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Physical media has been in the news a lot lately, not least when it comes to gaming. PlayStation has announced that it is ditching discs for a digital-only future, Xbox is likely to follow suit, and some games are being released as download codes in boxes – including GTA 6.
But ask PC gamers about it and they'll point out that bar some special releases, they've had to make do with digital downloads for years. Steam is the biggest storefront for PC game purchases and there are no physical copies to be found. Well, until now...
One gamer has built an ingenious cartridge system for PC that can play Steam games from custom SSD-based cartridges.
Taking to the PC Master Race Reddit (via Tom's Hardware), Jibril-sama detailed how they turned cheap SATA SSD cards into game cartridges, and built a dock to read and play them automatically.
The SATA dock is plugged into a PC, while the custom software detects when an SSD cartridge is mounted. An execute script then loads the game.
The builder even custom built the cartridge casings using 3D printing and added cover art.
"Got a couple of used 2.5-inch SSDs for cheap so I decided to make a game cartridge system," the Redditor revealed.
“Games are actually on those SSDs with a script to auto-navigate Steam to the game's page. Auto-starting the game right away is also possible."
Each SSD used cost Jibril-sama just €7 (less than £6), so the project is affordable. Whether it could be replicated by others is unclear at present. There are also question marks over Steam updates and patches for each game, which will be tricky to keep on top of.
However, they can be manually installed once each SSD is plugged in and the creator doesn't seem too concerned as the cartridges are for "games that I want to replay once in a while".
They also look good on a shelf, we expect.
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