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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.'"
Exactly. Consoles have always been a locked down device versus the openness of PC. I dont know why people are surprised when this kind of stuff happens.
I find Microsoft's willingness to squeeze for storage interesting in two respects: One, it suggests a very high level of optimism about their position in the market. Two, it suggests that they don't much care about, or aren't making much money from, downloadable offerings for the Xbox(or that they view those offerings as being extremely compelling and likely to drive consumer behavior).
If they weren't confident of their position, and were actively trying to drive down the perceived cost of their product, storage would be a natural target. Just let people use bog-standard flash drives for game storage, and the market will continually release cheaper ones faster than any one company could even do design revisions. Same basic idea with basic HDDs. The fact that Microsoft isn't doing that suggests that they are very confident in their price point.
As for downloads, if Microsoft were making good money on those, they would want users to have huge hard drives, rather than limping along on a nasty little 512meg card. Again, they don't seem to be thus motivated.
Locking out the competitor's product should be illegal. If you can't compete because your product is overpriced, you shouldn't be propped up. Yes that may mean that people have to pay the true cost of a console or printer or other device, as it isn't subsidised by content/ink etc. It's called honesty. Manufacturers should try it some time.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
I'm so sick of this proprietary crap.
So you go for the game with no LAN play that you have to connect to proprietary Blizzard Servers? At least consoles give you little to no expectation of openness.
Anything can be found funny, from a certain point of view.
What monopoly? I walk into the living room and see a Wii. Are you sure Microsoft has a monopoly on video games?
Pfft... slippery slope. In this case, the company (Datel) already CREATED a working solution. It's not about about hand-holding or anything like that, right now. It's about MS locking out Datel's product because it's 4x the storage (expandable to like.. 64x with a micro SDHC card) and only $10 more. Microsoft is doing it because they love money.
Not monopoly, anti-competitive. I see a lawsuit here. Typically stepping on your competition like this gets you in some trouble.
This will kill them in the battle against the PS3. Sony make it so easy, for a start every PS3 comes with a hard drive, so games developers can assume that there is bulk persistent storage there and take advantage of it. You can also use USB mass storage devices. You can also upgrade the internal hard drive with undoing just a couple of screws, and it's all supported.
Sony have an easy way for you to back up your PS3 to an external USB hard drive, you then insert any laptop hard drive (I went with a 7.2k one and some things are noticeably faster) and you then restore your system onto the new hard drive. All without paying Sony an extra cent.
Specialist Mac support for creative pros, Melbourne
This is the wave of the future with all devices.
You don't need to upgrade it yourself, let Microsoft give you storage, for a "small monthly fee".
Next will be, you don't need to "own" a PC, or software, rent it, for a couple of "small monthly fees"
Let someone else manage your data, for a small monthly fee.
Let someone else update your programs, for a small monthly fee.
Let someone else manage the hardware, for a small monthly fee.
You will pay your "small monthly fees" and you will get NO WARRANTY, NO FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NO RECOURSE, NO REFUNDS, and NO SECURITY.
Most of the caps text is taken from the license agreement from most 'online only' software.
Think it won't work? It already does.
You don't "own" your cellphone, SIM card, or it's data. You simply rent it, for a "small monthly fee".
Good luck selling any of it, getting a decent warranty, or being able to cancel your contract.
Small Monthly Fees, get used to paying them , for everything.
I always thought one of the arguments for going console was that this was never going to be an issue?
Bottles.
You all did it to yourselves. I tried to warn caution when Microsoft entered the console market, but all you people would do was hug them for Halo. They're like Wal-Mart, they move in, offer you low prices, then when the competition is smeared, they take you for everything you have. Maybe next time MegaCorp shows up and goes "I'll give you a good deal if your forsake the competition" you'll stop and go: "Hmmm...did this work out for me last time?"
"Monopoly" or "Market Share", the DMCA doesn't make distinctions about either before branding circumvention a criminal act.
More Twoson than Cupertino
I can't create a car that artificially locks out 3rd party replacement parts and upgrades... why should Microsoft be able to create a gaming box that does the same thing?
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
This is, of course, assuming that locking out "unauthorized storage" does not also target in some crazy way locking out hard drives.
You know the old saying about what happens when you ASSUME, right?
Unless it's an official licensed XBOX device, by definition its an "unauthorized storage" device. Therefore these hard drives that you suggest buying from Newegg will also be locked out when this new update arrives.
You're right about the OS for gaming (but the less honest guys can probably find a pirated XP Corporate Edition).
That still doesn't solve the problem. You actually have to buy games on alternative OSes so that game developers target them more often. If you just pirate Windows, you are still enforcing the "Windows for Gaming Platform" because developers will continue to make games for Windows. Other people around the world will see this and continue to buy Windows, thus keeping the circle alive.
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
With the huge failure rate (I read one time it was close to %54 red ring of death for the xbox), and the constant vendor lock-in feature removal I am glad I have stayed with the PC. I know quite a few others that have given up on consoles and gone back to the PC (although some of them were because the gaming on a PC was better)
So, you use Xbox live, get the update, it cripples your ability to use the device offline, with no why to undo the change after the fact. Sounds like an issue to me.
Next thing you know, you'd have to hold your competitor's hand, work together on some product, watch your own share evaporate....
I call B.S. We're talking about commodity storage hardware; there's no excuse. MS is going out of their way to shut off access to otherwise compatible and standards compliant storage options. Moreover, there's a long history of third party storage for various platforms, e.g. the various "multi-memory" cartridges for the PS1, etc. In this case, these are bog-standard memory cards and drives, not even the proprietary exotica that third-party PS1 memory makers had to contend with.
As to the comments that "it's a locked down console platform", the digital camera market (esp. pro- and semi-pro dSLRs) is probably more mission-critical in terms of stability expectations than the console market. Yet the major digicam makers haven't done anything so daft as to lock themselves down to a few SKUs of memory cards.
Ah yes that old excuse, use the API and feel the Apple love of iTunes, sorry you forgot to mention the alternate Apple API for iTunes is intentionally crippled to make any competing media device difficult to deal with from a users perspective.
Because its starting to affect PC gamers. Just look up what Infinity Ward did with Modern Warfare 2 - they "Xbox Live"'d it to hell and locked out ALL the things PC was good for (mods, stand alone servers).
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
Just because a company can make a product that works with another companies device, the device manufacturer is under no obligation to support it.
Not supporting it is fine and dandy, but using artificial means to restrict perfectly legal devices that have always worked before to make more money is abusive and consumers should be nothing less than insulted.
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
And what of the remainder of the XBOX Live Gold subscription? As this gets sprung upon unanticipating subscribers, can they then opt out of their Live contract and thus regain access to their unauthorized storage, or is upgrading giving Microsoft a permanent foothold in your hardware free to exert any terms they want, including bricking the hardware if you don't take it on-line for remote auditing often enough?
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
Xbox 360 allows you to use any standard handsfree headset and any standard USB drive for storing media. They only restrict the game accessible media.
I try to avoid these discussions, but I can't resist:
You mean with an Xbox 360 you can rip a CD to the hard drive using the built-in optical reader, dump the resultant MP3s into a bog-standard USB flash device, and then plug that into your car stereo and play the music?
No? Bummer. The PS3 does that just fine.
Or, perhaps you mean that with an Xbox, you can back up your save games to any old USB drive.
No? Such a shame. The PS3 does that just fine, too.
Not to be snide, but I always got a kick out of my brother-in-law removing the hard drive from his 360 so he could take his save games to a friend's house. And then I started to feel pretty sad for him as I watched him try, at length, to offload a couple of MP3s, only to end with failure.
So, in my experience, the Xbox 360 is like a black hole when it comes to data -- once it's in there, there's no escape.
That sure is "open".
Kid-proof tablet..