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[TheOMan]

No. I'm saying as opposed to a vinyl skin which will look just as good and not cause you to have to rip a giant plastic face off of your game console that you will have absolutely no use for once it's removed. What are you going to do with your unused face plates? It's a waste of space, a stupid concept in my opinion. It's a lot like the crap in the cell phone market, except this is a much bigger device and a lot more wasteful. Honestly why not just sell skins for $5-$10?

Hmmmm, this is an excellent idea.

*writes it down*

 

[DCX]

I think face plates will be bought just once...and that is all, i can't see people having 4-5 face plates, i mean how much can you change your decor?

DCX

 

[Seth C]

Agreed. Unfortunately, I think the pricing of the mem cards/hdd suggests that won't be the case. The only way they could get away with such prices is if they're the only option in that regard. There'd be no point in putting out a 64MB card at that price if people could use a 512MB usb drive for the same price - why not just have a x360 branded one and let that be that?

edit - from the brochure it sounds like you need the mem card or HDD. Says you the mem card is required for game saves/live in the absence of a HDD, and talks about connecting other storage devices for just media playback. Here's a question: can other storage devices be plugged in and used for custom soundtracks? The brochure only mentions them in relation to the HDD.

Yes. Custom soundtracks can be streamed from a mass storage device or even over the network from your PC.

 

[vatstep]

The only cool thing about the faceplates is that you'll be able to download a matching skin for the dashboard (and probably have to pay even more for it). But I would still never pay money for one.

 

[gofreak]

Yes. Custom soundtracks can be streamed from a mass storage device or even over the network from your PC.

Cheers! Well at least that's something.

 

[rastex]

Agreed. Unfortunately, I think the pricing of the mem cards/hdd suggests that won't be the case. The only way they could get away with such prices is if they're the only option in that regard. There'd be no point in putting out a 64MB card at that price if people could use a 512MB usb drive for the same price - why not just have a x360 branded one and let that be that?

Prices aren't a very good indicator. I mean look at the price of the original Xbox wireless bridge adapter, or the ludicrously priced "Link-cable" which was just a friggin ethernet cable. That's a marketing/branding thing that will get people to pay because they KNOW it'll work and it's trusted. Alternative storage schemes are for more technically minded people that are will to take some chances and configuration. But we're really not going to find out until somebody attempts these things with a final box.

 

[sangreal]

You could use a USB thumb drive as a memory card on xbox 1 btw

 

[moowear]

Yes. Custom soundtracks can be streamed from a mass storage device or even over the network from your PC.

Out of curiousity, if MS was inclined to do so, would they be able to legally release a patch that would prevent the PS3 to stream AV files from the Windows OS? Actually, has there even been any type of info regarding ps3 media streaming?

 

[sangreal]

Out of curiousity, if MS was inclined to do so, would they be able to legally release a patch that would prevent the PS3 to stream AV files from the Windows OS?

No, but they aren't required to make it work with Windows Media Connect (which is what x360 will use). I don't think there is anything stopping Sony from being compatible with WMC though. They could also use their own software or Samba or something.

Actually, has there even been any type of info regarding ps3 media streaming?

No

 

[----]

Agreed. Unfortunately, I think the pricing of the mem cards/hdd suggests that won't be the case. The only way they could get away with such prices is if they're the only option in that regard. There'd be no point in putting out a 64MB card at that price if people could use a 512MB usb drive for the same price - why not just have a x360 branded one and let that be that?

edit - from the brochure it sounds like you need the mem card or HDD. Says you the mem card is required for game saves/live in the absence of a HDD, and talks about connecting other storage devices for just media playback.

Is it just me or does this now make the memory stick/flash slots on the PS3 a whole heck of a lot more valuable than they were before?

This proprietary memory storage strategy that MS is using is a nice way to sell overpriced peripherals like the HDD/memory unit and make extra money, but I think once the PS3 hits the market with open standards for memory this strategy will have officially gone the way of the dinosaur. For the price that Microsoft is selling 64MB of memory you will be able to get 1GB of memory for the PS3 when it launches. You'll be able to get 512MB of memory for the PS3 for half the price of the 360's memory. That is assuming you don't already own that memory for your PSP, PDA, cell phone, or digital camera.

Like the wi-fi issue because of the way MS is over-inflating the cost of their proprietary storage and closing out open standards the PS3 with it's open standards now has a much greater perceived value.

If Sony uses open standards for their 2.5" HDD like they did with the PS2 HDD then the memory options for Xbox 360 are going to look even worse. Xbox 360 owners are going to be stuck with very expensive, relatively low capacity, proprietary storage formats if MS doesn't open up those USB slots.

 

[sangreal]

MS is going to be stuck with very expensive, low capacity, proprietary storage formats.

True, but last gen it was Sony with the expensive, low capacity, proprietary storage while the xbox didn't need any extra storage. You could even use a usb drive if you shelled out the $5 for the memorycard->usb adapter. It doesn't seem to have helped Microsoft out very much.

 

[Yusaku]

You could use a USB thumb drive as a memory card on xbox 1 btw

Yes, but that was when MS wasn't forcing third parties to license accessories. If you don't have a hard drive, MS wants you to pay $40 for a tiny 64MB memory card. I would not count on using thumbdrives AT ALL for games.

 

[Kangu]

Is it just me or does this now make the memory stick/flash slots on the PS3 a whole heck of a lot more valuable than they were before?

This proprietary memory storage strategy that MS is using is a nice way to sell overpriced peripherals like the HDD/memory unit and make extra money, but I think once the PS3 hits the market with open standards for memory this strategy will have officially gone the way of the dinosaur. For the price that Microsoft is selling 64MB of memory you will be able to get 1GB of memory for the PS3 when it launches. You'll be able to get 512MB of memory for the PS3 for half the price of the 360's memory. That is assuming you don't already own that memory for your PSP, PDA, cell phone, or digital camera.

Like the wi-fi issue because of the way MS is over-inflating the cost of their proprietary storage and closing out open standards the PS3 with it's open standards now has a much greater perceived value.

If Sony uses open standards for their 2.5" HDD like they did with the PS2 HDD then the memory options for Xbox 360 are going to look even worse. MS is going to be stuck with very expensive, low capacity, proprietary storage formats.

The coup de grace would be if they allowed saves on usb memory sticks and of course require developers to support all formats for saving purposes. I'm still fairly suprised that Sony would allow one of its most constant sources of income to disappear by eliminating the propietary memory card.

When you think about it the under sized overpriced memory card in the X360 is probably another incentive from microsoft for people who bought the retard pack to get the hard drive. For the price of 2 mem cards you can get a 20 gig hard drive, what would a savy consumer chose? Although if you bought the retard pack already maybe you're not so savy.... Wouldn't suprise me in the least if MS also allowed developers to go crazy with their save file sizes so that the mem card fills up in no time.

The more I think about it the more I realize MS thought this whole thing through extremely well all with the single minded goal of getting the most hard drive equiped consoles into people's homes, why you ask...









MICROTRANSACTIONS BIZNICHEZ!!!

 

[----]

True, but last gen it was Sony with the expensive, low capacity, proprietary storage while the xbox didn't need any extra storage. You could even use a usb drive if you shelled out the $5 for the memorycard->usb adapter. It doesn't seem to have helped Microsoft out very much.

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that most people are going to buy one system or another because of their peripherals. Most people buy game systems for specific games.

I'm just saying for smart people when they factor the cost of one system vs. the other have to consider this. When a PS3 comes out you may not have to buy any memory at all for it and with the PS3 exclusively using all open standard memory formats the price for storage is always going to be much lower while the capacities will always be higher.

Xbox 360 owners may feel really shafted over the course of this generation or at least frustrated by MS's closed standards. I'm just speculating but if you can go ahead and slap an off the shelf 2.5" HDD into your PS3 the way you could with the PS2 HDD then you could be talking about a much more massive amount of storage for the PS3 for the same price as 20GB of storage on XB360.

There are 2 major reasons for MS not to use open standards regarding memory. 1.) They can make a lot more money this way. 2.) They can claim better security against piracy. I don't think either of these reasons satisfy consumers looking to make the XB360 or PS3 their main multimedia hub.

I gotta say in light of these unfair non-competitive closed market memory prices it's a real shame you can't just use a networked PC or USB device as your memory storage. I'd be willing to sacrafice a little bandwidth and speed to not have to pay $100 for 20GBs.

 

[HokieJoe]

Yes, but that was when MS wasn't forcing third parties to license accessories. If you don't have a hard drive, MS wants you to pay $40 for a tiny 64MB memory card. I would not count on using thumbdrives AT ALL for games.

At least until the PS3 comes out.

 

[gofreak]

For the price that Microsoft is selling 64MB of memory you will be able to get 1GB of memory for the PS3 when it launches.

Probably, we're almost there, just €60 now. And they'll get cheaper over PS3's lifetime.

Storage may be so cheap and plentiful on PS3 that devs can pretty much assume everyone has a certain amount. That could make for a bigger market for downloads, games that ordinarily would require a HDD and so on (could a MMORPG work with, say, 512MB of storage space? They could even perhaps pack in "dedicated" memory sticks with games that can really use them as they get cheaper and cheaper). I think it could be very interesting if Sony said "look, you need a minimum XMB/GB memory stick for PS3 games, but hey it'll only cost you $XX", which would allow devs to assume everyone has that. Basically reap some of the benefit usually associated with a standard HDD (similar to Rev's internal 512MB of storage).