Slashdot Mirror
Xbox 360 Update Will Lock Out Unauthorized Storage
itwbennett writes "The other shoe has dropped on the upcoming preview program for the next Xbox 360 update and it's going to cost you. In a post on the Major Nelson blog, Xbox's Larry Hryb reveals that this next update will lock-out unauthorized storage devices. As blogger Peter Smith reminds us, 'the Xbox 360 comes in two (currently) SKUs, one with a hard drive, and one without. The drive-less Xbox 360 Arcade unit is cheap ($199) but to realistically use it, you'll need to buy a "Memory Unit" (basically a proprietary USB stick) or an Xbox hard drive.... A 512 MB Microsoft branded Memory Unit goes for $29.99 at BestBuy.com. A 2 GB third party Memory Unit from Datel goes for $39.99, and the Datel unit is expandable using microSD cards....If you bought the Datel and it's full of data, between now and the launch of the new update you're going to have to run out and buy 4 of the Microsoft units at $29.99 each, or more likely, pick up the $99.99 60GB Live Starter Pack for Xbox 360.'"
No, if you had any sense to not get robbed by big corporations. You would dump xbobx360 and give a flip of the bird to M$.
Locking out the competitor's product should be illegal.
No, because, this is a subsidy of the competition. Next thing you know, you'd have to hold your competitor's hand, work together on some product, watch your own share evaporate....
This is my sig.
Yeah, it'll be great to play StarCraft 2 on a bunch of home built computers on your private home network! Ohhhh, yeah, that's right they took that you so you still have to connect to Battle.Net in order to play a LAN multiplayer game.
It's also really awesome that they're launching it for not one but two open source platforms! Oh, right, forgot... Windows and OS X aren't actually open source.
But yeah! Right there with ya man! I'm so sick of this proprietary crap too! I just can't wait for Blizzard to finish making their product which includes pretty much a custom built set of code that is not available to anyone but Blizzard employees... making it not really an open product.
Hmm... well, guess its not as open souce as I thought but woo, man that spin was great for about 15 seconds!
Linux!!!! Wooo! *kegstand*
"Don't feel bad for me child; I'm the monster that hides under your bed."
Apple didn't block the Pre from anything. The Pre was using the iPod/iPhone USB identifier. It was the USB Working Group that told them to stop.
Why does everybody bring up the $100 wireless dongle for the 360? Someone invited something called a cable a long time ago, it links items together, it even comes with the damn thing.
I'm sure I'm not the only person who has the xbox very near the TV, which is also where my cable connection comes into the house, which is next to my damn modem/router. I don't need wireless when the router is sitting 2 feet from the system. Wireless is not the only why to access the internet, despite what starbucks tells you..
Why don't you compare the $300 xbox with the $300 PS3? Both come with 120gig HD, null point. The system is not required to be online, so online connectivity/wi-fi is a null point. Blu-Ray, ok, point there. Then again, if you do have your system networked in any way, it can most likely stream from your computer, which can store the HD content, so Blu-Ray gets nulled out.
Live has a fee of $55 a year, A YEAR, people with a $200-300 system that has new games costing $60, should not be allowed to bitch about a low cost fee that charged YEARLY. That's what, 3 outings to McD's for a family of 4, a weeks worth of starbucks every morning, or a night to the bar? Gaming is a hobby, hobbies incur cost. Check with a female family member about the cost of gardening or knitting or scrap booking, then complain about a one time a year fee that's fairly cheap.
Really, the only winning point the PS3 has over 360 as a user cost standpoint is the ability to pop in just about any HD, which is a very nice point, which would be the only relevent point to the whole thread.
Hrm. Assuming that you're the same Coward:
That doesn't look very clear at all, to me, since I've never seen the 360 store anything on a "standard USB drive".
But even if you really meant to clearly state that "you can play your videos and mp3s from USB media": Five years ago, I had a cheapo standalone DVD player which did that exact same thing, and it was a lot cheaper than an Xbox. And, nowadays, even my TV can do that by itself. But yeah -- all hail teh opens of teh 360, or something.
Moving on: My wife uses the rip-cd-and-copy-to-USB function of the PS3 fairly often. I've found myself using it from time to time, as well. It works rather well, and it is positively refreshing to handle media in a useful way without having a fucking computer involved.
Also: Might I suggest not being a fucking dickhead, and logging in next time? You'll find that your replies are far more kind, and far more likely to be in context with whatever you might've written before on a given subject.
Kid-proof tablet..