Storage Media

Game Storage Media

There are many ways to store and play video games, across a range of different mediums. I will cover the most important and widely-used in this section.

• Cartridges

Cartridges were the first type of console video game storage media. Cartidges are expensive to manufacture, meaning that they were eventually taken over by cheaper means.

• Flash Memory

Flash memory is a relatively new technology, allowing the user to store games and game saves on a very small flash memory card, such as an SD card or a micro SD card. Examples of consoles which use this are the 3DS and the PSP. A drawback of flash memory is the small size capacities.

• DVD

DVDs are no doubt the most common game storage media of this age. The highest storage a DVD can have is around 8.7GB, so with the way that games are made these days, at such a big size, DVDs don't really cut it anymore. This means that most games that are released on DVD format these days, have to have multiple discs. GTA 5 on PC is spanned over 7 discs!

• Blu-Ray

So, with DVDs becoming less convenient, Blu-Ray discs are becoming more of a solution. Blu-Ray discs can store huge amounts on, for example, on the Xbox One, they can fit 50GB onto a single Blu-Ray disc. Blu-Ray disc readers are becoming ever more cheaper for PCs too, so it does seem that there will be a take over in the near future!

• Digital Downloading

Digital downloading is the most convenient way to store games. The users can download the video game to their hard drive, and play it straight from there. This is heavily reliant on how much bandwidth the users have, and hard drive storage, as you can't download games without bandwidth or storage. Most modern consoles allow this through their marketplace systems, and PCs do also, most conveniently through software such as Steam and Origin.

Piracy is still an ever-battled crime in the video game world. Piracy is where a game is illegally copied and played. It has been a problem for decades in the game industry, and is still continuing to be, it is arguable worse now than it has ever been. Some DRM (digital rights management) is put in place on discs, but pirates always find a way to crack them. Some games have anti-piracy code, for example, Alan Wake (the game) gives the player an annoying eyepatch to hinder their gameplay!

Anyhow, that is all from me for this article, please stay tuned for future updates!

Matt :D