Microsoft plans to add USB storage to Xbox in Spring 2010

[RCA]

It's about time Microsoft!

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03...pdate/

Documentation obtained by Joystiq – and subsequently confirmed with two separate sources – reveals that "USB Mass Storage Device Support on Xbox 360" will soon be a reality. The document, authored by a senior software development engineer at Microsoft, states that due to "increased market penetration of high-capacity, high throughput USB mass storage devices, a 2010 Xbox 360 system update" will allow consumers to save and load game data from USB devices. The update is purportedly coming in Spring 2010.

Once the update occurs, Xbox 360 owners will be able to download Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live Indie games, Games on Demand, DLC and Title Updates to the storage device. "USB storage devices may, however, have far greater memory capacity than MUs (at the date of writing, the largest MU is 512 MB), and may therefore support previously infeasible operations-such as installation of a full disc-based title." That's right, you can also store disc-based games to the USB device; however, it will require the disc to be in the tray for authentication, identical to the current functionality.

EDIT:Yeah MS still sucks donkey d*ck. I read a little more and found...

Upon inserting a blank USB storage device, "consumers are offered two choices: 'Configure now' or 'Customize'." The "Configure now" option will use "the entire device capacity, up to the maximum of 512 MB plus 16 GB" meaning, regardless of the overall size of the device you're using, the Xbox will only enable 16 GB of usable, non-system storage.

It should be clear by now that Microsoft is simply pulling out of the Memory Unit business and not the highly lucrative Xbox hard drive business. With an artificial cap of 16 GB – still shy of the 20 GB hard drive, the USB storage support simply removes the onerous requirement for a Memory Unit on Xbox 360 Arcade units.

If you're intent on circumventing Microsoft's cutthroat hard drive pricing the Xbox 360, you can use two USB storage devices for a maximum of 32 GB of usable storage; however, the console "has a fixed limit of two external USB mass storage devices" regardless of whether they're "formatted for the Xbox 360 or not." If you fill all three USB ports on the console, only the first two to be connected will be recognized.

Modified by RCA at 8:08 AM 3/19/2010

[MinisterofDOOM]

Yay, no more paying out the sphincter for overpriced hard drive upgrades!

[RCA]

Yea MS puts a 16GB max on each USB storage device, with a max of 2 storage devices on each Xbox.

[MinisterofDOOM]

That's okay. 2x16GB flash drives is a smegload cheaper than a new HDD from Microsponge.

There is one downside, though: USB2.0 is SLOOWOOWOOWOWOOW. Slow. Really slow. The articles on this I've read all point to the ability to play games from the flash media. Yeah, have fun with that. Watch your load times quadruple.

[Kompresshun]

Yeah I can live with the 16GB limit, i'm just glad they at least gave us this. I hate having to unhook my hard drive every time I want to play one of my games on a different 360. If they would add support for more that would be awesome, i'd love to be able to hook up a 1TB drive(or more) to it.