Second Report Says Nintendo Nx Likely To Use Cartridges

Nintendo’s NX system will make use of cartridges not optical disc media, people familiar with the matter have told the Wall Street Journal.

The news backs up an earlier Eurogamer report.

WSJ notes that the decision to opt for cartridges, despite PS4, Xbox One and Wii U making use of optical media, comes after fierce competition in the flash memory market between the likes of Samsung and Toshiba to enable larger capacity at a lower cost.

Cartridges also offer faster loading, though it is likely the supposedly portable nature of the NX which makes the compact size of the media more appealing to Nintendo. All of Nintendo’s handheld systems have used cartridges.

Atsushi Osanai, a former Sony employee who is now a visiting fellow at Harvard University, said he is in “no doubt” cartridges are “today’s best format to physically distribute games”.

Nintendo declined to comment when approached by WSJ.

Source: WSJ