Microsoft has confirmed that an upcoming system update will let you use USB memory sticks to store profiles and game information.
The news leaked earlier this month but has now been made official by Major Nelson., and a good job too because we won't have to fork out for the existing official memory cards, which offer less storage at higher cost.
"Once you take the system update on April 6th, you'll be able to connect your USB flash drives to your console and head over to the memory section to configure your new storage device," says the Nelson. There are a series of not particularly exciting screenshots showing how to do this on his Flickr gallery.
"Once you do that, the system will conduct a one time performance and integrity check to confirm the drive is working properly. You will then be able to configure how much storage to use on the device, up to 16 GB. The remaining space on the flash drive will be accessible by your PC or Mac. USB Hard drives may work, but like flash memory, you'll only be able to use up to 16GB of space."
Hard drives aren't recommended though. "Since performance on flash based USB storage is usually better, I highly recommend using flash based instead of spinning media like a hard drive...it's just going to give you a MUCH better experience," warns Nelson.
Suddenly it all makes sense. That leaked shot of the "slim" 360 motherboard had no memory card slots - which led me (and a lot of other people) to assume it was fake. Opening up the system to USB key drives looks like they're naturally paving the way for ditching proprietary memory cards in the next model. Suddenly that leaked mobo screenshot is looking a lot more realistic...
Ooh there's something else. 2 SATA ports on the "new" board (instead of the existing 1 for the DVD drive). Releasing the 250GB HDD for a "reasonable" price - to keep existing customers sweet while they allow standard HDDs to be fitted to the new model?
My prediction: Slim60 taking standard, replaceable HDDs and no memory card slots.
Suddenly it all makes sense. That leaked shot of the "slim" 360 motherboard had no memory card slots - which led me (and a lot of other people) to assume it was fake. Opening up the system to USB key drives looks like they're naturally paving the way for ditching proprietary memory cards in the next model. Suddenly that leaked mobo screenshot is looking a lot more realistic...
Ooh there's something else. 2 SATA ports on the "new" board (instead of the existing 1 for the DVD drive). Releasing the 250GB HDD for a "reasonable" price - to keep existing customers sweet while they allow standard HDDs to be fitted to the new model?
My prediction: Slim60 taking standard, replaceable HDDs and no memory card slots.
I hadn't really looked at the motherboard images in too much detail to notice that, but that's an interesting point. Though I doubt they'll let normal HDDs to be used any time soon, they'd lose way too much money and customers/gamers would become fairly angry pretty quickly...
"Since performance on flash based USB storage is usually better, I highly recommend using flash based instead of spinning media like a hard drive...it's just going to give you a MUCH better experience," warns Nelson.
translated to... make sure you only use our over priced hard drives.
Yes, you can back up game saves for those games that let you, and my understanding is that you will be able to rip games to the thumb drives and play games off of them, provided you have enough room.
Though room shouldn't be a problem--just got back from Fry's here in the Dallas-area, and they have 16GB USB Thumb Drives for $24.99 U.S. each. Not too shabby...
Was that a knock at big HDDs like sony let you have? Na MS wouldn't do a thing like that
Would that be the same type of HDD that is in the Microsoft HDD enclosure. I have to be honest and say that I get better performance on my xbox when I connect a USB HDD than I do when I plug in flash memory. Faster loading times etc...
Good news, shame there's a 16GB cap but still it's better than what we had previously.
Pah! Give me Super Frog and my trust Amiga 1200 any day. I can have as many hard drives as my tower allows . On a serious note, this is a good thing and will hopefully lead to the use of our own hard drives in the future. I own the Elite with a 120GB HDD which I'm finding just not enough, yet I'm not wanting to fork out £80 for a 250GB HDD. Not when the 320GB 2.5" HDD sitting inside my PS3 cost me £59 (that's including postage).
This Is GENIUS!!! So you mean it lets you do exactly what the PS3 has allowed from the very beginning?? Finally.
<points at XMB> Yeah, if only Microsoft were as perfect as Sony.
How is that cross game chat function by the way?
lol, its on the way. In the meantime we've got 6 person video chat to hold us over.
Which is GREAT for those times when you're, you know, actually playing games (which requires looking at the in-game action). Oh wait, that's right: According to Sony the PS3 is a "multi-media machine" - a pity they never did seem to focus exclusively on what a majority of people buy gaming consoles for....
Oh, and the PC says hi. The consoles are only about a decade behind or more.
Good on MS for granting another user option. Better late than never and it's just poor manners to complain over something that's offered to you at no additional charge. If you don't like it or want it then don't use it. It's quite simple.
Whats with all the negativity people? The way I see it is, before we paid silly money for tiny official memory cards; 64MB, 256MB = £14.99 or 512MB = £29.99!
Now we can have a HUGE 16GB memory for just £25.45 on Amazon.co.uk. That's a saving of around £934.23... What a Bargain!!!
Buy 2 Flash Drives and you've saved yourself a massive £1868.46!!! ..every little helps!
and do we need ridiculous size hard drives for movies and music when you can stream it direct from your PC or connect your MP3 player??? Seriously, some people need a reality check!!!
I think some of you might be missing a serious advantage this now gives ALL Xbox 360 users, those with and those without hard drives.
Specifically the Arcade users will now be able to purchase a cheap memory card, download content from Xbox Live and pretty much have the same experience that original Premium console owners have in terms of storage space.
It also means that if DVD storage is a limitation with certain games that all Xbox owners will be able to install the extra content to the memory stick and have a seamless experience just like installing PS3 games to hard drive to run them.
This is Microsoft's answer to potential DVD storage limitations.
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