Image by Charlie
Video games have come a long way since the early days of the Atari ST and the NES, when gamers were labelled geeks and ridiculed for their hobby. Nowadays video games are a multi-billion dollar global industry and an integral part of life for countless millions of people of all ages and both genders, and there are games and gaming consoles to suit all tastes.
One of the most popular of the current crop of portable consoles is the Nintendo 3DS, often seen attached to the palms of children on trains to keep them from running between the aisles causing chaos. Although it was only released in 2011, this little console outsold the PS3 in Japan, despite Sony’s home console having been released in 2006.
As if the eye-popping 3D technology wasn’t enough, Nintendo also offer game downloads in the Nintendo eShop, and it’s not just the smaller, cheaper games that gamers typically associate with downloadable software; full-price games are becoming available too.
But with great downloads comes great storage responsibility. Full-price games can take up huge amounts of memory space, so if you are considering downloading, you might want to ask if your current memory card is right for you?
For your run of the mill, regular 3DS, a 2GB SD card comes supplied as standard. For the 3DSXL, you get a 4GB card. But are these big enough to store whole games, as well as photos and music?
To get a little bit of perspective here, a 2GB SD memory card equates to around 15,000 blocks. If you wanted to download, say, Mario Kart 7; this will use up 8,192 precious blocks: more than half. So if you are only wanting to download one or two games and still have space left for those hilarious pictures and favourite tunes, the 2GB will do the job.
But if you wanted to download Mario Kart 7 and Animal Crossing, you would need 16,384 blocks. So, for those who are more serious gamers and want space for more than two or three games, then an SDHC card is a good option. It is fully supported by the 3DS and will allow you to choose from a 4, 8, 16 or 32GB card, so there will be more than enough for a few games and still space left over; even with the 4GB option.
But, if 32GB is still not enough for you hardcore 3DS gamers, or those who no longer want their physical game collection taking up their shelves, then there is another possibility. On the Nintendo forum, users have been saying that 32GB is the maximum size that the 3DS will support.
But, there could be a way around this using an SDXC memory card, which holds between 32GB and 2TB. In order for this to work, it would have to be formatted in fat32, which is a file allocation system and allocates file space more economically to allow more space to be freed on the card.
So, if you think you can follow one of the many online guides, by all means try and download away. Be warned, though, it will only support single file downloads of up to 4GB. But, judging by the file sizes of 3DS games already released, it is doubtful that any single game will be more than that anyway.
So, for those who are content to play the same game all the way from London to Edinburgh; stick with the 2GB. But if you like a lot of variety on the move, then go for the 32GB, or, if you feel adventurous, try an even bigger one.
How many 3DS games do you have in your collection? Would you consider replacing them with the downloadable versions?
