Support NeoGAF

[Kleegamefan]

Looking at page 2 of the teamxbox/Todd Holmdahl interview, I saw this(never noticed it before now):

Do Xbox 360 games require the detachable HDD to be plugged in for them to work?

Todd Holmdahl: Xbox 360 games do not require the HDD or a Memory Unit, but Xbox Live requires one or the other to save the gamers’ account information.

http://interviews.teamxbox.com/xbox/1190/Xbox-360-Interview-Todd-Holmdahl/p2/


So if X360 games can be played without an HDD (I long wondered about this) that would mean games would have to be designed *NOT* to use HDD caching, right?

Or could HDD caching be an option, perhaps??

I seem to remember that Final Fantasy 10 would load faster with the PS2 HDD, so does that mean an X360 game with the HDD removed would work but with slower load times??

Not a programmer so I don't know how this works...

 

[sangreal]

This was brought up in the original interview thread, but here is my take on it.

I don't think he is saying that no games will require the harddrive. I think he is just saying that in general your Xbox will work without the drive attached. I reach this conclusion because it would be impossible for MMORPGs to work without any storage devices attached. I think certain games will require the drive, others will benefit from its presence and some won't use it at all.

edit:
they seem to have updated the article. Here is the original quote:

Do Xbox 360 games require the detachable HDD to be plugged in for them to work?

Todd Holmdahl: No. Xbox 360 games and Xbox Live do not require the HDD or a Memory Unit.

My opinion still stands, though I think its interesting that they clarified the Live remark and left the other half unaltered.

 

[newsguy]

So the 20 gig detachable HDD is not included? If it is then why even take it off in the first place.

 

[Suikoguy]

So, the HDD is a glorifed memory card after all?

Why?

In that case, why even include it at all?

Edit:

On second thought, this leaves the option to take out the HDD all together with a price drop.

 

[Kleegamefan]

So, the HDD is a glorifed memory card after all?

Why?

In that case, why even include it at all?

Well, earlier we did hear that the HDD was to be an option and that was probably the plan up until the very last moment...

MS was probably telling developers not to count on an HDD when developing X360 games...

Standard 20GB HDD along with increase to 512MB GDDR was probably a last-moment change.....

So the 20 gig detachable HDD is not included? If it is then why even take it off in the first place.

IIRC, 20Gig HDD is included for free with every X360 but removable...

It would be nice if SCEI had a similar change of heart concerning their stance of including an HDD PS3....

 

[Vormund]

Probably MS want people to get a taste of their 360 being a media box. And when they quickly fill up the 20GB HD they'll be more tempted to go out and buy another HD.

maybe meh I dunno.

 

[Redbeard]

In that case, why even include it at all?

Backward compatibility, storage for downloadable content, etc...

 

[Suikoguy]

IIRC, 20Gig HDD is included for free with every X360 but removable...

It would be nice if SCEI had a similar change of heart concerning their stance of including an HDD PS3....

I honestly don't care as long as developers support custom sountracks off the media sticks, and other various features. Hopefully sony presures them to do so if a HDD is not included.

 

[PhatSaqs]

Looking at page 2 of the teamxbox/Todd Holmdahl interview, I saw this(never noticed it before now):



http://interviews.teamxbox.com/xbox/1190/Xbox-360-Interview-Todd-Holmdahl/p2/


So if X360 games can be played without an HDD (I long wondered about this) that would mean games would have to be designed *NOT* to use HDD caching, right?

The anandtech 360/PS3 article mentioned that the HDD can still be used for caching.

 

[Kleegamefan]

The anandtech 360/PS3 article mentioned that the HDD can still be used for caching.

So what would happen if you played that HDD cached game with the Hard Drive removed?

Would it just be a load time issue?

 

[Pack of Wild Rats]

Just because its not required to be on the system to play for all games, doesn't mean their won't be caching.

 

[Pudding Tame]

So what would happen if you played that HDD cached game with the Hard Drive removed?

Would it just be a load time issue?

I would imagine it would be bad, much like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters.

 

[Ghost]

Maybe a developer could comment on how much work it would be to code 2 loading schemes, one in the event of the HDD being there and one not.


My guess would be that it means most if not all non-HDD required games (ie non-MMORPGS or alike) wont use the HDD for anything but saving. Which sucks.

 

[Timen]

all xbox 360 savegames should have a backup online trough xbox live.

 

[Rhindle]

I was puzzled by that comment as well. Perhaps they want to keep their options open to release a cheaper HDD-less model at some point?

 

[dorio]

That's really stupid of MS if that's the case. What's the point of including the drive then, just charge extra. I did read in one article that the caching won't be that big a need due to the faster dvd drive.

 

[Blaster1X]

Looking at page 2 of the teamxbox/Todd Holmdahl interview, I saw this(never noticed it before now):



http://interviews.teamxbox.com/xbox/1190/Xbox-360-Interview-Todd-Holmdahl/p2/


So if X360 games can be played without an HDD (I long wondered about this) that would mean games would have to be designed *NOT* to use HDD caching, right?

Or could HDD caching be an option, perhaps??

I seem to remember that Final Fantasy 10 would load faster with the PS2 HDD, so does that mean an X360 game with the HDD removed would work but with slower load times??

Not a programmer so I don't know how this works...

I believe Todd Holmdahl dont really know a lot on this subject.

Morrowind worked xbox harddrive more than any other game on the market...data was constantly being stream, this is one reason why you could walk across the whole Morrowind landmass and only see little hiccups when the data is being stream... without a hard drive Morrowind would not be possible on xbox and i'm sure the same goes for Oblivion on x360.

 

[Jonnyram]

It will most definitely be required by FFXI for a start. That's an 8 gig full-time installation right there. Perhaps it won't be used by all games, though.

 

[Rhindle]

That Holmdahl dude generally says a lot of strange things in interviews.

 

[Blimblim]

That's really stupid of MS if that's the case. What's the point of including the drive then, just charge extra. I did read in one article that the caching won't be that big a need due to the faster dvd drive.

He, the point would be to be able to release a Xbox 360 without hard drive at a much cheaper price. I'm quite convinced (but I don't have any reliable information about this) that a cheaper Xbox 360 without hard drive and even without wireless pads will be released at some point in the future.
I know as a fact that the developers still have to code the games with the possibility that there is no hard drive.

 

[Jonnyram]

I know as a fact that the developers still have to code the games with the possibility that there is no hard drive.

But you know that some developers will get privileges to avoid that too

 

[sol5377]

He, the point would be to be able to release a Xbox 360 without hard drive at a much cheaper price. I'm quite convinced (but I don't have any reliable information about this) that a cheaper Xbox 360 without hard drive and even without wireless pads will be released at some point in the future.
I know as a fact that the developers still have to code the games with the possibility that there is no hard drive.

that means some games (MMORPG's) won't work without there being a hard-drive. So if people buy the cheaper units down the road, they basically won't be able to download stuff from live (except to a memory card) or play MMORPG's and the games that use the for Cache and stuff won't run optimized (probably decreased load times), unless they purchase the HD seperately. Hopefully the developers play it smart and make their games detect if the hard-drive is attached and then utilize it to its fullest to improve load times and make their game worlds more lasting.

 

[Fafalada]

I'm quite convinced (but I don't have any reliable information about this) that a cheaper Xbox 360 without hard drive and even without wireless pads will be released at some point in the future.

From what I know, you're right about this.
But I'd probably be accused of spinning and propaganda if I said the same thing you just have.

IIRC, 20Gig HDD is included for free with every X360 but removable...

You're probably in for a surprise if you think it's included for free.

It would be nice if SCEI had a similar change of heart concerning their stance of including an HDD PS3....

Yep they should include as much stuff as it takes to drive the costs up to 500$, so that for once in history those analysts would be proven right. Although they'd probably revise their estimates to a 1000$ if that happened so it'd all be in vain anyhow...