A New Cartridge-Based Console Is Being Made To “Reestablish The Culture Of Video Gaming”

Siliconera:
Remember cartridges? They were chunky bits of plastic and electronics that games used to be distributed on – the last one was the N64, released back in 1996. The good thing about a cartridge is that when you own one the creator of that game can’t suddenly take it away from you. This is one of advantages of the cartridge when compared to digital distribution that has led to the development of the Retro VGS (Retro Video Games System), which is an upcoming cartridge-based games console.

[DarkBlood]

Man I want me one of that lol

[MrSwankSinatra]

I would want to if they weren't re-purposing Atari Jaguars. Say what you will about the Atari Jaguar, but I'm strongly against using existing hardware and transforming them into something completely different. The whole vision of this thing is a contradiction, how are we supposed to preserve retro gaming when they're actively destroying things like old cartridges and in this case jaguars? Hell this same type of thing is happening with Yooka Laylee where they have this N64 bit version, but the thing is that it does nothing it's just a N64 cartridge flash drive. They're re-purposing existing carts to make into freaking flash drives!

[lashes2ashes]

The Jaguars outer housing has been used for dental x-Ray cameras for years now. At least this way the money from there sale stays in the game industry. There is insane amounts of game related shells and cartridges all over the place and the majority of people, gamers included think of it as junk from a bygone era. So would you prefer they end up in a landfill?

[MrSwankSinatra]

@lashes2ashes Actually Atari sold their remaining stock of jaguar outer shells to the dental industry after they discontinued the jaguar. Dental companies didn't just take take functioning jaguars and gut them to make dental x-rays.

[Aenea]

Actually, I've read they got their hands on the mold (or somesuch) with which they can cheaply make the shells themselves. Apparently a lot cheaper than if they had to design their own shell and then have the mold made that allows them to make more.

They are doing all kinds of different colours as well so these aren't the old shells of the Jaguar made back then by Atari but just new shells that look exactly the same!

[evs490]

Where does lashes2ashes say they gut jaguars to use their shells?

[OCEANGROWNKUSH]

They actually acquired the original molds, they arent "gutting jaguars" to make these. In fact they offered for sale a clear jaguar case mold, before they altered the mold.

[Visiblemarc]

Yeah, I'm a bit confused. The purpose here is to use unwanted older hardware.

The vast majority of existing retro hardware will be buried in garbage dumps.

This is a better use.

[NukaCola]

My local store 2nd & Charles sells 5 different models of a system called RetroN (1 -5) that play different cartridges plus some handheld devices that can play NES games. Also has new retro controllers usb and oldschool hookups. I can't wait for a version that can play N64 games. RetroN 5plays NES, SNES, Genesis, and a bunch more for 150 bucks.

[lameguy]

When will the age of "remasters" end!? Oh the humanity!

[Magicite]

good ol' times..

[BallsEye]

But but but...1080peee!

[player911]

The already have those consoles that accept n64, snes, genesis, nes, etc. Although I personally dislike physical copies these days. I would rather have a system that accepts a medium, backs it up, and plays locally. The Ouya actually is the best retro gamer box I have found to date. Supports 4 PS controllers natively and works fantastic.

[XanderZane]

I'd get it if each cartridge had 50+ games on them. There's no need to buy this and then be spending $5-$10 a pop for each cartridge with just one game on it. Those days are over for me. If they can't get me 25-50 games on one cartridge for $15 - $25 I wouldn't even waste my time with this.

[Relientk77]

Well I'm definitely intrigued

[KryptoniteTail]

It needs online play, otherwise it is trash. Online isn't a PS4 thing, it goes back to Saturn (and further back outside the U.S). Sorry but certain genres suck without online (especially Fighting games, npt everyone has access to a thriving offline community) and we can never experience something like an 8-bit "Journey," not without the Internet.

The core idea is absolutely genius, simple but genius. It just needs to embrace basic features which old consoles tdied/wanted but didn't or couldn't perfect. There's a difference between old school and stupid.

[rainslacker]

Many retro cartridge games wouldn't be enhanced with the inclusion of online features. It used to be nice to just throw in a cart, and it'd be a complete finished game with no DLC or MT.

[Tetsujin]

@Masenko

"I can't stand you casuals, obviously you don't want real and varied competition."

I'm an active tournament player through EVO (under my real name which I will not reveal) and your comment is the reason the ones who play online more than offline are knocked out faster, or "might" barely make it past the first pool. The reason players prefer to play offline is more than just "nostalgia" like you want to argue however your entire post is proof you don't know how tournament players really are. I should dissect your entire post to show how ignorant you really are, however you're not worth the time or effort, and borderline trolling at this point.

Before you go on defense mode the argument here is the fact that people need to remember there was a time where gaming didn't have online, dlc, or patches (expansions were to add to the game, not cut and re added later like it is today). Rarely did a game release so broken they had a recall, however now it's easy to release a game and patch it later. Too many people today rely so much on the online aspect they forgot there's this idea called offline mode, and this other thing called local friends. There's a reason why official, sanctioned tournaments have them offline and in person.

OT
I wonder what games would be available for this console, because it would be nice to revisit memory lane again for some of the games that are difficult to obtain under normal channels. I also like how there's USB ports on the console so you can use various controllers based on preference.

[rainslacker]

I understand, but there are still a lot of games that wouldn't have necessarily been improved by online play. For games that had MP features, I can understand where you're coming from, but I will say that I do miss the amount of couch MP/co-op that there used to be as many games seem to have thought that no one hangs out with friends anymore.

And yes, I was quite happy "button mashing" with my cousins or friends or whoever happened to be around. I actually like socializing with people I know and having fun while doing it.

Those awesome moments meant a lot more when you can share them in person with someone in the room, like that first time when a group of people see a fatality in MK, or one person makes a comeback with barely any health left on their bar. It was so much more satisfying giving the other person a hard time about it when you could see their reaction in person, in real time, and not through a speaker on a headset or a small video chat window.

It's fine if you want to play the best players around the world, but come down off your high horse. I'd imagine the reason you may not enjoy "button mashing" with your friends is because you just have a terrible attitude towards them.

[keegamer80]

I remember Sega Genesis having online in the mid nineties. I think it was called the sega channel.

[mydyingparadiselost]

Yea, the Sega Channel was a cool concept and was great... until you lost the Shining Force save that was at the end of the game because loading a save using Sega Channel was literally ALWAYS a crap shoot.
Ah, great memories :/

[Tetsujin]

Also Xband for Genesis and SNES, required dial up. Even before then there was some test hardware for tha Atari systems however at the time the technology was limited so it never took off.

[Retroman]

@ kryptonite

Why do every bloody game need to be online and if not it's rubbish . you must be new skool, old school gamers dont care about online crap F.U.N is the game . a cartridge console is great dont mine playing Final fight, Battletoad, Contra, Einhander, Gunstar super hero, Gradius, R-type , Battle arena toshiden, Metal slug, Raiden 6 etc.... again .

im sure some tired of open world games as i am
like to go back to offline 2 player fun games . no cursing ,no microtrans action, no digital down loads, no buggy half done 59.00 game that need patches

[Psychotica]

Just the opposite it true. It's when online was added that gaming got worse..

[Skizelli]

I personally feel that online capabilities hurt console gaming more than it helped. Not only did it take away the social interaction, but developers use it as a pass to release broken games knowing they can just fix it later.

Don't get me wrong, I've been gaming online via consoles since Dreamcast and I've had my fair share of good times with it, but it pales in comparison to the days when all of your friends/siblings were in the same room together playing GoldenEye or Halo (hell, even Super Mario Bros.). I miss that. I knew that was all about to change the day I played Halo 2 online with my friends for the first time.

I'm sure there's a lot of people who feel the same way I do. I'm willing to bet it's part of the reason live streaming is so popular right now. People miss that connection with others while playing (or watching) games. When you're anonymous, I might as well be playing the computer.

I'll tell you what I don't miss: Split screens. If anything, this console should support LAN.

[rainslacker]

I think it substituted one social interaction with another. Online play wasn't a terrible idea, and I actually think it's good, but when MP started being removed from games for favor of online things just started to be less fun. I prefer couch MP/co-op myself, because I actually know the people I'm playing with, and it's just more fun than playing with random people or even playing with friends online.

It seems couch co-op/MP is making a come-back in some genres, and it never left fighting games, but there are so many online MP games which don't get played among friends sitting in the same room because there is no option for more than one person to play at a time, and passing around the controller is only fun for the time you have the controller.

[Pillsbury1]

Then you sir are not the target market, please keep walking thank you.

[FallenAngel1984]

The PS TV was the last home console to use cartridges

[MASTER_RAIDEN]

The only thing psv tv plays in cartridge form are games designed for a handheld. There are no games designed for the psv TV specifically. It's a non mobile platform for handheld games. Not a cartridge based home game console.

[WeAreLegion]

"There will be no system updates, digital downloads or buggy games."

So, the bugs that DO come with the game will just stay there? Good. I was hoping that feature would return.

[WilliamUsher]

It was a lot less common than it is nowadays.

I can't think of ONE major AAA release that didn't require a day one patch.

Old games had bugs but it was rare that they launched with game-breaking bugs, opposite of today's games... like Assassin's Creed Unity, or Project CARS, or The Witcher 3, or Dark Void, or RIDE or any other number of games recently released that required more patches than a leaky old dam.

[Spotie]

It was less common largely because there were less games, not because the frequency was any lower.

[WilliamUsher]

@Spotie,

"Less games" is relatively and fairly incorrect if you were including all the different game systems out then. The SNES, Sega, NES, 3DO, Turbo Grafix 16, Jaguar PSX, N64 -- throughout the 90s there were only a few games I ever remember not working right at launch. There was a nasty save game bug in WWF No Mercy for the N64 that would erase your save game or the whole game would freeze, but there was a recall on that and THQ/Nintendo got it sorted shortly after launch.

Beyond that you're incorrect, frequency was lower since there was no such thing as patching console games back then. Look up Nintendo's seal of quality and why it was implemented following the crash back in the mid 1980s.

You would need to back up your claim with some sort of hard data that frequency was relative to the amount of games released for home consoles.

[wannabe gamer]

it may have something to do with older games being i dont know....a zillion times less complex than modern day games. lets debug a game thats hundreds of Kilobytes or a few megabytes vs modern games that are up to 50GB+. ya know i dont even wanna hear a reply cause its gonna be some keyboard cowboy gamer that things making a game is so easy just go fix it already blehbleh

[ThichQuangDuck]

Flop

[AudioEppa]

Exactly my thought lol

All these companies wasting money on trying to make lame home consoles could put that money to better use and put together some developers an make games for the ones we already have.

[mushroomwig]

A flop means a product does unexpectedly bad, the people behind this know it's going to be a niche market for those retro fans. They're obviously not expecting it to take on the console market.

[ThichQuangDuck]

I just think of Ouya. Not necessarily flop,but it will stay quiet. I understand it is not competing with consoles

[KwietStorm_BLM]

I've been gaming almost as long as I've been alive, but I'm sorry, this isn't going to reestablish anything. How this industry has changed, goes way deeper than this. Just call it what it is, a niche nostalgia console that hopefully will have enough support to be mentionable.

[fallacious]

Why are we going back to doing outdated things instead of getting with the times? No one wants to use cartridges anymore, theyre a hassle. CDs are much more convenient. This is just dumb.

[Ark_]

Cartridges are durable.

[LordMaim]

So are horse drawn carriages. Should we give up cars?

[Ark_]

@LordMaim

I didn't make a comment about my preferences, just pointed out the fact that cartridges have an advantage over CDs. Durability.

Horse drawn carriages have also advantages over cars. They need no fuel, you can repair them easily, they don't need much maintainance and two motors can reproduce themself.

[mixelon]

Horse drawn carriages sort of need fuel if you want to keep your horses alive. :D

Sorry, being pedantic.

[Ark_]

@mixelon

... just park your horses on a meadow - they will refuel themselfs. :)

[Skizelli]

The only downside cartridges had back in the day was their capacity (preventing things like CD quality audio) and the cost to produce them. And the former shouldn't be a problem anymore.

With as large as games are now, though, I wonder if cartridges would still have an advantage over discs when it comes to load times.

[LordMaim]

@Skizelli - Capacity and Cost are still factors, since cost increases as you increase capacity. But those aren't the only factors at all.

Cartridges as heavier and bulkier than discs/game cases, which increases the cost of shipping. Physically, cartridge boxes would have to be larger and more bulky for protection. At best, like a SNES game box with a cardboard spacer inside, at worst like a Genesis box made out of plastic.

If a game unexpectedly does well, manufacturing additional copies of the game would take a significant sales commitment to justify. That's money up front that a company may not want to commit if there's even a chance that they won't sell all the games, or would end up having to sell them at a discount. That means smaller runs of games that might not do well, and longer waits for re-stocking.

Each would require additional storage space, plus the additional cost of the game would mean that stores would stock fewer copies of each game. Prebooking would be justifiable again, and almost a necessity on anything popular.

Finally, you can't patch cartridges. If a bug is in a ROM, you're stuck with it. It just doesn't make sense in this day and age to limit yourself that way. Games have gotten increasingly more complex and with systems and mechanics that interact in ways never possible in the era of the cartridge, therefore it is significantly easier for issues to not be found or corrected during testing and need patching after release.

[Skizelli]

@LordMaim: Storage capacity isn't an issue in the sense that we now have the technology to create ROM chips that can hold ample amounts of data. Of course production costs are still a factor. They always will be.

Production costs aside, haven't you ever wondered what a cartridge would be like in 2015 with the technology we have now? It's an intriguing thought. It's quite possible that they could surpass discs. Imagine zero loading time. Ever since video games made the jump to discs, load time has been an issue. Even digital releases aren't immune to it, as they're at the mercy of HDDs. SSDs have only made things marginally better.

As for not being able to patch ROMs, that's not entirely true. What's to say the cartridge couldn't be flashable? Even if that weren't the case, perhaps it would give developers an incentive to get it right the first time like the old days. I remember very few games in the 90's that were broken, and even the bugs of that generation had a tendency of being fun/amusing compared to the bugs we have now.

[WilliamUsher]

Sorry but I agree with Ark_, the only thing you have to worry about with cartridges is blowing the dust out or wiping the green stuff off the bottom, otherwise they were good to go.

I'll likely buy this game console since it's about preserving game control as opposed to destroying it.

[N0TaB0T]

Fallacious is an earned name I guess...

[kingPoS]

Your right, people might not want cartridges, but do want flash cards. The Turbografx 16 was ahead of it's time in the way it mainlined flash cards & disc based games before they even became popular. http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tF4op...

Go cartridges! In the end, they're just flash cards thanks to the advancements of technology. If you dislike cartridges, does that mean you want nothing to do with usb thumb drives with gobs of gigabyte's or super convenient sd cards? Dito for the ds.

How hard can it be to take advantage of technology like that? (o_O')

Gateway MT6706 2008

[neomahi]

You're missing the point. This was a much simpler time. Carts are durable and at one time, you were expected to ship a finished product, this was done before you could update games and devs got lazy shipping a game in quantity rather than quality.

You've missed the point.

[WheatBread]

I like the idea and I'd definitely buy it if/when it releases.

[Spotie]

"can’t suddenly take it away from you."

It's not as if physical releases have disappeared, or that digital games are even more popular- with console games, since we ARE talking about consoles- than physical.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

I am behind this project 100%!

No unfinished games sold at full retail price
No DLC
No mandatory game installation
No buggy software
No paid online
No mandatory updates
No season pass

[GrmpyolGamer]

No big open worlds with great graphics
No multiplayer
No graphics above 16 bits
No network to talk to your friends on

[fonger08]

Big open worlds existed with cartridges
Cartridges had MP
Read 64bit
It was called having your friends over in person

[DragonKnight]

"No big open worlds with great graphics"

Do you understand that cartridges are essentially sticks of memory? You don't think that a cartridge could have the ability to run a game with a big open world and great graphics? You didn't any cartridge based games ever did you? Also, you play games, you can't play graphics.

"No multiplayer"

LMAO! What? You've never heard of local multiplayer? See, back in the day you'd have friends come over, plug in the extra controller, and there was your multiplayer. You young'uns.

"No graphics above 16 bits"

Such complete ignorance. The last cartridge based console was 64 bits and that's when that was the latest tech. This is decades later and you think no progress has been made? Wow.

"No network to talk to your friends on."

Skype. Phones. Other ways on the PC you already have.

[magiciandude]

No fanboys (so far).

[garyanderson]

This will either be a scam, or a total pipe-dream. Most nostalgia is based on games we played, not the way in which we played them. Playing new old-looking games on a new under-powered platform isn't going to be fun.

I'm sure they'll be launching a Kickstarter before too long, hopefully they bother to make a website first and don't just direct the URL to their Facebook page like it is now.

[GrmpyolGamer]

So basically its a console for indie devs? I think that has already been done before it is called the Ouya and we all know how that worked out.

[Nio-Nai]

What kind of silly nonsense is this?

[WitWolfy]

I can almost play ALL of these games on my softmod Xbox original and/or on my 360 JTAG. A bit pointless if you ask me.

[Skizelli]

I think you missed the point entirely.

[TheOnlyMastrx]

Interesting. The only problem is will there be a big enough market for this to survive.

[captain_slow82]

It will promote game ownership, tangibility and collectability. There will be no system updates, digital downloads or buggy games.”

im sold im getting one

[Nio-Nai]

You still don't own the video game, you will own a piece of plastic as always.

[DragonKnight]

You own everything on that bit of plastic and can do with it what you want. Alter the game, sell it, whatever. How many digital games have you resold?

[Nio-Nai]

You can resell keys and accounts unless it's against the user agreement.

As a note, you can sell off your plastic cartridge, you can modify it too, however you CAN NOT make a copy of it and sell it.

This is why you don't own anything but the plastic.

You hold no rights over the game itself, and as such the company can take your right away on using it. If they wanted they could go over to your house, grap the game, wipe the memory on it and just give you the plastic bit back.

Completely legal.

[garrettbobbyferguson]

@Nio-Nai

No, they cannot do that. However, they still maintain rights to the IP and code of that game. That is theirs.

[DarkBlood]

Agreed I love owning every bit of the game I bought right down to the data inside

[iamnsuperman]

Like others, that had a similar goal, before it. This is going to flop.

[PhucSeeker]

Don't really like the idea. I love retro games, but i'd prefer not going backward. Unless they have some crazy-awesome-killer exclusive apps then i'll pass.

[Sheed]

idk why people think cartridge gaming is such an outlandish concept.
The 3ds still uses them and you'll have 0 load times

[BladerunnerZX]

I will back this 100%.

No required online means no online subscriptions.
No day one patches for unfinished broken games like AC Unity / the Master Chief Collection.

Also the Retro VGS will be capable of multiple types of cartridge based games including 8-bit , 16-bit and 32-bit.

A possible physical copy of games like Shovel Knight.

Oh yes.

[neomahi]

Have you ever played an NES game before? Watch AVGN on YouTube. I'm with you. At one time, games had to be polished before being launched but these days you just never know. Ina perfect world, it would be this way but, it isnt. Even the re-release of Pier Solar for the Genesis wound up buggy and glitchy. Fortunately my copy turned out fine, but some that waited over a year and a half had to send their back with no replacements.

[neomahi]

This won't be like back in the day where you just went to K.B. Toys or Kmart and bought the game and if it didn't work just took it back and exchanged it for a working one. These will be very limited releases (to avoid the E.T. failure of Atari) that will be purchased online. You won't pick them up at Walmart, Toys R Us, or Best Buy.

[Bass_fisherman]

Sega already did this with the megadrive and ppl rather prefer buying the digital versions for the modern platforms mostly pc.

Just embrace the future of games...i think its looking great imo

[uth11]

Putting it in a Jaguar case might make it look cool, but- it's not practical for many people. Doesn't fit in an entertainment center, can't stack it on it's side, etc..

[Tzuno]

Back to the complete games that were playable on the go not like today standards when you need a pack of patches to make a game playable,cough,cough.

[hkgamer]

can the developers afford to ship a game in its complete form to a niche market? we see indies who cant even afford to take the risk to release their games on multiple platforms.

[iliimaster]

i wish i never sold my turbo graphix 16, if you havn't played bloody wolf you missed out

[MadMax]

Yep, always try to hang on to those old school classic consoles! You will definately one day regret it, if not!

I just picked up a sega master system recently and love it! I dont care about how real a game looks nowadays, digital downloads, or how many people i can play with online!

It still doesn't compete when it comes to classic fun nostalgic gameplay. No downloading, wait times or patches required! Just great original fun gameplay. Dreamcast still is one my favorite consoles of all time and ive been gaming since Atari. One of the best consoles man!!!

New games are still being made for it, check out Sturmwind and Gunlord!

[hkgamer]

they really need to release the specs for this device and possibly more information. this is a retro style console that doesnt play any retro games.

i cant see this selling more than a 1000 and i cant see any developers wishing to port their game onto a small user based cartridge system. the ouya sold quite a few but devs didnt stick with it.

seems like a small project built for a niche market who likes to spend money.

[neomahi]

Won't be buying this. Name is retarded, it looks retarded, and what made those days great, was Nintendo was dominating the market and SEGA stood up to them and challenged them and it was literally a bloody battle. Nintendo wanted to cater to the family and SEGA said screw it, we'll go after the teens. It was a console war full of jabs and spite. Hate and fear. Even consumers were wrapped up in. That's what made that era great. You can't bring that back. This is Nintendo with no SEGA.

I've seen what's in the works for this thing. It has a Super Nintendo type mentality, that looks like a Turbografx 16 with no SEGA to make things interesting. The marketing is weak and the controller is a Wii U controller from a third party that doesn't work. This isn't a retro console. It's a flop.

[Dfooster]

Funnily enough they can't take away a Blu Ray disk either

[Hazmat13]

no money in new technology, invest in nostalgia.
paid for the kids of the 90's. 90's kids..... if we don't brag/complain about how good 90's gamers are no one will.

[wannabe gamer]

sheesh reading these comments you would think everyone was handed a pair of rose tinted glasses upon entering the article. keep dreaming guys keeeeeep dreaming

[masterfox]

And why it looks like a jaguar ? They sure are desperate to this thing to fail :D

[N0TaB0T]

Like you dropped out of high school?

[wannabe gamer]

why dont you read instead of only looking at the pictures like a 1st grader

[IrisHeart]

Yeah this is legit and will beat MS, Sony and Nintendo. lol.

[TeamLeaptrade]

Heard about this not too long ago. At first I thought it was a multi-console, kind of like Retron, but I was wrong on that for sure. I'm very interested in trying a console that plays new cartridge based games.

[Agent_hitman]

Wasn't the Cartridge very expensive to produce than CDs?

[mastershredder]

No matter that the Jaguar failed as hard as it did, I still loved the hell out of that machine.

The catch 22 of consoles. Burned a hole in my pocket, lacked titles (and a additional layer of lacking quality), but the select few games that made that console fun, still remain.

[RoseSapphire]

Zero interest.

I love retro games and have a pretty substantial library but I don't see the need for a system that plays cartridges when every single one of these titles would still be playable on current systems and PC.

Having a cartridge to plug in is not going to change my experience. About the only cool thing I personally find with this project is that it would be neat to have some new games on the shelf.

[diesoft]

If they create something special and get some support I'm actually kind of hopeful. Could we see the next donkey kong country? The next chrono trigger? I'm interested in seeing how this comes along.

[pop-voxuli]

Im down!! I miss the good ol days,