Posted 11. August 2005 - Sept. Issue of GameInformer (J. Allard Interview):
Q: Will the Xbox 360 be sold in different models, one with a hard drive and one without? What about different sized hard drives?
A: It\'s something we\'re not ready to announce yet. We\'ve been getting good feedback from people at E3 and a lot of retailers. Look at the success the iPod has had by having different offerings. That is something we have looked at, sort of on the long-term horizon. We want to go get everybody out there that likes to play, and make them an Xbox customer. how do we do that? I don\'t think it\'s a one-size-fits-all approach over the next five year horizon. I think we\'ll enter the market in a very conventional fashion and from there it\'s all about listening to gamers. That\'s what we do. Until we have the first couple of million customers, it\'s hard to say how we might further the audience.
Q: So the first Halo, or any Xbox title, won\'t be backward compatible if you don\'t have an Xbox 360 hard drive?
A: Yeah, it won\'t work. Backwards compatibility is going to require a hard drive. We\'ve been talking a little bit about la-la land, and saying, "Maybe there\'s someday that an Xbox 360 doesn\'t come with a hard drive." Actually, the very first one we sell is goin to have a hard drive. It doesn\'t mean that the hard drive is always going to be attached. The owner can take it to a friend\'s house, and the other people in the owner\'s house can still use the Xbox 360 to play games.
Well if this isn\'t implying that the first version will have a harddrive and be backwards-compatible - then I honestly don\'t know what it is. BTW; Nvidia - this was posted on Beyond3d - but since you\'re a member there as well, I figured you must have just missed this one. :rolleyes:
And for Rikku who thinks this isn\'t a fuck-up - call it what you want - the fact that some developers themselves are calling it this and the uproar on just about every major site (GAF, Beyond3d, TeamXbox and MajorNelson\'s guestbook etc)... I think that paints a very clear message. Perhaps you should read the article again ("Xbox360: The industry reacts") and think again.
Note that no one is saying Xbox360 is doomed!!11 or anything the like - it\'s still a fuck-up and one that will definately hurt consumers - at least those that go out and buy the core version thanking Microsoft of giving them the option only to find out at home that there\'s no backwards compatibility, no HD cables (nice HD-era console isn\'t it?), no memorycard what-so-ever unless they payed for those incredible expensive accessories.
Fact is; most Xbox owners this generation didn\'t have to worry about memorycars or anything along those lines thanks to the built in harddrive. It was common-knowledge regarded amonst just about anyone that this trend would continue into the next generation - who seriously wouldn\'t? It\'s not about what Microsoft said and what they claimed - this is about what consumers were expecting realistically. And not having a hdd in it certainly wasn\'t part of it, nor was it having to pay for expensive upgrades to be able to even use simple backwards-compatibility or saving games.
Got to love the damage control you guys are trying... *thumbs up*
