Memory units

Originally console games had no additional storage memory for saving game related data. During the Nintendo Entertainment System's time on the market, battery backed cartridge games that could retain a limited number of game files were introduced. When the original Sony Playstation was released it included support for an external memory source, called a memory card. Its purpose was to store important information about the games, such as game states or scoring info. That memory card used a memory of type EEPROM. To support the growing use of these cards in normal game play and the different amounts of data to be saved, larger memory cards were created. Other consoles also adopted the use of memory cards, such as the Sega Dreamcast, whose memory card was called the Visual Memory Unit or VMU. The Dreamcast’s memory unit was unique in that it had a monochrome LCD display, a D-pad, and two buttons. A large third party memory card market also sprung up, offering cards that were often much cheaper and larger than the official released memory cards. Some unique third party cards required extra software to access the cards, or possibly increase the data capacity by compressing the contained data.

The Xbox system was sold with a new type of data storage for consoles: an internal hard drive to store information. The hard drive was 8 GB and was used as more than just a memory device. It was used in conjunction with the games to buffer some of the game data so that loading times were decreased. The hard drive also stored downloadable content from the Xbox Live service. Since the Xbox precedent, the Sony Playstation 2 had a hard drive accessory used with the Final Fantasy XI game to store character data. In the new generation of game consoles the Playstation 3 is included with one of two different sized hard drives, depending on which model of the console is purchased, the 20 GB, 40 GB, 60 GB, and 80 GB models. The Xbox 360 launched with a 20 gig hard drive. After users started to complain of lack of space due to HD content, Microsoft released a 120 GB drive bundled with their Elite model, and available for individual sale.