They're pretty much a distant memory now—except for tinier descendants like 3DS and Vita games—but it used to be that cartridges were the only way to get video games playing onto a TV. The exact origins of the cartridge have been tough to trace, but a new Fast Company article run down the beginnings of this key piece…

The popular myth has been debunked: you can't blow on cartridges to make them work. Actually, blowing on the cartridge might damage it. Sorry, folks. It's true.

I grew up, like many, blowing cartridges and spending hours reading through game manuals. Then came the boxy jewel cases and CDs. The more I loved a game, the more scratches and nicks the back of a game would suffer.

About two years ago, a guy posted a how-to for turning old NES cartridges into a harmonica. If you lack the tools, know-how, or NES carts to make one yourself, someone's now selling them, for $24.99.

Inspired by a three-year-old Kotaku article, Canadian blogger Rinry subjected eight NES carts to varying forms of torture to see just how durable the goods were. Seven of them were still fully playable.

Meanwhile, in the make-believe land of eBayia, someone's auctioning a "mysteriously blank Nintendo 64 cartridge" - promising only that the game works and doesn't suck. "Are you man enough to buy a label-less N64 game?" No, but Saxton Hale is!

We don't know much about art, but we know what we (sort of) like - and what we (sort of) like is NES cartridges put in a cheap frame and displayed on our walls. Each genuine NES cart is mounted on a 'Nintendo gray' top mat and a charcoal gray backing, then framed with something called a '1.5" Black shadowbox' and…