Microsoft announces 100GB 360 HDD at X06 Korea!

If you've been hankerin' for a bit more room to stash pr0n Xbox Live downloads and other various medias on your 360, and you're not so keen on squeezing in a backup solution or dealing with a frumpy external drive, it looks like you're in luck. Microsoft just announced a 100GB hard drive for the Xbox 360 at their little X06 shindig in Korea, and the drive should be making its way to shelves -- at least in Korea -- by March of '07. There's no info on price yet, or really much info at all, but when has a PowerPoint slide full of Korean characters and lame-fonted "100 GB" overlays ever steered you wrong?

[Thanks, Michael R]

[Typist @ Oct 19th 2006 10:53AM]

Thats great. MS giving users more 'choice' with their proprietary HDD format; how much MS?

[DeShaun @ Oct 19th 2006 2:27PM]

I really wonder why people complain about a proprietary format for ANYTHING when it comes to consoles. That should be a given.

You buy a specific product, by a specific brand, and you're expected to buy products that are compatible with said product, and ONLY said product. You get a 360, so naturally you buy 360 accessories. What is the problem?

I love how people put choice in quotes. You always have a choice. Want the new HDD? Great, wait and go buy it. Don't want it? Okay, your choice. Complaining about that is like complaining about the thing not playing Playstation games.

If you want something where you can swap in any drive you desire, well, you're sitting in front of that device now. Push your $400 into upgrading your pc, and you'll probably be much happier.

Besides, I'm no 360 owner, nor do I keep my ear to the ground on these things, but I'm pretty sure there have been um...alternate methods of increasing HDD space for the 360 by now. If it happened to the original, it can happen to this one.

Haha, something tells me Sony will panic and DRM their hard drive somehow.

[charlie @ Oct 19th 2006 11:00AM]

Notice that you can read what appears to be a 10 (maybe it says 100 GB??) that is cut off by the presenter's back/shoulder and you can clearly read all the other numbers, 360 and 256 in western numerical type.

[embassy @ Oct 19th 2006 11:00AM]

its gonna be interesting to see the pricing on this...

and i find it funny that engadget gets the scoop on this before joystiq....and this isnt the 1st time thats happend.

[Paul @ Oct 19th 2006 11:04AM]

So are they going to give those of us that bought a launch console a deal on this since we are stuck with an old HD? and what about our saved games?

Theory - this will drop stateside two weeks before Halo 3

[anthony f. @ Oct 19th 2006 11:06AM]

question remains, how will someone transfer their data from the old 20G harddrive to the 100G harddrive. Through the pc, perhaps? unfortunately a lot of casual not so tech savy people would not know how to do this. And there might be some device to connect the old harddrive to the pc and then connect it to the new harddrive.

then again the same can be said of the ps3 harddrive when you are upgrading it. This new next gen is costing more and more each day.

[DrHockey @ Oct 19th 2006 11:37AM]

I think MS has some options here. They could let you transfer all the data from your old drive to a PC, then back to the new drive. Or more likely, purchase server space to upload the contents of the drive, then back down to the new drive once the swap is complete.

[Rou @ Oct 19th 2006 11:05AM]

Here are more X06 Korea links.

http://www.gameinside.co.kr/bbs/read.html?table=bbs_newest&page=1&num=198&no=341&depth=0
http://www.gameinside.co.kr/bbs/read.html?table=bbs_newest&page=1&num=197&no=339&depth=0
http://www.gameinside.co.kr/bbs/read.html?table=bbs_newest&page=1&num=196&no=337&depth=0

[Jeff @ Oct 19th 2006 11:15AM]

embassy,
it's not entirely necessary for you to tell us that the pricing will be interesting. im really not trying to sound like a dick here but i'm just saying that an interest in price-points is a given. i just get kinda annoyed when i read comments that add no value to the article. on the other hand, i do like the fact that you pointed out how engadget got the scoop first. when i first saw the headline i wasnt sure if it was legit or not. 'if it were true it'd be on joystiq/kotaku/somewhere focused solely on videogames.' nice going engadget

[Rou @ Oct 19th 2006 11:06AM]

http://www.gameinside.co.kr/bbs/read.html?table=bbs_newest&page=1&num=195&no=335&depth=0
http://www.gameinside.co.kr/bbs/read.html?table=bbs_newest&page=1&num=194&no=333&depth=0
http://www.gameinside.co.kr/bbs/read.html?table=bbs_newest&page=1&num=193&no=331&depth=0

[Rou @ Oct 19th 2006 11:07AM]

Here's Xbox.com Korea's press announcement about the event

http://www.xbox.com/ko-KR/community/news/2006/20061019.htm

[nodnetni @ Oct 19th 2006 11:11AM]

Price:
20 GB = $99
100 GB = 5 X 20GB = 5 X $99 = $495

or

20GB Samsung drive = $29.99 333% mark up

100GB Samsung Drive = $89.99 so New 360 Hard drive = $300.04

[delerious @ Oct 19th 2006 11:13AM]

I wonder if this could be used? http://us.codejunkies.com/news_reviews.asp?c=GB&cr=&cs=&r=0&l=&s=8&p=8

[Mr. Nosuch @ Oct 19th 2006 5:26PM]

Yes, I am sure Microsoft is hard at work figuring out how to migrate data over, just like they worked at hard at making sure there was a way to migrate save game data from the original Xbox to the 360.

Oh, wait, they DIDN'T do that, that's right.

I'd be willing to bet money the "answer" will be: "You can recover your gamer tag to your new drive, and you can redownload Marketplace purchases, but you cannot move game saves."

Because don't forget, many games don't even let you copy game saves to memory cards.

The only migration solution will be with 3rd party hacks and gizmos.

[dave @ Oct 19th 2006 11:43AM]

I'm an avid x360 player and xbox live marketplace user... and i can openly say there is no need for additional HDD space (not yet at least). With only demos, trailers, and a few oddball goodies on the marketplace (at the moment) 20gb is more than enough. Am I alone here? What are you guys doing that requires the need for massive storage on this console?

[Dave @ Oct 19th 2006 2:19PM]

Every time there's a new demo that I want to download off of marketplace, I have to go through and find stuff to delete on my HDD. I would LOVE to have a 100gb HDD for my 360. I don't really even care if there's no way to transfer data from one to the other. Your profiles are kept on internal memory in the 360, and content that was paid for can be re-downloaded for free. I'd probably just use the old 20 gig HDD as a place to stick a bunch of extra content that I don't need readily available all the time.

[Dustin Solis @ Oct 19th 2006 11:54AM]

Looks like the 256MB memory card is on that slide too. I wonder when we'll be getting that.

[Chappy @ Oct 19th 2006 11:53AM]

I doubt Microsoft will do anything about transferring the content from one drive to another; everything that you have purchased or downloaded from the Marketplace can be downloaded again for free. I believe the only content that wouldn't be available for re-download would be the "Artist of the week" (I'm not sure if those 'expire'). The only user-generated content on the old drive that can't be gotten from the marketplace would be save games, and you can use the existing memory card to transfer those if necessary*. The memory card can also be used to transfer live arcade games**, but I suspect it'd be faster to re-download them.

*Note that a larger memory card would help out in this case, and games that don't allow saves to be moved will be a problem

**The only game for which you might want to use the memory card instead of a re-download would be Texas Poker if you grabbed it in time to be free.

[lazymanc @ Oct 19th 2006 11:54AM]

It wouldn't suprise me if this was the first step towards an online content distribution system via xbox live for full games (think Steam). That 20GB will soon disappear with a couple of 4-5Gb game installs - hence the larger drive.

Another possibility is a Tivo-like addon, plenty of reason for a large drive there.

[Grammar Police @ Oct 19th 2006 12:02PM]

"Media" is already plural. "Medias" is not a word.

Love,
die Grammatikpolizei

[Nick @ Oct 19th 2006 6:14PM]

I was going to comment on this with exactly the same correction.

[Alex Padilla @ Oct 19th 2006 12:06PM]

This is awesome. I wonder how they're going to price it. It would seem logical for Microsoft to include the 100GB HDD with the Premium package and the 20GB HDD with the Core.

Now I will finally purchase my Xbox 360.

[pete @ Oct 19th 2006 12:15PM]

Microsoft's vision has come true, good or bad. They now have a powerful computer in the living rooms of millions of people, and a great online content delivery system that includes a method of processing transactions.
The only logical next-step is there will be more and more media available through XBLM, like full length HD movies, TV shows, and full games.
The best move for consumers would be if Microsoft sold the 360 HDD enclosures so you could BYOHDD. But how often does Microsoft do what's best for consumers?

[Sam @ Oct 19th 2006 12:34PM]

I'd rather put extra content on my WMCE PC and stream it to my Xbox than pay for another HD.

[LongshotX @ Oct 19th 2006 3:09PM]

I really don't agree with the direction this generation is heading. It seems like all three console makers (Yes, Nintendo is doing it too...don't be fooled) are trying to nickel and dime the shit out of the consumer just to make their wallets a bit more fatter.

The 20 Gigabyte proprietary hard drive itself costs $99 dollars. How does Microsoft expect us to afford another expensive add-on? More importantly how does Microsoft expect users to transfer their previous data to this thing. They had better release this thing with a reasonable price and with some form of data transfer system.

In any case I think I will continue to play my DS Lite until the start up prices of owning a 360 comes down. $399 (Premium Edition) + $50 (one game) + 40 (extra controller) = Too Much.

[Sean DL @ Oct 19th 2006 3:40PM]

And how is Nintendo is doing it Longshot?

Seeing that they are using the standard SD cards, unless you buy a Nintendo SD card, they won't see many nickles from that area.

But anyway...

This would explain why Blue Dragon is coming with the Core in Japan.....

[Duane Roberts @ Oct 19th 2006 12:39PM]

Wasn't there mention early on about a DirectTV blade for the 360? Maybe this is in preparation of that "Tivo like" function I've been waiting for.

[Alex Padilla @ Oct 19th 2006 1:33PM]

Yeah, I don't know when that's coming out, but they're working on it, as we all know. I guess this is it right here, this is probably, like you said, the next step towards having the Xbox 360 store media thru DirecTV.

[Giltronic @ Oct 19th 2006 2:10PM]

its obviouse microsoft is going to upgrade the current 360 to make it have more storage than the ps3.
it doesn't matter if you need more space
they are going to give it to you so it becomes a issue, and hurts the ps3.

giltronic

[Twist @ Oct 19th 2006 1:52PM]

I was thinking about picking up a 360 finally. Maybe I will just grab the Core version and hold off for this to be released here in the states.

[Jeff @ Oct 19th 2006 2:34PM]

I think a bigger drive is great! Myself - I hope video download services really take off. HD-DVD and Blu-ray can Kiss my ***. I like my HD tivo - just give me a 5 terabyte drive array!

[markhill66 @ Oct 19th 2006 3:59PM]

The first bullet of the slide says that XboX 360 Live Vision will launch OCt. 21st, and will cost 44900 won (about 50 bucks). The next line says "Wireless Wheel - Force Feedback), launches Nov 20, price TBD. Next bullet says "Wireless headset launches Nov. 20, price TBD."
The next bullet is a wireless PC...something, I'm not sure, but it launches in January and the price is TBD.
Right above his head it says "Xbox 360 HD-DVD player. Launches next March, price TBD."
Behing its head you can see the 256, and on the other side, it says "(Mem)mory card, price TBD"
The last is covered up, but the visible part says "(Har)d drive, (can't see the launch) price TBD."

Hooray for Korean!

[BigD @ Oct 19th 2006 7:00PM]

The "wireless PC...something" is a wireless pc adapter.

[Shade @ Oct 19th 2006 4:11PM]

Well it would be a good idea but its fake, just think, if the 20gig HDD is $100 and this one is to hold 5x the amount of space that the 20gig holds your looking to spend $500. So its most likely a fake that some kid just thought would be cool to fool the public with..

[penn @ Oct 21st 2006 8:23PM]

I read somewhere that the xbox 360 is getting divx and xvid support. ALSO, the zune marketplace is using microsoft points for media/music downloads. And that the zune will be highly integrated with the xbox 360. A 100 gig HDD would serve the xbox well if these features really are coming to the xbox.

[Taj M @ Oct 21st 2006 8:22PM]

It would be just what I need to convince me to get one.

[resource @ Oct 22nd 2006 2:03AM]

That'd be a great XB360 buzz kill.

[k3n85 @ Oct 22nd 2006 3:15PM]

More space, some room to toss some media ay? Or just bigger downloads

[Corrupt @ Oct 22nd 2006 7:54PM]

I think they'll sell the 100GB for the current price of the 20GB and then drop the price of the 20. Or perhaps they'll include the 100 with the Premium bundle and include the 20GB with the core bundle just in time for Halo 3 which will most likely require a HD for caching purposes.