Posted by elrous0 on 09/28/05 13:08

Quantum Leaper wrote:
> more than big enough for todays games

I wonder how many times the average gamer has heard that phrase in his
lifetime?

> most don't even come
> close to using the whole disk, unless their is a lot of FMV on the disk.

The problem is that losing the hard drive is a huge step *backward* for
MS. The hard drive on the original Xbox not only could be used for
saving games, but also for caching content. Games won't be able to do
that on the 360, which will mean longer in-game load times (no DVD
drive is going to be as fast as a hard drive, particularly for even
more demanding graphics).

> The bigger and fancier the games are the more
> it take to develop them in the first place.

That's true. MS has made an attempt to address this with the idea of
"player created content" but my experience with player created content
(mods, skins, on line MMO's like "Second Life") is that it's hit or
miss, with very poor quality control. And with all the anti-hack,
anti-piracy restrictions MS is going to put into the 360, such content
would have to be extremely limited in scope anyway.

> The game producers will program their games for the lowest common
> hardware

That is what has made me reconsider my initial plans to buy a 360 at
launch. With the hard drive coming non-standard, I've decided to wait
and see how the developers approach it and how the games actually play.
With multiple configurations and hints of future improved versions, MS
has essentially created its own internal format war. So I'm going to
wait a while and see who wins that war before I buy.

-Eric

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