Allard on HDD

[barnak]

In the Sept. issue of GameInformer J. Allard answers the Questions we have been going on about for the last three months. A brief overview...

Diff Models of Xbox?

Allard - It's something we are not ready to announce ...BLah, blah, blah..." I don't think it's a one-size-fits-all [approach] over the next five year horizon.

Some Devs are mad that they can't utilize th Hard Drive since some 360's wont have one.

Allard - ...what you want to do is leave the option open. ...BLah, blah, blah ..."we've said [to devs.] Hey look, don't bank on the HD always being there."

Don't you need a HD to play Halo(1)?

Allard -Yea it won't work, Backwards compatibility needs a HD. "We've been talking about la-la land, and saying [maybe] there is someday the 360 will not come with a HD.

Actually the very firsty one we sell will have a hard drive , it doesn't mean the HD will always be attached.

Did you consider HD-DVD?

Allard - Yea we did....90 percent of Xbox games were under 3 gig...Blu laser drives will be 1X or 2X our drive is 12X......we can build a system with that kind of drive when if that takes off.
(insert BLah, blah, blah where necessary)

 

[Titanio]

Are there complete quotes anywhere?

Doesn't look like MS considers the HDD to be "standard".

edit - here are some fuller quotes:

Q: Will the Xbox 360 be sold in different models, one with a hard drive and one without? What about different sized hard drives?

A: It's something we're not ready to announce yet. We've been getting good feedback from people at E3 and a lot of retailers. Look at the success the iPod has had by having different offerings. That is something we have looked at, sort of on the long-term horizon. We want to go get everybody out there that likes to play, and make them an Xbox customer. how do we do that? I don't think it's a one-size-fits-all approach over the next five year horizon. I think we'll enter the market in a very conventional fashion and from there it's all about listening to gamers. That's what we do. Until we have the first couple of million customers, it's hard to say how we might further the audience.

Q: So the first Halo, or any Xbox title, won't be backward compatible if you don't have an Xbox 360 hard drive?

A: Yeah, it won't work. Backwards compatibility is going to require a hard drive. We've been talking a little bit about la-la land, and saying, "Maybe there's someday that an Xbox 360 doesn't come with a hard drive." Actually, the very first one we sell is goin to have a hard drive. It doesn't mean that the hard drive is always going to be attached. The owner can take it to a friend's house, and the other people in the owner's house can still use the Xbox 360 to play games.

If it's simply going to be optional for games, I think i'd prefer if it was simply going to be optional for consumers too. I guess it depends on the price they launch the first units with, but I doubt the HDD will be free.

 

[BlueTsunami]

Wow.....Allard seems (seems, seems like an understatment, but I can't find another word thats stronger than seems..but not to strong) kinda dodgy about the "Will XB360 come in a No-HDD and HDD flavor" question. The way he answers that question alone gives off a strong vibe that there WILL be a 360 without a HDD and one with an HDD.

 

[ralexand]

He says point blank that:

"the very first one we sell is goin to have a hard drive."

I don't see what you guys are talking about.

 

[barnak]

Thanks Titanio, for posting the fuller quote. The source that sent me the info shrinked it down I guess.

 

[BlueTsunami]

The source that sent me the info shrinked it down I guess.

Now THATS an understatement

Titiano saved this thread by putting the fuller quotes lol

 

[Titanio]

Thanks Titanio, for posting the fuller quote. The source that sent me the info shrinked it down I guess.

There seem to be more quotes from your post, but I haven't seen the full versions of them anywhere. I suppose they may turn up.

 

[Atsim]

Does he mean that the first xbox 360s to be released all will have hard drives, or that the first xbox360 that'll be sold (as in the lucky guy who's at the front of the line) will probably be a version with a hard drive?

 

[BlueTsunami]

Q: So the first Halo, or any Xbox title, won't be backward compatible if you don't have an Xbox 360 hard drive?

A: Yeah, it won't work. Backwards compatibility is going to require a hard drive. We've been talking a little bit about la-la land, and saying, "Maybe there's someday that an Xbox 360 doesn't come with a hard drive." Actually, the very first one we sell is goin to have a hard drive. It doesn't mean that the hard drive is always going to be attached. The owner can take it to a friend's house, and the other people in the owner's house can still use the Xbox 360 to play games.

Whats that about? That DOES make it sound like the very first XB360 is going to be the one with the HDD (meaning every one after that 360 isn't going to have one)....lol..that statement makes me laugh...is it a typo? or is that how he (Allard) actually said it?.

But yeah, it does seem now that there going to ship the first XB360 with an HDD but offer (down the line) an XB360 without a HDD....but the fact that their telling Dev's that they shouldn't rely on the HDD kinda takes the oomph of a HDD for games out of it...I wonder if games will come with labels stating that you will need a HDD to play this game (Probably on Oblivions case)

 

[AlNom]

Game does not detect HDD and says: "Get off yo' lazy phat ass and put back your HDD or I will make sure yo' load times be crazier than yo' momma in bed!"

Here's an option developers could go with.


Anyways, when he said that developers should prepare for the case where the HDD is not always there, I figured he just meant that there will be idiots who detach their HDDs. *shrug*

 

[rusty]

it's pretty clear cut imo...

at first the x360 will be sold with an HDD... later down the line they may start offering different packages where the hdd may or may not be a part of some of those packages.

Ie it's coming with an HDD for the time being.

 

[AlNom]

Questions: If the console shrinks significantly, will the HDD shrink in physical size as well? Or will the X360 always adhere to the size of the HDD we see now?

 

[Atsim]

Whats that about? That DOES make it sound like the very first XB360 is going to be the one with the HDD (meaning every one after that 360 isn't going to have one)....lol..that statement makes me laugh...is it a typo? or is that how he (Allard) actually said it?.

But yeah, it does seem now that there going to ship the first XB360 with an HDD but offer (down the line) an XB360 without a HDD....but the fact that their telling Dev's that they shouldn't rely on the HDD kinda takes the oomph of a HDD for games out of it...I wonder if games will come with labels stating that you will need a HDD to play this game (Probably on Oblivions case)

I think if he had meant the first batch or the first generation, whatever you want to call it, he would have said "the first ones," right?

And what about games like Oblivion and FFXI that rely on the Hard Drive? Will they still be playable without one, or will there be no benifits to having a hard drive? What about downloadable content like a patch or expansion pack? Is that allowed, or is that being too reliant on the hard drive?

 

[scooby_dooby]

ya, i think he's looking more to 2008-2009 when the x360 makes it's drop to $99, then they may just cut out the HD.

I think his statements are pretty clear, HDD for now, "very conventional" then they'll listen to gamers. Well, gamers will never want to get rid of the HDD, so I don't see tha thappening.

 

[Titanio]

And what about games like Oblivion and FFXI that rely on the Hard Drive? Will they still be playable without one, or will there be no benifits to having a hard drive? What about downloadable content like a patch or expansion pack? Is that allowed, or is that being too reliant on the hard drive?

I think generally its the case that games can use it, but can't require it. You should still be able to play them without it. I'd not so sure about FFXI in particular though, maybe it would be OK without it, depending on memory card size.

I think, though, if games aren't going to need it, it'd be better to have the choice of picking one up or not. Otherwise it just smells like a peripheral bundle to cover costs, ala the PSP bundle etc.

I think his statements are pretty clear, HDD for now, "very conventional" then they'll listen to gamers. Well, gamers will never want to get rid of the HDD, so I don't see tha thappening.

The early adopters are pretty conventional for sure. But there's a wide wide market out there who I think would like to have the choice if it meant saving $$. I think that's who he's talking about.

 

[phed]

I think his main point is that the harddrive is deattachable and thus the content creators shouldn't assume it is there, just like games shouldn't depend on a memory card being there.

Second, I think he's leaving the option open for selling xbox'es without a HDD in the future. He doesn't say they _will_ though. Perhaps they think HDDs will be a commodity somehow.

 

[blakjedi]

J Allard and MS are kind foolish to be talking like this. Either make it standard or not. Tell devs its going to be in or not. Let the DEV decide whether or not they'll use it or not. Tell the consumer "you best to have that damn HDD in there or no gaming for you." The analogy of someone taking their hard drive over to their friends house is quite stupid too...



If I pull my HDD and take it to my friends house who also has a 360,then no one is playing my x360 and my hard drive is being used at my friends house. The HDD is still being used. Sometimes it pays to just stfu even if youre a marketing guy.

 

[jvd]

sounds to me like the hardrive will be standard . They just don't want you to count on the drive being there .


You can have your drive out for repairs . You can have gone to a friends house and forgot to hook it back up or to bring it home .

They simply don't want you to have a disabled system because they had a removeable hardrive

 

[flick556]

What he says could just as easily be interrupted, as games should not break/crash if it's not in the console at load or removed during game play.

I don't think it means games can't require it.

 

[Cobra101]

He says point blank that:

"the very first one we sell is goin to have a hard drive."

I don't see what you guys are talking about.

The FIRST one will have a hard drive.

Serial #: 000-00-0001

Serial #: 000-00-0002 and latter will not.

Simple.