Xbox update killing third party storage devices

[SonicWaffle]

I suppose I wouldn't care so much if the HDDs microsoft offers for the 360 wern't a complete rip off.
$170 (AU) for a 120gig HDD? Yeah right.

I got mine for £15 off of Ebay, and all but the arcade 360 model comes with a hard drive anyway.

Yeah I have a woefully inadequate 20 gig HDD at the moment.
With all of the Fallout 3, Saints Row 2, Oblivion, GTAIV and Fable 2 expansions I have this puts me in the "buy and new freaking hdd" corner.
I have about 50mb left right now haha.

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

Why do you need three Xboxes?

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?

Some people have too much money

 

[GloatingSwine]

Do you know why they do this?

It's so you can't access the data on these devices on anything else, so that you don't get, for instance, the plague of people flying and clipping out of the world in CoD4 that hit the PC and PS3 versions, which came to the PS3 via a hacked game save, but was absent on the Xbox version because the console was locked down.

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?

No, it means that if you wanted to mod your console to be able to copy save data onto a third party device from which you could access and edit it, allowing you to cheat at games on Xbox Live, it will be more difficult to do so.

Because the only people this affects are cheats and scrubs, anyone crying about this is a cheat and a scrub, and their tears are delicious.

Cry Some More!

 

[sirdanrhodes]

Yeah, all those cheaper and equal quality units with higher memory. They suck so much that Microsoft has to save us from crap(!)

 

[TimeLord]

First they could put up XBL prices and now this, I think I'll sell my 360 very soon and keep my PC and PS3

Well, that's a laugh! Good thing I have a PS3.

My thinking exactly

 

[Irridium]

well maybe if they didn't charge $50 for a 512 megabit memory card I wouldn't have to use my $1 2 gigabite flash drive goddamnit.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

All the article says is that they're killing "unauthorized" units. As in, shit that's been modded.

I don't see how that equates to "3rd party units", which are an entirely different matter.

(Strangely, the only XBL user in the first two pages who noticed this was named procrastubator.)

no it's not stuff that's been modded, it's stuff they haven't approved for use by m$ themselves

Will I still be able to watch videos on my Xbox from a 3rd party USB?

the answer is no

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.

Sony let's you plug in any external storage medium you want and i believe that Nintendo is the same way. in fact i think you can use most any blutooth/usb keyboard or mouse and some of the controllers

 

[GloatingSwine]

Will I still be able to watch videos on my Xbox from a 3rd party USB?

the answer is no

The answer, despite your FUD, is yes. This only affects third party devices used to store user profiles and save data.

 

[shadow skill]

This is not about dealing with cheaters because the cheaters will cheat regardless of this update. This would be like Sony pushing out an update that breaks modified controllers because some people get turbo buttons installed. Such an update would not stop the people who use turbo to cheat in games from doing so. It would stop people who use modified controllers in order to get things like legacy, or proper southpaw support from doing so.

 

[Quad08]

My xbox is broken so this won't effect me! Yes!

Oh wait...

 

[Sixties Spidey]

WHAT?! I'm not made out of fucking money! considering that games take up the bulk of my Xbox's hard disk, using it for media is a no go. Thanks a lot! Assholes.

 

[slipknot4]

It's M$, Not big surprise

 

[Paragon Fury]

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.

All the article says is that they're killing "unauthorized" units. As in, shit that's been modded.

I don't see how that equates to "3rd party units", which are an entirely different matter.

(Strangely, the only XBL user in the first two pages who noticed this was named procrastubator.)

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.

This. Is. About. The. Money. End of story.

Analogy fails because in most countries (particularly the USA) eletronics and their supplemental hardware, even if you "buy" them are still legally under the control of the parent company/publisher/developer and they reserve the right to dictate how and even if you can use the item in question.

When you buy electronics, you buy the right to use the item, so long as you follow the rules. And since unauthorized devices (IE: Non-Microsoft approved devices) have always been against the Xbox and XBL ToS, MS has every right to prevent you from using them with their items, by any means possible.

 

[Trotgar]

Well, not really surprising here. Microsoft loves their money, and this a way to get more money. It is a shame though, and a dick move.

Yep, this is really a shameless and smug dick move.

 

[paragon1]

Well, that seems a little over-the-top. Though I don't know why people bother with the third party ones. I've had my 360 for over 3 years and played at least 2 dozen games, and I STILL haven't had to delete anything off of the hard drive. I don't think I'm even remotely close to the maximum memory capacity (and I don't even have the bigger one).

Not everyone has the same usage habits as you do?

And precisely what does that have to do with what I said? I was trying to say that I didn't understand the need for anyone to have a third-party device in the first place.

 

[shadow skill]

Well, that seems a little over-the-top. Though I don't know why people bother with the third party ones. I've had my 360 for over 3 years and played at least 2 dozen games, and I STILL haven't had to delete anything off of the hard drive. I don't think I'm even remotely close to the maximum memory capacity (and I don't even have the bigger one).

Not everyone has the same usage habits as you do?

And precisely what does that have to do with what I said? I was trying to say that I didn't understand the need for anyone to have a third-party device in the first place.

It has everything to do with what you said and why this is a problem for people. People who are not you may be in a situation where they want/need more space. They shouldn't have to be robbed by Microsoft and have their money get them far less than what they would get with a third party device. The reason a person may want a higher capacity storage device is obvious really.

 

[Internet Kraken]

According to the message, only unauthorized storage devices will not be allowed. You can still use third party devices so long as they are "Licensed for Xbox 360".

Maybe I'm just stupid, but I don't see why that's such a big problem.

 

[paragon1]

Well, that seems a little over-the-top. Though I don't know why people bother with the third party ones. I've had my 360 for over 3 years and played at least 2 dozen games, and I STILL haven't had to delete anything off of the hard drive. I don't think I'm even remotely close to the maximum memory capacity (and I don't even have the bigger one).

Not everyone has the same usage habits as you do?

And precisely what does that have to do with what I said? I was trying to say that I didn't understand the need for anyone to have a third-party device in the first place.

It has everything to do with what you said and why this is a problem for people. People who are not you may be in a situation where they want/need more space. They shouldn't have to be robbed by Microsoft and have their money get them far less than what they would get with a third party device. The reason a person may want a higher capacity storage device is obvious really.

Wait, so what exactly are you doing to take up 90GB+ of space? I say "you" because you seem to be taking my statement awfully personally.

 

[WickedSkin]

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.

All the article says is that they're killing "unauthorized" units. As in, shit that's been modded.

I don't see how that equates to "3rd party units", which are an entirely different matter.

(Strangely, the only XBL user in the first two pages who noticed this was named procrastubator.)

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.

This. Is. About. The. Money. End of story.

You brutally ripped words out of my fingers. I like you.