Nintendo Patents Console Without Disc Drive

Nintendo, recently, filed a patent for a home console without an optical disc drive. Leading to speculation about their upcoming console, known only as "NX".

So, what does this mean? Well with an industry that constantly dreams of an "all digital" future, this could be the first step toward an all digital console storefront. It could, however, not be anything substantial.

Back in 2009, Nintendo filed a patent for a horse-back riding peripheral. Something that has yet to come to fruition.

Companies file patents all the time. Often, simply, for ideas. Devices that might, someday, be made. Or that might never be made. It's a corporate strategy for maintaining an edge over competitors in future endeavors.

Whether or not we will ever see a Nintendo home console without a disc drive is unclear. But, it would seem that the dream of an all digital future for video games is still alive and well. With storefronts like GOG and Steam dominating PC gaming, is it only a matter of time until consoles know the same fate?

For me, I hope we never move away, entirely, from physical media. I enjoy having discs that I can share with friends and use long after my HDD has died and game servers have shut down.

 

Not really that far fetched of of an idea seeing as how both my Xbox & ps3 have games on them that I've downloaded from their respective stores.

 

I like used games though . Retailers also make more sales and deeper discounts than consoles, unless they adopt the steam sale model. Which a lot of people theorize will happen eventually, with that being one of the reasons that Microsoft felt they were in the right when they released the xbox one with all of that DRM stuff. So chances are that's the direction we're moving in.

 

Not much to see here, like you said this is done all the time for crazy stuff. Although imagine that horse riding periphal in a 3D arcade room with live betting and spectators drinking in a nearby bar...
Bonus! Put it in a strip bar, I bet you it would be used!

Oh darn that idea was already taken? Guess I'll have to wait for it expire. Oh yeah I hope the former idea expires too!

 

Oh man. I remember that "always online" bullshit. Paying to play used games, not being able to (easily) share with your friends. It was ridiculous.

I hope the outcry and backlash that Microsoft got for that never changes. Consumers can certainly police the market, but only in so large a scale as we saw when they announced those "features".

I'm not sure that they will ever get away with DRM on that scale. But a console storefront without physical media certainly makes DRM easier to impose.

It's true. And, to be fair, digital storefronts are a good idea. I love being able to download games to my HDD whenever I like without having to run to the store or wait for a package to arrive. It's just, I'm not comfortable with digital downloads being the only option.

Digital storefronts provide a great opportunity for more developers to see their games in the spotlight. No longer is the video game market dominated solely by "AAA" developers and publishers, now, more and more, indie developers can release games to Steam, itch.io, GOG (to some extent), and (also to some extent) PSN and Xbox Live. These studios often don't have the resources or the name or credibility to release physical copies of their games to physical storefronts. So digital is a great option.

But, the problem comes when we look at the current long-term viability of digital downloads. Currently, we have no guarantee that our games will continue to work for years to come. We have no guarantee that the services that they are hosted on will always host them, and allow us to download them to new devices, when the time comes. And we have no guarantee, on consoles especially, that the platform that the game runs on will always be supported (it probably won't). And when your 360 is no longer supported by Microsoft, will you be able to download and play 360 digital games on your Xbox One or Xbox Future Home-Media Extravaganza Machine (feel free to use that one, Microsoft)? If you can, will you have to buy the game all over again? There are just too many variables.

I still play Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, StarCraft 1, WarCraft 2, Command and Conquer 1 (I have a lot of RTS games). Are they, necessarily, compatible with Windows 8.1? No. But I can make them work with a bit know-how and hours of screaming at and berating my PC. And I know that I will always be able to do this, because I own the CD. I can keep it forever and do whatever I like with it.

And, of course, we will always have to come back to DRM. DRM, in some form, has always existed. Often in the form of end-user agreements. These used to be much more common with PC games than console games, but have certainly always existed with consoles as well. The problem is, they never really had any way of enforcing those agreements, short of coming to your house and standing over you while you play. As we move to digital, publishers have more and more direct control over how we use their games, how we can share them, how we can play them, and even how many of our own devices that we can install them on.

You are a visionary and a scholar, sir.

 

Only one looming "question" remains...

...is this thing going to be amiibo compatible? [/sarcasm]

 

Yes. =P

I wanted to love Amiibos soooooo much. But, Nintendo, you fucked it up.

 

Feels like that's inevitably what's going to happen tho. Not just games either. Music, movies etc etc. Before it's all said and done, they'll probably ALL be available via download only. Technology is great, but it's also a bitch.

 

I think you're right. And, honestly, if we can deal with long-term viability and DRM, I'm okay with that. I'm not the happiest about it. But I'm okay with it. Just, as it stands, now, I'm not comfortable with it.

 

Agreed. One power surge could wipe out your entire entertainment library. With any luck everything will be refined a lot better to avoid those types of issues.