Raven
15th July, 2008, 10:10 AM
Two major announcements were made from Microsoft during the Xbox360's turn at the current ongoing E3 games expo event, being covered right now by Gamespot - E3 2008 - Coverage of PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PS3, and More - GameSpot (http://e3.gamespot.com/?tag=nav-top;e3&navclk=e3)
The first major announement is that Final Fantasy XIII is no longer Sony exclusive...in a shocking announcement Microsoft announced to a stunned audience that FFXIII would indeed be receiving a simultaneous launch on the Xbox360.
The second major announcement is regarding the Autumn Xbox360 update, according to Microsoft this update will allow gamers to install games upcoming or old to the hard drive....this news coincides with the recently announced 60gb version of the Xbox360 and will ensure that the new 60 gb hard drives are being immediately put to good use. The question is will 60gb be enough ?
Just to be clear on this, from the info that I have gathered this Autumn firmware update will not mean you buy games online and download them to the hard drive....what this Autumn update will mean is that you can purchase any game in the shops or otherwise acquired, and then simply put the disc into your Xbox360 and then proceed to have the whole game copied to your hard drive in it's entirety after which it will be totally playable without the need for the disc.
However wether or not Microsoft adds any security measures to try and hinder people in this I don't know, but how I just explained it is how it should work when it is unhindered. Quick and easy.
This is the feature that has me the most excited and it makes me want to go out and buy a 360, because assuming it works as it should and is truly unhindered then this will be awesome. Because the advantages of no physical discs needed in order to play games after install is immense. And to have this legitamately too....I used to have an original Xbox which had this feature aquired but it cost me a fortune to do at the time but it was well worth it. Much faster loading all-round, highly convenient, highly reliable. This is what every games console should do by default but don't. It will be interesting to see if Sony will follow suit with the general purpose hard drives usable for it's console. I doubt it but I hope so.
Final Fantasy XIII coming to Xbox 360 - E3 2008 - E3 '08: Final Fantasy XIII 360-bound, Last Remnant dated - Xbox 360 News at GameSpot (http://e3.gamespot.com/story.html?sid=6193730&pid=950899&tag=topslot;action;3&tag=topslot;title;3)
Xbox 360 Autumn update to include full game installs for new hard drive - E3 2008 - E3 '08: MS details fall XBL update - News at GameSpot (http://e3.gamespot.com/story.html?sid=6193811&tag=top_stories;title;14)
More major news to come as and when it's announced.
EDIT
I just found out that apparently with this Autumn update, despite being able to install full games to the hard drive....the game discs will still have to be in the machine as a piracy measure. I knew it was too good to be true.
The first major announement is that Final Fantasy XIII is no longer Sony exclusive...in a shocking announcement Microsoft announced to a stunned audience that FFXIII would indeed be receiving a simultaneous launch on the Xbox360.
The second major announcement is regarding the Autumn Xbox360 update, according to Microsoft this update will allow gamers to install games upcoming or old to the hard drive....this news coincides with the recently announced 60gb version of the Xbox360 and will ensure that the new 60 gb hard drives are being immediately put to good use. The question is will 60gb be enough ?
Just to be clear on this, from the info that I have gathered this Autumn firmware update will not mean you buy games online and download them to the hard drive....what this Autumn update will mean is that you can purchase any game in the shops or otherwise acquired, and then simply put the disc into your Xbox360 and then proceed to have the whole game copied to your hard drive in it's entirety after which it will be totally playable without the need for the disc.
However wether or not Microsoft adds any security measures to try and hinder people in this I don't know, but how I just explained it is how it should work when it is unhindered. Quick and easy.
This is the feature that has me the most excited and it makes me want to go out and buy a 360, because assuming it works as it should and is truly unhindered then this will be awesome. Because the advantages of no physical discs needed in order to play games after install is immense. And to have this legitamately too....I used to have an original Xbox which had this feature aquired but it cost me a fortune to do at the time but it was well worth it. Much faster loading all-round, highly convenient, highly reliable. This is what every games console should do by default but don't. It will be interesting to see if Sony will follow suit with the general purpose hard drives usable for it's console. I doubt it but I hope so.
Final Fantasy XIII coming to Xbox 360 - E3 2008 - E3 '08: Final Fantasy XIII 360-bound, Last Remnant dated - Xbox 360 News at GameSpot (http://e3.gamespot.com/story.html?sid=6193730&pid=950899&tag=topslot;action;3&tag=topslot;title;3)
Xbox 360 Autumn update to include full game installs for new hard drive - E3 2008 - E3 '08: MS details fall XBL update - News at GameSpot (http://e3.gamespot.com/story.html?sid=6193811&tag=top_stories;title;14)
More major news to come as and when it's announced.
EDIT
I just found out that apparently with this Autumn update, despite being able to install full games to the hard drive....the game discs will still have to be in the machine as a piracy measure. I knew it was too good to be true.