Microsoft announces 512MB Xbox 360 Memory Unit

It's about time Microsoft announced that 512MB Memory Unit, which will land at $49 and at the outset come preloaded with Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved (huzzah!). The 64MB cards will drop from $39 to $29 MSRP, which is kind of funny considering how much more memory you get for buying in bulk. Especially good for those wanting to wait it out for that 80-to-120-some-odd-GB drive that's due any month now. Oh yeah, and Live Arcade games had their download cap lifted to 150MB, so no longer will you be stuck playing games no larger than 50MB.

[Caramelzappa @ Mar 5th 2007 1:55AM]

512mb in any form is not worth $50. The same way a 20gb notebook drive is not worth $100.

[mike @ Mar 5th 2007 2:18AM]

agreed with original poster. Its a shame that these are just common component, slapped with an external microsoft shell, and boosted 5X their regular price. If a new HDD comes out for 360, I want the space, but would not be buying it. At least the premium came with a 20GB hdd. I recomend people buy 360 premiums but wait for a $100 off sale (lots of retailers have them from time to time).

Oh BTW, Why does the picture say 256mb on the bottom of the mem unit?

[Castle @ Mar 5th 2007 2:19AM]

Ripoff! Wish the 360 supported standard formats like its competitors. Wii supports SD and the PS3 allows the hard drive to be swamped with any SATA drive.

[SuicideNinja @ Mar 5th 2007 5:01AM]

"Ripoff! Wish the 360 supported standard formats like its competitors. Wii supports SD and the PS3 allows the hard drive to be swamped with any SATA drive."

I agree, although there is more "at stake" in opening up the Hard Drive on the 360 than the PS3. They can somewhat keep cheaters at bay just a little longer. Nobody cares if cheaters run rampant on the "free" services of PSN or Wii. Look at the DS.

The more important difference is...the SD slot for the Wii and the HDD for the PS3 are just about worthless at this date and time.

The onboard memory for the Wii will do it for most people. The VC games are so small, I'm not even close to using mine up yet.

I will probably NEVER use the 60GB in my PS3. 10GB for Linux (that I never use), and

[Mitchell Harper @ Mar 5th 2007 2:33AM]

Hmmm quite expensive. I just got the Wii and that's pretty boring so I'm not even thinking about the XBox360 yet along the memory extension.

Mitchell Harper
http://www.HarpzOn.com

[Mike @ Mar 5th 2007 2:41AM]

Everyone says Sony is the one that is so proprietary, but with the PS3, you can use:

any SATA hard drive
any CF/MS/SD card
any bluetooth headset
any camera
any USB or wireless controller (no forced licensing)

whereas with the Xbox 360, you have to use MS's ultra-expenive accesories that really add up in the long run. A 512MB SD card can be bought for $5.25 on Newegg which is 90% less than this memory unit.

[Sunny @ Mar 5th 2007 3:20AM]

Didn't you know Mike, the casing for the Xbox 360 memory units is pure gold with a plastic coating painted on top.

[akijikan @ Mar 5th 2007 4:02AM]

who hacked? ZOMG 256?

[UnnDunn @ Mar 5th 2007 4:06AM]

MS also announced a number of games coming to XBLA, including Pinball FX.

People don't understand how giddy I am that a Pinball game is coming to XBLA.

Pinball isn't dead yet!

[Uchendu Nwachukwu @ Mar 5th 2007 4:09AM]

I just hope the pinball game runs the whole gamut with ramps, spinners, jets, ball lockers, multiball modes, replays, light shows and dot-mation. Anything less would be a disservice to the game.

[Mike @ Mar 5th 2007 4:28AM]

Stop whining, ditch MS and just buy a PS3 and Apple. Problem solved!

[DM @ Mar 5th 2007 5:56AM]

"Stop whining, ditch MS and just buy a PS3 and Apple. Problem solved!"

Yeah, Ditching MS 360 for a PS3 would probably make little sense, after all it's just a matter of preference for gamers , but Apple? Funny stuff.

[Tito @ Mar 5th 2007 6:46AM]

Funny how a gamer would recommend a switch to Apple...

[kristjan terase @ Mar 5th 2007 7:09AM]

What he meant, obviously, was PS3 for gaming and Mac for work ;)

[The1 @ Mar 5th 2007 8:52AM]

I still think $49.99 is toooooo much for a 512MB Memory Card. I am glad I have a preminum system. I have a Wii and I did not buy Nintendo's card either: I can buy any SD Card for the Wii and use it. This is what I hate about MS, thier proprietary accessories CRAP.

[FrankTheCrank @ Mar 5th 2007 8:57AM]

Wow...512MB?? What's next a GIG???

I bought a 20GB PS3...I can slide that 20GB right out and slap in a 160GB HDD for $110. And Microsoft is still pimping out a 20GB HDD for $99?? Whose screwing who?

[saboola @ Mar 5th 2007 9:55AM]

Yeah, I love my xbox 360 for sure, but this just screams money grubbing corporation. A quick search on NewEgg shows me an 8 gig USB flash drive is going for 63 bucks. Now I know the USB flash drive is not exactly the same as the X360 MU, but im willing to bet the storage chips are fairly similiar. For comparison a 512 USB Flash is running about 10 bucks as well.

[len @ Mar 5th 2007 10:18AM]

ZOMG! That's almost twice the price of a Sony-branded 8MG memory unit for the PS2! No one is going to buy that! It's crazy!

"Stop whining, ditch MS and just buy a PS3 and Apple. Problem solved!"

Trade one corporation who wants to bleed money from you for two that are more arrogant? Why?

[Quaddw @ Mar 5th 2007 10:20AM]

That kind of sucks for Team 17, being they had to remove alot of content to make Worms fit the 50mb requirement. Hopefully they will release an update to a more full version as it was intended.

[Karl Viklund @ Mar 5th 2007 10:31AM]

ZOMG? wtf? :)

[BAMF @ Mar 5th 2007 11:24AM]

I don't understand why MS won't just enable the use of USB flash drives as memory cards (aside from the fact that they wouldn't profit from grossly overpriced memory).

[Dan @ Mar 5th 2007 12:46PM]

The picture on these posts isn't necessarily meant to be an exact picture of what the article talks about. It's main purpose it to capture your attention. For those that don't catch a key word in the title (i.e. "Xbox 360" and "512mb") the picture will guarantee that somebody who owns an Xbox 360 will recognize the picture and immediately know that there is some news about the Xbox 360's memory cards.

[klew @ Mar 5th 2007 3:41PM]

Yeah, because Sony didn't make you buy proprietary memory cards with their first two consoles either. Who says you have to buy a memory card when both Xboxs had hard drives?