The only thing that can make TSC give up Halo 2.

[AngryCola]

[ QUOTE ]


I didn't know virtual ram made that significant of an impact for video games.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, it does. The information can be retrieved off a HD faster than from the DVD drive. Almost all of the big xbox games use the HD to speed up their performance.

[ QUOTE ]
So you prefer HD in every console?

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course!
But Microsoft lost money on every xbox they sold. The standard HD was a big reason for this. But the company had already decided upfront that they would take the loss just to gain a quick entrance into the console scene. They accomplished that, so now they are trying to turn the xbox line into a more profitable product.

The main problems I see coming are how the games are developed with the knowledge of an "optional" HD. Will they take advantage of the optional HD's performance? Or will the fact that it's an option discourage the devs. from even trying to plan for it?

Also, the next xbox is supposed to be backwards compatible. How is the new system going to handle the old games which made use of the HD? I guess only time (E3) will tell.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

It's simple. The HD is 'optional' the same way that controllers and games are 'optional'.