>> Should Games go back to cartridges?

[NorthernChaosGod]

Why? I'm seriously curious. Because aside from taking a few minutes there is no downside I can think of. If it taking a few minutes is actually the issue for you then I recommend practicing patience. The longest install I've seen in the last few years was MGS4 and it was only 12 minutes. If you can't wait 12 minutes then there's something wrong with you.

Install time + hard disk space
Have you kept every game you've ever installed on your computer? I don't know anyone that does, I hear about people reinstalling games all the time. On every console I own I can just pop in the game and start playing.

Leave it to me to completely blank on the existence of flash drives momentarily. Still, flash isn't cheap enough yet to be viable, especially on the manufacturers end since it costs more to make. None of it matters since we will likely see digital distribution inside of ten years for every game, and solid state hard drives so read speed becomes an absolute non-issue (not that it's even one now). At that point, even if physical media is still around (which I fully admit it will be) you'll probably see it install completely on the hard drive anyway.

It doesn't have to happen now, but it could be a possible alternative to optic discs sometime in the future.

Everyone knows you hit the cartridge against your leg to shake the dust out. Blowing in it just gets moisture all over the connectors.

I know that, I never did it. Blowing on them gets saliva and bacteria on the connectors and is likely to rust the metal. I was reminded of this horrible habit by a Facebook group and I would like to see the return or carts so that people ruin their games again.

Hard copies don't, and likely never will, last forever. I say bring on digital distribution. I don't have enough space for this crap anymore.

I didn't mean to say that a hard copy is indestructible or anything, but all of my games are in very good condition and likely will stay that way for at least the remainder of my life. I prefer having a hard copy over a digital copy.