120 gig black 360 almost offical? April ETA?
- Thread starter Brimstone
- Start date
It seems the largest platter size for a 2.5" perpendicular recording drive is 80GB right now, so the next biggest size will be 120GB or something like that. So using 120GB vs 20GB can be 120GB vs 80GB.
That's what kyleb was referring, I believe. PVR functionalities for IPTV are done server-side. You wouldn't actually be recording a show. You just get the data redelivered to your box.
The beauty of the system is that you can't skip ads ;-)
As far as I know Seagate is their only supplier.
In the past(original Xbox) Microsoft just included larger hard drives(10gb) but only made 8gb available. There was 2gb that went unused. Could Microsoft do this with the 360? How about include 80gb drives, but only 20gb is available. You could upgrade to full capacity(80gb) just by paying for it via Live Marketplace and getting an unlock code to unlock the rest of the drive? In my business I've bought survey-grade GPS systems with 64MB total memory, but only 4MB is available on the standard system. The rest is unlocked in 4mb increments just by paying for an unlock code. A lot of their other options are built into the system and you just need to pay for an unlock code to enable it.
Tommy McClain
They could. Would they? I personally doubt it. Frankly if Microsoft came out with "Surprise, your 20GB drive was really an 80GB the whole time!" would come across so horribly that I would hope everyone with a 360 would travel to Redmond and destroy the MS offices (and generally I'm a peaceful person...). Double the destruction if they then wanted you to pay for extra space that was in hardware you already owned. Therefore, I seriously doubt this to be the case. But, weirder things have and will continue to happen.
Indeed. Some companies have done something similar for games. It sickens me.
And it's not just paying to unlock stuff that you couldn't normally unlock by playing the game. There are "hidden extras" that you pay to unlock.Article: http://www.signal360.net/are-you-buying-content-you-already-own.html
Scroll down for a list of games
Indeed. Some companies have done something similar for games. It sickens me.
Article: http://www.signal360.net/are-you-buying-content-you-already-own.html
Scroll down for a list of games
I think this deserves its own ethics thread. After all, it won't be full of exaggerated strawmen.
Consoles are such a huge volume eater that you can just about make your own scale for a part on that business alone.
These drives are large enough™. Value per dollar isn't so much of a concern as the absolute cost. Just as a point of reference, at some point last year 20gig 2.5" SATA HDDs were retailing for 22$ in the US.
scooby_dooby
Legend
Indeed. Some companies have done something similar for games. It sickens me.
Article: http://www.signal360.net/are-you-buying-content-you-already-own.html
Scroll down for a list of games
Ya, this is jyst an absolute abuse of the system. Having DLC is a great opportunito to be able to develop extra content after a game has shipped, and deliver that to gamers to extend their enjoyment.
But when the content is already completed by the ship date, and is locked for future use, that's just a pure ripoff for the consumer. It's not as if these games are cheap, $60 freakin dollars for most games that last 8hours, it's absolutely ridiculous to be trying to suck an extra $10 or $20 out of consumers by locking conent. If we were payign less up front than previous generations this would be ok, but not only are we not paying less, they've increased the retail cost by 20%, while at the sametime removing content.
Long story short, great opportunity to improve gaming, and give consumers more future value for their $60 purchase, wasted, replaced with a system that actually worsens gaming and takes value away from the consumers.
If the DLC system was not in place, developers would have no reason to lock anything, and all content would be available on day 1. So, it's really pretty pathetic that once developers are given a method to deliver content, they immediately abuse it by making us pay extra for something we would have gotten anyways.
scooby_dooby
Legend
Responsibility must go to the publishers and developers as well, take Bioware for example, they have promised true, fleshed out episodic content between games to help gamers through the dry spell between games. Now that's just plain awesome, it takes a certain set of (rare) ethics not to abuse the system.
Epic seem to be hinting at some free stuff for Gears as well, and Crackdown is also alluding to a new city possibly being added. Actually these are all MS published games, so maybe they are trying a little bit at least to deliver some content that uses the DLC to it's potential.
Though, it strikes me as the developers who are pushing it in these instances, and I wouldn't doubt they have to battle with MS every step of the way to deliver free downloads, or not extract extra money out of available content at ship date.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
Indeed. Some companies have done something similar for games. It sickens me.
Article: http://www.signal360.net/are-you-buying-content-you-already-own.html
Scroll down for a list of games
Whoah that made me sick. I always considered that the extra content might just be cut away stuff that would have previously been included as standard and then offered later as extra, but I didn't think they have the balls to include the "extras" on the disc and rip us off like that.
after considering many times i think this move would be insane. i don't think 120GB HDD and HDMI can boost console sales. if its going to be there it would only be there to say "look our hardware is superior to PS3" etc. they need price cut first then they should consider major upgrade.
Activision had the Nerve to do that with the extra maps for Return to Castle Wolfenstein way back on Xbox, so it's not a particularly new idea (pun intended
). More people just need to be aware of this and start getting pissed off about it to make these companies rethink their marketing strategies a little. Spread the word! Hallelujah! Mintmaster
Veteran
I don't think a 20GB hard drive is that much cheaper than a 120GB, especially from the manufacturer's point of view.
If the XB360 has reduced manufacturing cost since introduction, MS can probably afford this upgrade to replace the $399 model, and knock the core model down to $249 (or $199, but I doubt it can be done yet sustainably). I don't think bringing the premium down to $349 would sell as many units as this new model at $399. MS has no competition at this price range and they have a value model already, so dropping the cost of the premium by $50 is unlikely to get many more sales. The image of superiority over the PS3, however, could really boost sales.
So I definately disagree. Dropping the price of the premium is pointless if this other option is available.
