Xbox 360 S 250GB hard drive available ... right now

@Osnaz Could you connect a TB to the 360?

@GlockXIII sure....but it will only read 16GBs of it ¬_¬

@Osnaz $130? lololololololololololol. PS3.

@phinn
My attempts at translating your unintelligible post have failed miserably. Good luck with high school.

@Osnaz
Agreed.. Obviously MS has not intention of marketing their peripherals with rational, market-parity pricing. This is just a rip-off.

One would think that the PS3 HDD upgrade model would have made an impression, guess not.

@Osnaz

Good luck on that. I spent around $50 for my 320gb that I put in my ps3.

And I thought it was going to be third party. Guess not.

@CaptainProtonX I was thinking the same thing. Now I just wonder if the 250GB kinect bundle will be 400 or 450, as it might be cheaper to upgrade if it's 450.

@zebwinz

My guess is $400. Companies love even numbers.

@CaptainProtonX 450 is even 450/2 = 225 .. Definitely even :)

@McDuckScrooged

I would expect a McDuck to know arithmetic.

I was talking in a $100 level sense: $200, $300, $400...etc.

@CaptainProtonX

I say $399, because companies don't like even numbers :P

@The Tim

Check on ebay..

My friend got a used 60gb for about $30.. Pretty ok for a MS hdd..

@KupoCheer

It's not as simple as you might think. See, Microsoft still make losses on each Xbox 360 SKU they make. By this I mean the cost at manufacturing is still higher than what they sell the Xbox 360 to retailers for (which is less than what the price on the shelf is). Microsoft also spends millions on Research and Design (R&D) which needs to be reclaimed. How do they do this? By charging publishers/developers a licensing fee. This is why console games are usually priced higher than PC games as this fee is passed onto consumers.

Microsoft in particular make money off peripherals. It's why the whole system is locked-down to things like unlicensed memory cards (Datel got it's unofficial cards banned in a recent dashboard update) and why there's no 3rd party HDDs outside of USB Memory Sticks. Microsoft does allow 3rd party accessories like controllers and headsets but these items, like games, are charged a licence fee by Microsoft hence they get money back. And these are often specialist items like fighting game pads or arcade sticks or things which aren't like the official Microsoft products.

So there's no competition, Microsoft made sure of that. And without competition, there's no reason for Microsoft to be competitive. They charge what they like because consumers have no choice. They either take it, or leave it. And as Microsoft lays down more and more features like renting of HD videos, install games to HDD and the Xbox Live Marketplace flourishes with content, people will require larger HDD capacities to enjoy them properly. So Microsoft makes back it's investment and more through fleecing everyone for accessories and games.

As consumers, you might be a little annoyed at this. But they're a business. They're out there to make money and that's all it boils down to in the end.

@SSUK I hope they not selling it at a loss and the PS3 is profitable now.....thats just....bad business...

@SSUK I find it hard to believe that Microsoft is selling 5 year old hardware at a loss. But other than that, your assessment is pretty spot on. Microsoft is the only game in town for Xbox Storage accessories and thus it's their prerogative to make you take it with no soap.

However, I would take an expensive hard drive as a one time expense over 50 dollar ink jet cartridges that I have to replace every few months. Or how about diabetes test strips at $100 a box. Even worse for me...I have sleep apnea and have to use a breathing machine. Every 6 months I have to replace the mask and tubing...at a cost of $700 (the materials used can't cost more than 7 dollars).

So in the greater scheme of things, yes Microsoft is taking advantage of their exclusivity but it's nothing compared to some company's business models.

@KupoCheer

One reason that was ignored by everyone here is simple if "evil".

One of the ways microsoft recoups its money from xbox is by selling the higher end versions. If they sold the hard drive so that it was much cheaper (or let anyone upgrade it) the question wouldn't be "Why would you buy the S 4gb, when you end up paying $30 more dollars", because there is a million legit answers as to why you would by the smaller one.

But if you could buy the smaller one, and for $50 more put a TB hard drive in it. Why would anyone buy the high end machine, and pay more money for less equipment. Well the only answer then is people who have plenty of money and don't want a minor hassle of swapping a hard drive, not a huge demographic. AND allowing any HD always presents the possibility of incompatibilities IE more money spent on customer service.

@Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi

Or use it as a Media Extender.

@Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi

Considering you can get like 32 extra GB from USB memory buying a 4GB Xbox now is a lot more attractive than my 20GB was back when I bought it.

@Acosta02 more attractive but not more practical.....

@Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi

You can only use it to play EVERY Xbox game.

@McDuckScrooged i didn't know about the 16GB cap until right now i have to say that is the stupidest thing ever. i was going to buy a 4GB Xbox and hook up the extra 320GB HDD i have. guess thats not gonna happen. damn you Microsoft.

@McDuckScrooged "whats the point to the 4gb 360 model ? You will need to buy a drive eventually.."

1.) Less than half of Xbox 360 owners ever even connect the console to the internet. There are over 41 million Xbox 360's sold and only 25 million XBL gold & silver accounts. When you factor in that most Xbox 360's have multiple XBL accounts on them (mine has 3) it begins to sink in how few people with an Xbox 360 actually even use Xbox Live.

2.) If you are buying someone a Christmas gift a $200 console is much more affordable than a $300 one and nobody is going to be sad that they got an Xbox 360. Most people are not hardcore gamers who download map packs and extra levels for games. If the person decides down the line they need more space they can upgrade the consoles themselves.

3.) And finally there are people like me who want to have Xbox 360's in multiple rooms of the house. I want to be able to play games when someone else is using the TV in the living room or to stream videos from Netflix/Zune and soon Hulu and ESPN. I don't need to have two 250GB hard drives considering my account and all of my game save data fit on a 256MB memory card. All video and music services on Xbox 360 stream their data, you don't need to download it. I have purchased several HD movies off of Zune Video store and I can stream them on any Xbox 360 in my house.


"why is there a 16GB cap for usb devices, which moron came up with that scheme? pfft its just stupidity on top of stupidity.."

The 16GB cap is so that they can sell accessories, which they do. Console accessories have much higher profit margins than software. This may be the only longterm future for game consoles at retail stores since software may eventually become download-only like it is for the PSP Go and iPhone. The reason why Best Buy carries iPod Touch is because of the accessories market. Retailers on the otherhand hated the idea of PSP Go and practically killed it before it even had a chance.

@cool8man I love your reasons why, but I do take exception with one. The reason there is a 16gb cap on removable media is because the xbox makes one encrypted file up to 16gb. This 16gb file (or partition) is changed when ever it is written to or deleted from. If the file were larger there would be more instances of corruption and then who would be mad that they lost 320gb of data on there external drive because a couple bytes were written incorrectly.

@cool8man

So Simple translation of what you said is :

I dont mind being raped with stupid tactics such as limiting usb devices to 16GB, just so that they can heavily over price the drives..

Let me clarify another thing for you.. Console Manufacturers get a cut for each game sold whether its download only or sold in a store.. They sell SDKS they sell development units and they get a cut of the profits.. In fact by making it download only they gain to make even more because they can easily become publishers for the game as well.

Your logic beggers belief, seriously.. Think about what your saying . You are the consumer right ? As a consumer you should want value you should want whats right and to be treated right. You either are an insanely huge Microsoft fanboy for thinking that this complete abuse is acceptable, or you work for Microsoft and they pay your wages ..

The ps3 allows user replaceable drives to any size you want by any manufacturer.. It allows us to plug in 2TB external drives.. Why do they not see the need to abuse their owners ? Why has Sony not set stupid limits ?

@Captain Planet Planeteer Power

The song, yes, but don't forget about the dance. MY GOD THE DANCE!

@Captain Planet Planeteer Power

It's a good song for Microsoft and but not so much for the people who think Microsoft is offering them value for their money.

Can't you use your powers to purify the greed in that company? I've done business with them with regards to their licensing schemes for Office and Windows and I have to say that the Hell's Angels and the Teamsters offer better deals than MS.

@Captain Planet Planeteer Power

A Broken Record...

@MrAhh

Yes, the 360 can play DivX files.

@Vidikron then why... ok one last question, as a 360 owner what would you use the space for? I have 48 PSN games, complete seasons of 4 tv shows, photos, a heavy dose of music and roughly 80 movies on my current 250 gig drive.

I guess the question is if these drives where actually affordable could you do the same. If so Microsoft is just taking advantage of stupid people.

@MrAhh

Installed games are around 6GB-8GB, purchasing games on Xbox Live (And by that I mean one of the 120 full 360 games) is also around 6GB-8GB per game. DLC for games like Assassins Creed and Fallout 3 easily go over 1GB of just that.

Then you have people who want to put seasons of TV shows on their Xbox (I don't understand why, get Windows 7 and it'll stream it from your PC), and people who actually use the Video service on there. Then Arcade games, Indie games, people who download a lot of Rock Band 2 songs, and people who just don't want to worry about running out of space.

Then again, those people would have probably just went out and paid the extra $100 to get a 250GB HDD with the console instead of 4GB.

@MrAhh Arcade games, DLC, music. you can't copy any pics or videos off your thumbdrive or disc (so you're stuck with streaming).