I never thought I'd ask that question again!
Nintendo recently filed a patent for a video game system that doesn't feature an optical drive, with a memory card slot being the only physical media that system accepts.
That patent fueled previous speculation that Nintendo's working on a powerful handheld system that can also be used as a console. If that's true -- Nintendo's headed in the right direction. Here's why:
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Five times more people purchased the 3DS (family) vs. Wii U.
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Flash storage is getting cheaper. It's estimated an SD card costs less than a dollar to manufacture.
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It's cheaper to ship a memory card vs. an optical disc.
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Modern games are pushing the Blu-ray format to its limits.
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Dual-layer Blu-ray discs are expensive to manufacture, because the burning process needs to be very precise.
This speculation is ironic considering Nintendo lost a lot of business when they stuck with the cartridge format for their Nintendo 64 console...
Question: Should Nintendo return to cartridges for their next console?