Something went wrong. Try again later

Giant Bomb News

161 Comments

Ditch Your Memory Units, 360 To Support USB Flash Drives Next Month

Get up to 32GB of additional storage through those pesky USB ports on your 360.

Microsoft has confirmed earlier reports and announced that a system update will be pushed on April 6 to allow users to store Xbox 360 game data on USB devices, like flash drives. Hard drives will also work, but since it cuts off at a maximum of 16GB per device, that'd be a pretty good way to waste a hard drive. 

No Caption Provided
Once connected and configured, you'll be able to use your USB devices much like your 360 hard drive or existing Memory Units, which means you can store your profile there. Hopefully this update will come with some tighter security on profiles, because putting them on devices that are easily read by a PC is really just inviting more of the achievement point and game-adding hacking that's been going on for months on the 360. If I run into any Microsoft-types at PAX this weekend, I'll be sure to ask.
Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

161 Comments

Avatar image for jeff
jeff

6357

Forum Posts

107208

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 20

Edited By jeff

Microsoft has confirmed earlier reports and announced that a system update will be pushed on April 6 to allow users to store Xbox 360 game data on USB devices, like flash drives. Hard drives will also work, but since it cuts off at a maximum of 16GB per device, that'd be a pretty good way to waste a hard drive. 

No Caption Provided
Once connected and configured, you'll be able to use your USB devices much like your 360 hard drive or existing Memory Units, which means you can store your profile there. Hopefully this update will come with some tighter security on profiles, because putting them on devices that are easily read by a PC is really just inviting more of the achievement point and game-adding hacking that's been going on for months on the 360. If I run into any Microsoft-types at PAX this weekend, I'll be sure to ask.
Avatar image for vinchenzo
Vinchenzo

6461

Forum Posts

245

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 30

User Lists: 2

Edited By Vinchenzo

Interesting!

Avatar image for chris2klee
Chris2KLee

2402

Forum Posts

1090

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 6

User Lists: 13

Edited By Chris2KLee

Like Jeff said, more security better be on the way. But overall, sounds like a good addition.

Avatar image for zyn
zyn

2765

Forum Posts

603

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 12

User Lists: 1

Edited By zyn

Hell yeah!

Avatar image for deactivated-5f00787182625
deactivated-5f00787182625

3325

Forum Posts

604

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 0

Lemme get this straight, any memory stick up to 16 GB can be used as a hard drive? 

Avatar image for daryl
Daryl

1776

Forum Posts

178

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Daryl

Somebody will find a way to break into it but this is good news either way. 

Avatar image for nytrik
Nytrik

171

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By Nytrik

Seems like an open invitation to simpler piracy. That's a really interesting choice.. Hopefully some sort of security, like Jeff said, will not allow games to be booted from the USB drive. Similar to how the DS works with the SD card. 

Avatar image for yukoei
Yukoei

2141

Forum Posts

143

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

Edited By Yukoei
@Jeff: Can you put Jungler on it?!
Avatar image for codemck
CodeMcK

95

Forum Posts

339

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 2

Edited By CodeMcK

No more recovering accounts when I wanna play on my friends xbox?

Avatar image for wintersnowblind
WinterSnowblind

7599

Forum Posts

41

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

Edited By WinterSnowblind

Microsoft are still being pretty stingy by only allowing up to 32gb but it's still a very useful addition.  Me and my friends frequently play on each others systems, and this involves recovering gamertags every single time which is quite a hastle.  Simply being able to store our profiles on any random USB stick is a huge improvement.
 
Also gives me a method of storing demo's, music, game saves, etc, without upgrading my 20gb.

Avatar image for azteck
Azteck

7415

Forum Posts

5

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By Azteck

Woo!

Avatar image for chrisojemmo
chrisojemmo

17

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By chrisojemmo
@zudthespud: It doesn't look likely be like that, the release doesn't say anything about XBLA, games on demand or installing games to the external usb
Avatar image for ch13696
ch13696

4760

Forum Posts

204

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 11

Edited By ch13696

Wow already thinking people are gonna hack into it? Why don't you wait and see if it does get hacked before you actually say anything Jeff. Sorry just tired of everyone looking at the bad side of everything.

Avatar image for yates
yates

511

Forum Posts

253

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

Edited By yates

A brave move by Microsoft but a very welcome one.

Avatar image for geekdown
GeekDown

1179

Forum Posts

1177

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 5

Edited By GeekDown

It's great that they're doing this, but I really wish they would allow more than 16gb.

Avatar image for lordandrew
LordAndrew

14609

Forum Posts

98305

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 36

Edited By LordAndrew

Great news.

Avatar image for linkyshinks
Linkyshinks

11399

Forum Posts

-1

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

Edited By Linkyshinks

It'll be interesting to see how they can make this secure. It could make matters worse.

Avatar image for discost3w
discost3w

164

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By discost3w

I use all my usb ports with my controller and my headset

Avatar image for murderousdonkey
MurderousDonkey

12

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By MurderousDonkey

If this let's my carry around my gamertag without having to recover it on my friends console each time, Microsoft deserve a big pat on the back.

Avatar image for vrock
Vrock

86

Forum Posts

288

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 1

Edited By Vrock

hmm 
Will we be able to install games on flash-drives? 
If yes, than it's definitely good news.

Avatar image for ashuku
Ashuku

278

Forum Posts

252

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

Edited By Ashuku

Thank god. I can finally transfer the 12gb of Rock Band songs off of my 20gb hdd. Its getting to the point where I can't even download demos. 

Avatar image for deactivated-58c3985c661d1
deactivated-58c3985c661d1

2120

Forum Posts

38018

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 10

User Lists: 3

Finally Microsoft wisened up. more storage is a must since the original 20gb hard drive is very limitted. It makes sense that there is a cap, since if there wasnt, than no one would buy the 120gb hdd or whatever. Kudos to you microsoft :)

Avatar image for nick_verissimo
nick_verissimo

1477

Forum Posts

403

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 9

Edited By nick_verissimo

Well, it's a cheaper alternative then paying 40 bucks for a Microsoft branded 512 mb memory card.  In a quick search I saw a 16 gb flash drive for 35 bucks, so I think it's a nice gesture on Microsoft's part.  Now they just need to allow third party wireless usb adapters to be usable on the 360 without any hassle.

Avatar image for andre
andre

41

Forum Posts

31

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By andre

Excellent news. 256MB MU, meet eBay.

Avatar image for thelawnwrangler
TheLawnWrangler

1740

Forum Posts

2046

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 7

User Lists: 4

Edited By TheLawnWrangler

EDIT nevermind :P 
 
still, cool

Avatar image for charlesalanratliff
CharlesAlanRatliff

5763

Forum Posts

13647

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 34

Good. Now I don't have to buy a 360 memory card just to transfer my brother's saves to his 360 when I get him one.

Avatar image for strikerthelizard
StrikerTheLizard

326

Forum Posts

50

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By StrikerTheLizard

Freaking awesome. This made my day.

Avatar image for bretek
BreTeK

4

Forum Posts

1

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By BreTeK

This is great news, if I can move all my saves over (apart from stupid ones that you are not allowed to move!) then I can finally format my 120gb! My HDD is so slow at the moment!

Avatar image for hoagie
Hoagie

69

Forum Posts

1641

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

Edited By Hoagie

The way it's worded makes it sound like games and DLC won't be allowed on USB devices. Mr. Nelson here says profiles, game saves, demos and more. I would think games and DLC, being the biggest memory-hogs would be first on the list. I'll keep my pants on until this is confirmed. Otherwise, I'm able to move like a whopping 500 MBs of content off my HDD.

Avatar image for i_smell
I_smell

4221

Forum Posts

1650

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 5

User Lists: 11

Edited By I_smell

Cool, now I'll have more room for XBLA games.

Avatar image for swampwalk
swampwalk

117

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By swampwalk

About damn time!
 
I was getting tired of Microsoft touting the xbox 360 as a media center without providing the storage options to back it up.
 
oh yeah.... they'll be a hack for more than 16G a week after launch...
then they'll be a patch to brick all hacked systems...

Avatar image for meatsim
MeatSim

11201

Forum Posts

150

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 23

Edited By MeatSim

This is a good idea.

Avatar image for brittonpeele
BrittonPeele

861

Forum Posts

2253

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 6

User Lists: 7

Edited By BrittonPeele

Awesome news. I've put off buying a memory unit forever, and now I'm glad I did.

Avatar image for cl60
CL60

17117

Forum Posts

-1

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Edited By CL60
@bitcloud said:
" @CL60: What, like my 500gb hdd for less then $80? No limit on USB drives? Instant login on another PS3 without deactivating my original one? Sure. "
What?
Avatar image for sweep
sweep

10887

Forum Posts

3660

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 14

Edited By sweep  Moderator

Only 16gb per device? I guess they still want people to fork out for their big MS branded Hard Drives. Bastards.

Avatar image for iam3green
iam3green

14368

Forum Posts

350

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By iam3green

pretty cool but they should allow more memory than that. 32 gigs isn't a lot that is having two flash drives in the USB port.

Avatar image for deactivated-5ffc9b0923f9f
deactivated-5ffc9b0923f9f

2527

Forum Posts

4764

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

only 16gb per device? That's pretty horrible. But still a lot better than nothing.
 
Can a USB hub work? So that way you can basically load that sucker up?
 
I'd like it to recognize more than 16gb though, that way I can just have one external and have all my game saved backed up on it incase my hdd ever dies.

Avatar image for pkshields
Pkshields

827

Forum Posts

113

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 8

Edited By Pkshields

Awesome feature, but like everyone else all I can think about is the piracy and hacking issues.

Avatar image for spazmaster666
spazmaster666

2114

Forum Posts

42

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 9

User Lists: 16

Edited By spazmaster666

Hopefully this means that I'll be able to put video files on a flash drive and be able to play it directly on the 360 rather than having to stream files to it over my network or using a FAT32 hard drive. Also, security shouldn't be a big issue if more game developers started encrypting their save files the way that most PS3 game saves are encrypted (yes evened encrypted saves like say FFXIII can be hacked, but it's a much harder process than unencrypted saves which can be easily hacked by anyone who knows their way around a hex editor).

Avatar image for wintersnowblind
WinterSnowblind

7599

Forum Posts

41

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

Edited By WinterSnowblind
@bitcloud said:
" @CL60: What, like my 500gb hdd for less then $80? No limit on USB drives? Instant login on another PS3 without deactivating my original one? Sure. "
Yes, the PS3 allows better storage methods, but frankly these comments are getting extremely old.  The 360 HDD's are laptop ones, which are typically more expensive than regular ones and external ones typically need their own power source, plus they have a custom 360 shell and the software for simply being plug in and play, with the PS3 all the settings need to be configured manually, not to mention physically opening up your PS3, and so forth.
Avatar image for thehbk
TheHBK

5674

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 6

Edited By TheHBK

In earlier reports, I had been lead to believe that the device would be used exclusively for the 360, as to why a hard drive would be a waste.  But that picture right there makes me think that you just partition off a part of it for the 360 and the rest is still useable for a pc.  So what gives?

Avatar image for zaapp1
Zaapp1

716

Forum Posts

556

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 9

Edited By Zaapp1

3 Ports? So...48 GB?

Avatar image for mordeaniischaos
MordeaniisChaos

5904

Forum Posts

-1

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 5

User Lists: 5

Edited By MordeaniisChaos
@arab_prince said:

" Finally Microsoft wisened up. more storage is a must since the original 20gb hard drive is very limitted. It makes sense that there is a cap, since if there wasnt, than no one would buy the 120gb hdd or whatever. Kudos to you microsoft :) "

I'd be curious to see the sales numbers for 120 GB HDDs sold separately. I doubt it's very high considering the arm and a leg it'll cost you vs the established market worth per GB 

@WinterSnowblind said:

" @bitcloud said:

" @CL60: What, like my 500gb hdd for less then $80? No limit on USB drives? Instant login on another PS3 without deactivating my original one? Sure. "

Yes, the PS3 allows better storage methods, but frankly these comments are getting extremely old.  The 360 HDD's are laptop ones, which are typically more expensive than regular ones and external ones typically need their own power source, plus they have a custom 360 shell and the software for simply being plug in and play, with the PS3 all the settings need to be configured manually, not to mention physically opening up your PS3, and so forth. "
I'd rather spend time preping my 360 to use a bigger hard drive without spending 20 times what I should be spending. It also wouldn't be that hard to Automate the process, but that means the console seller has to put out support. Also means they can control it a hell of a lot more, like here though. There is NO argument against Microsoft charging out the ass for their own stuff and then not giving an alternative. As for the Live vs PSN transfer, if PSN cost money it would be the same I assure you. So that whole argument is moot. They are way too different. 
 
Edit: 
Does seem odd that the cap is 16GB. Considering the smallest drive MS is actually making is 60GB I'd have appreciated a bigger number. Obviously this is for people who don't have money to upgrade to a better HDD, but it would be nice to see more space. Still I'm not complaining, this more then doubles my space ^.^
Avatar image for ez123
ez123

2166

Forum Posts

170

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 12

Edited By ez123

Damn, those memory units must have tanked.  The market(sometimes) works!

Avatar image for zaapp1
Zaapp1

716

Forum Posts

556

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 9

Edited By Zaapp1
@ch13696 said:
" Wow already thinking people are gonna hack into it? Why don't you wait and see if it does get hacked before you actually say anything Jeff. Sorry just tired of everyone looking at the bad side of everything. "
It's a valid concern that he's expressing as someone who believes in points as a worthwhile endeavor.
Avatar image for halberdierv2
halberdierv2

2001

Forum Posts

56084

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 11

Edited By halberdierv2

its about time the 360 actually started giving value for its money... $120 for a 20GB drive or $30 for 16GB Memory stick? this shouldve been part of it from the beginning.

Avatar image for moztacular
Moztacular

556

Forum Posts

2

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By Moztacular

I think something this speaks well for is that this feature will  "have" to come standard when the next xbox is released. right?

Avatar image for zuul
Zuul

332

Forum Posts

1509

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 1

Edited By Zuul
@CodeMcK said:
" No more recovering accounts when I wanna play on my friends xbox? "
This alone gets me excited!