The Xbox 360 is coming out in mere days, not that most people will be able to get their hands on one. Apparently there was nothing to be learned from all the previous launches because Microsoft is shipping way under expectations once again. (Don\'t get cocky Sony, I\'m looking at you too.) Any store that took more than a handful of reservations are probably making some pretty tough calls this week. I actually feel bad for retailers, for a change. There are many who really do try hard to make customers happy and I am sure they hate to disappoint them. But, being the sheep we are, we will just pick one up in the next wave, or the one after that. Microsoft will keep being rich and we will be disappointed again when the Xbox 3.14159 comes out. Now I will step off my soapbox and get back in line for my 360.

John wrote:

Arron,

First I must say great article! I have been scouring the net for some reputable info about the hard drive. I am getting ready to purchase a 360, but I still some questions if you have moment to hear me out.

I know the 360 comes with a 20gb. Essentially the XBOX is a computer and can be loaded with lots of goodies. I know with the original XBOX people have modded theirs and added bigger HDs & put in an emulator. I know this goes into an not so legal side, and you might not possibly be able to give me a response to this which I would understand....so my question is: Would I be able to include my own (outside) hard drive?

I could not find any info about this online.

I have an XBOX, but I don\'t play it much. I am trading in my unit for the 360. The reason is the aspect of multiple function purposes - DVD, MP3, Games ....and possibly the use of computer applications.

Please if you have any sort of reference sites for me to read on, I would greatly be thankful.

Thanks for you time
JP

Lots of people are curious about the 360\'s hard drive and what they can do with it. It almost seems as if there is a whole group of people out there that heard about the X-box modding but never jumped on the bandwagon. Now with the 360 coming out they think they might want to give it a shot. I guess I am too much of a wuss. Not because I am afraid of the law. I just can\'t imagine letting anybody put their hands in a machine I just paid four to five hundred smackers for. Aaron wrote JP to clear things up a bit further.

Hey, John, thanks for writing. I hope that I can help.

The Xbox 360 does have a lot of multimedia capacity, but it isn\'t necessarily better than the original Xbox. You see, the modding community has been working on pressing the limits of the original Xbox since it was released back in 2001, and so there is tons of information on how to modify one. A modified Xbox can do almost anything that a PC can do, such as run programs like music players that support a wide variety of formats, DivX, Xvid, Quicktime, and RealPlayer movies from the hard drive (as well as others), install emulators and so forth. Anything that the Xbox 360 can do in that regard, the original Xbox is going to probably be able to do it better, if modded.

The Xbox 360, on the other hand, is technically more powerful, but hasn\'t been worked on long in terms of modding, so you have to go with what Microsoft limits you to. This means no DivX, no Quicktime or RP formats, no ability to FTP and store your files on the HD manually. With any new system, it\'s impossible to tell how long it will take for the modding community to open that up, so don\'t count on more than the basic features for now. So no, I wouldn\'t rely on being able to replace the MS 360 hard drive with one of your own in any reasonable time-frame. Plus, when you are able, it will probably be more expensive and difficult, since the 360 no longer uses common computer hardware that you can buy off the store shelf.

Anyway, to make a long story short, the only reason to upgrade to the Xbox 360 is really games. If you don\'t care about games much, the Xbox can be made to do pretty much whatever you want.

The best source on the web for this sort of thing is Xbox-scene.com. Their tutorials and online forums are a bit hard to find, sometimes, but they\'ll answer every question you have.

Best of luck,

Aaron

Keep checking back here at GamesFirst! We\'ll have the skinny on the 360 next week after launch. Once we all get our hands on one we will be able to answer all your questions. Even if I have to take Jeremy\'s 360 apart myself.

Our buddy Joe wrote in with a question that not only inspired a response from Aaron but Chris as well. Usually a good quiche is the only way to get a response out of both of those guys.

Joe wrote:

When I get the xbox 360, will I be able to take the hard drive out of my old xbox and put it in the xbox 360?

Aaron replied:

Joe,

The old Xbox uses an industry standard IDE hard drive, which is part of the reason the Xbox is so popular amongst the modding community. The Xbox 360, though, uses a much smaller and more expensive hard drive, traditionally found in laptops. While it\'s theoretically possible that you\'ll someday be able to connect the hard drive from your Xbox to your Xbox 360, it\'s not going to happen due to Microsoft; system modders will have to figure out a way to use a standard HD with the new system.

Regardless, the operating system of the original Xbox is different than that of the Xbox 360, so you wouldn\'t be able to use your saves or anything of that matter. Add into that the fact that the Xbox HD is smaller than the standard Xbox 360 Hard drive, you don\'t gain any benefit from connecting your Xbox HD to the new system.

If you were hoping you could buy the core system and use the HD from your Xbox to take up the slack, I\'m afraid you\'re out of luck. For all given purposes at the moment, you can\'t connect the two.

Hope that helps,

Aaron

Then Chris Added:

No. Microsoft didn\'t actually design the Xbox so the hard drive can be removed. The Xbox 360\'s hard drive will be able to be swapped into and out of other Xbox 360s but that\'s about it. Also, the size of the 360\'s hard drive bay is different than the hard drive in the original Xbox. And what are you doing removing the hard drive of your Xbox anyway? That voids your warranty. =)

I think I\'ll wrap this mailbag up with a shout out for Carl. Carl, you owe me Five dollars.

I wrote a walkthrough for this game (Dawn of War). It took some time so I\'m trying to promote it. There\'s no sense writing it if no one\'s going to read it, right? Here\'s the link.

If you can find a place with info about Dawn of War to link to it, I\'d really appreciate it. It\'s mostly for newbies to RTS or people just getting into the game.
Thanks,
Carl

I reviewed a Warhammer game for the PS2. Kinda hated it. This one on the PC better not suck, or else I am taking back your shout out. You hear me Carl? I giveth, I taketh away.

Seriously guys, thanks for the letters. I expect to hear your thoughts on the 360 next week. Don\'t be shy. It\'s e-mail, practically anonymous: mailbag[AT]gamesfirst.com

Matt \"I made it a whole mailbag without a letter to Shawn\" James