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Six big-name games at launch, and more on the way.

Each of the three next-generation consoles sports a marketplace for downloadable games -- Nintendo's Virtual Console, Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade, and Sony's PlayStation Network -- and each console sports some manner of backwards compatibility to the previous generation.

Microsoft is looking to expand on its previous online game offerings with the Xbox 360's Fall Dashboard Update which is scheduled for a December 2 release. The new update brings with it a half-dozen full-version downloadable original Xbox titles. The UK-based gaming site Computer and Video Games posted an article earlier today and quickly pulled it from their site -- but not before the news had escaped.

According to the leaked article, the first wave of titles includes:

  • Burnout 3
  • Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
  • Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
  • Fable
  • Halo: Combat Evolved
  • Indigo Prophecy
No details were provided with regards to content protection, but it stands to reason that Microsoft will implement a similar manner of DRM to the current Live Arcade games. At a cost of 1200 Microsoft points, approximately $15 USD, the price for a downloaded game is about in line with what one could expect to pay for a used disc from a second-hand source.

In addition to the six games listed above, Microsoft plans to re-release more Xbox content on the Marketplace -- so those gamers who missed out on the earlier adventures of Master Chief will no doubt be able to enjoy Halo 2 after only a short delay.

Digital distribution on this scale does pose two major concerns. One concern is the sheer volume of bandwidth that will be consumed -- in the past, major demo releases have crippled Xbox Live's ability to function to various degrees, and at several gigabytes each, eager gamers downloading a compressed image of a full DVD will no doubt cause a similar impact.

The other concern is the size of these images. Users with the standard 20GB hard drive may find themselves only able to squeeze two or three Xbox games amongst the rest of their demos, videos, and trailers before finding that they're simply out of space.

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How large are Xbox Games?
By m0mentary on 11/13/2007 10:20:08 AM , Rating: 2
Im wondering if the current available hard drives will be enough or if people will start running out of space way too soon once more games become available.




RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By darkpaw on 11/13/2007 10:24:11 AM , Rating: 5
The larger HDD would probably be suffucient, but most people are not going to dish out $180 on that or buy an eliete just for the bigger drive if they already have a system.

What MS really needs to do is allow USB hard drives to be plugged in. With the amount of content they are adding to xbox live, there really needs to be much larger storage options. Go ahead and encrypt the drive even or at least the contents so the can't be pulled up on a PC, but the ability to use any external HDD will be sorely needed.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By SirLucius on 11/13/2007 10:34:53 AM , Rating: 5
That's something I've wanted Microsoft to do for a while now. I don't want to drop another $180 on a drive when I have tons of spares just lying around. It's one thing I'll say Sony got right. I can plug in any hard drive via USB (just get a $20 case) and I can have as much additional storage as I want.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By Locutus465 on 11/13/2007 10:52:57 AM , Rating: 2
I'll thrid this.... I've been wishing they'd allow an external HD to be hooked up for a good long while... Perhaps this will finally push them?


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By boredg on 11/13/2007 12:49:59 PM , Rating: 2
actually, I have connected a 500gb external hard drive via usb to my xbox, and it worked fine. in terms of music, videos, and pictures everything was functional. I'm not sure if you would be able to store live media on it though...


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By kelmon on 11/13/2007 11:03:49 AM , Rating: 2
Dream on. Unless another console manufacturer decides to do this to bring about a competitive advantage then it's in all the manufacturers interests NOT to allow you to connect a cheapo hard drive but rather pay more for a branded one that delivers a bigger profit. The tipping point in this is going to be the volume of content available and whether you (the customer) would choose not to buy a drive and content or decide that you really want the content and therefore pony up the money for the drive anyway. If customers don't buy the drives and the content then something will change but if not then it's not in Microsoft's interest to let you plug-in your own spare drives.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By darkpaw on 11/13/2007 11:08:07 AM , Rating: 3
As the previous poster mentioned the PS3 has allowed swapping the HDD since launch with any off the shelf HDD.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By kelmon on 11/13/2007 11:16:43 AM , Rating: 5
My bad. Apparently my ability to read isn't great today. It is possible that Microsoft figures that since the PS3 is perceived as being expensive that they can get away with not providing the same drive-swapping facility and can cash-in that way if customers buy the 360 instead. I'm not saying that this is what is going on but if users aren't looking at this as a potential cost of ownership of the 360 when deciding which console to buy then this enables Microsoft to boost their return without damaging the potential of a sale.

This is one thing that really annoys me about the new consoles. The older generations of consoles were much simpler where you only really ended up buying additional controllers; everything else you needed was in the box. With the current generation you practically feel as though you have to read the fine print for each to know exactly what it's all going to cost in the end.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By SirLucius on 11/13/2007 11:53:23 AM , Rating: 5
Yeah, Sony has provided documentation on how to swap the internal HDD, as well as how to set up an external HDD.

I think you hit the nail on the head with the way Microsoft handles HDD's for the 360. It's similar to how people don't factor in the cost of XBL when considering the console. They can sell consoles without HDD's or with very small HDD's and then charge an arm and leg to upgrade. And people don't even think about it because they're separate purchases that are usually pretty spaced out.

In the past people have really only had 3 choices when it comes to consoles. Now it's Nintendo's console, Microsoft's multiple consoles, and Sony's multiple consoles. I still think part of Nintendo's success (ignoring the cheaper price), is that they offer one console. No consumer confusion. You go and ask for a Wii. That's it. No premium editions or models with different feature sets. Everyone gets the same system capable of doing the same things. As much as people like choice, they like simplicity even more.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By FITCamaro on 11/13/2007 12:16:22 PM , Rating: 2
What about the cost of Xbox Live? Are you going to even attempt to compare Sony's Playstation Home to Live? $45 for 13 months of service is hardly a rip off.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By SirLucius on 11/13/2007 12:36:00 PM , Rating: 4
Never said it was a rip off and I never brought up Home. The fact is with XBL you're looking at ~$200 over the course of 4 years (the expected life of the console) in additional fees to play online, not to mention the price for continued use on future Microsoft consoles. It's a feature that isn't included in the original cost of the system but that 90% of 360 owners pay for. It's seen as one of the selling points of the system. Like I said before, it's an additional fee that a lot of people don't factor into the cost of the system. If you did and decided it was worth it, that's great for you. I don't care one way or another. Just realize that the 360 isn't as cheap as it's made out to be if you want the full experience.

As for Home, well, I don't have to get Home to play PS3 games online. I do it now for free, and I can do it in the future for free. And Home itself is free. You pay to buy more things for use in Home. I'm allowed to spend as much or as little as I want within the Home system, and Sony has said that there will be free content in addition to content you can pay for.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By Locutus465 on 11/13/2007 12:56:23 PM , Rating: 1
I guess I see your point if you are an online gamer... Not everyone is though, and you have to admit Microsoft doesn't force you to buy XBL Gold, you can stick with silver if you find the cost of Gold to be not worth it too you. So much like Home it's there if you want it but you don't have to pay for it... I think that's why you keep running into answers like "the cost of XBL Gold doesn't matter"... Because if it really does not cost you a nickel if it isn't worth it too you to subscribe.

I know you are not doing this intentionally, but you are making it sound as if XBL is a gotcha hidden charge that Microsoft is going to quietly stick you with when you buy an x-box... This isn't the case at all, how XBL works is well advertised... Again, I know you're not doing this intentionally, but it is the effect you get when statements like "people don't take into account the cost of...blah". People do know about it, if they want it they can subscribe, if they don't no one is forcing them. So for mom and dad making a choice on which console to buy for their kids, XBL is not going to be a stopping point because they can just refuse to subscribe if they want. On the otherhand, when it comes to the at the register price of the console, there isn't a whole lot of choice other than deciding what packages and accessories to pick up. Comparing the cost of entry of an X-BOX v. PS3, guess which one wins? Throw the Wii into the equation and I'm pretty sure both X-BOX and PS3 are out of luck most of the time.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By SirLucius on 11/13/2007 1:12:26 PM , Rating: 2
I see what you're saying. I'm not trying to make it seem like XBL is some hidden cost put in place by Microsoft to shaft 360 owners. They're very upfront about it. I guess my only point is that a lot of people seem keen to hype up XBL while ignoring the price associated with the service. If you don't play online then you're right, the 360 is cheaper. But if you do pay for an XBL subscription, the total amount of money put into the system is greater than a lot of people want to admit.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By Locutus465 on 11/13/2007 1:25:33 PM , Rating: 2
Agreed on all points... I guess next next gen we'll see which stradegy is best, totally broken down with lots of options or monolithic (excluding the outlier, Nintendo). My guess is we'll see more motion sensing from both Nintendo and Sony and probably Sony & Microsoft move more to the middle as far as packages, options and core features, because to be perfectly honest I think the best solution this gen would have been somewhere between Sony & Microsoft... Every console absolutly should have a hard drive (user upgradable is a bonus, kudos sony), while for this gen Forcing any sort of HD Media might have been a bit much... That's just where I stand though, I do realize others feel differently and I do respect all opions in between because there is merit to both stradegies... I just like a bit more balanace, and a bit less damage to my savings acct :(


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By Locutus465 on 11/13/2007 1:26:32 PM , Rating: 2
I'm sorry, more motion sensing from *Microsoft* and sony... It'd be hard for Nintendo to add any more


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By Nightskyre on 11/13/2007 1:29:29 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
guess my only point is that a lot of people seem keen to hype up XBL while ignoring the price associated with the service.


When considering the other consoles, the question is not whether or not people think XBL Gold is worth $50. The question is whether or not XBL's superiority over VC and PS3 Home is worth $50. I've used all three of them, and I can confidently say XBL far surpasses either the PS network or the Nintendo network.

There isn't really a competition. For my $50, it's worth it.

On a separate point, why is Microsoft releasing games that are already backwards compatible? I would think this would be an opportunity for Microsoft to make available games that are not BC from the original X-Box.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By Manch on 11/13/2007 1:55:12 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
When considering the other consoles, the question is not whether or not people think XBL Gold is worth $50.
~
quote:
There isn't really a competition. For my $50, it's worth it.


You make an exellent point. Remember:

IE(free) vs Netscape($$$)?

In that particular case the free option (IE) while not as good was close enough that netscape was not worth the money. If Sony or Nintendo come out with a competitive service thats free then maybe the XBL is a hidden cost arguement could be made.

You can look at other exmaples of "pay for service" vs "free". More often than not you get what you pay for. Sometimes the extra is not worth it, sometimes it is.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By Bioniccrackmonk on 11/13/2007 2:11:28 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I've used all three of them, and I can confidently say XBL far surpasses either the PS network or the Nintendo network.


When the PS3 first came out I would completely agree with you about XBL being superior. However, now that it has been out for awhile and more people are using it, I would completely disagree with you about it being far superior. XBL is definitely still ahead, but by a small margin in my opinion, and I own both consoles so my roommates and I use them a lot so I am speaking from experience.

The only thing XBL offers that isn't on the PS3 network is TV shows that recently aired and that is about it. On the PS3 network I can dl older games from the PS1 and PSP, original arcade games like Joust, Rampage, Rampart, and Gauntlet, and play some of these online against other people. Aside from paying for the games, the online service is free for the PS3 which is nice compared to XBL.

Give it another couple of months and you will see that both online services will pretty much offer the same content, just for their respective systems though.

Side note, I keep seeing people who say that XBL shouldn't be counted as an initial cost because it is not required to play the Xbox. This is true, however, I am willing to bet that the majority of people that bought a 360 have paid for the online service as well. Honestly, anyone out there that owns a 360 never play it online? Anyone?


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By SirLucius on 11/13/2007 2:19:49 PM , Rating: 2
@Bioniccrackmonk: You said it better than I could have. I believe that the PSN is very close to the same level of quality as XBL, with the added bonus of being completely free. It'll be interesting to see how Home affects things.

quote:
Side note, I keep seeing people who say that XBL shouldn't be counted as an initial cost because it is not required to play the Xbox. This is true, however, I am willing to bet that the majority of people that bought a 360 have paid for the online service as well. Honestly, anyone out there that owns a 360 never play it online? Anyone?


That's kinda my point. I know people that rarely play games online that still subscribe to the XBL service. I've yet to come across some one who either doesn't have or doesn't plan on purchasing an XBL Gold account, myself included.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By darkpaw on 11/13/2007 3:25:49 PM , Rating: 2
My free month of gold ends next week and I don't think I'll be paying for it. I bought the year of xbox live for the original xbox when it first came out and played it for maybe two weeks as well.

I just find the overall maturity level a bit lacking on live.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By SigmaHyperion on 11/13/2007 3:17:41 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
This is true, however, I am willing to bet that the majority of people that bought a 360 have paid for the online service as well. Honestly, anyone out there that owns a 360 never play it online? Anyone?


I'll take that bet :)

According to MS themselves, only about 60% of 360 buyers have EVER taken their 360 online. And, while they don't share what percentage of those are Silver or Gold, the vast majority are obviously going to be Silver.

Overall, it's safe to say that the VAST majority of Xbox 360 buyers are NOT paying for access to XBL.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By BansheeX on 11/13/2007 4:23:48 PM , Rating: 2
Not everyone is though, and you have to admit Microsoft doesn't force you to buy XBL Gold

While the choice is all well and good, that choice is also present on the PS3. It's just that both options are free on the PS3. The criticism of the 360's model becomes valid because of what it's competitor is doing, and because it's a feature used and valued by the majority of consumers of these systems. When the 360 cost-of-entry price is only retained on 15% of 360 users, but is still the price being used to call the PS3 expensive, that's where you get into logical trouble.

Also, you are having a difficult time understanding consumer psychology. It's obvious that they're not overtly hidden costs, but they are hidden costs in the psychological sense. Why do you think we see stuff priced at 99 cents instead of 1.00? Immediate perception of cost is important. When you pay a higher upfront price, it always "feels" like more than when small fees that add up to more than that amount over time. It's how credit card companies make so much money. Sure, you could pay an assload upfront. But why do that when you can own it right away and make monthly payments that, including interest, add up to twice that price over several years?


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By BansheeX on 11/13/2007 4:27:24 PM , Rating: 2
Correction: 15% should be 30%.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By Locutus465 on 11/13/2007 5:25:10 PM , Rating: 2
To be honest I'm not sure as many x-box people are going online as you think there are (I my self have played Gears online once and Halo 3 online once and plan to cancel my XBL gold), but taking it on faith that you're correct for arguments sake (just an expression, not that I'm trying to degrade a debate to that level)...

I think you'll find very quickly that the lower cost of entry and marketing campaign targeting kids, that your percentages will start to deminish... The whole idea behind the new marketing campagin is to target casual gamers who aren't interested in online play anyway (free or otherwise). The average person doesn't have the time or patience to deal with everything invovled (ping, good players all the rest) free or otherwise...

It's valid to point out "hey, online play on ps3 is free", but it's invalid to try to bring XBL gold to the "obvious cost" level of say, needing to get your cars oil changed... If you don't change your cars oil your engine will eventually seaze up, not paying for XBL gold does nothing to harm your off line enjoyment of video games.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By RjBass on 11/13/2007 9:08:21 PM , Rating: 2
I was wondering the same thing.

I have also been wondering if it is possible to extract the hard drive from a 360 and using Norton Ghost or another clone software program, just clone over the hard drive to another larger drive.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By Chris Peredun on 11/13/2007 10:25:18 AM , Rating: 3
It depends on the game itself, but an "average" game tends to be in the 2.5GB ballpark. Halo, I believe, is closer to 4GB.

Microsoft may be employing some manner of compression or regionalizing content (removing international languages, PAL/NTSC cutscenes depending on region) to strip this down though.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By mmntech on 11/13/2007 10:58:47 AM , Rating: 2
KOTOR 1 and 2 are at least a couple gigabytes each for the PC versions. I assume they're the same for the Xbox version. Why wouldn't you just buy the DVD boxed version? $15 is cheap but wouldn't downloading these games take forever and eat up bandwidth like crazy? As for the HDD, the 360 uses a standard 2.5'' SATA drive does it not? I've seen 160gb 2.5'' SATA drives for around $90. Cheaper than the 120gb 360 drive that's $165. I don't see why you wouldn't be able to take the 20gb module apart and swap the drives unless the 360 uses a special file system. Even then, couldn't you could just clone the old drive.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By kelmon on 11/13/2007 11:09:10 AM , Rating: 2
Because people are inherently lazy and will take the easiest option. For example, I know that the iTunes Store is more expensive for music than buying the CD but I buy from the iTunes Store because I'm a lazy bastard who wants the content now. If I elected to buy the CD then I'd either have to go down the shops and hunt for it (that's a fairly big trip from where I'm living) or wait for mail order. Bugger that...

Convenience is a relatively expensive commodity but one that is popular.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By darkpaw on 11/13/2007 11:11:06 AM , Rating: 2
Can't swap the drives on the 360 since they have a custom software/firmware load from MS. This is really a big croc of crap since its easy to do on the PS3. Just cloning the drive doesn't work either, they've blocked that as well.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By Aikouka on 11/13/2007 11:40:36 AM , Rating: 2
I thought you were able to switch certain Western Digital drives in, but you were still limited to 20GB even if it was a 160GB HDD? I believe there was an article on DT about this awhile ago, but I may be mistaken.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By darkpaw on 11/13/2007 12:15:41 PM , Rating: 2
Yah, I remember that too. Kinda defeats the purpose though with the 20gb limit.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By mmntech on 11/13/2007 12:41:37 PM , Rating: 2
Must be how it partitions the drive. Maybe the operating system's formatting program can only allocate 20gb max partitions. The off the shelf 120gb drives must be pre-formatted. Even so, there must be a hack out there somewhere to get around it.

I remember reading that content purchased from Xbox Live Marketplace can't be used with external USB drives, which is unfortunate. DRM strikes again. At the very least though, you can put all your media on a USB drive and use the stock drive exclusively for games.


RE: How large are Xbox Games?
By theapparition on 11/13/2007 12:51:31 PM , Rating: 2
Most games for consoles are smaller than their PC brethern, since not all high res textures are required to be packaged.
When your designing for a fixed entity, your able to strip out many things.


Huh?
By Murst on 11/13/2007 10:15:36 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
none of the manufacturers has seen fit to open up their previous blockbuster games for download on their new hardware

So, if you don't consider different Mario games (bros, SMW, 64), different Zeldas, Mario Kart, etc, to be blockbuster games, what then, in your opinion, is a blockbuster for Nintendo?




RE: Huh?
By Chris Peredun on 11/13/2007 10:22:29 AM , Rating: 2
Even though that's a sentence fragment out of context - I was speaking of the immediately previous generation of consoles (GameCube/Xbox/PS2) and not the entire system history - the article has been edited to clip that sentence.


RE: Huh?
By Kefner on 11/13/2007 10:28:06 AM , Rating: 1
Maybe if you read it again, you will see he refers to the previous generation (not generations). So what game on the Gamecube is available on the virtual console???


RE: Huh?
By Murst on 11/13/2007 10:31:54 AM , Rating: 2
You can't read it again because the text was modified.


RE: Huh?
By JasonMick (blog) on 11/13/2007 10:33:13 AM , Rating: 2
Don't be silly, the gamecube doesn't exist.

Its like the sasquatch or loch ness monster.

NES->SNES->N64->Wii


RE: Huh?
By Murst on 11/13/2007 10:39:21 AM , Rating: 2
I thought I had a couple of them in my Wii...


RE: Huh?
By Parhel on 11/13/2007 2:04:00 PM , Rating: 2
I know a good doctor who may be able to help you with that.


RE: Huh?
By MarcLeFou on 11/13/2007 10:56:47 AM , Rating: 3
And what about the Virtual Boy ?

Now THAT doesn't exist.

How many games were out for it anyway, less than 10 ?


RE: Huh?
By FITCamaro on 11/13/2007 11:04:48 AM , Rating: 2
My cousin had one. I couldn't play a game on it. I tried playing this starship game and everything was red. I couldn't tell what was a wall and what was a hole to go through.

Gotta admit though, those were some of the baddest ass commercials ever. It freaking chased a dude down and latched onto his face like in Alien.


RE: Huh?
By Vertigo101 on 11/13/2007 12:38:29 PM , Rating: 2
I still have my VirtualBoy. It's worth owning the system if only to play Wario Land. Sure, it was the system's best game, but it's still a great deal of fun. Also, my eyes were not bothered by the display. Pick up a copy on eBay and give it a try. Too many people missed out on that game.


Halo:CE Live
By therealnickdanger on 11/13/2007 10:55:11 AM , Rating: 2
That's all I want.




RE: Halo:CE Live
By Bioniccrackmonk on 11/13/2007 11:26:23 AM , Rating: 4
Oh man, if they tweak the original Halo to play online, I will be the happiest person alive. The original magnum with the real scope on it... <drools>


RE: Halo:CE Live
By AmbroseAthan on 11/13/2007 2:16:21 PM , Rating: 2
Just give me a Halo3 expansion pack that is Halo:CE's multiplayer maps and weapons, it would just be added as one of the Ranked/Social playlists. Oh, and for the love of god, re-instate fall damage.


RE: Halo:CE Live
By helios220 on 11/13/2007 11:44:35 AM , Rating: 2
I never had the Xbox version, but the PC version of Halo 1 had full online multiplayer. Not like you'd need a very sweet PC to be able to play Halo 1 these days anyway.

Obviously not quite the same as playing on your 360 though.


RE: Halo:CE Live
By therealnickdanger on 11/13/2007 12:17:01 PM , Rating: 2
I've been playing HaloPC for a long time and it is superior to HaloCE for Xbox, but only because of the online play, new maps and weapons. The PC port, however, was pretty flawed and needed many patches that never really solved all its problems. Building working netcode was Gearbox's biggest obstacle and it still kinda sucks. In the servers I play on, I rarely exceed 34-ping and my 7950GT averages over 80fps on every map, but despite this, the Xbox version is still smoother in feel. "Butter" is a term that describes the experience very well on Xbox. I've tried locking the framerate of HaloPC at 30fps, but it still doesn't feel the same.

They also had a lot of trouble recreating a lot of the particle effects that the console version used. Explosion effects and warps/portals can really slow some decent gaming rigs. To this day, nearly all NVIDIA cards still can't properly render the active camo like the ATI cards can. There's no excuse for the PC port not to be superior in every way, but the port was neglected.

I love HaloPC, but playing the smooth console version over Live with playlists, clans, friends, achievments, etc. would be so great. It will probably never materialize, but I can dream. If it came with all the new content of the PC version, I would literally pay N-E-THING for it.


being nice much?
By omnicronx on 11/13/2007 10:53:51 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Users with the standard 20GB hard drive may find themselves only able to squeeze two or three Xbox games amongst the rest of their demos, videos, and trailers before finding that they're simply out of space.
Sucks for 20gig users.. Considering 10gigs is used for game catching, this leaves you with a little under 10 gigs... So its more like 2 games at most if you have absolutely nothing else saved on your console..




RE: being nice much?
By MarcLeFou on 11/13/2007 11:00:24 AM , Rating: 2
I remember there used to be game caching on the original xbox since the hdd was standard, but with some 360 consoles being hdd-less, I would doubt there is caching going on on the 360 as the developpers most liekly didn't optimize for it.

Saying this, I have done no research to back this up so I might be off base here.


RE: being nice much?
By Locutus465 on 11/13/2007 11:14:04 AM , Rating: 2
You would be wrong, there actually is a lot of caching going on... I can see how you would come to that conclusion since the HD isn't standard, but if you have the HD game data will be cached and you will see the difference in load times.


RE: being nice much?
By BrgMx5 on 11/13/2007 11:05:52 AM , Rating: 2
Game caching???? 10 gigs

If you don´t know what you are talking, simply don´t say anything.

Every game made for the XB360 works without the HD, even if there is some caching going on when HDD is available, 10Gb ... come on!!!


RE: being nice much?
By bdewong on 11/13/2007 12:00:52 PM , Rating: 2
I'd say it's actually around 13-14 gigs you get.

When I clear my system of demos, but not all the other DLC I have, I have just over 12.


Two fundamental flaws I see here.
By Golgatha on 11/13/2007 11:28:56 AM , Rating: 2
1)DRM with no use outside of your current system and the inability to resell the game once you're done playing it.

2)Price. Their asking price of $15 will get you a used copy of any of those listed games pretty easily. Personally, I'm willing to pay a bit more than rental prices for DRMed games, since essentially it's an extended rental purchase.




RE: Two fundamental flaws I see here.
By FITCamaro on 11/13/2007 12:18:22 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
1)DRM with no use outside of your current system and the inability to resell the game once you're done playing it.


How exactly could you even use it outside your system? Not like you could burn it to disc or load it onto a memory card.


By Golgatha on 11/13/2007 5:21:04 PM , Rating: 2
Sorry, poor choice of words. I simply mean that a DRMed file on your Xbox 360 can't be ported over to a friend's console like you could just take a physical disc over to their place. This is assuming the system would work like the Wii VC games in that your purchases only work on the console it was downloaded to.


RE: Two fundamental flaws I see here.
By Parhel on 11/13/2007 2:12:33 PM , Rating: 2
The same argument could be used for purchasing used music CDs. It's half the price of iTunes (and twice the quality.) But, people still buy albums on iTunes.


mmmk
By stburke on 11/13/2007 10:17:22 AM , Rating: 3
Its not like I have these all on disc or something. It's still pretty cool, so off I go to get a bigger HDD...and a Zune. dammit.




By inperfectdarkness on 11/13/2007 2:02:59 PM , Rating: 2
the width and depth of the pool nintendo has to offer downloadable content from virtually guarantees worthwhile gaming on the virtua console for the next 5 years at least. i can count 18 games i have for n64 they have yet to release; 22 for my snes, and 35 for my nes--all of which they'd have to release before i could be convinced to relinquish my old systems.

if nintendo didn't release another console system for 10 years, but added a 500gb h.d; i'd still be 100% happy. 4th gen (i.e. xbox, ps2, gamecube) and newer games are simply too large to effectively be stored internally on media--at this time.




Halo enhanced?
By Combatcolin on 11/17/2007 2:51:18 PM , Rating: 2
Does anyone know if Halo is being enhanced for its Live Arcade Release?

Higher Res and widescreen support would be cool.




"Intel is investing heavily (think gazillions of dollars and bazillions of engineering man hours) in resources to create an Intel host controllers spec in order to speed time to market of the USB 3.0 technology." -- Intel blogger Nick Knupffer











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