Maybe I’m just a young whipper snapper but I don’t get why people would want cartridges when freely copying the files to the main drive is an option since this would only work with DRM-free games. Cartridges were historically used instead of floppy disks or optical disks for DRM as you can make them basically impossible to duplicate. Even now the only reason Nintendo still sells cartridges is to allow the same game to be played in different devices with different logged in accounts while ensuring there is only one copy available between them.
And so with that in mind the basic idea is that you grab DRM free games (from stores like GOG), and pop them onto SD Cards to turn them into cartridges that Kazeta will detect.
So now instead of storing games on the computer itself, you have to go out of your way to put them on individual SD cards?
Also, is it strictly one game per SD card? That would be pretty wasteful of the available space for smaller games.
I noticed a lot of non-technical people using ChimeraOS/SteamOS getting lost in Steam’s complex menu structure and struggling with basic things like launching and closing games
I feel like someone who’s so nontechnical they can’t even figure out Steam’s UI, which is developed by a massive company with dedicated UX engineers and comprehensive QA for all their software, would probably also not be able to figure out installing a Linux OS, especially one that doesn’t boot into a normal GUI by default. It also assumes they will have a dedicated computer just for console style gaming, which nontechnical users probably wouldn’t bother with. Unless they plan on selling devices with their OS preinstalled as dedicated game consoles?
Also, you still have to interact with GOG to get the games. And also be able to find the app data direcrory GOG downloads games to in order to put them onto an SD card.
This also directly contradicts a quote later in the article: “Kazeta is definitely not for everyone. It requires a bit of work to get started”
I became disenchanted with digital storefronts and have come back around to appreciating physical media: game cartridges, CDs, DVDs
I have gotten more and more into collecting old physical games and systems and found them to be a much more pleasant experience than what modern gaming offers
Fair enough if you just want physical media in general, but I feel like people collecting physical media would specifically want ones branded by the company and not generic SD cards.
I have become more and more concerned with preserving my digital game collection for play in the future.
Bur there’s things in between digital storefronts and physical read-only media. Why not just have a special directory on the desktop that autodetects games copied into it? I assume that’s basically what happens when you insert an SD card with a game on it.
If you want to keep games atomic and prevent corruption of the directory structure, why not just support game directories in the form of tar or zip files and automatically mount them as a virtual filesystem?
keeping your games untouched and preserved forever
Don’t flash based storage put your data at risk of corruption if you leave it unpowered for too long? Having the games on the SSD you have powered every day sounds like it would be safer.
Though at least the flash’s write cycle limit wouldn’t matter with read only cards.
It’s a cute idea, but seems like it is just going to generate a bunch of e-waste.
It isn’t as whimsical I guess, but a barcode scanner, NFC tags, or just picking a game from a menu would be my preference. I have actual retro systems, if I want to walk across the room to switch games.
Kazeta is Czech for casette. The Waterloo-based developer is Canadian but has a Czech name (Alesh Slovak / Aleš Slovák) and knows basic Czech so probably a descendant of Czechoslovak emmigrants.
But like, where do I download all my games from?
GOG. The games you buy there are DRM free and are actually yours. You can even backup then in a external HD, personal server, etc.
So I guess you could pick one, install inside a SD Card and it would be like a Switch card. Cool idea.
other device
Kind of like an open-source Evercade, then?
So… a Linux desktop with slots for all the retro games, innit?
Why would I not want the savegames on the same card as the game? For me that doesn’t make sense.
Once upon a time I owned a GameCube memory card, specifically so that I could have my own save progression when visiting my friend’s house (who actually owned the GameCube and games). That may not really apply anymore?
On another note though, making the sd card read only means it will last significantly longer. Flash storage (like SD cards) have limited write cycles, so this preserves the games themselves while leaving the much smaller save files to be written somewhere else where they’re easier to back up.
Since you brought it up, what about bit rot, which happens regardless of writes?
I think I’ve solved the problem of computer gaming.
It’s emulating on a gaming laptop with save data automatically backed up to MEGA.
How do you do that? If you don’t mind me asking.
No problem.
The hardest part is getting a controller working. I’m not sure what OS you have, but getting a bluetooth controller working properly on Linux can be hit or miss. If you’re on Windows with a USB controller or one with a dongle, it should be much easier. I’m sorry I can’t give direct advice because it will depend on your setup.
Otherwise, just download emulators for the consoles you want, download the games for free at vimm.net, then you’re off to the races. You may have to change some settings, but it shouldn’t be too difficult if you’re willing to look at them and experiment a bit as needed.
You can download the MEGAsync program and go through the process of syncing the folders that hold game saves to an online backup. It’s pretty intuitive to follow the program. You will need to look up where each emulator holds its save data though, because it’s not really standardized.
To get you started, these are some emulators that I recommend with large libraries and stable support:
-PCSX2 for PS2
-Dolphin for Gamecube
-Torzu for Switch
-mGBA for Gameboy Advance
-Duckstation for PS1
-PPSSPP for PSP
There are of course others for different consoles, and even multiple emulators for the same console. Don’t get too hung up on doing things perfectly the first time. Try to get some experience and you’ll see what works for you and what doesn’t.
Start small and work your way up.
That’s a cute gimmick! Love it!! 😍
I’ve honestly been thinking about doing this myself. I’m so happy right now I can barely be contained!
this is the peak of “cool but functionally useless”
i unironically love it
I’d say it is cool but very expensive. One SD Card for each game would not be cheap, specially if the game is big, like 100gb or more.
My first though was KZ OS. Cool name!
Serious question: Do I have to be a jew in order to use it?
(Because KZs and im German and stuff)
Honestly I love the idea. I wonder if they’re planning on the obvious next step of adding a media player that will work similarly, turn it on with a disc or SD card inserted and it’ll play the DVD or music
If only the builtin SD card readers from most computers could last more than 1 year… Either they’re all shit, or I’ve been really, really unlucky with them.
The readers in consumer-grade computers have been hit-or-miss for me. The contacts seem to either lack gold plating or develop a layer of tarnish.
I remember my 1st Surface Go’s microSD card reader being pretty good.
This is really awesome! I’m 100% going to build a little system for this.
It would be pretty cool to share games using SD cards like that, but there would hardly be anyone to share them with.
Was this supposed to sound so self depreciating? Lol …or maybe it’s the reflection of myself. 😐
