An analysis on what to expect with two systems (Xbox 360 hardrive issue):

Kastides

Kastides

Banned
Next Gen just posted http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=796&Itemid=2 an amazing piece with responses from like 20 developers, analysts and media.

Scott Miller, CEO, 3D Realms said ""One word: Blunder. Developers will almost always cater to the lowest spec'ed system when it comes to consoles, so as to maximize the customer base. So, my guess is that few games will truly make significant use of the hard drive, given that it's an option that cannot be counted on."


Mark Rein, VP of Epic said ""Developers already got our big Xbox 360 gift - we got 512MB of RAM. That was a huge win for developers and customers alike and there was no way we were going to get that and a hard drive on every machine. The RAM is more important and will make a bigger difference than the hard drive would have. There will be lots of great reasons why you'd want to buy the hard drive and it will be available as an upgrade so nobody is selling themselves short if they can't afford the all-options version because they can buy those options a-la-carte (for more money mind you) if needed."

You have to read this whole thing. Lots of conflicting opinions from developers and the media especially (some of the mag editors were really entertaining)
 
Honstly, the harddrive isn't such a huge deal. I mean, it's nice to never have to worry about running out of save space, but that's about all it is useful for.
 
[quote name='Tromack']Honstly, the harddrive isn't such a huge deal. I mean, it's nice to never have to worry about running out of save space, but that's about all it is useful for.[/QUOTE]

Well, you have to have somewhere to store the patches for original Xbox games, the Xbox Live updates and downloads for X360 games, and any custom soundtracks that you want to use in your games. Plus, it's pretty handy to cache data to so that load times are dramatically decreased. It's a pretty useful piece of hardware.
 
[quote name='Tromack']Honstly, the harddrive isn't such a huge deal. I mean, it's nice to never have to worry about running out of save space, but that's about all it is useful for.[/QUOTE]

Wrong. When I'm playing Halo 17 and I leave a footprint on some random beach when I come back 10 hours later because I forgot to pick up the ultra-death-ray-super-bloodsucking-gun that I need to defeat the end boss that god damn footprint better still be there or else the game is totally worthless and fake. The hard drive will solve all of this. Screw Microsoft. Assholes. :D
 
The HD IS a HUGE deal because M$ has established themselves as the console with a HD and now they are telling their gamers to forget that. It's like Sony saying that the PS3 won't be backwards compatible.

Also the HD was used to cache games, download patches and other extra content and use custom songs on certain games. No one can say that it didn't do anything. And most importantly the 360 won't be backwards compatible without it.
 
I forget where I read this but.....

The shipping ratio of the 360 vs. "Core" consoles is going to be 85-15 on the onset. I'm willing to bet you that finding a "Core" console is going to be akin to finding a purple Game Cube in stores now. Not easy to damn near impossible.

I think the reaction yesterday was one of two things, don't give me a "Core" console or "OMG I'MZ TEH PIZZD M$ CAN GO ROT 4EVAR OMG!11!111" I know there's panic now about a "split" console but I can't see all but the dumbest people buying at $300 and expecting it to be equal to the $400 package. I think the sales ratio of the two consoles are going to surprise everyone. I think we'll be talking the ship ratio of 85-10 or even 95-5 once things settle down. The HDD will be utilized by developers.

Think about this, every person who has purchased a console in the last 10 years know what a pain memor cards are. They all know what a HDD is too. If the HDD is the price of 2 1/2 memory cards yet holds 160 times more data it's a no brainer. I don't think consumers are going to be as inept at knowing which package to buy. Even the most sensitive, read.... dumb, segments of the market know the difference of with a HDD or without a HDD.

Why do you think they put in accesories like the headset, remote, wireless etc? So even Wal Mart shoppers could see they were getting more than $100 worth of stuff on top of the HDD.

I wouldn't worry about HDD support in the least.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']I forget where I read this but.....

The shipping ratio of the 360 vs. "Core" consoles is going to be 85-15 on the onset. I'm willing to bet you that finding a "Core" console is going to be akin to finding a purple Game Cube in stores now. Not easy to damn near impossible.

I think the reaction yesterday was one of two things, don't give me a "Core" console or "OMG I'MZ TEH PIZZD M$ CAN GO ROT 4EVAR OMG!11!111" I know there's panic now about a "split" console but I can't see all but the dumbest people buying at $300 and expecting it to be equal to the $400 package. I think the sales ratio of the two consoles are going to surprise everyone. I think we'll be talking the ship ratio of 85-10 or even 95-5 once things settle down. The HDD will be utilized by developers.

Think about this, every person who has purchased a console in the last 10 years know what a pain memor cards are. They all know what a HDD is too. If the HDD is the price of 2 1/2 memory cards yet holds 160 times more data it's a no brainer. I don't think consumers are going to be as inept at knowing which package to buy. Even the most sensitive, read.... dumb, segments of the market know the difference of with a HDD or without a HDD.

Why do you think they put in accesories like the headset, remote, wireless etc? So even Wal Mart shoppers could see they were getting more than $100 worth of stuff on top of the HDD.

I wouldn't worry about HDD support in the least.[/QUOTE]

I disagree.

If M$ is going to force people to buy the deluxe version by making so few barebones packages then why the hell make the barebones in the first place?

And while many people will buy the $400 deal I believe that many will also buy and wait for the $300 deal. If you make a cheaper option expect people to buy it otherwise don't make it. And while the $400 deal is clearly better you don't have to be stupid to buy the other deal. It also comes down to whether you have the 400 big ones to drop down. The holidays are coming and I'm sure gamers will just as easily buy the $300 and have someone give them a mem card as a gift than drop down the full 400 themselves.
 
[quote name='Scrubking']I disagree.

If M$ is going to force people to buy the deluxe version by making so few barebones packages then why the hell make the barebones in the first place?

And while many people will buy the $400 deal I believe that many will also buy and wait for the $300 deal. If you make a cheaper option expect people to buy it otherwise don't make it. And while the $400 deal is clearly better you don't have to be stupid to buy the other deal. It also comes down to whether you have the 400 big ones to drop down. The holidays are coming and I'm sure gamers will just as easily buy the $300 and have someone give them a mem card as a gift than drop down the full 400 themselves.[/QUOTE]

Just so MS can go,
"OMG! Look! We released our console at $299! But it does NOTHING that we promised at E3!"
 
Peter Moore stated the primary reason for the extremely price conscious continental European buyers. Fine. If that's the case just sell it in Europe.

You know the Japanese are never going to swallow the reduced version and 90% of American buyers won't. I'm not even worried about it. Yes, I agree it's a completely idiotic move akin to the 479 Euro Xbox. I don't see why, at current conversion rates, you just don't do a 325 Euro package which is equal to $399.99 as opposed to doing a 299 and 399 Euro package. You're looking at an 80-82% dollar to Euro conversion.

I don't see why pricing isn't more universal based on currency conversions to the US dollar. MS is making 20% more on European sales as opposed to North American sales. This would take the need for the "core" model non-existent and the HDD universal.
 
The mere fact that several developers agree it's a bad move for Microsoft to release a system without a hard drive proves what a bone-headed idea this is. The developers are the ones making the games for it, and they're already bitching about the stripped-down core system. If the developers agree this is a problem, I can imagine they have a pretty good idea of what they're talking about.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']The HDD will be utilized by developers.

...

I wouldn't worry about HDD support in the least.[/QUOTE]
Did you read the article?
First paragraph:
"From a developer and publisher perspective, it makes no difference to us today in how we build our games for Xbox360 because Microsoft has instructed us in advance to assume no hard drive from a technical requirements standpoint."
Click to expand...
They will be building games for the lowest common denominator, the "core system". That means no caching content, no massive save files... It'll be restricted to saved games, music, and video. That's it. All those innovative gameplay features Microsoft hyped about the HD for the Xbox? Gone.

It doesn't matter how many people buy the hard drive. Microsoft has already determined that games won't use it.
 
Microsoft can offer guidelines and recommendations to developers they can't command them not to make games that require the HDD.

Did they prevent Capcom from releasing a sequel to Steel Battalion because people may not have purchased the $200 controller?

Nope.
 
[quote name='rohlfinator']Did you read the article?
First paragraph:

They will be building games for the lowest common denominator, the "core system". That means no caching content, no massive save files... It'll be restricted to saved games, music, and video. That's it. All those innovative gameplay features Microsoft hyped about the HD for the Xbox? Gone.

It doesn't matter how many people buy the hard drive. Microsoft has already determined that games won't use it.[/QUOTE]

maybe, but that might be for just the launch games...now that developers know that there will be a hard drive (maybe for 85 % of xbox 360's out there), they might utilize the HDD in their next projects...
 
The fact that they are saying that only about 10% of the cosoles are going to be core systems make it even worse. Why even release it in the first place? Is it really worth ruining the hard drive just so you can put "starting at $299" in your commercial and pull some bait and switch crap when the consumer goes to the store to get it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top