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New, upgraded 360 may ship with data-retention cable

arstechnica.com — One of my questions yesterday was about the ability to move your data from your existing 360 to the upgrade. Then this lands on my desk, and while rumor, it gives me hope.

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  • SEGA4life, on 10/12/2007, -30/+8Sorry but the person states the PS3 is still hard to find retail, but there everywhere, my store has 14 in stock sold 1 in 3 weeks.
    • fiorenza, on 10/12/2007, -5/+33No, he says that the cheaper version of the PS3--the 20GB model--is hard to find, and it is. There have been stories that retailers are no longer wanting to carry it.
    • chocobomog, on 10/12/2007, -14/+5FTA At $480, the features aren't that much better than the $500 PS3, although that system seems to be the hard one to find at retail anyway"

      First of all, "features aren't that much better"? The only feature that is better is the larger harddrive, everything else is equal and the PS3 still has a Blu-ray player. So "better" just depends on what you value most: a larger HD or a High-def disc player.

      By adding this cable, Microsoft suddenly assumes people will spend $880 on two 360s, their original one for $400 (with the 20 gig HD) and now this new one for $480. How can 360 fans be excited about this and still complain that the PS3 is too expensive? Sony won't ask people to buy another $600 PS3 next year just to get a better harddrive. I understand if someone didn't have a 360 they may want to buy this (see above paragraph), but why waste your money if you already own a 360?
    • NSMike, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8@chocobomog -

      Because the hard drive will be sold separately as well.
    • mtownand1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2It sounded to me like the cable would be coming with the 120 gb hard drive, which is part of the black system, so the cable would be included. you will also, however, be able to buy the 120 gb hard drive seperately. If somebody already has a premium 360, they will want to be able to move all of their game saves, movie downloads, demos, music, etc. over to the new hard drive, rather than having to reacquire it with the new hard drive installed.
    • joeydoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4How do you connect a cable to this drive (when Buying the 120GB drive on its own) and transfer the data? Surely if you only have one 360 then the drive will have to connect to console using USB.... then copy across. But the HD on 360 isn't USB it's SATA (is that right?) so they can't just make a funky cable connect that fits on the drives connector and have it work.
      So it would have to ship with a little dock to make the drive, essentially, an external USB drive.
      That's a lot of work and components to be shipping with the drive when it's just going to be used once. I can't see Microsoft putting that in the box. It would be far easier to upload the, relatively small, user files and game saves to a server and have people download any big videos or demos again.
      Also, if you go into the 360's storage menu in the settings blade. You can look through the contents of the drive and copy game saves over to external devices. There is a problem with achievements if you do that though. I can't remember the specifics but it's a problem which could be solved very easily by them adding an option to backup your account on Live or whatever.
    • JayD16, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2If you want HDMI and were an early adopter of the 360 you still fall into the problem of having to pay twice for the 360.

      You're going to get people who don't care about features like HDMI and complain that the PS3 "needlessly" forces it on you and trumpet the 360's ability to 'choose' even though the 360 forces you to use only 360 gear. Because the PS3 was designed to be able to do everything you could ever want you can throw anything in the PS3 but again these are things that one can deem "expensive bells and whistles" or great features depending on perspective.


      You're also going to see people who wanted the HDMI port but still bought into the 360. Now this comes out and if they want HDMI well tough for them...they get to buy another. Were they cheated? No, they paid for what they got. You will see people saying that with the PS3 you get everything at once and thats the way it should be and yeah it costs more but you won't need to buy an updated version later and blah blah.

      On a side note. How many are really going to re-buy a 360 for the HDMI. The only reason is the HD-DVD drive and that would mean you spent $680 on 'cheaper' format. Just man up, put aside the fanboyism, and get a PS3 if you want HD content and already have the 360.

      side note two: I don't see how a patch cable would be useful unless you were expected to already have a 360. Unless it provides power and blugs directly into the new drive it just doesn't make sense.
  • LukePatrick, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1The 20GB version?
  • NorCal05, on 10/12/2007, -2/+52My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw the cable at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious.

    rumors on top of rumors
    • inspecality, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1"Wow! Did you actually get to see the cable (rod)?"
  • MrMuffMeat, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3I don't know, that black looks freakin' sweet compared to the white. I may have to return my 360 to K-Mart and pay the difference to upgrade to the Elite. My 360 has been freezing occasionally lately anyway, what a perfect time to return it when this thing comes out.
    • turpenine, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2If that isn't abbuse of return policy I don't know what is.
    • JayD16, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Putting rocks in a the 360 box, returning it, and getting sweet sweet traceless cash?
    • MrMuffMeat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ turpenine

      Oh, I didn't realize that if I did that I would be doing something that you don't think is politically correct. How dumb of me to think that. Sorry if I offended you. Seriously though, my 360 has locked up a couple times, so why not take advantage of the warranty that I paid for and exchange it for a new 360 before my warranty expires, and it really starts locking up a lot?? To me it would also make sense to pay the extra $80 and get the one with the bigger HDD, limited color, and HDMI output, and possibly the new 65nm processor.
  • falloutsyndrome, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2While reading this it crossed my mind. The 120gb will also be available seperately. Anyone ever think "some sort of cable" might be a PC interface cable, or 360-2-360 interface cable that would allow the transfer of data from a 20gb model to a 120? This would be bitchen either way. No more voiding the warranty for pc connectivity.
  • coheedcollapse, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2If there are enough people that upgrade their 360 to worry about this data-retention cable than people on Digg need to stop bitching about the price of the PS3. Like right now.

    Cool of MS if they do though, but I don't know if it'd make much sense economically.
  • ImTheDarkcyde, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9like hell i'm upgrading my 360 to a 360

    tell me when the new one can play games the old one cant
    • watership, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1But the new one is a different COLOUR. Oh wait, we're not nintendo fans and we're not required by oath to buy all the colours right?
  • NiGHTSChao, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2yay for the 360!

    I just wish there was such a thing for computers... (Is there? If so please tell me T_T)
  • mojo4126, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0April Fools prank anyone?
  • TheFlood16, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Anybody ever think that April 1st is coming up and some of these magazines or reports may be just a joke? [Game Informer namely]

    I don't see how Microsoft could do this and not piss off 10 million 360 owners. It has to be fake.
    • TonyCubed, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8How is this pissing off 10 million 360 owners?
    • turpenine, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2If it pisses you off you are a huge ***** and I don't want to know you. Lets just say that the xbox has been out for a few years and they have the power to add more to it as a new model.
  • diacronic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This cable would be great for people who would want to buy the 120gb HDD later on as an upgrade. Either this cable or some sort of "send us your HDD and check enclosed" and get the bigger HDD with all the data in return. Who knows, but someday a bigger HDD will be upon us.
  • foamcow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Why the fuss over 'upgrading'

    It's simple.
    MS release a 'Limited Edition' Xbox 360, it has a bigger HD etc

    They also release a bigger HD as an upgrade.

    Both items come with a data transfer cable. So if you buy a HD upgrade for your existing Xbox 360 you can transfer the data from your existing Xbox 360 to the new one.
    If you buy the whole new Xbox with bigger HD then you can transfer the data from your 'old' 360 to the new one. Why you'd buy a whole new Xbox is something of a mystery, but hey ho. Some people just like spending that cash I guess.

    Not that hard to understand really.
    I wonder if anyone even thinks anymore.
  • scabbers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Isn't this "new" 360 just a fancy special edition with limited units being made?
    • iofthestorm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Well, this "new" 360 has a hard drive 6x bigger, HDMI output, and is black. The limited edition only applies to the black color, because later on in the year they will be ugprading the Premium SKU with these new features, but it will still be white. I think at that point, if there are some 360 games I really want to play I might pick up a Core (assuming that the Core will take on the features of the old Premium). But most likely, the best 360 games will make their way to PC anyway.
  • vhold, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1If your 360 breaks now what are your options for saving all your saved games? Manually copying them via memory card? Does simply swapping the hard drive between two 360s work or does it freak out?
  • bradym80, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Because a USB cable would be impractical.

    I cant wait to goto target and see a proprietary "data retention cable" that costs $29.99 in some hip packaging.
  • ascalonx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2so...they're expecting a bunch of people to want to 'upgrade' to a new black 360 after less than 2 years just because it's black and has a bigger hard drive? >hah, that just reminded me of the black macbook ad spoof< I mean, if I were to want to buy a 360 for the first time, or if mine happened to break down, then I'd get this 'upgrade.' But, to spend another $500 for basically the same system would make one a douche nozzle. This 'data retention cable' is stupid.
  • eezzzz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Bless their hearts...
  • arenas46, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2another nail in the ps3 coffin..

    -cough-
  • drjekelmrhyde, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1If MS sold this for 399 it would be a steal drop the current premiem to 299 and the core to 199
    cheaper than the PS3 high end and on the low end cheaper than the wii
  • CanadianGuy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1This article just makes me want to buy a PS3, which is a far superior -and cheaper- system. Too bad there only a few decent games.
  • Dangeresque, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Why could you not just use an ethernet cable? A firmware update coule potentially allow you to transfer the data togehter via the ethernet cable, right?
  • MonsterMagnet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2HDMI without HD-DVD is pointless !!

    Sure I can rent/download Movies from Xbox Market place. Being Canadian is i am we canucks don't get that luxury in our country for being able to connect to XBox Live Market place and get download HD content like Shows or Movies !! So where is the incentive for people like me on this side of the border to get this Xbox 360 Elite ( if in fact it is real ) Games aren't true HD they are standard. And merely co- hearsed into a 1080 i 16:9 stretch.

    So again even though i like the direction what is the point of HDMI without HD GAMES or HD MOVIES on HD-DVD DISC's ???????

    Jesus M$ just add the freakin HD-DVD already !!!!!!!!
  • Abynormal, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1the games aren't HD? have you seen "Gears of War"?

    an HD-DVD drive is available as an external-option, and keeps the price down of the console down, which has been a huge marketing advantage for the 360, one I doubt they will give up, they've decided to go with standard DVDs as there game medium, it would be foolish to change this late in the game.
  • Recockilous, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Is the new 360 model more silent, or does it still sound as
    something designed by International Harvester?

    It is impossible to watch a DVD/HD movie on an XBOX 360 and enjoy it.
    It's so f** LOUD!

    /Recockilous
  • totorototoro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I love stuff like this (cool utility cables/accessories included to make life easier) - hope it turns out to be true!
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