Making Video Games Available on USB Instead of CDS

¶ … Video Games Available on USB Instead of CDS

USB are moveable storage devices and people use these devices to store huge amount of data. These devices are also called flash memory data storage devices. One can also store games in these devices and can directly run these store games.

Normally games are available on CDs or DVDs. But there are many limitations associated with these CDs like most of the games are available on multiple CDs, so carrying these CDs is difficult while on the other hand video games available on USB flash drives are very easy to carry.

USB devices are very useful. People are also using these devices for backing up PS2 games. According to data of 2010, these devices can store data of up to 128 GB (gigabytes). USB drives are also very easy to carry and can be carried even in pocket. The installation process of video games available on USB drives is similar to the installation process of video games available on CDs. One can play and enjoy game after installation just as a CD-based game.

There are some disadvantages of CDs because of which people are switching to USB drives. Some of these disadvantages of CDs are (COMPACT DISC):

CDs have less storage capacities as compared to USB drive.

People are also facing problem of hang up of CDs.

Majority of compact disc types are read only.

CD access time is also very slow.

It can easily be damaged.

High resistant to scratches and unintentional mechanical damages.

Can't change or modify data after burning.

CD basically stands for compact disc, and are used to store data. These storage devices were invented in the mid of 19th century and can store data of maximum 700 MB. Over 200 billion of CDs have been sold around the world. But nowadays they are increasingly being replaced by USB flash drives because of different reasons. Sales of CDs are continuously dropping because people are switching towards USB drives (Plambeck, 2010).

It is also predicted by most of the researchers, that CDs will become obsolete as everyone is moving towards USB drives and memory cards and the main reason for this changing trend is limited storage capacity of CDs.

USB drive is just like a portable hard disk. USB or flash drives have several advantages resulting in making them popular among the people. With the help of USB drives, one can protect the files by using encryption features. At the same time, they are very small and lightweight and are also protected against dust penetration. Rigid plastic and metal case make USB drives ideal for transporting data. Apart from this the writhing and erasing speed of these storage devices is more than the CDs, and these devices are also very reliable and durable (Gerry, 2010).

Plan

The plan of making games available on USB is very easy to implement. It doesn't require any additional cost except the cost of USB. Companies can easily copy games on USB as they are burning games on CDs. It is correct that the cost of USB is higher than the cost of CDs but companies can get cost advantages as they can produce USBs in large quantities to achieve economies of scale and the other advantage would be that during burning of CDs most of the CDs are wasted which would not be the case if USBs are used. Another drawback is that once any data is copied on CDs, no one can change the data but in USBs the option to change or modified the program will always remain.

Company can also use the U3 technology to implement this plan. With the help of this technology companies can install anything in USB stick and then customers can run programs without installation. Games on USB or U3 games are the best way to capture the huge market of youngster.

Population

Video games market especially games on portable devices have huge potential. As discussed above that people are facing the problems with CDs so making games available on USBs can easily get good response. Company can also attract aged people besides youngsters through this innovative product because currently average age of game players is 33 years.

USB drives are becoming so popular because they are more convenient than any other method. Burning video games on CDs take more time than on USBs. Because of the increasing demand of USBs drives, companies have also started distributing video game via USB drives.

Researchers are continuously investigating to introduce something new in the market. So they invented the idea of games in a Flash drive, which is totally different and unique idea. Games will be more protected on USB drives rather than on CDs. Most of the companies are distributing their video games via USB flash drives rather than CDs and DVDs. These USB devices are named as USB stick hence these games can be named as "Games on a stick." One of the main advantages of games on USB is that one can play without installing. These games are called portable games. Previously USB sticks were being used mostly for business applications but now some fun and entertainment products are also available on these sticks.