Official Xbox 360 Thread.

[dave is ok]

Ahlo 2.5 or no Halo 2.5

Tell me more about this 'Ahlo', please.

[Diff-chan]

Yeah but you're assuming that people will actually buy the HD. The hardcore will. If the system is 300 and the HD is 100 though, I don't see it happening for a while. Ahlo 2.5 or no Halo 2.5

I dont know about that. Ive worked at EB during system launches, and people get pretty spend-crazy when they get a system. Lots of controllers, all the games, etc. I bought the fucking horizontal stand for PS2 for heaven's sake (do they even sell that anymore? I have to be one of an elite few stupid enough to have that thing).

A lot of people were dropping $350 or $400 on Dreamcast, for example. So I could see lots of people buying the HD.

[Joust Williams]

Yeah but now EB has this stupid bundling junk that makes you buy 81 games and 5 controllers. So it's 600 bucks out of the gate.

[Diff-chan]

Yea.. thats really shitty. Im talking about before that. When you could buy just the system.

Anyway, thats another point. GameStop and GameStop-EB might just force people to buy the HD. Could make life pretty simple for MS.

Another thing too is that if Im a successful working professional, making a good salary, $400 or $500 to get a system I want and a game I want isnt a big deal. If I'm a broke college student than it is. I think a lot of us are looking at it from the broke college student perspective because... thats what we are.

[Cowutopia]

Halo 2.5 or no Halo 2.5

I wouldn't be so sure about this. What was the LE:Standard sale ratio for Halo 2?

The LE was...60? 55? Well if it was 60, then the Halo fans will see it as spending 50-60 on a game and getting the HD for 40. Dropping 100 at once is definitely a deterrent, or at least it would be for me, but if Halo 2.5 was only available on the HDD for months I'm sure many many people would get it. Just like how people are paying 15 dollars for a mere 2 maps that will eventually be free.

It'll be people's reluctance to spend a large amount of money at once vs. the market's impatience to wait for a price drop/separate release.

[J2d]

but I know, they know and you all know that everyone who buys a 360 is going to get the HD.

But will the developers cater mostly to those without it. I mean isn't there a risk that they might not implement things because some can't use it?
Dunno, guess I'm just thinking N64 ram here

[Joust Williams]

Well, most people aren't buying the maps though. But aside from that, if this was Halo *3*...I'd say yeah. Actually, I don't know what you guys mean when you say "large percentage". Maybe we agree on it and it's just different. BUt I certainly don't see it as "most".

[Wolffen]

Yeah but I mean imagine when Halo 3 comes out and then 9 new maps come out for that and only one fits on a card and you can only hold two cards at a time. Then you still need game saves for your games. It just wouldn't be cost effective to buy as many memory cards as you would need.

Oh, I agree wholeheartedly, but I'm just saying that there is potential for limitedDLC with just the memory cards. Will it suck compared to a HD? Hell yeah. But the option will be there in some respects. Not all DLC will be a full map for a game. At GDC, J Allard was pushing the fact that the next gen Xbox Live will feature a "market place" where developers and users can sell custom content. Could be something as simple as a tattoo for a fighting game character. Fuzzy dice for your car. A new map created using an in-game map editor. Those types of things could be very small compared to the size of the map file for Containment, for example. Custom maps from something like, say, Pariah, could potentially be relatively small, because they won't contain any new textures or objects. In theory, the map file for a custom map could just be an XML file detailing what models, landscapes and textures to show in the game, referencing data off the DVD. Those types of things could open up games a bit via DLC, even if you don't have a HD.

Granted, this is assuming that developers create DLC that is relatively small in size. I agree that DLC via a memory card will be tremendously limited compared to the HD model, but I'm just saying that users won't be entirely cut off from DLC. Just from a lot of the good stuff.

[Cowutopia]

I retract my statement about the maps as a support for my argument, but I still think at system launch the prospect of a new halo + hard drive for 100 dollars will not only seem like a good deal, but it will likely be the first/only must-have launch game for system buyers.

I know if I actually went ahead and got it on launch that's all I'd get, and maybe 1 extra controller.

Ohhh...there's Madden too I suppose. For them masses.

[Opaque]

Oh, I agree wholeheartedly, but I'm just saying that there is potential for limitedDLC with just the memory cards. Will it suck compared to a HD? Hell yeah. But the option will be there in some respects. Not all DLC will be a full map for a game. At GDC, J Allard was pushing the fact that the next gen Xbox Live will feature a "market place" where developers and users can sell custom content. Could be something as simple as a tattoo for a fighting game character. Fuzzy dice for your car. A new map created using an in-game map editor. Those types of things could be very small compared to the size of the map file for Containment, for example. Custom maps from something like, say, Pariah, could potentially be relatively small, because they won't contain any new textures or objects. In theory, the map file for a custom map could just be an XML file detailing what models, landscapes and textures to show in the game, referencing data off the DVD. Those types of things could open up games a bit via DLC, even if you don't have a HD.

Granted, this is assuming that developers create DLC that is relatively small in size. I agree that DLC via a memory card will be tremendously limited compared to the HD model, but I'm just saying that users won't be entirely cut off from DLC. Just from a lot of the good stuff.

The Market Place, to me atleast, sounds like a place where you can buy a lot of things, for a lot of games. The idea sounds like you would be picking up maps, patches, and tons of other things in a large enough quantity that you would never be able to use just a Mem Card to hold it all. But again, that's just my view on the topic, and obviosuly none of us have any answer.

But, the more I think about it, the more I realise that it wouldn't be suprising at all if in the end MS just made the HD standard.