It's been a long time since people have seen memory cards, but the Xbox Series X is bringing them back - at least sort of. In the early days of console gaming, the game cartridge itself served as a game's memory and storage. However, as games became more sophisticated and 3D gaming arrived, game consoles ran into a dilemma: games couldn't store any more data on the cartridge.
Eventually, this launched the need for external memory cards. The external memory card plugged into the console and allowed players to save game data directly to the memory card. The use of memory cards lasted throughout several generations of consoles, but eventually, technology advanced to where consoles no longer needed external memory cards. The Xbox 360 had up to 320 GB of internal storage, with the PlayStation 3 having up to 500 GB. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have even more internal memory. Games, though, continue to advance, requiring more space: many console owners have added on additional memory to their systems via expensive internal hard drives or cheaper external hard drives.
And games will continue to get bigger and more expansive, requiring even more space on consoles in the future. Perhaps that's why the Xbox Series X will bring back the concept of the memory card, although not in the way players it. According to Eurogamer, the Xbox Series X has a custom Seagate SSD drive resembling the memory card of the past: it even plugs into the console. This "memory card," though, has 1TB of storage and is heavier due to "the solid metal construction that acts as a heat sink that was to handle silicon that consumes 3.8 watts of power." Microsoft isn't referring to this as a "memory card," but at its heart, it serves a similar function, just in a much more impressive way.
The new console is also a beast, as tweeted by Microsoft:
A patent filed by Sony suggests that the is its price point, which could potentially come in at around $500. With Sony keeping so much under wraps about the PlayStation 5, Microsoft is likely waiting to see what its main competitor has planned for pricing.
The technology behind the Xbox Series X is something to get excited about, though, and the advances made with the new console could get players onboard quickly, regardless of price. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 outbreak might delay production on the new system, meaning that even if it launches in 2020, supply will probably not meet demand - and demand will likely remain high the more Microsoft reveals about the console.
Source: Eurogamer
