Switch How worried should we be about this Switch cartridge decay thing?

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

Saw this article today, wondering how seriously folks are taking it:

PSA: You Could Lose Your Switch Games If You Don't Play Them For Multiple Years

If you've had a Switch game sitting on the shelf for more than five years, you might want to consider booting it up again for a second.

www.thegamer.com

What do we think? Is this a confirmed problem were gonna have to be careful about or just hype?

 

[Matricks]

Dire Sereal, Its not a hype!
Layman peasants takes everything for granted, dont understand How Advanced these Tech are but are also weak durability.
Later big memories roms tech are not everlasting, because tiny nanotech are diffult to maintain.

 

[Bluewyne]

Seems a bit alarmist, not sure if I believe it.
Though even if it were true, it wouldn't affect me much. By the time "diskrot" reaches any of my games, I'd probably have already modded my Switch by then and not even be reliant on physical media.

 

[Matricks]

Its more concerns for the Sealed Original Roms Collectors Tradings market worth $$$$$ for a single working hardcore rom.

 

[PrismRed]

Regardless of the validity of the article in question, we should always treat our stuff, Ninty's cartridge or not, with great care. That's the best thing we can do now.

 

[fake-chan]

Who are this "we" you're talking about?

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

Saw this article today, wondering how seriously folks are taking it:

PSA: You Could Lose Your Switch Games If You Don't Play Them For Multiple Years

If you've had a Switch game sitting on the shelf for more than five years, you might want to consider booting it up again for a second.

www.thegamer.com

What do we think? Is this a confirmed problem were gonna have to be careful about or just hype?

It's all a fake, no fucking way this is true. I got Super Mario 64 DS that I haven't touched since 2000s and I booted it up recently, the fucking game works like new. I also have Switch games that have been sitting in my shelf since 2017 that I just used recently, and it worked fine.
You know what this is? I think it's a conspiracy to make people's games gain more value when reselling or fear mongering to move more people into digital.

 

[Pearly]

It's all a fake, no fucking way this is true. I got Super Mario 64 DS that I haven't touched since 2000s and I booted it up recently, the fucking game works like new. I also have Switch games that have been sitting in my shelf since 2017 that I just used recently, and it worked fine.
You know what this is? I think it's a conspiracy to make people's games gain more value when reselling or fear mongering to move more people into digital.

I'm thinking fear mongering for pushing all digital. It's bait at the very least. I've got cartridges dating back to the mis 80's and they're fine. The all digital isn't as much of an issue as the all streaming subscription format that is being pushed, nintendo online likley makes more dosh than hosting downloads for each game instead. It sucks though, I'd prefer to run everything from my machine without online access, be it digital or physical, not a sub par subscription services where any games with licenses get pulled after a period of time

They used to say the same about new modern flat monitors and TV screens, that they only last 5 years, top. I've a TV going on a decade now that I want to break at this stage so I can upgrade it to an newer OLED TV. My wife is attached to how functional it is, i.e., she does not see the need for OLED D:

Also CRT TV's were much more fragile, they literally will just stop working one day.

 

[fake-chan]

lol

lmao even

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

They used to say the same about new modern flat monitors and TV screens, that they only last 5 years, top. I've a TV going on a decade now that I want to break at this stage so I can upgrade it to an newer OLED TV. My wife is attached to how functional it is, i.e., she does not see the need for OLED D:

Also CRT TV's were much more fragile, they literally will just stop working one day.

IDK man about CRT's being fragile, I have televisions from as back as 1982 and they work fine, I recently dropped a 13in Flat Screen CRT on the tile and it bounced twice. Played Metroid Prime with no alignment issues or electrical issues.

 

[Varyag]

All digital data is ephemeral if you don't take care of it. But what this article is specifically talking about, is of a specific technical quirk in those specific generations of Nintendo game carts, in that the consoles are set to check and repair minor data loss from the flash memory. It's not a conspiracy it's just a longevity measure, that probably won't be relevant anymore anyway because their newer game carts don't even have games on them.

Anyway even on hard drives, which have the most data longevity, there is some occasional data loss, or copy errors. The only way to maintain data is to make sure it's stored correctly. Back up your files regularly! That's how you can make them last.

 

[Morgana Veil]

Regardless if this is true, and I somehow doubt it is, Nintendo will be more than happy to resell you a digital copy of your game at full price
And if anyone took the time to look beyond the headline, they mean data loss, not the cart itself.

With that being said, meanwhile at Nintendo

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

Well even if they're playing on ignorance of the consumer we have to remember that the majority do stay uninformed and won't correct it and the corps love this cycle until someone notices their kindle book is gone to sound the alarm. I say keep pouring the fuel.

 

[carb0n0x]

Not sure about cartridges, but yeah, everything nowadays is made with the shittiest, cheapest material to maximize profit. "they don't make stuff that used to last, like they did back in my days" and yadda yadda, but still, planned obsolescence is a very real thing and the makita drill I own that is older than me still works while the $30 Bosch garbage breaks down after 1 hour of usage. I do think Nintendo compromises with the overall material quality/price quite a lot compared to other manufacturers, but the whole thing with switch 1 and 2 so far has been the most corporate sleaziness thing I have ever seen, even compared to the likes of Sony and maybe even Microsoft (not really).

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

Its hard to believe ... but still plausible and possible that it can happen.

Since Scott Ross campaign , to save and preserve games , is on ice right now this seems way too perfect on time to have this hit-piece .

I cant trust that.

 

[Ghast]

All I can say is that I'm glad Nintendo games are easier on average to emulate compared to the competition. So I don't really care as much as I probably "should."

 

[Big Finger Jim]

I wouldn't trust the word of those trashy game websites. Seems like absolute bullshit. Just take good care of your shit and you'll be fine.

 

[iamthemilkman]

I tested all of my Vita games since it's the smallest collection I have of those systems mentioned, only having 30ish games for it, and all of them work fine. I haven't touched these games in well over 5 years.

 

[nathman]

While I doubt that specific claim is actually true, the Switch 2 can spontaneously implode for all I care. I don't intend on buying one now and I don't intend on buying one in 10 years.

 

[Morgana Veil]

While I doubt that specific claim is actually true, the Switch 2 can spontaneously implode for all I care. I don't intend on buying one now and I don't intend on buying one in 10 years.

Same. I still haven't ever physically been in contact with an original switch, and I'd like to keep it that way.

 

[Cardboardtubeknight Cardboardtubeknight]

Has anyone tested this yet? Surely 1,2,Switch has been doing nothing

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I don't think there's any validity to the article and/or what it says... HOWEVER, doing something like that is something I wouldn't put past the industry. I still remember how they tried to sell those self-decaying DVDs that basically started the process of erasing themselves as soon as the package was opened. The only reason that wasn't a thing was because there was enough pressure from environmental groups about the enormous amount of e-waste those would generate (and even then some were still released).

 

[Esidemoken]

Nintendo Switch games use flash memory and that type of memory has a more limited lifespan than the ROM memory used in NDS, NES, N64 and other retro games.
While they will not be damaged in a short time there is no guarantee that they will last as long as they have lasted for example the NES games that we know that as long as they are not damaged they have continued to work after just over 40 years.

 

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

I don't think there's any validity to the article and/or what it says... HOWEVER, doing something like that is something I wouldn't put past the industry. I still remember how they tried to sell those self-decaying DVDs that basically started the process of erasing themselves as soon as the package was opened. The only reason that wasn't a thing was because there was enough pressure from environmental groups about the enormous amount of e-waste those would generate (and even then some were still released).

I remember these things.

For a while they were touting them as the new way to manage rental but I honestly can't see a way it would have worked out. Surely its a huge cost to the dvd manufacturers.

 

[iamthemilkman]

Tested 30+ 3DS games last night, all of which I haven't played in 8+ years, and no problems.