Nintendo patents games console that has no optical drive

[skywake]

Guys, it's a patent. If the cops were on the TV talking about this they'd speak like this:

 

"This is a patent for a console of the stationary nature with an internal storage mechanism. It is for a device that lacks or includes an optical drive. One that has a HDD and some non-volatile storage or not. With the option to attach or not attach an external disk or memory card."

 

so.... pretty much any home console ever made

[ShadowCaptain]

So now we have patents from just removing Shit from products? Goddam this is getting retarded.

 

I am going to patent a game console where every single component is removed.... beat that 

 

I could sue everybody

[jaggysnake57]

Are you stupid?

 

Lot's of people still use optical, me included. (not salty because of that btw)

Not everyone has good internet to download games etc.

 

Physical hasn't died. It probably won't for a while. Whether it's in the form of optical, or something else (USB, etc).

 

wooopie do.  its dying get over it. if you think sony and ms are not waiting to do this then you are the one who is stupid, ms already tried to phase it out with the xbone. 

 

knock knock

who is it 

the future its time to move on

[That Norwegian Guy]

Lot's of people still use optical, me included. (not salty because of that btw)

Not everyone has good internet to download games etc.

 

I'm stupid? I'm not the one in dire need of a spell checker.

 

That swiftly brushed aside, As of 2011 every TV (not just smart ones) have had USB ports and mkv/mp4 capability as well as every motherboard being able to boot from USB and install an OS without a disc. Furthermore, you can't even play a Blu-ray just because you bought an optical drive for your PC, blu-rays you own will still be DRM'd to only play using cartel-approved paid software.

 

So in essence, optical is dead anywhere decent internet is found. Would 'dying' have been a more pleasing word to you? That's not accurate either, because optical was 'dying' back in 2003, but 2008-2011 was the death blow. That's where optical took a deep plummet into insignificance.

 

So while it's not buried (countries with third world internet such as USA still catching up) it's certainly dead. Though of course, there will be people unwilling to give it up but that's to be expected. And they are good marks for the Hollywood swindlers who want to double-dip on income.

[Ekpyrosis]

Despite what the article says, the patent seems to imply that there will be multiple SKUs, one with an optical drive and one without:

13. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the game apparatus is compatible with another game apparatus comprising an optical disk drive for reading out a program and/or data from an optical disk, and a processor for executing the program read out from the optical disk to perform game processing, and an interface for the hard disk drive is same as an interface for the optical disk drive in said another game apparatus.

[minibois]

I like this idea because my internet at home doesn't suck?

[Bouzoo]

If Xbox One Mini hets released w/o an optical drive and Nintendo does this as well, Sony is gonna get even higher sales, you can bet on that. Maybe not by a lot, but I know many people who want a drive for few more years, myself included.

It may be dying, bit I still have it in every PC that I own, it saves me from time to time. This may work for some, but I don't like this change (yet). For instance, do you know how many (read: few) games are on PSN here? It's dumb. I have to register my address to US or somewhere else, and even then I used to get some problems. I still like having a physical copy of the games that I buy, and I like buying physical CE's for some games and I don't plan on buying them again as a dl version.

[ThreePinkApples]

This is a bold move, but also the right move. 

For most of Europe, this won't be any problem, other than for people not trusting buying things digitally. But for North and South America, this won't work. 

But, you forget, it might be possible that they will sell the games on memory-cards or USB sticks. This supposed console supports both. So there can still be physical media. But most likely more expensive, and limited (perhaps not that limited in areas with known slow internet speeds). 

 

I love the easiness of digital games on consoles. I own 3 physical Wii U games, but I don't think I'll ever do that again. Depends on price, and if I get around buying a cabinet for my old SSD so I can use it with the Wii U (The one I have gets power through a Y-cabel. And of course it wasn't one of those that works with Wii U). 

[skywake]

Despite what the article says, the patent seems to imply that there will be multiple SKUs, one with an optical drive and one without:

Probably because the patent doesn't appear to be about the hardware at all  

[Linus_torvalds]

Just to be clear, this is why my Original Xbox is better than the apparently planned console, and indeed everything after the PS3/Xbox 360 (which are are barely better):

DSC01671.JPG

DSC01675.JPG

DSC01676.JPG

Note, 48 games on a single partition of a 250GB HDD, and its possible to install HDD up to 2TB. Beat that plug-and-play convenience newer consoles.

LOL i have made that for my PS2 it had browser, could open movies, music, pictures, could transfer data from one usb flash drive to second and could run games from usb drive or usb external HDD. this system was written in memory card. 

i did this when my PS2s dvd reader died

[Dabombinable]

LOL i have made that for my PS2 it had browser, could open movies, music, pictures, could transfer data from one usb flash drive to second and could run games from usb drive or usb external HDD. this system was written in memory card. 

i did this when my PS2s dvd reader died

I can do the same things as well on my Xbox. I haven't gotten a mouse working on it however unlike my keyboards

[rattacko123]

And anyways, who's PC has an optical drive?

I have a blu-ray drive, its pretty good for ripping dvds. And I still have a few disks lying around so its always useful having an optical drive handy.

[MahtXL]

The patent isn't about hardware, it's about a system for a device that has an SSD and a HDD. One that works out which of the different storage media is faster and then moves the content it wants to run faster to that media based on some undefined system. Effectively what they're talking about is an SSD cache. But a version of it that's smart enough to measure the speed of an external disk and decide whether games should be stored on that instead of the internal one. For example if you plug in an SSD into the back of the console. Also there's this bit....

 

 

Effectively, they've said that the patent would also apply to a console that has an optical drive. This is just a way for them to cover both options. And anyways, who's PC has an optical drive? I don't see how that would be a bad thing. Please lets move away from disks on every gaming platform!

ive got an optical drive . blu ray actually.

[Bsmith]

I like the acceleration idea behind this.

On all the stuff of replacing physical with digital:

A midway would be better, like games on USB sticks/flash mem cards, better storage and usefull after installing if you format it.

[BKOben]

USB thumb drives may be used maybe?

[Mooshi]

Does Nintendo think everyone has a Japanese grade internet connection or something? If this were to become a future product, it would bomb in places like America and Australia because the average internet connection is horrid.

[asker509]

I have a decent Internet connection but my ps4 still downloads games insanely slow (downloaded drive club right now shoes 20 hours) and idk why I heard it might be sonys servers or the ps4s horrible WiFi

[Puddleuk]

This actually backs up the theory that the NX is a possible Android based system. Remember its been called a new Platform and NOT a successor to Wii U or 3DS. People seem to think it is but the more I think about it seems the NX will be a platform to play Nintendo mobile titles without  a mobile device like the Shield Console basically.

 

 

Edit: I think anyone hoping for NX to be a full fledged console will be very disappointed. Look at how its being talked about, the words used, as mention they are calling it a new platform. People for some reason are thinking of it as the Wii U successor but that has not been proven. All the rumour point to a new platform that will be discussed and maybe released in 2016.

[RagnarokDel]

I think it's been like 5 years since I used an optical drive. I have no problem with this if they use the saved money to make a console with actually decent hardware.

[gill2k]

If this ushers in consoles going full digital like Steam (meaning cheaper prices and death to Gamestop trade-ins) then so be it.

 

I think consoles are partially there.  Xbone and PS4 have been advertising sales in their digital stores a lot lately.  If Nintendo can make it mainstream by having cheaper hardware and cheap full games all the time (think Steam Sales) then l'm all for it.

[Jerakl]

I'm stupid? I'm not the one in dire need of a spell checker.

 

That swiftly brushed aside, As of 2011 every TV (not just smart ones) have had USB ports and mkv/mp4 capability as well as every motherboard being able to boot from USB and install an OS without a disc. Furthermore, you can't even play a Blu-ray just because you bought an optical drive for your PC, blu-rays you own will still be DRM'd to only play using cartel-approved paid software.

 

So in essence, optical is dead anywhere decent internet is found. Would 'dying' have been a more pleasing word to you? That's not accurate either, because optical was 'dying' back in 2003, but 2008-2011 was the death blow. That's where optical took a deep plummet into insignificance.

 

So while it's not buried (countries with third world internet such as USA still catching up) it's certainly dead. Though of course, there will be people unwilling to give it up but that's to be expected. And they are good marks for the Hollywood swindlers who want to double-dip on income.

 

You seem to be stuck on optical.

I'm just talking about hard copies in general.

I think Microsoft has gone in the right direction selling physical copies of windows via USB. I will agree that optical getting to the point where it's not used much anymore.

But physical copies of things are still important. Mainly for reliability and for places that have internet that's too bad to download online games, but not too bad to play them at decent ping.

 

I know some people have much worse, but for me here it takes me a day to download a 60GB game. A whole day in which the 3 other people in my house can barely, if at all, use the internet I know this isn't the case for a lot of people, but it also is the case for a great amount as well.

USB is obviously the physical copy of the future. At least, as far as I can predict now.

 

 

And give me a break about spelling, typed that when I was half asleep

[PlayStation 2]

God dammit, Nintendo.

I kinda thought this was gonna be Nintendo's answer to the PlayStation TV but I thought "Oh no... it's gotta be the NX" judging off the inclusion of a hard drive.

[othertomperson]

Funny. This forum explodes whenever anyone suggests putting an optical drive in a PC because Steam is good enough for everything and what are datacaps, but as soon as nintendo does this you guys are losing your shit over it?

 

This wouldn't have come without analysis. Nintendo would have looked at how much of their business involves discs and how much involves their online store and probably reached the conclusion that the Wii and Wii U both did much better through digital downloads. Especially given only North America and patches of Europe have such issues with ISPs. The market Nintendo actually cares about -- Japan -- doesn't have any such problem.

[Dabombinable]

Funny. This forum explodes whenever anyone suggests putting an optical drive in a PC because Steam is good enough for everything and what are datacaps, but as soon as nintendo does this you guys are losing your shit over it?

 

This wouldn't have come without analysis. Nintendo would have looked at how much of their business involves discs and how much involves their online store and probably reached the conclusion that the Wii and Wii U both did much better through digital downloads. Especially given only North America and patches of Europe have such issues with ISPs. The market Nintendo actually cares about -- Japan -- doesn't have any such problem.

I wonder what people would think when they realise that I still reckon FDD are still quite useful-except for the fact that I can't get PCIe or even PCI adapter for the FDD or my ISA controller card (and no I don't want to use a USB version when I've got so many working FDD)

[Sauron]

It does have an sd card slot though, I wonder if they're going to distribute on those like on the DS line.