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Xbox 2 Storage Supplier Says No Hard Drive
Loadmaster writes "Dov Moran of M-Systems, who recently closed a deal with Microsoft to provide 'customized memory units' for the next Xbox, spills the beans. He says Xbox 2 will not have a hard drive in an interview with the Israeli website Globes Online. No details on how their memory solution will replace the HDD, though." Regardless, Moran seems pretty confident in the agreement with Microsoft, so it's likely that the Xbox 2's storage system is now in M-System's hands. S!: Also worth noting is a GameSpot story which has an Xbox spokesperson claiming: "Mr. Moran is aimlessly speculating... we've made no such announcements about future Xbox products and services."
No, they're purchasing a whackload of that Flash memory they used on the Mars rovers. That way, peoples Xboxes will randomly lock up and refuse to do anything unless a tech support guy 8000 miles away sends it a command.
All in M$ style, of course.
I for one would love to see more solid-state parts used in these game consoles. The more moving parts a thing has, the more likely it is that those things will break. By removing them and replacing them with solid-state devices, it makes the failure rate of the these things due to hardware failure drop considerably.
But that's just the consumer's POV.
More to the heart of the matter, Microsoft would likely be doing this because of the inability of hackers to easily replace the contents of a DOC with their own personal OS image, be it Linux or NetBSD. The reprogrammable DOC is great in its ease of update, if you've got the programming hardware. Otherwise, you have to find a way using the existing OS to update the OS image. You can be sure that MS will make that close to impossible.
But then again, I've never really cared about Linux on the XBox. It always seemed like one of those Everest platforms: you do it because it's there.
I have been pwned because my
Maybe Microsoft also is also looking for ways to lockdown the hardware, and prevent people from installing linux. Possibly using a more compact form of memory which they can control better. You know the old moto: "embrace and extend". Microsoft need only pervert something for their proprietary needs, and lockout reverse engineering.
Another issue might be simply mechanical, hence the notion of reducing the need for moving parts. Since solidstate memory is increasing in capacity, and price. One cannot arge against the percieved advantage of having a hdd for large scale storage. I dump entire CD's to my xbox, and play them in games, or use the xbox as a primitive juke to play the entire collection. So possibly Microsoft is opening up an after market for add-on hard drives? Their stance being that you get "enough" storage for game-state saves, and if you need more get an add on memory module for your controller, or get the option hard drive. It certaily helps to leave space for the the extra hardware in the enclosure just in case they decide to include them later on (depending on what sony does).
It isn't a lie if you belive it.
Is it just me, or is the concept of the Xbox 2 not having a hard-drive seem possible as a direct influence of piracy?
With modchips and the internal drive, being able to play disk images right off the harddisk seems like this could be an issue for Microsoft.
Fastest way to find a needle in a haystack? Burn down the haystack...
Taking out the harddrive would be just that, elimating the problem.
Course it could be just a cost factor, who knows. All arm-chair analtics...
I wouldn't rule out MS putting in a re-writeable dvd drive.
I would. Large rewritable removable media is the last thing that MS wants. Built in DVD-R just screams for piracy. Besides, it's also a hassle to consumers that would have to switch discs frequently.
Look for extra game content to be stored online and distributed in a somewhat peer-to-peer model in the vein of BitTorrent. Be it a new multiplayer map or a single player campaign, the first user would download the content from the servers and the rest could get it from peers.
They [rewritable DVD drives] retail under 100 bucks these days, so if they struck a deal with some company it could be rather cost effective.
True. They may well be less than that in quantities but that doesn't automatically mean that they are cost effective. MS is finding the additional price for the built in hard disk drive in the current Xbox isn't cost effective and they probably get great deals on those.
Games didn't really use the HD much anyways.
From an end user standpoint, you're right. There are games that create obscenely large save games and a bit of downloadable content for others but aside from these (and custom soundtracks) the HDD doesn't seem to get much use.
The truth is that many games, mostly first and second party games, use it for virtual memory or for spooling data. A good chunk of the Xbox OS, such as the dashboard, is also on the drive. Granted the Xbox 2 will have much more than 64MB of RAM but developers will just have to deal with no HDD. Those that are programming for multiple platforms may not even notice.
An add-in hard disk drive could still be a viable option for games that absolutely need it but people will just have to plunk down more cash for it. Heck, people are already paying $200+ for Steel Battalion. Sony is banking on Final Fantasy XI to sell the PS2 HDD; MS could simply make it a requirement for Halo 3 if they want a maximum install base... and it's a bonus if it includes the ability to play old Xbox 1 games.
Well, it looks like I'm in the minority who don't believe this guy.
I don't think he knows what he's talking about; the way that he keeps mentioning that he's looking out for the company's long-term survivability in regards to the company's track record of red ink reminds me of Tom Smykowski's nervous, angry interview with the Bobs in Office Space. The fact that he said that the Xbox 2 was going to have a "CD," not even a "CD Drive," rather than a DVD drive of some sort tells me that he's not at all familiar with what the specs of the Xbox 2 will be.
If I read the article correctly, M-Systems has had a total of one quarter of profit in fifteen years of existence, and this quarter will have them back in red ink. It sounds to me like the poor guy's in the process of jumping ship ("I personally own a lot of shares in the company, and I sell shares every quarter....") but doesn't want the public shareholders to beat him to it, so he's trying to sell everything M-Systems is doing as a Real Big Thing(TM), which will bring in "hundreds of millions to the company, spread over a few years...." In other words, I don't think M-Systems is anywhere near as important in the Xbox 2 development process as Mr. Moran would like to have us believe.
Then again, if such is the case we're back to square one with conflicting rumors and no solid statement from Microsoft either way. I'm hoping Microsoft does decide to include backward-compatability. If they don't, I'll not even begin to consider purchasing one for a few years.
~UP
Eat the Path.
Think Sega Dreamcast, IIRC many Sega games had two tracks, one normal CD track, and one higher density track. Build a two part DVD, the inner part normal pressed DVD, the outer part (basically whats left after your game) DVD+rw. All the game save files go on the disk, just like GBA cartrages store saved games. If you want to do game updates, just press only a loader and a couple graphics images, and burn the rest.
This has a good anti-piracy measure: just turn the write laser on in the pressed part, and if there is anything left you know it is a real pressed disk and legitimate.
Microsoft has the money to design such a disk, and setup the manufacturing. Volume sales might never make up for the costs, but they have already prooven they don't care about profit too much yet.
Note that if I were going to design this I'd use a DVD-RAM for the writeable section, both because give more write cycles, and it is rare enough that most people can't write it. Do your lasers right, and even if someone manages copy a game to a rw (+/-), they won't be able to save any of their games.
Ok, the obvious answer here is:
Microsoft wants out of the office and onto the TV. Steve Ballmer has always stated that there is a bigger play for the XBox outside of video games. Would not be suprised to see a windows component for the xbox that allows, over your home network, to stream media from your pc to the tv. The HD for the XBox will be your PC.
This is a model that they have been pushing on for quite some time now and by tethering the 2 together, they reinforce their position in the home requiring XBox users to run Windows on their pc for the additional features the platform provides.
You heard it here first.
-GN