Premium Hardware/Accessories

[Silenti]

We have already seen Microsoft testing the waters here. They sell both a wired and wireless controller and an email circulated previously regarding a premium controller for 10$ more with an upgraded d-pad (for fighting games or Live Arcade titles I presume.) I'm trying to come up with other examples but the biggest, the HD-DVD add-on, has other forces driving it beyond profitability. I'm not asking after faster chips or anything which would require a new console sku. No .2ghtz bumps in CPU or GPU speeds, not more onboard RAM, etc. Specifically I was thinking of faster hard drives. Something which is invisible to software I would think.

In some ways this can only apply to MS. I don't know enough of the Wii, and I doubt it's core/new demographic would be interested, but the PS3 already has user upgradeable hdd's. Microsoft on the other hand is making a fair bit, to go by sales records, off their accessories. Counting wireless controller sales here is a bit iffy, however they are the only numbers we really have. After playing Oblivion, and with Mass Effect getting closer and closer, I began to wonder about MS offering a faster harddrive. Perhaps even something solid state or with large amounts of RAM available. For many titles I would expect this to make precisely zero difference. There are few loading screens to many games, or short ones. However, open worlds like Oblivion, GTA, etc, could seriously benefit. Not to let developers do "more" somehow, the only time I think that has happened succesfully was with 1 FF titles for the PS2 which, if I remember correctly, required the hdd. Obviously the potential user base here is limited. So viability is a factor.

Since we are already seeing premium versions of several accessories for the 360, how viable is this? Both financially and technologically. How many people would buy a different, not only larger but faster hard drive, assuming it would be software transparent, to decrease load times. Solid state is probably too expensive, the more I think about it a hybrid drive with a large RAM buffer might have limited benefit, but certainly a substantially faster drive would have to have a market. With MMO's coming to the 360, this could make a world of difference to players. Not as something a game would require, but as an accessory which is purely optional.

(Mod Note: I wasn't sure if this should go on the main console page or the technology page so I defaulted here.)

 

[stuff80]

It’s and interesting question to be sure. Since MS went with 3.5 inch drives I don’t see them adding in extremely fast drives. I personally would like to see a fast 7500rpm drive with a 16 Meg buffer and perhaps 200 gigs of space if viable. Although for MMORPG’s my main platform will always be the pc.

I must say I do love my HD DVD add on though

 

[infinity4]

i like the idea of Microsoft offering first party accesories. they give you option, whether you need it or not, you can have what you only need to have. they do psychollogically tempt me to spend on them though , clever Microsoft

 

[Silenti]

The more I think about it, the more difficult it seems. To be used as a buffer, any solid state or large RAM cache would likly have to be the max size for games in order to be transparent. Think of that old program 100x CD, or whatever it was called, that buffered the CD onto the hard drive. Any size that is smaller would require some program to choose what goes in. That would have to be coded on a per game basis or there would have to be some form of logic built into the add-on. To use a solid state it would also have to be a pass-through piece that doesn't replace hard drives per se, simply because it would be unaffordable for a 100gb drive. A Flash or DRAM based buffer would be nice if it can be affordably produced. It doesn't look like a Flash based system would necessarily be enough faster to be worth the price. DRAM would be ridiculous, oh well, maybe nextgen this will be more likely.