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A new patent filed by Sony on KIPRIS (Korean Intellectual Property Rights Information Service) revealed that the company was developing a new storage device for an upcoming gaming machine. The storage device is quite similar to the memory cards used by Sony for PlayStation and PlayStation 2, but the system for which it will be used is unclear.
Unfortunately, the patent has revealed that little information about these new memory cards. We have some pictures and a note saying "the electronic game cartridge". This definitely tells us that these devices are meant for a new gaming console, but leave everything else for us to speculate.
One possibility is that Sony is ready to finally produce a successor to its PlayStation Vita, marketed since 2011 and expected to be discontinued in 2019. Sony has not yet announced a replacement project for the moment. difficult to say whether the company will stay in the mobile gaming space or not. While mobile phones have become more and more powerful, the mobile gaming space has been very competitive in recent years and it would be understandable that Sony decides to leave this segment of the market.
Another possibility is that these storage devices are used for a new home game console. The PlayStation 4 is five years old now, but it is not surprising that Sony has already started working on its successor. It would also be logical for Sony to move away from the optical drives of its next generation gaming console. Optical discs have been used to distribute games since the mid-1990s and the technology has not aged well. Nowadays, many players opt to purchase their games in digital format, which offers considerable and very real benefits.
Unlike optical discs, digital copies of games can not be destroyed and do not clutter your home. Digital copies of games also have a significant performance advantage because they are backed up on hard disks or SSDs, both capable of loading data hundreds of times faster than the fastest Blu-ray drive . This is important for players as it will also speed up the loading speed of the games when they are played. Optical discs also can not accept new data and their storage capacity is rather limited and insufficient to contain some of the newest AAA game titles. It should also be noted that optical drives occupy a lot of space on home game consoles.
The purchase of games in digital format however has a major drawback because they can not be resold. Downloading digital games can also take a long time, and getting games in digital format can be problematic for people with limited Internet access. Transition [back] The use of game cartridges as a means of distributing games could be a new solution to replace optical discs. Flash memory chips capable of storing large amounts of data have become more and more commonplace and extremely cheap in recent years. Most flash memories are also capable of transferring data at speeds several times faster than those of the fastest optical drive. Although no measure is on the patent, memory cards also appear to be quite small, which would help reduce clutter.
Looking at the bottom of the memory chip, we can also see what a proprietary connector looks like. It's also worth noting that using Flash support would also save game updates directly to the memory card, reducing the load on the main storage device of a game console.
Until Sony releases additional information, we can not say for sure what these memory cards will be used for, or whether they will result in a finished product. If Sony starts using game cartridges to distribute games for its next-generation gaming devices, the turn will be interesting for the gaming market. No major home gaming console uses cartridges since the Nintendo 64, launched in 1996. Although Nintendo uses game cartridges for its portable gaming consoles, Sony has always used only optical discs, which were a key factor of the success of the first PlayStation. But as optical discs become more and more obsolete, the return to game cartridges could be in everyone's interest.
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