Xbox update killing third party storage devices
- Thread starter cleverlymadeup
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The problem stems from the limited field of (realistic) competitors - you don't really have all that many alternatives in the console market if you want to "stick it to Microsoft" for pulling this stunt. And since this is not a design decision integral to the console itself, but rather an update to existing products that before this worked with 3rd party storage devices just fine, it's rather hard to vote with your wallet when you've already purchased the bloody system, now isn't it?
As for why this is such a bad thing, I shall employ the following analogy: Imagine you just bought a table for your kitchen. You paid cash, so there is no question about ownership, and the table is therefore definitively yours. Now imagine you decide to airbrush a life-sized naked woman onto it. Under no circumstances could the table's manufacturer stop you from doing this, even if it's a clear violation of how they envisioned their products being used, because you own the bloody table now and it's yours to do with as you see fit.
Microsoft dictating what you can no longer do with hardware you have purchased, in a transparent money grab at that, is no less ridiculous than the manufacturer of your couch mandating you use only approved footwear (which only they make and you'll pay through the nose for it) whilst 'interfacing' with it, because 3rd party foot coverings could potentially scuff up the leather(oh noes!).
The idea that hardware manufacturers should be allowed to control how that hardware is used once it enters the consumer's hands is a pernicious and insidious one, and while the examples above are absolutely ridiculous and meant only to showcase how illogical the entire concept is, imagine if say... auto manufacturers could mandate that only 1st party replacement parts could be installed?
I think you can see now why it's best we nip this trend in the bud.
This. Is. About. The. Money. End of story.
As for why this is such a bad thing, I shall employ the following analogy: Imagine you just bought a table for your kitchen. You paid cash, so there is no question about ownership, and the table is therefore definitively yours. Now imagine you decide to airbrush a life-sized naked woman onto it. Under no circumstances could the table's manufacturer stop you from doing this, even if it's a clear violation of how they envisioned their products being used, because you own the bloody table now and it's yours to do with as you see fit.
Microsoft dictating what you can no longer do with hardware you have purchased, in a transparent money grab at that, is no less ridiculous than the manufacturer of your couch mandating you use only approved footwear (which only they make and you'll pay through the nose for it) whilst 'interfacing' with it, because 3rd party foot coverings could potentially scuff up the leather(oh noes!).
The idea that hardware manufacturers should be allowed to control how that hardware is used once it enters the consumer's hands is a pernicious and insidious one, and while the examples above are absolutely ridiculous and meant only to showcase how illogical the entire concept is, imagine if say... auto manufacturers could mandate that only 1st party replacement parts could be installed?
I think you can see now why it's best we nip this trend in the bud.
That's not what that means at all - it's a move to kill sales of storage devices that are not manufactured by Microsoft or 'licensed' by Microsoft (read: Microsoft takes a chunk of their profits), a transparent money grab justified entirely by the sentence "We like money and screw you". USB storage devices are a bloody industry standard and plugging one into your console to copy data onto it is not modding. Installing a superior price/GB hard-drive instead of the over-priced POS drives Microsoft sells is also not really much of a mod, in that the system is designed to accommodate hard drives and having a bigger one does not in any way give you some unfair advantage during online gaming.scotth266 said:
This. Is. About. The. Money. End of story.
I just use a microsoft harddrive, so this doesn't effect me. Therefor I don't care. The only negative effect i could see this having is flame war fags will have one more thing to pointlessly scream at each other about, but the day I start giving a shit about what they have to say is the day I start inserting my whole body into orifices because at that point I've officially become a dildo.
Haha unlucky, yeah my 20GB ran out quickly. But I guess I'm a sucker for giving Microsoft money, I have 2 Xbox 360 Elites, and 1 Xbox 360 Arcade. That's 260GB altogetherErnie Devlin said:
Like me for example... I just had to delete a few old games that were installed to the hard drive... after I deleted all the ones that I don't play too much, I have 30GB left (out of 120)... Damn those Oblivion saves...shadow skill said:
You sound surprised when a company that owns a property makes sure the only possible additions to that property have to be made by them. Curse their business savvy. Also... we are forgetting who the real evil is here. Bobby Kotick.
The wording is rather obtuse. As far as we know, the situation is as I described it, so there's no reason to get all worked up until the information is clarified. Odds are that Major Nelson will make another post specifying whether 3rd party hardware will still be usable in the near future.Gildan Bladeborn said:
Until then, this is nothing more than speculation, and a golden opportunity for some to start wailing about how M$ IS TEH EVILZ. Color me unamused. Until some more info comes out about this update, we don't know WHAT is going on.
As far as the licensing thing goes, I believe that all the major gaming companies already do that. If they don't, they should: I see no reason why Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo shouldn't be making SOME money off of peripherals being sold for their respective consoles.
I'm abit confused over this, this either means any storage device such as USB which will suck.
Or these fake Chinese crap where a drive is flashed with a Hard drive key.
Then again I use 3rd party equipment, I brought a VGA cable for my Xbox for £3 on Ebay, 3 years later and its still going strong. Shame I can't test this out.
Or these fake Chinese crap where a drive is flashed with a Hard drive key.
Then again I use 3rd party equipment, I brought a VGA cable for my Xbox for £3 on Ebay, 3 years later and its still going strong. Shame I can't test this out.
My xbox never let me store stuff on my flash drive. Maybe I was doing it wrong? I've even got a 500gb portable one sitting RIGHT NEXT TO MY XBOX. If you guys are saying all this time I could've used it, I will post a pic of me personally facepalming. I think i tried my flashdrive when xbox first came out, maybe it wasnt compatible then/I did it wrong?
(granted I didn't try the hdd because I thought no usb drives were allowed, maybe its only hdd?)
(granted I didn't try the hdd because I thought no usb drives were allowed, maybe its only hdd?)
Why do you need three Xboxes?HE Starwind said:Haha unlucky, yeah my 20GB ran out quickly. But I guess I'm a sucker for giving Microsoft money, I have 2 Xbox 360 Elites, and 1 Xbox 360 Arcade. That's 260GB altogetherErnie Devlin said:
Well this is stupid. I didn't know that there were any third party hard drives and that doesn't really affect me but no portable storage devices? Does that mean I can't even play my mp3 player through the xbox anymore?
Well I have an upstairs 360, a downstairs 360, and a spare just incase that's in a cupboard. Can't I have more than one nice thing?SonicWaffle said:Why do you need three Xboxes?HE Starwind said:Ernie Devlin said:
Haha unlucky, yeah my 20GB ran out quickly. But I guess I'm a sucker for giving Microsoft money, I have 2 Xbox 360 Elites, and 1 Xbox 360 Arcade. That's 260GB altogether