Do you miss memory cards?

[PizzaKat]

So I was playing the Gamecube the other night and I saw that there were saves from 2005 from when I got Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 0. Im playing on a different system from what I had then. But its always great when if the console ever breaks down I still have all my saves intact. I lost some saved data when one of my PS3s died on me. Personally I would like if there was an option to put your saved data on a card just like the old days that you can keep seperate.

[Tanooki]

Yes for two huge reasons:
1) System failure - It dies, you lose your saves and more
2) Portability/Stability - A chip will last better than a classic hard drive, and a chip in a little card you can carry wherever, not so much a HDD in a system


I'm putting my Wii U up for sale. I was unhappy for awhile with nothing all year to play other than DKC and COD Ghosts and nothing but Starfox in the future I'd have time for. I probably would have waffled more, and this is how this relates, about 3 months ago my WiiU died with the 5.2 system update, it broke the wrench only *system settings* icon. All my data was usable and accessible otherwise. United Radio who does Nintendo repair despite that didn't copy my data off the system and I lost every single save for my then 10 games. I had a few nearly done (Zelda), finished (Mario games, Duck Tales), and some around 1/3 into it like DKC, Rayman and RE Rev. I was FURIOUS. Because of this it sat for 3mo, until last night, I took pics, and repackaged it shipped from the factory and now with a 1yr warranty on it too. It's a new system with the existing controller and some extra parts, and after black friday it'll go up on ebay once I get a box. All ultimately because of data loss pushing me over the edge.

I intend to get Rayman, CODG, and Duck Tales back either on PC or PS4 whatever works, they're good.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I don't miss memory cards at all.

Remember when you went to buy a system brand new, and then need to spend another $25 on top of that just to get a bloody way to save your progress? Yeah, those were the days. And if you tried to cheap out by using a third party memory card that offered more space, it would often times corrupt your saves and render them useless. Or how about the GameCube memory cards that corrupt if Japanese and English saves are put on the same card?

Harddrives can fail sure, but I think it's a hell of a lot better. In fact, memory cards are part of the reason I hardly ever use my PS2 to play PS2 games - I always will use my launch PS3 instead because hey - virtual memory cards stored right on the system harddrive.

[Flojomojo]

I'm with Satoshi. Memory cards suck and I don't miss them. Thank goodness for cloud saves.

[celerystalker]

I was thinking that I did, mainly for the convenience of taking a save to a friend's house and the like, but then I realized a flash drive will do it, so no, no I don't.

[ZeroCool]

Yes for two huge reasons:
1) System failure - It dies, you lose your saves and more
2) Portability/Stability - A chip will last better than a classic hard drive, and a chip in a little card you can carry wherever, not so much a HDD in a system


I'm putting my Wii U up for sale. I was unhappy for awhile with nothing all year to play other than DKC and COD Ghosts and nothing but Starfox in the future I'd have time for. I probably would have waffled more, and this is how this relates, about 3 months ago my WiiU died with the 5.2 system update, it broke the wrench only *system settings* icon. All my data was usable and accessible otherwise. United Radio who does Nintendo repair despite that didn't copy my data off the system and I lost every single save for my then 10 games. I had a few nearly done (Zelda), finished (Mario games, Duck Tales), and some around 1/3 into it like DKC, Rayman and RE Rev. I was FURIOUS. Because of this it sat for 3mo, until last night, I took pics, and repackaged it shipped from the factory and now with a 1yr warranty on it too. It's a new system with the existing controller and some extra parts, and after black friday it'll go up on ebay once I get a box. All ultimately because of data loss pushing me over the edge.

I intend to get Rayman, CODG, and Duck Tales back either on PC or PS4 whatever works, they're good.

You seem to have trouble with consoles lately. This, the Retron 5 and I think you mentioned your PS3 couldnt play The Last of Us at a certain part. I'm curious what games exactlly are you playing on the PS4? Ive played Wolfenstein and although I still haven't finished it yet, its just a run of the mill FPS for me. Im guessing you don't like Mario Kart, Bayonetta or Smash Bros. I havent been playing the PS4 as I thought I would. The Wii U and PS3 are more used right now.

Are you selling the console with the games or seperate?

[wizardofwor1975]

I was thinking that I did, mainly for the convenience of taking a save to a friend's house and the like, but then I realized a flash drive will do it, so no, no I don't.

Agreed. I'd much rather use a flash drive.

[Leo_A]

I liked their longevity and mobility, but I didn't like their limited space (Although it improved significantly with the PS2 and the larger sized cards on the GCN).

I also didn't like the fact that you had to buy one just to get up and running with your new console. I've participated in several threads like this at a variety of forums, and Satoshi is the first one that I've seen that has raised that point.

[buzz_n64]

I like to have the option. Gave saves in cartridges were unreliable, so I prefer memory cards over on cart saves. Early systems with only internal memory sucked because of their limited capacity, like the 3DO. The system that got it right was the original Xbox. It came with a decent size hard drive built in, and ports for memory cards if you wished to transfer your saves. As long as modern systems allow saves to a flash drive, we will be okay.

[kupomogli]

I wish we had memory cards again for two major reason. There are too many incomplete games that are released. Games with day one patches, unplayable framerates, etc. Back when there were no hard drives, I heard that Sony performed their own QA on the product and sent the product back to the developers to fix before they allowed its release. Now days it feels like there's none of that, and not only that, but Sony themselves are one of the biggest offenders when it comes to the Vita.

The second reason is DLC. All this bs DLC would be non existent. If a developer wanted to release an expansion, they could do so on disc like we've already seen on the PSX and PS2. Developers who wanted to get more money off the game would have to put effort into creating worthwhile content to sell on disc. It'd require us to go back to the days where we need to switch discs in order to play that additional content, or like Dynasty Warriors Xtreme did, only the additional content was on its disc while there was an option to read the original disc each time you played the game to unlock the original content.

Technology is just making it worse to be a gamer.

[Tanooki]

You seem to have trouble with consoles lately. This, the Retron 5 and I think you mentioned your PS3 couldnt play The Last of Us at a certain part. I'm curious what games exactlly are you playing on the PS4? Ive played Wolfenstein and although I still haven't finished it yet, its just a run of the mill FPS for me. Im guessing you don't like Mario Kart, Bayonetta or Smash Bros. I havent been playing the PS4 as I thought I would. The Wii U and PS3 are more used right now.

Are you selling the console with the games or seperate?

Run of bad luck that's for damn certain and I've never had issues with systems up until this year...not bad for a 29 year run I suppose. The PS3 is a known issue with the model PS3 I have, the system is rock solid. The R5 was a clusterfuck, no arguing that hot mess. The WiiU was a bad luck partial bricking which was stunning.

It's not that I don't like Mario Kart or Smash Bros, I don't like them for the price they ask for what I'll get out of either. I have zero interest ever taking either online with all the hacks, cheats, and so on. I'd get bored of Mario Kart after running 50, maybe 100ccs on the courses once and Smash I have the 3DS version and there's enough for a fix there so the WiiU is overpriced redundancy. Bayonetta I'm not a fan of, they can give it 10s until the reviews heads explode, it's a 0 in interest to me. My interest in combat third person games like that are extremely few and far between. There has to be a good strong overlying theme like with God of War to allow me to get into that, love the history/mythology on that one. Uncharted of that style would be the Indiana Jones/pulp novel thing going on which is where that new Tomb Raider fell into.

For the PS4 I currently have: Tomb Raider, Lego the Movie Game, Destiny(meh, overrated), Wolfenstein, and Pinball Arcade. I did have Knack and man that has flaws. If I were flush with cash and time I'd currently be playing Little Big Planet 3, Last of Us, Diablo3 (if I don't get it on PC), DriveClub (if I like it after trying the free one when it arrives). Looking forward The Order, possibly Project Cars, Final Fantasy Type0, Res Evil Revelations 2, Uncharted 4, Tearaway Unfolded are a few I'd buy. Keep in mind I do have that PS+ so there's the 1-3 free games each month and there has been some really fun stuff out of that program since I got the system three months ago.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

Speaking solely on on behalf of the PS3, this was the best compromise you could make between all digital local saves and outside physical saves as you can both keep your saves on your hd with no hassle, even upload them to the cloud for backup or you could store them on a usb stick, external hd and sd cards as well as original ps1/2 memory cards via adapter if you so chose


I tried this on my Xbox 360 after I got a newer model and traded in the older one and Lo and behold the saves were locked to my previous account i no longer has access to anymore. My profile and subsequent saves associated with my profile were all bring read as corrupted so there went all my hard work in lost oddysey, poof!


I believe an argument can still be made for memory cards barring any system wide restrictions a console manufacturer may implement

[ZP3]

I'd get bored of Mario Kart after running 50, maybe 100ccs on the courses once and Smash I have the 3DS version and there's enough for a fix there so the WiiU is overpriced redundancy. .

I know this probably won't do much to sway your decision, but the Wii U is hardly redundancy; easily the best Super Smash Bros I have ever played.

[Tanooki]

Youre right it wont but its a good point either way. I am not a huge Smash Bros fan. I got a lot of hours on the N64, and blew it out even more on the GC, but the Wii release I thought was terrible with the lagged response to moves and the lame platformer in it as otherwise it felt like a me-too cash in copycat. The WiiU I know they added many more modes to it but reading up on that I know it would add virtually little extra time into me wanting to play it. Maybe if they make another some years down the line if I have their console my girl will be old enough to give it more life, butas itisthe 3DS one is more than enough.


Back to the topic though that PS3 setup was ideal. We need to have the right to pop a stick in the system and save our data without restriction. If WiiU wasnt along with Nintendo still suck in 1999 that couldhave been an option that saved me a lot of headache. I get memory cards perhaps not being cost effective but a couple GB USB stick or even a rewriteable proprietary 3DS looking card on the WiiU would have been great.

[Emperor Megas]

Hard drives are great, but I like having the option of both. I enjoy the ease of taking my saves to other places without toting entire consoles or bulky console hard drives.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I don't really miss memory cards, I'm also with Satoshi. The DLC thing isn't a huge issue, most games are big enough that u don't need it if u don't want it, and like u said there used to be expansion packs on discs, so what's the difference anyway? I remember getting the Halo 2 map pack disc and finding it had only like 5 extra map packs. It's just way easier, and I don't tend to need save files at other people's houses much.

[ZeroCool]

There honestly should be an option to both. Now that technology has advanced there should be special memory cards that have a decent amount of space to save your data and it should also be reasonably priced as well. Sonys vita memory cards are a complete joke. The price they sell them for even when their console is pretty much dead just astounds me. Well good luck with that. Their banking on the PS4 for the whole company's fortune from what I read.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

Hard drives are great, but I like having the option of both. I enjoy the ease of taking my saves to other places without toting entire consoles or bulky console hard drives.

This is valid, i have toted my 360 to friends houses when they have one too, it's kind of annoying. At least u can use a flash drive though that serves the same purpose as a memory card.

[Jorpho]

Or how about the GameCube memory cards that corrupt if Japanese and English saves are put on the same card?Oh, so that's how I wiped out my card. F*ck. I thought I just hit the wrong item while I was fumbling around in the menus (though I might have done that too). That might have been nice to know about.

I kind of wish PC memory card reading hardware was more readily available.

[Tanooki]

I've heard of that gamecube myth. I've got my card loaded with JP saves on it just fine. I think the real story was you can't match the PAL and NTSC saves. The copy of Doshin I picked up came with a white first party memory card with writing on the label to only use with PAL games which I thought was interesting so I left it alone.

[Edmond Dantes]

Since I still actively play my PS1 and 2... no, I don't miss Memory Cards, I'm still using them!

[Scotterpop]

Nope, can't say I miss memory cards all that much either. The first party gear was fairly reliable but those after market (I'm looking at YOU, MadCatz!) versions were totally hit or miss, quality-wise. I like the convenience of knowing my save is on the console and not some random unmarked card that I might lose. I think it all goes back to that moment I fired up my first original Xbox and saw the 50,000+ free blocks prompt on the menu. I was astonished at how much storage that thing seemed to have! I remember thinking how outdated memory cards suddenly seemed.

[Tanooki]

I agree it's nice having the storage right there, but with no way to back that storage up it's a ticking timebomb as my WiiU showed as everything is lost that was on it and it didn't even need to be which made it worse. People need to have a right to back their save data up onto an alternative removable source of some sort to take to other systems. It's like the old days of the NES/SNES stuff, the games have batteries with saves. What if they were on the deck and then the NES tanked, all those games work just gone. Alternatively if the battery in a cart goes, it's done but the rest lives on.

[o.pwuaioc]

Remember when you went to buy a system brand new, and then need to spend another $25 on top of that just to get a bloody way to save your progress?

Well there's your problem - you were suckered into buying a brand new system.


Since I still actively play my PS1 and 2... no, I don't miss Memory Cards, I'm still using them!

Yep.

[RANGERooB]

I feel that memory cards served there purpose when they came out then slowly tech got cheaper and more advanced so that consoles could have hard drives in them to support game saves
But now I feel that either the big 3 need to support hard drives, usbs and even sd cards.
So that people can use tech that is inexpensive to save data like saves and dlc on to them without buying an overpriced memory card

[Gameguy]

Remember when you went to buy a system brand new, and then need to spend another $25 on top of that just to get a bloody way to save your progress? Yeah, those were the days.
Are you saying that new systems are cheaper or equal in cost to purchase compared to the old ones? You don't think the costs for consoles have gone up with including a hard drive for saving games? I don't recall the PS2 being $400 at launch like the PS4, or $500 like the PS3 was.

Or there could be other cheaper ways of saving games, like with the Sega CD or Turbo Duo. Only you had to buy memory cards anyway to take your saves with you to a friends house, except with the Turbo Duo where that wasn't an option and the saves would erase if you left the console unplugged for too long.

I guess USB drives or SD cards are better options now, but those or memory cards are better than hard drives.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I agree it's nice having the storage right there, but with no way to back that storage up it's a ticking timebomb as my WiiU showed as everything is lost that was on it and it didn't even need to be which made it worse. People need to have a right to back their save data up onto an alternative removable source of some sort to take to other systems. It's like the old days of the NES/SNES stuff, the games have batteries with saves. What if they were on the deck and then the NES tanked, all those games work just gone. Alternatively if the battery in a cart goes, it's done but the rest lives on.

Memory cards aren't even that big a deal, it's not like it's actually annoying, I never saw them as an inconvenience back then, cuz they're so small, who cares? I forget if they were sold with the systems or not, I know there's some PS1 games with password systems, so they probably weren't sold with the system, which is ridiculous to imagine playing through Metal Gear Solid in one shot, that's crazy.

[JSoup]

Ascetically, yes.
Practically, no.

[Tanooki]

Arkanoid: I know that, and no the PS1 when it came out did not have a memory card with it, short of a bundle at some point, they never were with any system. I think the only time they ever shipped with one was their two handhelds because neither have internal storage.

They're not a big deal at all. Slightly inconvenient at worst just because you have another tiny item to carry along with you that could get lost. The up side is that your data is safe if your system tanks (like what happened to me) and you can bring data to another system without lugging the whole console with you. Sure memory cards were expensive and short on size, in the 90s and earlier 00s, but look how cheap SD media is now. The DS/3DS uses that for its storage, not even proprietary, and those are very cheap for the amount of size you get compared to the old memory cards. I can't think of much of any video game on a console let alone a handheld that'll eat up 2GB or 8GB or even 32GB of space for the saves. Sure some DLC could add up which is all account recoverable, but saves, no they're small. Consoles should have such an option with a cheap standard SD card using slot, or the ability to tap the system with a USB pen drive to avoid stupid issues. The system could be set like Windows does for at X hour to do a backup of saved data, consoles could do this easy today with their sleep modes.