Microsoft's upcoming Xbox 360 USB flash drives are set to retail for almost £50, if listings on US e-tailer Gamestop are anything to go by.
According to the listings, the first-party drives are set to go for $70 for 16GB (£46) and $40 for 8GB (£26).
Google tell us that you can take your debit card online right now and buy a non-Microsoft branded 16GB flash drive for £17. A bit cheaper then.
Microsoft confirmed Xbox 360 USB support last week, stating that, "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."
If these prices are correct we think we'll be sticking to our third-party drives.
I thought they released an update that stopped third party hard drives being used? and if not whats to stop them doing it and making 3rd party hard drives useless.
Yes but you don't have to buy Microsoft flash drives so whats your point? Some people like to buy branded stuff they are not forcing you like with wifi
i'm sure that a lot of microsoft's customers will buy them. They like to be treated this way,they'll just bend over and take it with the smile on their faces.
I've been watching movies from an external HDD for a long time now. Does this mean that it will also let me save game data to the HDD aswell? Will I be able to copy movies from my USB HDD to the 360'd HDD? Or is it just a case of waiting till the 6th and see what happens?
Also, the external HDD I have cost me £50 but has slightly more space with 500GB of room.
didnt really see the press release but did MS actually say that you could use any usb drive or did they say that the update will allow you to use a usb drive, by which they mean their drive for their standard bottom-puckering price?
You can use ANY USB mass storage device, however, USB HDD's will be (much) slower than flash memory, and you can never have more than 16GB of memory allocated to each USB storage device (32GB in total, 2 devices)
Some people like to buy branded stuff they are not forcing you like with wifi
If you want to go Wifi then yes you are forced to use MS wifi adaptor only and cannot use any other wireless device with it (not unless you hacked around it) or you have to use the wired option which is fine unless your miles away from your modem/router then it can be a pain.
Some people like to buy branded stuff they are not forcing you like with wifi
If you want to go Wifi then yes you are forced to use MS wifi adaptor only and cannot use any other wireless device with it (not unless you hacked around it) or you have to use the wired option which is fine unless your miles away from your modem/router then it can be a pain.
Not true.
Before I got homeplug's I used to use a Zoom gamepoint, wireless connection without "hacking" or using the MS wifi adaptor.
Some people like to buy branded stuff they are not forcing you like with wifi
If you want to go Wifi then yes you are forced to use MS wifi adaptor only and cannot use any other wireless device with it (not unless you hacked around it) or you have to use the wired option which is fine unless your miles away from your modem/router then it can be a pain.
Not true.
Before I got homeplug's I used to use a Zoom gamepoint, wireless connection without "hacking" or using the MS wifi adaptor.
Well there are some other ways around but not all are that well known. In any case it would still be easier & cheaper if you could just plug a normal usb wifi pen than the MS £60 one.
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Thats what every idiot who bought a 360 deserves, sure its not the only add on that microsoft charge them for ie xbox live, HD dvd etc etc and now for a basic thing like a usb and its €50 ha ha ha that makes me smile.
Should of bought a PS3 and got the whole package!!!
So you have to use the MS Wifi adaptor which cost me £60 when I had a 360 which was a rip off. Now they want £46 for a 16gig flash drive after they made an update that banned the use of third party flash pens. Glad I sold my 360, its a good machine but MS are just rip-off marchants. Their HDD's are well overpriced too. I put in a 320gig HDD into my PS3 for about the same price has what MS want for a 16gig flash drive.
Overpriced branded items, or losing a load of features over a products lifespan....
I know which I prefer
A load of features? like what? PS1/2 playback and Linux? I think you'll find your Mr Gates also abandonned backwards compatibility after the s**t job they did at the start, and they never even gave you ability to install another OS in the first place.
Yes, Im p**sed off I cannot use Linux anymore, but the PS3 still does everything the Xbox can, and a whole lot more.
Also you can use unbranded BT headsets, mouse and keyboard, hard-drive(bigger than any of Xbox) built in wifi, built in Blu ray (compared to your failed HD-DVD add on) controllers with built in batteries
So you dont need to spend a fortune on overpriced crap, if you take all of that into account, the Xbox is the most expensive of the two and always was.
Note that this is a 'N' type network adaptor. This is something the PS3 doesn't have so if you need it, for the PS3, then you'll have to buy one. You don't have to use the official Xbox360 WiFi adaptor as you can use most WiFi network Bridges. These plug into the ethernet port and not the USB port. Here's the official list of compatible network devices for the Xbox360:-
You do not HAVE to use the MS Wifi adaptor, there are other products that will allow you to connect wirelessly.
Quite why you'd want to use wi-fi for gaming is beyond me anyway.
You do not HAVE to use the MS branded USB flashdrives, you can use ANY USB mass storage device.
I agree with you on the third party adaptors (although they do not let you use all the fuctionality) However why on earth would you not want to use wifi for gaming?
My connection is either wired (in the lounge) or wireless using ICS on my laptop (bedroom). I don't notice any difference with ICS on my XP laptop (W7 on my desktop is a different matter altogether).
I've done ping test on my laptop's wireless connection and the packet loss, ping and jitter results are nigh on identicle to my wired connection.
I've no doubt that wired is the best way to go, but wireless is a (for the most part) very good solution to the practicalities of using wired networks. Or even better get a wireless access point/extender with LAN out and use it for your 360, PC etc. Or as someone else said, homeplugs (but my electricity supply is dodgy and they can slow down through surge protectors).
I'm wondering if you'll be able to partition an HDD into various 16GB chunks and select between them (obviously only using two at a time). They've not said if it's limited to 2 devices in total per 360 or just 2 devices connected at one time.
Does the 360 recognise partitions in HDDs as seperate drives at the moment?
Lag, packet loss etc etc, even if you can't notice it, its there.
Wired is the best way to go for online gaming.
Well gaming uses such a small amount of my wireless bandwidth I am sure that it would not make any difference (unless you are on the edge of the routers range).
I certainly have no problems with lag over wireless.
You can use ANY USB mass storage device, however, USB HDD's will be (much) slower than flash memory, and you can never have more than 16GB of memory allocated to each USB storage device (32GB in total, 2 devices)
Much slower? You measure the lag in milliseconds, I seriously doubt you'd notice the difference.
And here i thought we could use our own USB drives, silly me.
You can. Any USB drive will work, just like any SD card will work with the Wii, even though Nintendo also partnered with Sandisk to sell branded ones, as MS are doing here.
Should of bought a PS3 and got the whole package!!!
Yeah, cos the PS3 gives you the full package! That's why Sony have this "please turn my PS3 into a 360" blog where PS3 owners are requesting features like cross-game chat, demos of all downloadable games, voice messaging, auto-syncing of trophies etc. etc.
http://share.blog.us.playstation.com/
The PS3 is always miles behind in features and PS3 owners clearly know that judging by the requests on that blog. LOL.
Ooh voice messaging ha ha and auto syncing of trophies?? Thats just for the nerds out there, I couldnt give 2 f**ks about the trophies ive earned, who does?? as for cross game chat no big deal id rather bluray anyday and free online just goes to show how much better the ps3 is you idiot and i haven't mentioned everything
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
I thought they released an update that stopped third party hard drives being used? and if not whats to stop them doing it and making 3rd party hard drives useless. 
They charge a whopping £60 for the WiFi adaptor which is no different to a £12.99 USB WiFi Pen! Shame on you Microsoft!
"all be it 2gb"
