"Sold separately" redux

[fossen]

Quote: Originally Posted by Flawless

The reason why the PS2 HDD wasn't supported was because it CAME REALLY LATE, was very limited, was never really capitilized upon and (IIRC) required rather extensive support from the developer. The Xbox 360 HDD will be promoted at launch. The two are totally different.

Name one non-standard add-on in the console world that's made a difference.

PS2 Hard Drive?
Sega CD?
Nintendo 64 DD?

Even the glorious ROB failed.

[mgoblue]

Quote: Originally Posted by fossen

Name one non-standard add-on in the console world that's made a difference. PS2 Hard Drive? Sega CD? Nintendo 64 DD? Even the glorious ROB failed.

maybe the nintendo 64 rom chip? but i think they almost had to give those away with games. Good point though, add-ons tend not to become "required"

[Flawless]

Here's two games that will use the HDD, and i'm positive there will be more.

Quote:

"Ever since Microsoft's announcement of the Xbox 360's pricing structure, gamers everywhere have been wondering if developers will take full advantage of the hard drive since it's not a standard accessory with every system. After all, why would a developer want to risk excluding a large segment of the 360 gaming market?"

http://www.gameinformer.com/NR/exere...1538918174.htm

Quote:

"From seems to be making use of the Xbox 360 hard disk for caching purposes in order to provide, as Takeuchi states, a stress-free, seamless experience. While it's not the case that there won't ever be a "Now Loading" screen in the game, such a screen will be very rare. This, according to Takeuchi, will be true of pretty much all Xbox 360 games, as it's something that Microsoft is taking seriously."

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/638/638323p1.html

Sounds like Microsoft has made it so that the game can detect for a HDD and hereafter enable/disable HDD caching.

[gooberstabone]

These games may work without a hard drive. But c'mon. Won't people feel liked there getting a "lite" version of their games if they hear stuff like this:

"That being said, Oblivion takes full advantage of the hard drive and uses it extensively, so we'd certainly recommend that everyone gets one."

So in other words, 'go and buy the high-end version if you want the real McCoy of our game.'

[Shamrock_11]

Quote: Originally Posted by fossen

Name one non-standard add-on in the console world that's made a difference.

That logic does'nt apply here. The fact is that the services which drive people to buy an Xbox in the first place depend heavily on a HDD. You can't say that about the typical add-on. Xbox Live is an undeniable success on the current platform, and there's no reason to believe that will change on the new platform. I think people realize they'll need the HDD to get the most out of that. The Xbox is an established brand this time around. They have an established customer base, and that customer base is more hard-core than not. They love sports games, shooters, mmorpgs, etc. Hard-core gamers will be buying the package with the HDD. Why should Microsoft waste money putting HDD's into systems where they won't be utilized? Sony sure as hell won't be. There's just no need for a casual gamer to have a HDD in their system, and there's no reason that Microsoft needs to give away anything for free this time around.

[sdrotar]

Well, it's less that the casual gamers need to have a hard drive - it's more that the hardcore gamers are better served by the casual gamers having one.

It's just the nature of software design.

[Shamrock_11]

Quote: Originally Posted by sdrotar

Well, it's less that the casual gamers need to have a hard drive - it's more that the hardcore gamers are better served by the casual gamers having one.

Are you certain of that? I don't think anyone knows what these new consoles are fully capable of. The 512mb of Ram in the 360, not to mention the 10mb built into the gpu are astounding numbers for a console, and I think that is what developers can utilize the most. Having said that, IMHO, most installed Xbox 360's will still have the HDD in them. I just don't think it's an either/or equation here.

[fossen]

Quote: Originally Posted by Shamrock_11

Having said that, IMHO, most installed Xbox 360's will still have the HDD in them.

A) I think you'll end up wrong. Perhaps not among early adopters, but certainly in the long run.

B) It doesn't even matter. Developers will not code to take advantage of a piece of hardware that they don't know will be there.