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Major Nelson is telling us that any unauthorized data storage devices will be made defunct by the next Xbox LIVE update. On the Major Nelson blog he said:
When Preview Program members start receiving the Xbox 360 system update next week, one of the changes is that unauthorized Memory Units will no longer work with the Xbox 360.
What are authorized devices? There’s less than a handful:
Manufacturer: Microsoft Category: Accessories Console: Xbox 360 Release Date: 4/29/2007 Price: $149.99 Manufacturer: Microsoft Category: Accessories Console: Xbox 360 Release Date: 11/4/2008 Price: $99.99
Yes that’s it. So if you’re using something else to store your profiles you might want to move them on to your hard drive or Xbox 360 memory card before you get the next update as you might not be able to use that profile afterwards.
Xbox LIVE users are less-than-thrilled with this. Considering that the prices Microsoft charges for their ’authorized’ storage units rival prices of storage options 10x larger...is it any wonder? The price of that 120GB (above) is $149.99 at NewEgg that gets you an iomega UltraMax 1TB 3.5" USB 2.0 / IEEE 1394a / IEEE 1394b / eSATA External Hard Drive
Now there are 250GB hard drives on the way from Microsoft, but unless they’re priced right they won’t sell extremely well, will they? I’m curious what the price point will be on a 250GB ’authorized’ version will be.
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113 days ago
You wonder about the price point? I’m going to make a wild, cynical, and unlikely guess: Microsoft, having already taken an idea from Nintendo... will take one from Sony.
The authorized 250GB hard drive will retail for Five Hundred and Ninenty-Nine US Dollars.
Obviously I’m exaggerating (and invoking an old meme to boot, forgive me), but the question is, "by how much?" They used to charge a hundred bucks for their wireless adapter, and most listings I see now still price it at the absurd seventy-five dollars.
My guess is Microsoft does this sort of thing to try to recoup their losses on the Red Ring of Death issue. That, or it’s like the story of a child running a lemonade stand charging $100 a glass; as the kid puts it, "I only need to sell one!"