Rumor: 60GB to replace 20GB HDD in 360 Pros
by Dustin Burg 
{ Mar 7th 2008 at 4:00PM }
With rumors of European Xbox 360 price cuts flying around, we have yet another 360 hardware rumor making the internet rounds and it targets the 360's hard drive.According to TrustedReviews and their "rock solid source", they're claiming that Microsoft has plans to replace the Xbox 360 Pros' current 20GB HDD with a larger 60GB drive by this June. A move that isn't all that far fetched seeing that they probably want to to help accommodate all that HD content they want you to purchase off the Marketplace. TrustedReviews ratchets up the rumor mill even further by saying that their insider told them that Microsoft is bouncing around the idea of adding yet another SKU to the 360 lineup. A new console that would reap the fruits of the rumored Sony / Microsoft negotiations and feature a Blu-ray drive. So, is anyone willing to take a stab at what the rumored 60GB HDD or Blu-ray equipped models would be called? We'll be trail-blazers and go with "Xbox 360 Six Pack" for the 60GB model and "Xbox 360 HD DVD Died So Blu-ray It Is" for the Blu-ray version.
[Via Engadget]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Scott @ Mar 7th 2008 4:08PM
Replacing the 20GB HDD with a 60GB HDD? Yes. It probably would cost just as much or be cheaper to manufacture.
Built-in Blu-Ray? No for the same reason HD DVD isn't in the 360 - costs, read speed, and splitting the user-base. Save it for the Xbox 720.
todd @ Mar 7th 2008 4:11PM
Should've been 60 to start.
itsburnsie @ Mar 7th 2008 4:17PM
Slap a 60 on the standard model, and move the 20's to the arcade... and suddenly every 360 has a hard drive, is it should have been from the start.
I've said it before, if you've got an Xbox 360 without a hard drive and Live, you're getting half the experience...
Magic Whiskey @ Mar 7th 2008 4:22PM
I'm of two schools of thought here.
1.) Save the Blu-ray tech for the next Xbox console. New hardware, new programming, whatever.
2.) Release an attachment Blu-ray drive for the existing 360. At least this means I can finally view HD discs at home, seeing as I've only purchased an upconvert DVD player for my HDTV so far.
MS producing a Blu-ray 360 player would also quash some...SOME...of the PS3 fanboy arguments that by sheer proxy of the movie format, the PS3 has a leg up on the competition. Take that out of the equation and movie playback becomes a moot point. The focus of the conversation then goes back to where it SHOULD be; gaming.
The Sound @ Mar 7th 2008 4:37PM
Maybe they can lower the price of their current harddrives too?
$180 for 120gb should be illegal.
Mr Cool @ Mar 7th 2008 4:39PM
Microsoft, DO NOT release a 360 with built-in Blu-Ray. This would not go over good with the community fanbase. Rather, just like with HD-DVD, create a cheap reliable Blu-Ray add-on instead. If Microsoft were to do this, I would buy that instead of a PS3 if the price was right.
And who isnt for bigger hard drives? As long as they bring down the outrageous prices.
joey @ Mar 7th 2008 5:07PM
They'll wait until the 20gig models are low in stock.
Discount the 20gig stand alone hard drive for core/arcade customers.
Then introduce the 60gig at 20gig's price point.
I suspect they'll still be selling the arcade though.
Jeramy @ Mar 7th 2008 5:37PM
i'm willing to bet money that we'll see a 360 sku with a built in bluray drive. the only reason they didn't have one with hddvd is b/c there was still a format war going on at the time, and they were right to be hesitant since a 360 with a built-in hddvd drive would disappoint anyone who might have bought it. built-in bluray just makes sense. i say the elite should be given the built-in drive (and, while we're on the subject, wifi) since its role as the higher-end hd model has now lost ground with hdmi in every sku. ms will still offer a peripheral drive for everyone with another sku, but it just makes good business sense to have a sku with it already built in.
Don @ Mar 7th 2008 6:10PM
Better luck next time around MS, lol. MS got pwned by Sony once again. They should have just stuck to the software side of things but maybe they'll learn from this.
Every MS fanboy can try to downplay this as much as they want but the truth is that this blu-ray win over HD-DVD is a huge blow in the console wars too. You can say that HD movies don't effect the console wars because it's about games, but with the PS3 being just $50 more than the 360, which console do you think people will buy. A lot of people were on the fence just because of this whole format war, now that it's over....well you get the point.
Etchasketchist @ Mar 7th 2008 7:03PM
Magic Whiskey,
You're Blu-Ray add on solution misses the gaming side of the PSFanboy's argument. The PS3's games come on Blu Ray discs too. That point would not be mooted by an optional add on that only plays movies.
c4v3man @ Mar 7th 2008 7:35PM
Games on Blue-Ray only make a difference if that game can use the space, which 99.9% of the games out there can't. These arguments about higher quality textures are moot when you actually look at the PS3 and Xbox 360 side by side on the same game.
I was waiting for good games to come out before purchasing either a PS3 or an Xbox 360, not the end of a format war. I'm still waiting for the PS3. I'll probably just skip it and spend that money on the first true 1080P (rendered, not output) console.
Reaper0fAnguish @ Mar 7th 2008 9:36PM
does anyone think they will make a Halo 3 colored 60gb?
its kind of annoying how there aren't may periphs that match it...
Bac0nator @ Mar 8th 2008 8:23AM
I think im going to find out how hard it is to mod a harddrive enclosure and swap out a 20GB for say a 120GB. Microsoft charges $190 for that damn thing when I can go to my local comp store and pick one up for $80bucks.
Brian G @ Mar 8th 2008 11:45AM
Don said:
A lot of people were on the fence just because of this whole format war, now that it's over....well you get the point.
-------------------------------------------
Ummm, yeah, so now for an extra $50.00 they can have a sub-par blu ray player (which nobody wants), which will play a whole 350 high defintion movies (which nobody's buying), and about 6 decent games.
Or they can buy an Xbox 360 with HDMI out which up-converts their existing massive library of DVD's to a quality which is "good enough" for most consumers (60% of whom don't own an HD TV).
PLUS they can play the largest library of awesome games of any of the three so called "next generation" consoles.
Don @ Mar 11th 2008 6:11PM
@Brian G
How do you figure that the PS3 is a sub-par bluray player? It is probably one of the best that they sell speaking from just a blu-ray stand point.
Another thing, how do you figure that nobody's buying these blu-ray movies when blu-ray infact won the format war? Quite a few people must have been buying this format to justify the total @ss wooping that it put on HD DVD.
I won't deny that the 360 has the larger library but it was also out a year before the other two and most of the library that it has is outdated compared to what is being released now. As far as games that people want to play today, both systems offer about the same amount of games.
B @ Mar 11th 2008 8:16PM
Jeez, you Sony fanboys just don't get it. There is still a huge number of gamers who are using...wait for it...Standard Definition Televisions! Wow! Some people could care less about the format war or Hi-Def-just an excuse for movie companies to get me to buy the same movies I already own AGAIN. Gamers don't care about Blu-Ray, they care about content, and Microsoft has Sony beat hands down. Between Live, Marketplace, and their game library, there is no way an intelligent, fair gamer can look at the PS3 and say "It's the best."
Also, look at your fan base. The wittle PS3 has sold a measly 10 million units to the 360's 18. Yes, you may say 'Wait, but the Xbox came out a year earlier!" That may be so, but look at U.S. data. The 360 has outsold the PS3 three to one, with a difference of over six million units. That is because the Xbox greatly appeals to the American consumer.
Isn't it a bad sign that a new-in 2000 console, the PS2, outsells the PS3 in the fourth quarter? Even the PSP outsold that overpriced piece of junk.
Don't give me any RRoD crap, at least MS did the right thing and gave free three-year warranty extentions. Or did you forget about the precious PS2's original faulty DVD laser diodes that Sony refused to fix?