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More Xbox2 No HD Rumours

Hitcher

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Hitcher

Hitcher

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Next Xbox to skip hard drive?

From news.com:

Flash memory maker M-Systems announced on Wednesday that it has signed a contract to provide storage products for future versions of the Xbox, bolstering speculation that Microsoft may ditch the game console's hard drive.

M-Systems, best known for its DiskOnKey line of flash drives, which attach to a PC's Universal Serial Bus port, said in a statement that it has signed an agreement with Microsoft to develop "customized memory units for future Xbox products and services."

Ronit Maor, chief financial officer at Israel-based M-Systems, said the company could not discuss details of the contract. But Maor said the devices under development would be of significantly higher capacity than the 8MB Xbox memory units Microsoft currently sells to save game and user data. "What we're going to offer for the Xbox doesn't currently exist," Maor said.

Jay Srivatsa, a senior analyst at research firm iSuppli, said the Xbox hard drive so far has been used mainly for ancillary functions like saving progress in a game, not to improve the way games work. Sacrificing the hard drive could be a relatively painless way to trim $10 or $20 per unit from production costs. "I can see why they'd attempt to do that--the hard disk usage on the current Xbox has been pretty minimal," he said. "At some point, this has got to be a profitable business for Microsoft. They have to draw some lines; look at what can they take out."

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Burai

Burai

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Actually Microsoft are following Sony's lead.

Sony proved that you can release a console without a hard drive and make a profit and then sell the expensive hard drive on to people that actually need it at a later date to make further profit on top of that.

I have no doubt that Microsoft will be doing exactly that.

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Sng

Sng

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The Xbox has memory cards though <_<

Sony proved that you can release a console without a hard drive and make a profit and then sell the expensive hard drive on to people that actually need it at a later date to make further profit on top of that.

Well, Sony just proved how much of the market they have sewn up. The HDD might not be a massive selling point but I think it sure helped Xbox sales.

With console gaming moving online a whole lot more I really think an HDD is necessary. We'll see, I guess!

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JPickford (retired mod)

JPickford (retired mod)

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I still think it'll feature the HDD.

MS are just letting this rumour fly cos they started it, in the hope it'll make Sony think no HDD is needed in the PS3 <_<

Then BLAM, 1-0 already!

You could be right.

But I'm still betting on the HD being part of the LIVE package.

There really is very little point in including a HD just for saved games - which is pretty much what 90% of them are used for.

And memory cards are a VERY profitable sideline for Sony and Nintendo. XBox memory cards must be the lowest selling peripheral ever.

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Sng

Sng

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But I'm still betting on the HD being part of the LIVE package.

There really is very little point in including a HD just for saved games - which is pretty much what 90% of them are used for.

Yeah, that's the other thing I'm thinking, and getting that Live package also means you get the "Backwards compatability pack" that comes with it, or something like that.

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Pekoe

Pekoe

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Having a hard-drive for game saves, is one of the key reasons why I'll buy the xbox version of multiformat releases, so in a way Microsoft do recoup these losses. I can't be hassled with looking around which memory card has what save on, when you want to replay/ revisit an old game. One of the main reasons why I don't touch my Dreamcast as much these days, is having about 100 games and 9 memory cards, means you can spend half the night getting a game going.

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Andy_Tanner

Andy_Tanner

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i can't say i'll miss it. i haven't ripped any music in ages and it's never been used that successfully game play wise. the only thing i'm worried about is having to buy a new card every time Bioware release a game.

purely from a business perspective it makes sense to sell as many peripherals as you can. i wonder if a Live 2 package including a hd will be available at launch.

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kaisu

kaisu

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i wonder if a Live 2 package including a hd will be available at launch.

I would say the Live service would start from launch, Are they expected to change it that much?Will it be completly seperate from the existing live service?I'm sure alot of people will be counting on it being up and running from day 1.There's no point in delaying it, Unless of course there's no games available

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Cyhwuhx

Cyhwuhx

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.::: I wouldn't miss it. Actually I would welcome it. Ever since a friend of mine lost his 'tag and all saves when his Xbox went back for repairs I've become pretty paranoid of my Xbox breaking down...

It's not the hardware that is important to me, it's the data I created. And currently there is no normal way of keeping it seperate from the console.

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Beertiger

Beertiger

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My memory card 251 is only just full and I've got about 32 cube games.

i've got a 251 for my JAP cube but only the original size 59 (i think) for the PAL cube which i bought for Zelda. A 251 i don't object to buying when i buy another PAL game but Sony can suck my sack.

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DarhkFox

DarhkFox

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What they should do is have say four USB2 ports that can accept these pendrives etc.

Basically you could use them to save games etc, or you could have a 256MB one filled with mp3s and stuff like that. I wouldnt mind that idea, but still a hd would be nicer.

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Beertiger

Beertiger

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My GC memory card was about 10% full, same with my PS2 one... why don't you delete files when you're done with the game?! :P

because i got all the statues in zelda!

i'll delete games where i don't need the info anymore (unlocked stuff etc i will keep) but the 59's are bloody tiny.

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Hitcher

Hitcher

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.::: I wouldn't miss it. Actually I would welcome it. Ever since a friend of mine lost his 'tag and all saves when his Xbox went back for repairs I've become pretty paranoid of my Xbox breaking down...

It's not the hardware that is important to me, it's the data I created. And currently there is no normal way of keeping it seperate from the console.

I think it's more likely to lose saves on a memory card.

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Cyhwuhx

Cyhwuhx

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I think it's more likely to lose saves on a memory card.

.::: Yes, but at least the memory cards can survive multiple instances of the same console. If I would ever get a second Xbox because the first broke down, then I'm fucked.

I'm still using my PS1 mem cards to this day on the PS2.

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Sng

Sng

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That doesn't mean much. Big save files generally = sloppy coding. On PC & Xbox there isn't much incentive to keep the files small.

I thought that bit I think he means he has lots of save files, for each level or whatever.

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