Breaking News

Razer Unveils the Ultra-Lightweight DeathAdder V4 Pro Sony launches a high-resolution shotgun microphone with superior sound quality and compact design. Arctic announces New Liquid Freezer III Pro 280 and Pro 420 Silicon Power Launches Hypera microSDXC Express Card Samsung announces Watch8, Z Fold7 and Z Flip7

logo

  • Share Us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
  • Home
  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Essays
  • Forum
  • Legacy
  • About
    • Submit News

    • Contact Us
    • Privacy

    • Promotion
    • Advertise

    • RSS Feed
    • Site Map

Search form

M-Systems to provide high capacity flash memory for Xbox 2

M-Systems to provide high capacity flash memory for Xbox 2

General Interest Feb 27,2004 0

Flash memory maker M-Systems has been signed up by Microsoft to provide a high capacity memory unit for the next-generation Xbox console, adding weight to reports that the system will not include a hard drive. M-Systems is best known for manufacturing USB flash drives which are small enough to attach to keyrings, but the company says that what it is manufacturing for Xbox 2 is a product that does not currently exist, and will be far higher capacity than the 8mb Xbox memory cards.

Sources within Microsoft and at development studios which have been briefed about the Xbox 2 specification have previously indicated that the company is seriously considering dropping the hard drive from the console in favour of high capacity solid state memory devices.

The deal with M-Systems fits perfectly with these reports, as it would suggest that an extremely large removable flash memory unit would replace the hard drive. Flash units of up to 512mb - half a gigabyte - are already commonplace in pen and keyring devices, and it's possible that Microsoft could aim for an even larger unit for the Xbox 2 memory system.

Such a unit would be large enough to store hundreds, possibly thousands of save games, and even small-scale downloadable content such as new skins or models for multiplayer titles. However, the console would probably lose the ability to rip music CDs and run custom soundtracks - although Microsoft would probably prefer that you do that by playing music on your Xbox over a network link with a Windows XP Media Centre enabled PC anyway.

Microsoft will save significant amounts of money on the production cost of Xbox 2 by not including a hard drive, as well as allowing the case for the unit to be smaller and opening up a potential revenue stream from sales of flash memory units. The company will also be hoping that the lack of a hard drive will make Xbox 2 less attractive to hackers than its predecessor - whose hard drive has made it into a prime target for hackers who have turned the console into everything from a functional Linux system to a home media player, as well as enabling easy piracy of Xbox game titles.

Tags: M-SystemsXbox
Previous Post
Teac DV-W58G review released
Next Post
LiteOn introduces new DVD player with network connectivity

Related Posts

  • Xbox Games Showcase 2025

  • gamescom Opening Night Live 2024: Everything Xbox Revealed

  • Activision Blizzard King to Team Xbox

  • Xbox Showcases Starfield, Ara: History Untold, and Age of Empires IV to Xbox

  • Xbox at gamescom 2023

  • Introducing Xbox Game Pass Core, Coming This September

  • PlayStation And Xbox Store sales start soon

  • Team Xbox Celebrates Disability Pride Month

Latest News

Razer Unveils the Ultra-Lightweight DeathAdder V4 Pro
PC components

Razer Unveils the Ultra-Lightweight DeathAdder V4 Pro

Sony launches a high-resolution shotgun microphone with superior sound quality and compact design.
Cameras

Sony launches a high-resolution shotgun microphone with superior sound quality and compact design.

Arctic announces New Liquid Freezer III Pro 280 and Pro 420
Cooling Systems

Arctic announces New Liquid Freezer III Pro 280 and Pro 420

Silicon Power Launches Hypera microSDXC Express Card
Cameras

Silicon Power Launches Hypera microSDXC Express Card

Samsung announces Watch8, Z Fold7 and Z Flip7
Smartphones

Samsung announces Watch8, Z Fold7 and Z Flip7

Popular Reviews

be quiet! Light Loop 360mm

be quiet! Light Loop 360mm

be quiet! Dark Mount Keyboard

be quiet! Dark Mount Keyboard

be quiet! Light Mount Keyboard

be quiet! Light Mount Keyboard

Noctua NH-D15 G2

Noctua NH-D15 G2

Soundpeats Pop Clip

Soundpeats Pop Clip

be quiet! Light Base 600 LX

be quiet! Light Base 600 LX

Crucial T705 2TB NVME White

Crucial T705 2TB NVME White

be quiet! Pure Base 501

be quiet! Pure Base 501

Main menu

  • Home
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Essays
  • Forum
  • Legacy
  • About
    • Submit News

    • Contact Us
    • Privacy

    • Promotion
    • Advertise

    • RSS Feed
    • Site Map
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Promotional Opportunities @ CdrInfo.com
  • Advertise on out site
  • Submit your News to our site
  • RSS Feed