Datel gets first stab at third party memory card for Xbox 360, supports microSD expansion

After ages of monopolizing most of its add-on market for the 360, it looks like Microsoft is letting up a bit. Datel just came out with two new MAX Memory cards that are compatible with the console, in 2GB and 4GB capacities. That's all well and boring, but the potential excitement here is that cards can also be augmented by a microSD slot, with support for up to 16GB cards, for some trippy card-within-a-card hijinks, and what might be one of the best portals for hackers yet. Or perhaps not, since it seems likely that Microsoft wouldn't open up what it knew to be a major security hole, and given the numerous other interfaces with the console, the 360 is still pretty well on lockdown for the average user, after almost four years on the market. At least this should provide a slightly more flexible hard drive alternative for folks who don't want to shell out for Microsoft's overpriced humps. The Datel cards start at $40.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

[Antipilor Posted May 17th 2009 1:30AM]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/150970/upgrade_your_xbox_360s_hard_drive_on_the_cheap.html Easiest mod ever.

[noodles2k Posted May 16th 2009 4:00PM]

@ Paul Miller
According to the release notes for the software for this, it supports 32GB cards. I'd guess that the only reason they're saying 16GB is because there's currently nothing bigger on the market.

http://us.codejunkies.com/support/article.aspx?article_id=272

[(Unverified) Posted May 16th 2009 4:28PM]

wait ms monopolizes no way?!?

[DWells55 Posted May 16th 2009 4:57PM]

Paul Miller, you should update the article as there's a few major things wrong with it:

- Microsoft has not loosened up their lockdown on the Xbox 360 accessories. Datel, as they always do, has instead opted to bypass the security. Just like Datel's Action Replay software - not licensed, they don't pay any fees, it instead uses an exploit to allow itself to run. Depending on how Datel has managed this, it's entirely possible Microsoft could block these cards from working or ban the users from Xbox Live. Even if it perfectly emulates the official cards, it'd be very easy to detect that the capacity is higher than any official memory card and then block it.
- This is not a security risk. We've had full read/write access to the Xbox 360's hard drive by taking it out of its enclosure and connecting it to a PC via SATA. From there, Xplorer360 can be used for full read/write to the drive and its XTAF filesystem.

[Extinction Posted May 17th 2009 5:04AM]

"This is not a security risk. We've had full read/write access to the Xbox 360's hard drive by taking it out of its enclosure and connecting it to a PC via SATA."

Which MS considers a security risk and bands users if they are caught using that

[spin cycle Posted May 17th 2009 4:53PM]

They don't ban users for that. And even if they did, banning users wouldn't fix a security hole. It'd be closing the barn doors after the horses are already out.

[mgrochowalski Posted May 17th 2009 10:10PM]

You don't even need to take it out of the enclose. Microsoft themselves sell a nice USB adapter. (The transfer kit)

[Timerider Posted May 16th 2009 6:05PM]

How about a 128GB SSD for the hard drive slot? It would probably be faster, but with Microsoft's pricing it would probably cost $500.

[benjaminhc Posted May 16th 2009 7:24PM]

Microsoft? Are you sure you aren't missing a zero in that price?? ;)

[JoeJoeJoeJoeJoe Posted May 16th 2009 10:12PM]

Yo dawg...

[DWells55 Posted May 17th 2009 2:48AM]

we herd u like memory so we put a memory card inside ur memory card so u can save ur games while u save ur games

[(Unverified) Posted Jun 16th 2009 1:30PM]

Another great release by Datel, I've always loved them. The guy who owns the company called Michael Connors was the one who started the company from scratch (See wiki). The fact they are reverse engineering protections that no one else has sometimes, well it just shows that even though they have been around for years, they still have the edge.

I don't think I will be buying this one though.

[HDpurist Posted May 17th 2009 11:34AM]

It's nice to see legacy hardware appear once in a while...gives me the warm fuzzy feeling of the booming tech in the 80's. But for $40 freakn dollars for 4GB? Ooh that's right, this IS legacy hardware..so there is a niche market for this junk.

[(Unverified) Posted May 17th 2009 6:39PM]

http://whollysblog.com/

[(Unverified) Posted May 17th 2009 10:03PM]

hack the memory card and create a connector so you can use large usb hdds.