup, I remember Resident Evil DS rocking a 1GB card back in the day.

 

[Okami Haundo]

Hm... I find the wording of "16 Gb Standard" to be interesting. Might this mean that Nintendo will heavily encourage developers to keep their games at or below a certain size? Which party is paying the extra $$$ if a game needs to go on a bigger card than the standard?

 

[nekomix]

Let's prepare pop corn, I think a horde of offended people by this standard size are coming

 

[Duxxy3]

I'm not a fan of how bloated games have become this generation. This is still double the size of what 360 disk was. There won't be any install time. It'll load fast.

I think I'm turning into a Switch homer...

 

[Not Spaceghost]

Yeah, there's gonna be some 32gb cards at launch already, especially if Skyrim Remastered is planned for March.

Skyrim remastered is only like 12gigs though

 

[jett]

Say good-bye to dem current-gen ports.

Let's say 32 GB is the internal size and 16 GB is the standard game size.


Going digital means you can only store two retail games ��

Only one game, actually. You need space to unpack and install.

 

[Dark Cloud]

This whole "surely they'll allow patches to be written onto the game carts" theory is easily the dumbest theory I've seen in gaming in ages. No, the carts will not be re-writable, all patches will be stored in the 32Gb of internal storage or in the MicroSD.

We don't know it's 32GB internal.

 

[LordKano]

Skyrim remastered is only like 12gigs though

Oh, I thought it was bigger. Nice compression work from Bethesda.

 

[Akuun]

Well, that's standard but I imagine it can go way past that if necessary.

 

[DerekOfTheDykes]

Maybe Nintendo will share with third parties a little taste of whatever black magic they use to compress their games.

But seriously, as long as up to 64GB carts are offered for third parties to use, it doesn't really matter what Nintendo thinks the "standard" will be right now.

 

[Gaspard]

Let's prepare pop corn, I think a horde of offended people by this standard size are coming

Literally N64! Final Fantasy gonna go to Playstation again.

 

[CrunchyFrog]

It'll support up to 2 TB. Yes two terabytes. SDHX.

TBF, the rumor says micro SDXC, which taps out at 512GB. Only full size SDXC cards will reach 2TB capacities.

This whole "surely they'll allow patches to be written onto the game carts" theory is easily the dumbest theory I've seen in gaming in ages. No, the carts will not be re-writable, all patches will be stored in the 32Gb of internal storage or in the MicroSD.

Is that really do far fetched? Up until 3ds saves were written directly to cartridges on Nintendo handhelds, we have no idea what specific media the switch will use. Given the space constraints rumored on the system itself and the prevalence of patches this gen it makes a lot of sense to reserve space on the game card for them. Granted, it's never been done before in that capacity.

 

[InsaneTiger]

It's been mentioned that single layer BD is 25 GB right?

 

[Elios83]

16GB is not enough and btw a single BR layer is 25GB.
32GB is a much better option, but it really depends on what kind of games the system will get in first place.

 

[Vex_]

that's quadruple the amount of the vita isnt it?

 

[TAS]

Who are WSJ and are they credible? They seem to have sprung out of nowhere lately with Switch news and some of it sounds dubious tbh.

 

[Z3M0G]

Nintendo games don't use voice dialogue so this is fine.

3rd parties will use it as an excuse to stay away however.

 

[autoduelist]

Who are WSJ and are they credible? They seem to have sprung out of nowhere lately with Switch news and some of it sounds dubious tbh.

Wall Street Journal.

 

[Graphics Horse]

Yup, I remember Resident Evil DS rocking a 1GB card back in the day.

That was gigabit, so 128MB.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

Who are WSJ and are they credible? They seem to have sprung out of nowhere lately with Switch news and some of it sounds dubious tbh.

I think they are the Wall Street Journal and I have no idea how credible the games division is.

 

[DerekOfTheDykes]

Who are WSJ and are they credible? They seem to have sprung out of nowhere lately with Switch news and some of it sounds dubious tbh.

I have sources that say the Switch cartridges will actually use holographic memory chips that store up to 1TB. You guys are going to feel so foolish come January.

Why would you listen to some big "news outlet" who only has their reputation on the line? Lol.

Spoiler

This is clearly sarcasm, please don't ban me.

Wall Street Journal.

I think they are the Wall Street Journal and I have no idea how credible the games division is.

The Joke
Your Head

...

At least I hope he was joking.

 

[rekameohs]

So, if the tradition follows (DS had 128 MB standard, 512 MB max, 3DS had 2 GB standard, 8 GB max), this would have 64 GB max for game cards. Seems about right.

 

[TriAceJP]

15GB was a single layer of an HD-DVD

 

[AntMurda]

"Looks like standard capacity of Switch game card at least when console launched would be around 16; enough for one-layer Blu-ray game." - That sounds like initial batch only.

 

[Delusibeta]

We don't know it's 32GB internal.

The precise size of the internal storage is irrelevant to that post, tbh. The point is that the game cards will not be re-writable.

 

[DieH@rd]

Who are WSJ and are they credible? They seem to have sprung out of nowhere lately with Switch news and some of it sounds dubious tbh.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall_Street_Journal

 

[MasterOfNone]

What are those 64gigd+ games that people are talking about? I dont think I own any.

Gears of War 4 is 74GB on my HDD right now

 

[Piers]

Going above standard capacity costs more.
Edit: For developers, that is.

 

[TotalMackerel]

Hmm - this seems to indicate that going all digital won't really be an option. The micro sd capacity will only allow for a few games at that size

 

[CrunchyFrog]

Who are WSJ and are they credible? They seem to have sprung out of nowhere lately with Switch news and some of it sounds dubious tbh.

You mean the Wall Street Journal?

 

[SinCityAssassin]

That's a bigger minimum than I'd thought it'd be, so I'm happy with it.

 

[Somnid]

I just really hope 3rd parties take a serious look at storage optimization not just for Switch but in general. It's gotten a little out of hand lately, just because 500GB is standard doesn't mean you shouldn't bother with compression and eat up a 20% of the drive. Delta patches as well. What the hell are you doing with an 8GB patch? Shipping the entire binary sans static assets?

 

[Rodin]

Already forgot how Eurogamer said in their report (you know, the one that ended up being true) that Nintendo recommends 32GB cards?

 

[Rappy]

Who are WSJ and are they credible? They seem to have sprung out of nowhere lately with Switch news and some of it sounds dubious tbh.

You're gonna get a lot of shit for not knowing the Wall Street Journal, but to be fair, the person reporting on all this Switch news, Takashi Mochizuki is not very tech/game savvy.

 

[Skittzo0413]

So we can assume 64GB max cards, which makes sense. I wonder how cheap they can get those for though.

 

[notaskwid]

Gears of War 4 is 74GB on my HDD right now

Oh, I dont really play shooters and mostly japanese games, so maybe that's why.

 

[Peltz]

Hmm - this seems to indicate that going all digital won't really be an option. The micro sd capacity will only allow for a few games at that size

There will be larger micro SD cards that are likely to not have any compatibility issues. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a 500 gig card (if one exists) working right out of the box.

 

[CarbonFire]

So we can assume 64GB max cards, which makes sense. I wonder how cheap they can get those for though.

Now? Probably not cheap enough. 32GB is pushing it, but probably doable for $60 games. In the future? Yeah, later on 64GB of memory will probably also be doable. Unless they bring back the variable cart pricing of the 90's of course.

 

[Peltz]

Who are WSJ and are they credible? They seem to have sprung out of nowhere lately with Switch news and some of it sounds dubious tbh.

This has to be a joke post, right?

 

[fernoca]

Standard is a way of saying minimum. So even if a game is 4GB, it will be released in a 16GB card.

 

[Schnozberry]

Only one game, actually. You need space to unpack and install.

The games will run directly from cartridges. There will be nothing to unpack or install. The flash memory reader will be much faster than a spinning disc.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

Now? Probably not cheap enough. 32GB is pushing it, but probably doable for $60 games. In the future? Yeah, later on 64GB of memory will probably also be doable. Unless they bring back the variable cart pricing of the 90's of course.

32 GB carts are cheap as hell and I'm sure Macronix gives them a great deal if Nintendo buys them in sheer bulk. 64 ain't too far fetched for being an early option.

 

[Twenty7KVN]

I pretty sure this isn't the max. But it's a ok place to start.

 

[cyba89]

No worries. Big third party games will obviously ship on multiple game cards.

Spoiler

/s

 

[diaspora]

Why would you unpack and install a game on a cartridge? That's daft.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

16 minimum with 32 and 64 as options for bigger games sounds pretty good to me.