xbox 360 question

[beele]

I'm planning on buying a xbox 360 WITHOUT hard drive. All I wanted to know, is what it's limitations are, what can or can't I do without hard drive. Can it be added in later?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT:

With a memory card, will halo 3 saved films work?

[Longshot]

Well you need a hard drive to store pretty much everything on it, profiles, game saves, etc.

But I think a memory card will work, how much MB is it? I think you can store profiles on it and stuff, not too sure, though.

[Abdurahman]

You're better off getting the one with the hard drive. You pretty much can't do anything with that measly memory stick. A few saves, updates and stuff, and poof its full. If you do get the one without the hard drive, you'll end up regretting it and paying much more than if you would have gotten them together.

[Mr Buckshot]

I personally think the hard drive is a must-have, simply because the X360 can read from, but does not allow you to save to, USB keys or SD cards. 256 MB is adequate if you're not an XBL user (like me), but if you avidly use XBL then 256 MB will get filled up damn quickly. I assume it'll be 256 MB since you're going for the Arcade version.

Game saves aren't that big - only taking up a few MBs, but if you have multiple save files for the same game you'll notice the memory dwindling quickly.

Halo 3 saved films are not actually films - they are simply scripts that command the Halo 3 engine to render the "movies" in real time (this is to make sharing of saved films over XBL much easier, since the saved films would be very small). Trust me, the X360 is powerful, but I don't think it can handle running the Halo 3 game AND making a video file at the same time. If you want to actually capture your saved films as real video files, you either need to upload to Bungie via XBL or get a TV capture card or a digital video recorder. So yes, you can store saved films on a memory card, but if you have tons of films (or really long ones) expect the memory to dwindle quickly.

If you're THAT cheap, just buy the Arcade and buy a pre-owned hard drive from EB, but note that you lose out on the (rather overpriced) LIVE headset which you would've gotten if you had just ordered the 20 GB Premium.

Finally the standalone memory cards are uber-overpriced (while the X360 is cheaper than the PS3 for all models, its peripherals like mem cards and gamepads are more expensive, and are proprietary, meaning legacy peripherals and most universal devices won't work with the 360) so even if you want to just buy a second card as your solution, it's not cost-effective.

[beele]

I don't have much choice, It's that or nothing (parents) and I want to play halo 3 so I guess this is the one I'll be getting.

The memory card included with the package is 256MB. How many cards can be used at the same time on the xbox 360?

[Warningshot3]

If you read the stuff bungie talked about at GDC you'll know how much better h3 is with a hdd.



http://www.bungie.net/Inside/publications.aspx look at "New Dog, Old Tricks: Running Halo 3 Without a Hard Drive" and read the notes.

[Limited]

Dont want to steel your thunder beele but I dont want to start a new thread for just one question.

Does any one know if COD4 NEEDS a HD?
Also, could the game not load if the Xbox has no HD and the memory stick is possible full?

My friend has massive problems with his Xbox, probably the actual console but meh.

[CrAsHOvErRide]

The HDD saved my life on my old xbox...since the mp maps have been updated and are saved on the HDD I can play them and not off the DVD...my DVD is heavily scratched and none of the SP maps work. Right now it works more like a boot disc for me :P

[Mr Buckshot]

There are 2 card slots on the X360, so you can have a maximum of 1 GB of flash storage (2 x 512MB cards).

Well, I understand that your parents are buying it for you, so you have a tight limit, and a pre-owned Premium won't exactly cut it. So go ahead and buy the Arcade edition, but if possible, see if you can buy a pre-owned Halo 3 and a pre-owned hard drive for the price of a brand new Halo 3...doubt it's possible but it's worth a try.

And since you're using the x360 mostly for Halo 3 and no other, I guess the memory card cuts it for the time being.

[beele]

I saw the 120 GB hard drive for 99€ in a store, so I will be buying that later on anyway.
The arcade system costs 199€ and has built in wifi, and the xbox with the 120 GB hard drive, costs 399€. In the end I'll still be doing some profit.

And my parents are not buying it for me, I'm buying it, but because I've recently bought my ipod touch they said I could only buy me the arcade system, and of course a copy of halo 3 :)

[p0lar_bear]

Even though you're given the choice of the 360A or nothing, I'd say take "nothing" and save the money.

The 360P is a better value; you get a shitload of stuff + the 20GB HDD for the extra price of the drive alone.

[beele]

Even though you're given the choice of the 360A or nothing, I'd say take "nothing" and save the money.

The 360P is a better value; you get a shitload of stuff + the 20GB HDD for the extra price of the drive alone.

I have my 360A now. And I'm quite happy with it. Next month I will buy the 120GB hard drive for 99€.


note: halo 3 file share/saved films will not work without a hard drive.

[JDMFSeanP]

Built in wifi? what?

BTW, the 399 elite has better internals and cooling most likely then your arcade, as well as HDMI cables and its black. Black makes it hella worth more.

[beele]

no built in wifi.

My xbox also has a revised cooling system :)

[Con]

It's nice to have a hard drive to put demos on and stuff

[JDMFSeanP]

Why not buy a used 20gb for less?

[Mr Buckshot]

Why not buy a used 20gb for less?

The new models are all falcon based. Used models will have a greater chance of breaking down - and their 3-year warranties start from the day they were originally purchased, so you get less warranty. In fact, used models are likely to have the old unreliable heatsinks - even more reason to avoid.

I have an old 20 GB model...when the Jasper mobos are out, I'll probably buy an Arcade too and just transfer the hard drive.

Guys, the inclusion of a HDMI cable doesn't exactly justify the Elite's higher price. I got my HDMI cable for my PS3 (old 360 has no HDMI port) for only $20 in Singapore - it works flawlessly even though a generic Chinese cable with no brand may not seem trustworthy. Those $50+ cables you see at the department store are just not worth it. I don't wish to turn this into a "which console is better" thread, but I did note that the X360 doesn't exactly give you that much console per dollar - the PS3 has a higher price but actually offers far more console per dollar (same goes for peripherals). But the X360 has Halo 3 and a bunch of great games, so both systems are still great choices. Still, the Arcade would've been worth a lot more if it had an internal SLOT to install any off-the-shelf hard drive like the PS3 does. X360 hard drives are disgusting in their price, and modding in your own hard drive can cause incompatibility with xbl.

gratz on getting your 360 arcade. Wait, don't the saved films work on the memory card? I thought the hard drive was only needed to be able to share them with xbl friends. After all the saved films are not actually films you know - just data that the engine renders in real time, significantly reducing file size.

[JDMFSeanP]

I meant just hard drive, not console.

It has been said lots of older premium have been turned into arcade consoles.