4 Reasons for Microsoft's Xbox to Go as Big as Possible Options

[Xbox-Scene]

4 Reasons for Microsoft's Xbox to Go as Big as Possible Posted by XanTium | April 7 23:37 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From seekingalpha.com: [QUOTE] Microsoft currently offers three Xbox 360 models. The Arcade, with no hard drive. The Premium with a 20GB hard drive. And the Elite with a 120GB hard drive. This is all going to change, to much bigger drives, and there are four reasons why. * Firstly there is the business model of the hard drive manufacturers. They compete mainly not on price, but on disk size instead. They are constantly driving up the capacity of their drives (by 40% a year compound) using technology whilst trying to keep prices constant. * The second reason is the demise of HD DVD. Now that it has gone Microsoft say that they are not going to switch to BluRay, instead they are going to concentrate on downloading content. * The third reason is profit. The more storage space someone has, the more content you can sell them. * The fourth reason is competitive advantage. By switching to downloadable content instead of physical media for distribution Microsoft can be seen to be more advanced than Sony. Also far more customer friendly. [/QUOTE] Full Story: seekingalpha.com

[Bandit5317]

Finally, an article that I can agree with. I completely agree with all of the points that they stated. This may also prove to be correct, if there is any truth to the rumors that the premium sku will be upgraded to a 60 gig hdd.

[HotKnife420]

Meh. If I had a 120GB drive, it wouldn't have any more used space than my current 20 GB drive does. Why? Because I don't buy stuff I don't really want.

[gAm3 Fr3aQu3]

That very last line is a joke right?

[stevenalvarado]

That very last line is a joke right?

far more customer friendly?

I dont have a 360 so I dont know, but I read on google sth about it!

BTW good article.

[Chancer]

Selling more DLC I can see, but the real reasons for a bigger HDD would be

1. They currently have a smaller HDD than the PS3 so they want to appear to offer more .
2. They lost to Blu-Ray so they want to try and shift focus and convince people that Downloadable Hi-Def content is the way to go.
Downloadable HD content is no replacement or substitute for Blu-Ray. Simply the majority of people do not have the connection speed to support the downloads if they go up in size (and they would). The offerings at present are nowhere near the quality of the BR discs, most ISPs have download caps and many people prefer to collect the physical media etc.
Downloadable content will not put MS up against Blu-Ray yet. In the future no doubt DLC will become the norm but it is years away yet.
Oh and despite the denials I still reckon MS will throw out a BR drive.

What MS should really have done is made it possible for the 360 to use a standard drive without any modification or possibility of voiding the warranty that would have made the machine more customer friendly.

This post has been edited by Chancer: Apr 8 2008, 09:44 AM

[hardcandy]

MS needs to cut the prices on their add-on hard drives if they want to sell more download content.
I imagine most folks would not pay $200 for a 160GB add-on drive if they can get an Apple TV for $229 (which is easier to use than Live and does not require a 360- or buying blocks of Live points) or Vudu which is $295 and has 6000 movies and TV shows and a couple of hundred HD movies. Either one of those is better than Live for movies and TV shows. Even Amazon's Unbox which is standard definition only right now is cheaper and easier than Live.
This month Maximum PC reviewed media downloading from 6 services and Live was next to the bottom if not at the bottom of the rankings in ease of use, cost (having to buy blocks of points instead of paying the cost of a movie), and content available.

[vengeancegoon]

What MS should really have done is made it possible for the 360 to use a standard drive without any modification or possibility of voiding the warranty that would have made the machine more customer friendly.

All they really need to do is upgrade the system blade with a format utility. Pop in a new drive and it formats it with a special serial used by your console or whatever and away you go.

There is no reason (other than wanting the money from the add-on) that they can't do something like this.

[bucko]

No TV shows yet. 120GB HDD I have 80GB free I'm buying cheap HD-DVD's so I see no need to rent movies if there not on HD-DVD ill get Blu-Ray i like to keep stuff I buy so I want unlimited TV shows please in HD I would by them all the time.

[slimdagreat]

Also far more customer friendly.

I hope they're kidding right?

[BleedEffect]

I hope they're kidding right?

Apprantly they haven't called microsoft for help with the xbox 360 before HAH.
And i won't buy movies on live unless i can keep them.
I occasionally buy games and tv shows but no movies

[Sabo_]

haha
they need to get bigger HDD out.

20gb/120gb is to little. people can fill them up so easy

[abbylee26]

"Downloadable HD content" is not good news for we few without networking.

Like those of us who have Dish/DirecTV. Satelite companies do not provide networking and cable companies will not sell you just networking. Same with phone...with Verizon you must take at least their $32 basic phone service in addition to a charge fore the networking service (most companies are cheaper than Verizon but that's all we got here).

This post has been edited by abbylee26: Apr 9 2008, 06:57 PM

[hardcandy]

"Downloadable HD content" is not good news for we few without networking.

Like those of us who have Dish/DirecTV. Satelite companies do not provide networking and cable companies will not sell you just networking. Same with phone...with Verizon you must take at least their $32 basic phone service in addition to a charge fore the networking service (most companies are cheaper than Verizon but that's all we got here).

The video quality on downloaded movies, both standard definition and high definition, is less than what a dvd or a Blu-ray disk provides.
All but Apple TV use WMV and the standard definition is a softer image than what the mass produced dvd provides. Apple TV uses a better codec but it is still softer than the dvd image.
Plus Netflix is cheaper than the online sevices. So use something like Netflix and you will save some money.