Am I the only one who couldnt care less about the HD and BC on the XBox 2?

**SmileBit** · 01-12-2004

HD - Hard Drive

BC - Backwords capability.

I am so sick of hearing X Bots complin about a lack of a hardrive. How many games actually used the hardrive outside of saving? There have been maybee 10 or so that have used the music ripping feauture and 2 that have used the hardrive fully. Blinx and the upcoming Fable. My point is that MS should ditch the HD because developers never used it. If it will save MS 50 bucks and keep the price down 50 bucks then Im all for buying 2 memory cards.

How many of you are planning on buying an XBox 2 for Halo and PGR2? Not me. Im going to buy it for XBox 2 games. My point? Play XBox 1 games on your XBox. Play XBox 2 games on your XBox 2.

Doesnt anyone realize MS is going to pull a Nintendo next gen and just give us a quality console for cheap? This will help MS pull out of its 2 billion+ dollar hole its in.

**BananaMan** · 01-12-2004

yeah i think so, it HAS to have an HD, bc well it doesn't matter to me if there going to do something great with the new xbox. If it's about the same stuff then it better be.

**LynxFX** · 01-12-2004

I agree with you on the backwards capability, but not at all on the hard drive.

How many games actually used the hardrive outside of saving?

Every single one of them.

The harddrive isn't just for saved games, or custom soundtracks. It is a caching system that allows the games to stream, load faster between levels, load the last 3 games you played even quicker, as well as store downloaded levels and additions.

Remove the harddrive and you remove any chance of BC for one thing, but you also remove one of the key features that made the xbox what it is, and you strip all of the multimedia features that MS has said they plan on for Xbox2.

All in all, the no HD is a pure internet rumor that will never happen.

BC, while still an internet rumor, is still completely up in the air, as it doesn't have anything to do with the future of the xbox, but rather its past.

**odpr** · 01-12-2004

tell me does money grow on tree ??
if microsoft going to make the next xbox with out hard drive, and with out the ability to play old games, that will the end of xbox, and u can quote me on that.

the reason is simple, play station fans will have the ability to go back to thier old games ( this is the thing that really cost money here..)
plus they will get the best console ever in the next console gen.

I didn't spend all my money on games just to throw them to the garbage can in a year..

about the hd, it's great idea, the memory card is stuiped, not only that sony is using it too in add on..

**SmileBit** · 01-12-2004

Originally posted by LynxFX-XBA
I agree with you on the backwards capability, but not at all on the hard drive.

Every single one of them.

The harddrive isn't just for saved games, or custom soundtracks. It is a caching system that allows the games to stream, load faster between levels, load the last 3 games you played even quicker, as well as store downloaded levels and additions.

Remove the harddrive and you remove any chance of BC for one thing, but you also remove one of the key features that made the xbox what it is, and you strip all of the multimedia features that MS has said they plan on for Xbox2.

All in all, the no HD is a pure internet rumor that will never happen.

BC, while still an internet rumor, is still completely up in the air, as it doesn't have anything to do with the future of the xbox, but rather its past.

Go play a multiplatform game on the GameCube. It loads just as as fast as the XBox version garanteed. Nintendo proved you dont need to chache to have awsome load times.

I think your stuck in 2001. I bought into the hype about the HD was going to change gaming forever. It didnt. It was a waste of Microsofts money. MS lost 150 bucks on each XBox sold in large part because the hardrive was so expensive.

If your not planning BC then why add a HD?

**LiquidX** · 01-12-2004

I dont much care about the BC but I could NOT live without the HD now that Ive been spoiled by it. I dont want to have to buy 5+ memory cards and switch them out when I wanna play a different game. And dont tell me you dont need 5+ memory cards... I wouldnt be able to save all my custom Halo gametypes or Morrowind characters on 2 measly cards... Not to mention the other 16 games I have...

**Ford Mustang** · 01-12-2004

Originally posted by SmileBit

I am so sick of hearing X Bots complin about a lack of a hardrive. How many games actually used the hardrive outside of saving? There have been maybee 10 or so that have used the music ripping feauture and 2 that have used the hardrive fully. Blinx and the upcoming Fable. My point is that MS should ditch the HD because developers never used it. If it will save MS 50 bucks and keep the price down 50 bucks then Im all for buying 2 memory cards.

Ah. You are quite the ignorant one. By this idea, we don't really need hard drives on our computers, but just lots of CDs, right? Yeah ok.

You obviously do not know how the Xbox uses it's hard drive. Sure, it uses it to save and for music ripping, but it is also used for something else. When games are loaded into the Xbox, information is spooled onto the hard drive, where it waits to be loaded into RAM (cache). This way, it's a hell of alot faster than taking it right from the CD. You didn't know that games always run faster when they don't have to rely on the CD-ROM keeping up? I guess not.

Also, I'd like to see a link to a credible source that says MS lost $150 on each XBOX. Until then, it's BS. You're saying it cost $450 for Microsoft to create one Xbox? That can't be true. Especially with the price of wholesale electronics these days. Dell probably makes it's computers for less than $200 each. I really doubt MS spent $450 on each XBox.

Also, you must not know much about the console market at all, either. The money is not made in hardware sales, in case you didn't know. Practically all of the money is made on software sales.

Also, how about a link to a credible source that says MS is in 2 billion dollars of debt?

**wbio** · 01-12-2004

2 memory cards= about 2 halo saves. the consumer would be spending much more than the money saved by buying memory cards. And like Lynx said, that would mean that all the multimedia features would not work. I would hate not having a HDD, but I could live without the BC

**BunnyRabbit** · 01-12-2004

Xbox 2.. Needs to be everything the first Xbox was with some good enhancements of some sort. I dont want anything taken away.

Make better durability... Have Backwards compatibility. Good Hard drive. Better and more of everything... Cool XB2 Games..

All of that. A full package plus like 20 bags of chips.. Doritos...

**l Maximus l** · 01-12-2004

First and foremost, it's Nintendo and Sony's fault for brainwashing us console gamers that using memory cards is the way to play games. That's a load of crock if you ask me. Remember Zelda back in the NES days? The cartridge actually had a memory on it...that's the way to go....not on a stupid plastic memory card. The entire concept of memory cards is idiotic...and the 21st century is the time we currently live in...so, bring on the hard-drives...that's what it's all about.

Backwards compatibility? Personally, I can care less...I already own an XBox..in fact, 2 of them, however, I think it would be important to have the XBox 2 backwards compatible despite my opinion. I believe that there are thousands of others who may need it or want it.

I remember having an Atari 5200 and I had the adapter that connected to it so I could play my Atari 2600 games on it. Couldn't MS come out with an adapter instead of special software to read the first XBox games while playing on an XBox 2?

**Peepers** · 01-12-2004

HD's significantly enhance what dev's can do. If you look at your Xbox games, you'll find that many of them have save files that are too big for memory cards.

KOTOR and Morrowind save files are far too big to fit on memory cards. In the next generation of consoles, I suspect that game sizes will only get bigger and memory cards stay about the same.

I'll say it right now: I will NOT buy the Xbox 2 if it doesn't have a HD.

**dances with broom sticks** · 01-12-2004

I was in complete shock at what I was reading, then about half way through I looked to the left and saw Smilebit... it all made sense after that.

IF you honestly think you dont need the harddrive, just rip yours out. Sell it on ebay, and make some money off it. Its obvious it is a waste of space in your box.

**Reclaimer** · 01-12-2004

Well....
You can certainly bet that if the Xbox doesn't have a hard drive, then you couldn't make Xbox Live happen.
Yeah, Sony pulls off online without a hard drive... at first... but guess what's being offered now, if not soon? Take a hard guess....
Does anyone's brain hurt yet?
A hard drive!
Yup.. Sony's own hard drive. Now, they too can have downloadable content.
You tell me who's stuck on 2001 when the major leader in the gaming industry follows suite with it's major rival.

**PapaSKooT** · 01-12-2004

Originally posted by Maximus-XBA
Remember Zelda back in the NES days? The cartridge actually had a memory on it...that's the way to go....

While we're on this topic...

My dad was telling me about how back in the day, him and his cousin were addicted to Zelda, and would play marathon sessions to finish it. Well, some BG info here, to save the game, you had to hold down the reset button while pressing power. If you just pressed power, your save would be lost. Well, my dad and his cousin were a few days, give or take, (

) into the game, and I (Age : 1) crawled up to the NES and pushed the power button while they were playing. Yes, without pushing the reset button too. Needless to say, well, they were pissed. To make a long story short, my dad played for the next 3-4 days, almost straight, to catch up

**RichVGS** · 01-12-2004

You know, I'd buy the Xbox 2 without BC and the HD...for about $100. If they expect to charge like $300 or more at the launch, it had better have BC and the HD if it wants to be a strong force in the game war.

**Trento52** · 01-12-2004

well i don't know if anyone mentioned this but with the hardrive you can install or download stuff to it such as those downloadables for games and different displays and stuff. Also i just love custom tracks but there are way more then 10 games that support it.

**CharlieHustle** · 01-12-2004

I really dont think that MS is in dept. This is MS we are talkin about. 2 billion is nothin to them, and by now im more than sure that they are reapin the benefits of the xbox and LIVE by now. The HD is a must, for downloaded contents and saved games, as many games i have, i would need probably about 5 cards for sure. Also if you have played HALO or morrowind, you would have noticed the minimal to no loading times between areas. Thats called cache(2gigs of your xbox HD is dedicated to it), where the next area is loaded to the HD then streamed off the hd instead of a long loading screen. I seriously doubt that MS will scratch that for the less conventional method of Nintendo or Sony. As i said before, B.C. i can care less about, i know a lot of people demand it, but i wouldnt complain if it doesnt happen, they dont even have to make the HD larger, ill take the same size HD thats in mine now. Also i dont recall MS sayin that they are debating about taking out that HD....

**xboxman_1** · 01-12-2004

Am I the only one who couldnt care less about the HD and BC on the XBox 2?

Since I know you have reading comprehension problems SmileBit, I'll sum up what everyone else has said.

Yes.

**Brimstone D.** · 01-12-2004

Why are you people taking what Smilebit said so serious? He is a Nintendo fanboy after all, it's all just to get you pissed off, wtf does he care? It's kind of interesting that a Nintendo Fanboy is on a XBOX forum...just food for thought.