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XBox 2 hard drive funcionality revealed

Izzy

Banned
With the forthcoming Xbox 2 release this fall and unveiling at E3 (Well, we think. We thought CES and GDC, too.) we've heard about Xbox 2's add-on HDD. Well, we've heard from a source within MS about X2's hard drive functionality.

In essence, it's a huge memory card. Bring your game saves, DLC, characters, MP3s, and saved replays to your friend's house. Load in your HDD and show your friend your kick ass character, or a PHAT RIDE, YO! Show him the course you made in PGR3, or the gametype you created in PDZ. Transfer saves, items, levels, and more with them (via memory card or Live? This info wasn't clarified). It won't be the supposed iPod killer. More like a portable Xbox Identity. Plug it into any Xbox and it'll know your Live account, stats, preferences, saves, and all of that good stuff. Think of it similar to Pokémon. Lugging around your GBC(olor) with Pokémon Red. Someone has Pokémon Blue, you trade some Pokémon and say good day. You can do this with saves, items, or whatever the developer wants. This should also be a Live feature, the way it was stated to us (Or perhaps just a Xbox Live marketplace feature, with the hard drive enabling it).

It won't be a normal IDE hard drive. One, because if you drop it and dislodge the head (insert penis [hehe] joke here), you wasted the extra cash and your info is gone. Two, because of hackers. It's going to be durable, portable, and sleek. He suggested it'd be "pretty fashionable" if you choose to alter it's exterior looks with stickers or whatever.

It will be pre-loaded with some things, to entice buyers. Obviously, what's pre-loaded was not even hinted at.

E3 starts May 17th. Look for more information in the upcoming month leading up to this year's Conference and Expo.

Link
 
quadriplegicjon said:
wait. the hard drive is needed for live?

that would really piss me off.

No, that's great. It should be a standard feature. That would be a great way to make sure a whole lot of people got it. At the very least, you'd need a memory card of course, and the cost/benefit proportions for the hard drive make it a much better choice anyhow.
 
ChrisReid said:
No, that's great. It should be a standard feature. That would be a great way to make sure a whole lot of people got it. At the very least, you'd need a memory card of course, and the cost/benefit proportions for the hard drive make it a much better choice anyhow.


are you saying that its great that they should require the harddrive? because i personally dont like paying extra for a harddrive, so that i can play on an online service i already paid for.
 
quadriplegicjon said:
are you saying that its great that they should require the harddrive? because i personally dont like paying extra for a harddrive, so that i can play on an online service i already paid for.
:lol You must not like PS2, then.
 
It would be great to force a harddrive for Live play. How would you receive patches otherwise? How would you download content? How would you upgrade your Xenon Dashboard?

I'm pretty sure you'd very, very soon run out of space on your memory card if you downloaded everything to it. A mendatory hard drive is perfect.
 
That's pretty much what it's sounding like, don't know what's so special about all of this. And there should definitely be a lower cost for people that already have Live accounts.
 
i got a great idea...

they should ship the xbox 2 without a controller and a/v cables, since people may not want the ones that come with it...

why force unnecessary items on the consumer when they can sell it for extra?
 
Quick clarification: There is a means to save your games internally built into each Xbox 2 and for developers to use as a cache. You do NOT need the additional hardware to save your games. You will need it for the custom soundtrack functionality, however. Sorry about the confusion.


So the are TWO HDDs? One (small) internal for saves and another one (bigger) optional/removable?
 
8bit said:
Oh, so it's a magical IDE drive?

Indeed. Either it's a flash rom and it'll be fucking expensive, or it's a HDD and it's easily damaged. You can't have it both ways.
 
what about those hard drives used in various audio/video devices like the zens, rios, irivers and ipods?

i mean, a typical ide hdd doesn't fit too well in a pocket, and people drop those devices all the time
 
I was just thinking the other day that it makes a lot of sense to use flash media of some sort as opposed to a hard drive in a console... I don't know what the barebones cost of manufacturing a hard drive is, but can it be much less than, say, 512MB of flash memory which in theory is a lot more than most people will ever need?

Of course, I was also thinking this in the context of "I think they should have storage included with the console."

But I think the cost isn't outrageous, and I also think it would likely cause less hardware concern... when was the last time your PS2 memory card crashed?

IMO, having a hard drive and not having to worry about a memory card has been one of my favorite things about the Xbox.
 
The Faceless Master said:
what about those hard drives used in various audio/video devices like the zens, rios, irivers and ipods?

i mean, a typical ide hdd doesn't fit too well in a pocket, and people drop those devices all the time

I don't feel like dropping my iPod on the ground and test that theory of yours. Are you sure about this?

The iPod is so heavy and seems so fragile that I feel dropping it on the ground would pretty much kill it.
 
The Faceless Master said:
what about those hard drives used in various audio/video devices like the zens, rios, irivers and ipods?

i mean, a typical ide hdd doesn't fit too well in a pocket, and people drop those devices all the time

If you drop a HDD based media player, you're asking for trouble. It might survive, since they can park their heads based on motion these days, but you're basically taking several hundred dollars for granted if you actually drop it.

Flash is pretty resistent, though, but it is literally 100 times more expensive per meg than a hard drive.
 
I don't feel like dropping my iPod on the ground and test that theory of yours. Are you sure about this

I use my iPod whilst running, I have lost count on how many time its fallen from arm, and on 2 or 3 occasions has bounced along the concrete. Hardly a scratch on the case and it works perfectly well.
 
ecliptic said:
If it is required for the Live, I bet they have a Live kit. HDD + headset + year of live for like $80.
What happens to my current year of Live when Xbox 2 hits? Can I transfer it? And I already have a headset. I don't feel like paying for a new one.
 
AtomicShroom said:
What happens to my current year of Live when Xbox 2 hits? Can I transfer it? And I already have a headset. I don't feel like paying for a new one.
easy!

you have to get an Xbox Colony subscription, Live will be for Xbox 1 and be a seperate fee..

:lol :lol :lol
 
quadriplegicjon said:
are you saying that its great that they should require the harddrive? because i personally dont like paying extra for a harddrive, so that i can play on an online service i already paid for.

Xbox live, not 360 live.
 
I hope that at least the different versions (one without, one with HD) rumor is true. I don't care if I have to pay $50 extra for a 40 gig HD. I'd hate it if it were as complicated as it sounds in the text above.
 
maharg said:
Indeed. Either it's a flash rom and it'll be fucking expensive, or it's a HDD and it's easily damaged. You can't have it both ways.

He said it wasn't an IDE, not that it wasn't a harddrive. IDE is just an interface, not the drive itself. It could be using their own custom controller, or it could be one of those less than an inch long drives that toshiba is putting out. The thing is around the size of a six sided die and it up to 4 gigs as of now. One way or another, they'll be making the storage somehow custom hardware, or at least very obscure hardware that the consumer won't have easy access to.
 
hooo said:
He said it wasn't an IDE, not that it wasn't a harddrive. IDE is just an interface, not the drive itself. It could be using their own custom controller, or it could be one of those less than an inch long drives that toshiba is putting out. The thing is around the size of a six sided die and it up to 4 gigs as of now. One way or another, they'll be making the storage somehow custom hardware, or at least very obscure hardware that the consumer won't have easy access to.

I gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed that he was not referring to the controller interface, which would be utterly, completely, insanely, stupid. Don't assume that his terminology mixup influenced what I said at all.

The interface has nothing to do with how durable or expensive it is.

And if you want to get nitpicky, IDE is itself a highly outdated term. Current drives use the ATA interface.
 
quadriplegicjon said:
a) there is no subscription fee for ps2 online.

b) i dont own a ps2.........


:lol


no, but its almost implied, which is why i was asking.

I don't see where it was implied. The Live Drive (as I'm sure it will be called) will likely be for DLC, media storage and mass-game saves. I'm sure you will still do Live without it, but won't be able to take advantage of the DLC or media functionality of the system. Loading it wil a game, or a crapload of demos, would be a good move to entice buyers.

And it better not cost more than $99. (and the core system $299)
 
So basically XBox360 wont "need" a HD. But to make it work you'll need it or you will just have a piece of junk since a bunch of Xbox360 will have the online stuff hard coded on the box which most likely will need the HD. So MS will get to charge extra for the HD instead of packaging it with the unit.
 
^^^ Im sure the memory cards that PS2 and GCN owners have been purchasing for years were free.

I have said this before this is a smart thing that MS is doing for marketing. Look at this generation. What is the true price of a PS2, a GCN, a XBOX? Only one of those retail price is real and that is the XBOX. The PS2 and the GCN depend on a add-on that costs $20-$30 and you may very well need multiple. Only the XBOX didnt require the add-on. So the real price of the XBOX today is $150, the PS2 $170-$180 and the GCN $120-130.
 
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