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[Nuclear Muffin]

Whoa they are!? That's amazing! I figured they would cut costs as much as possible. SSD is sweet.

Nintendo have used SSDs ever since the Wii. They place such an emphasis on durability that they'd never go with a HDD (too fragile)

Don't expect anything bigger than 8-16GB though.

 

[neptunes]

Why not just have higher capacity SSD's as an add-on? (and I don't mean flash-disk))

 

[ThatObviousUser]

The way the ps3 is currently set up is best since you have the option, but I'm 100% sure next gen everyone will go proprietary storage. Except Nintendo who won't provide any storage at all.

Well let's see by recent examples...

Nintendo 3DS: Provides 2GB of built-in flash storage. Every unit comes with an additional 2GB SD card.

PlayStation Vita: Provides no built-in memory whatsoever. Only special extra game bundles come with proprietary memory cards. No SD or USB allowed.

But besides that, here's what the Wii U's specs are from the official site:

Storage: The console will have internal flash memory, as well as the option to expand its memory using either an SD memory card or an external USB hard disk drive.

You may have been making a joke, but people later on would have taken it as fact. Let's nip this in the bud right here.

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

Why not just have high capacity SSD's as an add-on?

Better the SSD be the standard and the HDD the add on IMO. The OS would load faster and cacheing would be much quicker.

 

[Suairyu]

The OS of a console is not stored on its user-accessible storage device, so people should stop using that as an argument.

As for game installs - the loading time difference on a 7200 rpm HDD vs an SSD really isn't enough to warrant the cost. It shaves a couple of seconds at most.

 

[Anticitizen One]

SSD dawg

 

[woober]

What would be different?

You could have streaming worlds where the size of game maps could be much bigger. It would benefit games like the Elder Scrolls series, GTA, and even games using BF3 tech which streams information from the hard drive to the screen.

 

[demigod]

I'm sorry you haven't used a SSD yet.


I'd say have a STANDARD 16/32GB SSD (on a board though, so you can pop it out if it dies or whatever) with a slot for a hard drive or SSD that the user can buy and add.

Im pretty sure you've never bought an ssd. 120gb went for $200 when i bought mine. No way would i take 120gb over 1tb for next gen.

 

[erpg]

I'll never sacrifice storage space for faster loading times, especially 360 games installed on a 7200RPM load perfectly fine.

 

[woober]

Im pretty sure you've never bought an ssd. 120gb went for $200 when i bought mine. No way would i take 120gb over 1tb for next gen.

I currently use a 120 gb SSD with a 1TB hdd for documents. That would be the ideal way to approach next gen. There should be a limited amount of SSD space for the OS and a regular HDD for everything else.

 

[H_Prestige]

You could have streaming worlds where the size of game maps could be much bigger. It would benefit games like the Elder Scrolls series, GTA, and even games using BF3 tech which streams information from the hard drive to the screen.

Isn't that limited by RAM?

 

[aeolist]

came to post this

Same

Raptor-like performance at a much cheaper price

 

[Oppo]

Don't all SSD drives fail at an incredibly high rate? Like within 18 months? Did some research half a year ago and was shocked at what I read.

 

[H_Prestige]

Well let's see by recent examples...

Nintendo 3DS: Provides 2GB of built-in flash storage. Every unit comes with an additional 2GB SD card.

PlayStation Vita: Provides no built-in memory whatsoever. Only special extra game bundles come with proprietary memory cards. No SD or USB allowed.

But besides that, here's what the Wii U's specs are from the official site:



You may have been making a joke, but people later on would have taken it as fact. Let's nip this in the bud right here.

I was talking about hard drives. The flash storage the wii u comes with is too insignificant to do much with, just like the 360 arcade.

 

[strata8]

Why not both? High-speed, low-capacity SSD (say, 32GB) for data that needs to be accessed quickly, and low-speed, high-capacity HDD for the rest of the data.

So pretty much a hybrid drive like Polk said, just with more flash memory than the current Momentus XTs

 

[cartman414]

HDD

I don't want to be forced to pay hundreds extra for some small capacity SSD. It's not like it makes much difference in a games console. This isn't a PC.

The way the ps3 is currently set up is best since you have the option, but I'm 100% sure next gen everyone will go proprietary hard drives. Except Nintendo who won't provide a hdd at all.

Tell that to the folks who used SSDs to load Gran Turismo 5.

And Nintendo is supposedly permitting the Wii U to accept any hard drive via USB.

 

[Raistlin]

The OS of a console is not stored on its user-accessible storage device, so people should stop using that as an argument.

Actually that's how modern PS3's are configured IIRC.

So pretty much a hybrid drive like Polk said, just with more flash memory than the current Momentus XTs

Hybrids haven't taken off because the cost-benefit isn't really there.

In order to function, they have a processor that determines what data is accessed most and moves that to flash. The problem is it doesn't work in all situations, so the performance isn't always there.


A dedicated split would be the better move.

 

[Snakeyes]

You could have streaming worlds where the size of game maps could be much bigger. It would benefit games like the Elder Scrolls series, GTA, and even games using BF3 tech which streams information from the hard drive to the screen.

I thought that was based on RAM?

 

[Zinga]

Honestly I think they should avoid this, the costs are too tremendous for consoles. I love my Vertex 3 SSD, best upgrade for my PC in years but its a luxury rather than a necessity.

It won't improve the user experience on a console as tremendously as it does on a PC.

 

[H_Prestige]

Tell that to the folks who used SSDs to load Gran Turismo 5.

And Nintendo is supposedly permitting the Wii U to accept any hard drive via USB.

External storage is irrelevant to this topic.

 

[Replicant]

Internal soldered SSD chips? No thank you.

A slot for any notebook SSD or HDD like in PS3? Yes thank you.

1st response nailed it.

 

[Reversed]

Higher capacity SSD, baby.

$699 here I come.

 

[Snipes424]

SSD would increase performance, but the cost I don't think would be worth it to Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo.

Although, I wouldn't be surprised to see a "premium" hard drive that is SSD for either the PS4 or 720

 

[woober]

I thought that was based on RAM?

http://kotaku.com/5778450/sixty+year-old-technology-could-change-the-face-of-gaming

 

[M3d10n]

Well let's see by recent examples...

Nintendo 3DS: Provides 2GB of built-in flash storage. Every unit comes with an additional 2GB SD card.

PlayStation Vita: Provides no built-in memory whatsoever. Only special extra game bundles come with proprietary memory cards. No SD or USB allowed.

But besides that, here's what the Wii U's specs are from the official site:



You may have been making a joke, but people later on would have taken it as fact. Let's nip this in the bud right here.

SSDs use flash memory, but SD cards and the internal flash memory in the Wii, DSi and 3DS are not SSDs. The Wii and 3DS internal flash is not much different than the internals of SD cards, which are much slower than SSD drives.

 

[Lionheart1337]

No way in hell console manufacturers are using SSDs anytime soon.

 

[Raistlin]

I thought that was based on RAM?

For games that stream in data, your bottleneck is how fast can you get data into RAM. Optical is terrible, and a 5400RPM HDD while better, still limits you. Having an SSD guaranteed would allow the developer to implement streaming based on a much higher guaranteed data rate.

1st response nailed it.

Disagree. A combination of both would be ideal.

Granted, that's assuming they can get a viable amount of fast flash at a reasonable price. For caching purposes, they wouldn't need all that much, but the problem is flash speed is generally inverse to amount (it functionally uses RAID 0)

 

[Nemo]

Give us the ability to make use of SSD drives and I'm happy. As the gen goes on we should be able to afford 512GB of SSD goodness. edit, - and don't make it fucking proprietary

120 GB standard when buying a console tho, can't have any core bullshit go one anymore.

 

[krameriffic]

I don't even want to think about the premium they'd charge for a fucking SSD.

There's still quite a premium on regular HDDs right now due to the flooding in Thailand. They are about 3 times more expensive now than they were 6 months ago.

 

[Slayer-33]

L

O

L

lol $799 console

 

[b3b0p]

No moving parts? My NES, SNES, Genesis still work, but my PS3 has already died once.

 

[Diablohead]

something like current 360 4gb models would be nice, a small bit of internal memory which is quicker then a HDD then you get all that HDD space along side it.

 

[gate777]

Same as the current PS3. Notebook sized slot for either HDD or SSD supporting any sized capacity the user opts for; cloud storage for non-PSN+ users for locked saves only. Rear USB ports are a must.

 

[Sianos]

The glorious return to solid state drives cartridges. Nintendo was right all along!

 

[Raistlin]

Give us the ability to make use of SSD drives and I'm happy.

What does that mean exactly? PS3 does this.

Do you mean actually design the game to take advantage of it (beyond improved load times in linear games)? That's really not viable. For a game that's streaming into RAM, you have to implement to the lowest common denominator in terms of level size, etc.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

HDD. The speed tradeoff isn't worth the capacity.

 

[Keyouta]

I'd like hybrid drives in the next set of consoles.

 

[Nemo]

What does that mean exactly? PS3 does this.

Do you mean actually design the game to take advantage of it (beyond improved load times in linear games)? That's really not viable. For a game that's streaming into RAM, you have to implement to the lowest common denominator in terms of level size, etc.

I'm not very tech minded, but what about optional upgrades, extra objects and such with more detail streaming from hdd?

How big of a share from PS3 games get improved from SSD use?

 

[brochiller]

I think there should be some dedicated solid state memory just for the systems OS in the next gen consoles and then a larger amount of hard drive memory. This way you would get the benefits of not having a bottle neck for the OS as well as having the storage capacity for all your other content as well.

 

[Emitan]

I think there should be some dedicated solid state memory just for the systems OS in the next gen consoles and then a larger amount of hard drive memory. This way you would get the benefits of not having a bottle neck for the OS as well as having the storage capacity for all your other content as well.

They already do this.

 

[gatti-man]

Im pretty sure you've never bought an ssd. 120gb went for $200 when i bought mine. No way would i take 120gb over 1tb for next gen.

They are 100-150 now. A 32gb built in drive would be amazing but imo too costly. However when looking at costs last gen it isnt completely out of the realm of possibility.

 

[Xal-Shoota]

They should follow my lead from my computer; small ssd for OS and functions , and a fatty platter hdd for the rest.

 

[demigod]

They are 100-150 now. A 32gb built in drive would be amazing but imo too costly. However when looking at costs last gen it isnt completely out of the realm of possibility.

Nope, not crucial they arent.

 

[gatti-man]

Nope, not crucial they arent.

So if crucial doesnt make it its crap? Wat?

 

[chaosblade]

User replaceable HDD with a pool of RAM for caching (cheap, slower DDR would be adequate) would be the best bet. Kind of how the Gamecube worked, slow optical drive, but some "slow" cheap RAM (that still runs circles around an optical drive) for caching so the system doesn't have to wait for the disc.

 

[demigod]

So if crucial doesnt make it its crap? Wat?

Lol. Guess you really dont know a difference between crucial/intel and the other brands. Yes they are crap.

 

[Raistlin]

User replaceable HDD with a pool of RAM for caching (cheap, slower DDR would be adequate) would be the best bet. Kind of how the Gamecube worked, slow optical drive, but some "slow" cheap RAM (that still runs circles around an optical drive) for caching so the system doesn't have to wait for the disc.

That's an interesting idea. I just wonder if getting a usable amount would require too much MoBo space/cost?

 

[Throavium]

I bought a 500GB hard drive for $90 and put it in my PS3 myself. That option works for me.

 

[Demigod Mac]

You can install an SSD in a PS3, although the speed difference isn't nearly as great as it is on a computer.

 

[Chris R]

Im pretty sure you've never bought an ssd. 120gb went for $200 when i bought mine. No way would i take 120gb over 1tb for next gen.

I wasn't saying only have SSDs be an option. I said let the user choose to expand their storage in whatever way they want. You could have your 1TB drive for the same price as I'd pay for my 120GB SSD and we would both be happy.