Forgive the incendiary subject header, but I was wondering if anyone foresees problems with the mini/microSD based carts running future software at appropriate frame rates? There is, of course, already information concerning some people's perceived superiority of flash memory carts based on their swift access times. For example this statement from maduin on the Afterdawn forums - "I would assume that it (the G6) would be (faster) since it uses it's own onboard flash memory, and usually onboard memory is read faster than from a memory card, meaning it would be more compatible with games that use video and other things that require faster streaming." However, websites such as - http://m3wiki.com/index.php?title=Media_Card#Mini_SD_Cards highlight numerous SD card that run so well they can even pass the infamous "Castlevania test" (a cart's ability to run the openning cinematic to said game without any slideshow effect). It would seem the challenge has been met. Yet as developers squeeze more and more out of the DS's hardware, will we find ourselves faced with an eventual barrage of games that will be so audio and graphic intensive that read times once again are thrust into the forefront of the great cart debate? Conversely, is their an even greater danger lurking behind the oft-maligned storage space of carts like the G6? Surely a game larger than its alotted capacity won't be coming down the line anytime soon, but what is the largest size a DS Lite game can reach? Is their a possiblity that the G6's storage space will become even more of a hindrance as larger games are released and the number of games you can store on it dwindles even further? Any opinions about this matter by the more prescient amongst us would be appreciated, and hopefully helpful to people currently deciding which of the available options will prove the most solid investment.
Yes, the G6 will probably full behind a bit now, vut you forget some things: - The G6 Lite was the first perfect fitting DS Lite cart (hence why it replaced my M3) - as more perfect fitting carts come out, people will switch for the expandable memory, I will be getting an M3 Lite for example. - If using an M3 you have to buy other things, and look for those that work well, this is a hassell and is easily overcome with inbuilt memory devices that have everything you need in one box. - The G6 has guaranteed speed for reading games, the M3 (even with it new speed firmware) still needs you to find and buy a fast card. - Although the G6 memory is limited to 512MB most games are 32MB or 64MB with only a few being any higher (128MB) so unless your wanting all the very big games, you can get quite alot on it, as for future games, well I wouldn't expect it to go any higher than 256MB for a couple of games, and the G6 also has an 8Gb (1GB) version in development should you want more memory anyway. I think it just comes down to user preference, I know i will keep my G6 for along time after getting my M3 Lite as it is just so easy to use, it has a much better rating in my books for compatibilty and speed than my M3CF (which has a 5/5 castlevania scored CF card) and the price for what your getting is reasonable. I do see your point though, all that keeps flash based carts alive is user preference and convienience.
I said that before I had owned any flashcarts. I have since purchased a SuperCard Lite which I use a 1GB microsd card for storage. I did decide on this purchase because the g6 lite really is a very small amount of storage. Even with 1GB of storage, I wish I had more, and I can't imagine how often people have to swap their g6 lites back and forth, as I put new stuff on it everyday and I have twice the storage capacity. When the SCL first came out, the castlevania video test did not run smoothly on it. But since it's release, they've released updated firmware drivers that ran the video smoothly. So I'm assuming as newer games come out, they maybe able to upgrade their firmware over and over again to help optimize the read speed of the SCL, as they have done it before. Of course, there maybe a point where the games become too intensive where hardware optimazations couldn't keep up, and then you'd have to upgrade if you wanted to play those handful of games that won't keep up. As happy as I am with my first flashcart purchase, there are always newer and better devices coming out, so I just set aside some cash and wait for something good to pop up that warrants a purchase, so by the time my device is obsolete, there will be a new and better piece of hardware that I'll want. Even now, the DSLink was recently released. It goes right into the DS Slot 1, and keeps the GBA slot free to handle the rumble pak or the Opera RAM expansion, and uses microsd (the same as my supercard lite). The only downside being is that it can only be used on a flashme DS. But because of my first purchase, my DS is now already fully prepared for the DSLink so all I have to do is buy the DSLink and I'm ready to go, where as my initial purchase was quite large because I needed the supercard lite, the memory card and the passcard and a memory card reader. While a DSLink will probably cost around $70USD, my first purchase cost me nearly $140USD. So I guess what I'm saying is that although your flashcart may become obsolete, by the time that happens, might as well upgrade. Think video cards, I'll buy a $500 video card every 2 or 3 years, not because my old one is obsolete, but because I want the best for my gaming experience.
Just a brief thanks to the couple of people who have already contributed to this thread. Your responses were informative and insightful, devoid of the usual rabid product endorsements or personal attacks that tend to inundate other web sites dedicated to such topics. It's very refreshing.
I have a feeling that in about a year's time, the Slot 2 flashcarts may be fading out. Nintendo can always come up with something better for input output, and if they can protect a ROM from accessing slot 2, then everyone will start flocking to the DSX and the DSLink
