NXE requires 128MB space, MS to offer 'storage solutions'

by Ross Miller on Oct 10th 2008 12:33PM

Microsoft has released an official statement stating that the New Xbox Experience will require 128MB of free space (a hard drive is recommended to "take advantage of some new features"). The company also said that "a small percentage of Xbox 360 owners do not have enough memory to accommodate the update" and will be "offering storage solutions to the Xbox LIVE community."

Details are promised in the coming weeks, so for now we're left to wonder how Microsoft plans to provide solutions other than the current option of purchasing a memory card or hard drive. Full statement after the break.

Microsoft statement:

"The New Xbox Experience will require 128MB of free space. A hard drive is recommended for the optimal experience, to take advantage of some new features, and to be able to enjoy the great movies, TV shows and games available on Xbox LIVE. While we expect the majority of consumers to download the New Xbox Experience without a problem, a small percentage of Xbox 360 owners do not have enough memory to accommodate the update. To help ensure all Xbox LIVE members are able to download the New Xbox Experience and enjoy its new features, Microsoft will be offering storage solutions to the Xbox LIVE community. We are not sharing details of this offering yet. Be sure to check xbox.com."

Tags: breakingnews, new-xbox-experience, nxe, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (84)

Josh - I can't reply to you, I dunno why.

The mandatory upgrade has been confirmed numerous places ("Once the new one comes out, everyone moves over." - http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3170304 - for example). So a mandatory install, that can't install on the hardware they've sold ... well, that smells like a brick. You have to upgrade, but you can't upgrade.

I think what josh is trying to point out is that your console wouldn't be bricked, you'd just not be able to sign into the online portion of your profile. You'd still be able to play all your games offline.

OK, I see the point.

To my mind "You bought a console that promised online play ... now you can't go online anymore" is essentially a bricking.

But yeah, you could still turn it on.

Yeah...guess what. The Arcade SKU comes with a 256MB Memory Unit. That's twice as much space as required for the NXE, and game saves take up a few hundred kilobytes. And forget DLC, if you have 256MB of free space, you aren't downloading crap. So there. Microsoft should offer like cheap 60Gb hard drives, like for 35 or 40 dollars to people who have a CORE (note: THAT SAYS CORE) system. People who have an arcade already have enough space, new Xbox 360s have 60GB HDDs, old Xbox 360s have 20GB HDDs, and Elites have 120GB HDDs. So there.

The hard drive prices obviously need to be lower, but how about just letting us use USB memory sticks?

Not an option, Flash memory cards are compatible with everything. ;)

I would actually hope for being able to hook up any usb Hard Drive, but then that would take away from them being able to sell a 120GB hard drive for $149.99.

Online storage... Could it be! I Hope it is!

"Oh shit, I'm one of them! : 0

Reason I haven't bought one is because I'm not sure if I want to keep the 360, thinking of selling it after playing a bit of Gears 2 to get a gaming PC instead."

Gaming PC? PC gaming=dead

What games are you gunna play? counterstrike 1.6? source? WoW? Starcraft II? Diablo 3? For the next however many years Age of Empires?

Yeahhhhhh

Seriously, just shut up now. All of those games are better than 99% of console drivel. You fail at life.

LOL, you're probably one of those people that says the Juggernaut that is the Wii is dead too.

What you don't realize is that most of the games that come out on 360 also come out on PC, and they're cheaper and way better.

While I certainly have been giving more attention to my consoles recently, I still hop on my PC here and there. Steam has a steady influx of games, plus certain genres (RTS's and MMO's for example) are still PC-only 99% of the time.

What I like is that this essentially confirms that NXE isn't any kind of software change or updated code, but rather a piece of DLC that will likely sit "on top" of the old nav.

And does that mean my "20GB" HDD which is really only 13GB will now only be 12.75 GB?

I love the games on the console, but hat the fact that with only about 2GBs of user content on the drive I'm already half full...

The Xbox 360 It's ALIVE!!!

On a serious note, why are they making this NXE madatory? Did they not say earlier that they would not? So if they did...then they LIED just like Sony lies right boys and girls?

On a more somber note, check your 401k's if you haven't already...mine's down HALF from the 1st of the year and another 6k just this week, not counting today....FRACK this is terrilbe economic disaster for the WORLD.

no they did not said it was optional. so you fail

They never said it would be optional.

I seriously doubt online storage, because it could be intermittent. How do you save if you're in the middle of the game and your cable goes down? When you're moving? When you're at a friends' house with no extra network cable?

Here's the thing, I'm not getting the hdd at first. None of my friends are online, and I can play all the disc games without it. And I would expect to have to upgrade at some point.

I think it isn't exciting, but they'll probably just offer a free upgrade from the too small memory cards they used to ship. Why they don't go big and make hdds standard and relaunch 360 is beyond me. I think that would be less damaging in the long run.

My guess is they are going to be offering bigger/cheaper memory cards.

Silly Microsoft, trying to copy Nintendo again.

Wii needed a storage solution for years, Microsoft's so late to the party

:P

Wow, i kinda figured this would have sat on the flash memory where the 360 currently stores it's os... kinda strange. Maybe it's a 2 part solution - too large for whatever on board flash the unit has?

In any case, i plan on scoring a 360 pro to augment my ps3/wii setup in the coming weeks.

This what i think may happen. I've heard that the nxe will reside on the system memory but avatars will require additional memory. The memory solution may be a non-writable memory card which has the avatars preloaded on them.

At a strict level, this should only effect Core owners. Since that's the case I'm betting it's free memory cards for them. I wouldn't expect too much in this instance.

If they would get rid of the stupid stupid Media center that eats like 5gb of every HDD, everybody would win.

Or if you're like some people...you have an HDD, and don't really feel the need for the NXE, and thus feel that the 128MB mandatory download is kinda stupid and pointless.

@Badboy

I'm not what part of "the New Xbox Experience will require 128MB of free space" wasn't clear in the post

Huh? You lost me... which comment are you replying to?

Is it me, or is 128mb a huge fucking file?

its looking like a complete overhaul of the xbox live interface..
i mean going from the " blades " dash to this would require a lot of space IMO>

and 128mb is not a lot of space anymore.

Im thinking they will offer rebates for hard drives for those without one.

I'd be up for that cloud storage :). It would be nice to be able to moves saves between xbox's by just logging into my profile. MS has been on a server farm binge for teh last several years.

So I'm guessing they'll sort out some flash memory for a future revision?

Pfft. 126mb of that is the leftover PS3 code.

I dont see why the people posting here are complaining. If you purchased a core console, you did so knowing that you were getting a bare bones, no frills, zero extras experience. I have a launch console with a 20GB hard drive. My save game files take up 6.5GB of space on my hard drive with the average game save file being about 30MB. My point is that No One posting on joystiq.com can call themselves a casual gamer, and thus any Core 360 owner posting to the site would have their xbox's connected to the internet and would have Had to upgrade to a hard drive a long time ago. Thus anyone posting to this site would be unaffected.

As for the casual core owners, they will likely never get this update because they will never bother to connect their console to the internet or contact microsoft to have an update disc mailed to them.

The arcade SKU has come with a 512 MB stick since it started coming with arcade games(more then a year ago), so only the ones who bought a "CORE" model (thats the name)before are the ones who will need a "FREE" memory card that Im sure microsoft will send to your house to fit the new NXE. This can be checked with your 360 serial number....

I own a core, play on Live, and only have a 64mb card.

@Easo - I don't know what crack you are smoking but no games have 30mb save files. Now if you are talking 30mb consisting of multiple saves for a single game that is possible. Then again nothing says you need to keep all those saves after you beat the game.

@Sonrics - Which Arcade consoles come with 512MB cards? The only ones I have seen in stores, or even Microsoft's site come with 256MB cards.

Online Storage - crap idea. So I can't play avatar based games offline (even ones that offer local multiplayer or single-player with Avatars)? Or I lose all my saves while offline?

Memory Card - unless it has enough usable storage to directly replace my current card and hold NXE it also fails. I have a pair of 64MB cards. I should not have to dedicate one of my memcard slots to NXE only. The NXE addon either needs to go into the memcard slot and allow a memcard to be plugged into it, or go into the USB slot and still allow a USB device to be plugged in as well. Any other solution is a failure.

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NXE requires 128MB space, MS to offer 'storage solutions'

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