You won’t need a hard drive to enjoy all the benefits of Xbox Live Silver and Gold with the Core System, but you will at least need a Memory Unit (MU) in order to save your Gamer Profile. If you plan on downloading a lot of content (vehicles, maps, game trailers, demos, etc) you’ll want to get a hard drive.
Will I be able to download content from Xbox Live without a hard drive?
Yes, with the 64MB MU you will be able to download content. However, gamers that choose to download lots of content will want to get a hard drive for capacity and flexibility.
Why are there two different systems?
We wanted to give people the opportunity to purchase what they value most. If a hard drive is important to you, you can have one. If you don’t feel like you need one, then you don’t have to pay for it. And if you decide you want one later, you can always add one.
Why doesn’t the Core System come with HDTV cables standard? I thought this was the HD generation?
Not everyone has a high-definition (HD) TV yet. And those people shouldn’t have to pay for it until they’re ready. Once they do get an HDTV, then they can purchase the appropriate cable as an accessory.
Trixieland 
Trixie–Lots of "rage" in the community on this one–hell, Major’s comments are blowing up. I’m seeing at least 90% negative on the "lack of a hard drive" mostly due to the fact that devs can’t "rely" on the hard driving being there. Of course it is an option to code a check, but in the era of rising dev cost who is gonna spend the money when they can just program for the "lowest common denominator". My question is, what is your thoughts on MS possibly changing their stance now that gaming community is "up in arms"?m
My thoughts are purely my own, and based on conjecture. I wasn’t here for the launch of the first Xbox, but I’ve heard that people were upset with the price. I was here for the launch of Xbox Live and people complained about it being a broadband-only service. They also were not excited about paying for premium content downloads. Plenty of people thought some of those decisions were going to prove to be mistakes, and that’s just not the case.Change is hard. Change is scary. But a whole bunch of really freaking smart people made these tough decisions in a thoughtful manner over a long period of time. I think they were right about Xbox 1 and Xbox Live and I trust that they will be right about Xbox 360. Me, I’m going for the Big Boy version of the 360. And yeah, it’ll cost me exactly what it costs you.My two cents.
Looks like M$ really screwed the pooch on this one. Preorder: Cancelled. I’ve seen at leat 30 people over at Major’s blog have also cancelled their preorders. I was on hold for thirty minutes b/c EB had soooo many people cancelling and not enough phone peeps. You should be ashamed of yourself M$. Maybe J Allard should spend more time working and less time on his tricycle.
I agree with you on the price side, but the feeling out there right now is that we, as a gaming community and fanbase, (I’ve got an Xbox360 hat on right now–don’t ask how I got it though 🙂 have been lied to or at the least misled. Here is an example:http://www.xbox.com/en-US/e32005/20050516-pressbriefing-news.htmand I quote:Microsoft detailed more key platform experiences that come standard with every Xbox 360 system:….–Detachable and expandable 20GB hard drive to download demos and trailers along with new game levels, maps, weapons, vehicles, skins, community-created content, and more to rip music for playback and to listen to custom playlists in every game. –A wireless controller with Microsoft-patented wireless technology. End Quote.Don’t get me wrong–you and Major kick ass. Xbox kicks ass. Xbox 360 will kick ass in a complete circle. But the announcements today are a good sized letdown for a lot of folks. (Also–take the remote out of the bundle and give me the charge and play plug!!!)
I know I’ll get sandbagged for this, but I think the whole HDD thing is a non-issue.MS could have offered a 360 system w/ HDD for $399, and no Core System. Instead of everyone complaining about the HDD not being standard, they’d be complaining about price.But most of the concerns regarding the Core being raised on Major’s blog and elsewhere have to do with the fear that it splits the market – i.e. since developers cannot count on the HDD they won’t develop for it.I think this is also a red herring, because developers who need the HDD for their title will see that a majority of 360 owners have an HDD. Over time, I think this will be even less of an issue, because HDD adoption will rise. If MS is anticipating 85% adoption, and if they provide good incentives for consumers (like price breaks next spring) then that gives developers the reassurance they need right now.TriXie, since you got the connects w/ the devs – maybe over the next week or two could you talk about the HDD in your interviews? I think getting a dev perspective on this would be really helpful.Sincerely from San Quentin,Mthd
Frankly, I was expecting to drop 4 Ben Franklins for this (and I will be there with ‘Bells’ on – lol)Although I am wondering if you could answer these small items for me: Will there be DVI as well as digital audio – specifically optic cable for audio? There’s nothing better than that ‘perfect’ sound, me thinks…
Jim, I don’t know the answer to that right now, but I will ask the right peeps and get back to you.
Lets hope MS cleans up the mess they made.I already cancelled my order, gotta go pick up the cash later though. Egh.
May we know if the wireless controller will have the vibration function ? That would be a huge step backward if not…
Yes, it has full rumble. Microsoft estimate 30 hours per charge, but with full rumble, voice, microphone and wireless heaven alone knows how they’ve managed this.And as for the 360, I can’t speak for the rest of the world but Britain loves you. £280 for the box plus loads of stuff? £210 to get on board with everything upgradable later? Yeah!Still a bit freaked about the HDD, but you get soooo many groovy things if you buy one it’ll be a nobrainer for most of the er, "Corbies"
Trixie, you gotta think about it from a person who has no real insider knowledge of this stuff at all. We had the whole wireless, hard-drive, and headset standard thrown at us. True, this is available on the "premium" version, but we were given the speculation of "It will be in the $300 range", and it was implied that the system thrown out, with all the good stuff, is in the $300 range.Since your thoughts are your own, I am sure you can agree that buying the 360 core is silly: simply buying a memory card would shoot the price up to the point where its a measily diffrence.Trixie, you realize that the console wasnt even designed to be used in a core package? Look at the number of controller ports, look at the interviews where MS claimed there would be only one SKU. This is a move that has occured because microsoft wants to make a larger profit on the console, and due to Sony’s "Its very expensive", MS is falling in for a trap.As a final note, Im pretty sure it wont cost you exactly what it costs us ;D MS employee shops carry the xbox, Im sure they’ll carry the 360
I like what I see, but g’damn, 400 bucks is still 400 bucks. It will be worth it in the long run to me, but daaamn!
Ah – I see on Major Nelson’s site that the HD cables have TOSlink abilty for fiberoptic digital audio cables – schweeeet. I’m VERY happy about that.I can see both ends of he argument, but personally, I’m just going to ignore the fact that there’s a $299 version as it doesn’t have what I want. But at least you have a choice. Also, as an ‘early adopter’ of all kinds of tech gear, and as a PC gamer as well, dishing out $400 for the high-end gaming rig is a no-brainer – A good high end video card costs about 25% more than that alone. I remember when the original PS 1 came out about 10 yrs ago – at $299 – which was the 1st ever of it’s kind to do so. Such audacity!This thing should blow my PC away and I can’t be happier.*now getting off my soapbox* 😉
Alv, we actually don’t get any kind of discounted price on hardware. Yes, that blows. 😦
Ouch >< You dont?-_- Some MS guy was blabbering about picking up an xbox for cheap on some blog. Guess not :O Hmm, or you can sneak "*ps*buytrixiea360too" somewhere in the manuals. Gee, you should really hide something in those manuals ><
Alv is onto something here. Trix, you could encrypt subliminal messages, with things like anagrams.Check this out (anagrams of "TriXie")-http://www.wordsmith.org/anagram/anagram.cgi?anagram=TriXieor put GPS coordinates in lieu of a delivery address…am I high on crack or what!
haha. Good idea, only I don’t write the manuals anymore. But if I can work subliminal buy treats for trixie messages onto the website, I will 😉
get it onto the Xbox Live *dashboard* and that red pair of manolos are yours
=P Trixie, i would love to see that =]Hehe, what about this, you hide a message like that somewhere, and ill send you some candy ^^