March 23rd 2010 5:32 pm PT

@Captiosus77

“I kind of feel bad (but only a little bit) for anyone who went out and bought a limited edition bundle after hearing the rhetoric from MSFT during the release of the MW2 bundle discussing how the 250GB drive was ONLY going to be available in those bundles.”

Don’t feel bad for me… I sold my old elite for $280 on ebay, sold the pack in MW2 game for $70. Purchased the MW2 250GB bundle for $399. Came out of pocket $49 with a new game, larger HDD and an extra wireless controller to show for it.

Everyone knew the 250HDD would be available sooner or later, anyone with a brain could see the bundle as being the cheaper way to scoop one if you sold your current elite. Unfortunately now you may have a hard time fetching that premium for a used 120 Elite. I acted fast.

Well, I’m happy. I can upgrade my one Jasper 120GB (RE5 console) to have it match the other two (FFXIII, MW2), and it’ll cost less than the 120GB upgrade did for my Launch and Halo 3 consoles.

@ TJ 2 Jc

I have done this before. I upgraded to a 120 and copied my 20 onto my 60gb as well. So I used it twice and it seemed to work ok.

Amazing! On the same day that Nintendo announce a 3D gaming system that doesn’t even require glasses, MS announce an upgraded hard drive that should have been out at least 3 years ago, at an exorbitant price.

Good work!

Thanks for the heads up Major. We knew this day was coming anyways since day one of seeing a 250GB HDD in a bundle. Anyhow, as usual since you are the link between the community and the Redmond folks please forward our comments to them regarding the pricing.

I guess I’ll just wait until you guys enable the Mass USB Storage mode in the 360 via an update. I just came back from Costco and they had a 750GB pocket HDD for only $99. I could literally carry my 360 persona with me wherever I go with that (games, movies, gamesaves, etc.) and I would just need a $199 console to my arrival place. With a move like this I can see now why the Arcade SKU is important…

I’ve spent a crap-load of money of XBox products. I’m really feeling let down by M$.

Greater than 100% mark up on a storage device with a limited life cycle? Only 250GB for $120? This is not an ethical way to treat loyal customers who stuck with them through defective hardware and secrecy.

If you don’t like that people are complaining, don’t read their posts. But you have some temerity to tell people who are being ripped off that they are whining and should shut up and color. It might not piss you off, and good for you, here’s a cookie. Now you can go shut up and color, while those of us who have some self-respect and passion address our concerns.

Larry, if he cares about the XBox community, can walk down the hall and pass our voice along to the bean-counters, who are surely not gamers.

The transfer cable will work multiple times. If you have an older disc with the transfer kit you may need to get a newer disc to transfer data to a 250GB. I ended up ordering a new kit only to get the newer transfer software disc. The one I had from the 120GB (early adopter)would not work on the 250GB.

I’ve never tried lighting a cigar with a $100 bill. Could be worth it.

Like others have said… simple economics… If we don’t buy the 250GB memory at that price… it’ll go down. But if demand is high…. businesses will price it high…

You whiners are just going to have to wait a bit…. and besides.. the Xbox 360 elite is selling at 300 bucks… with a 120 GB… and those bundles…. come with 250GB

I sold my old xbox for 140 bucks… and bought a new Xbox MW2 bundle… for 400… I sold MW2 for 45 bucks and plan on selling one of the controllers for 30-35 bucks new

400
- 140
45
35
———
180$

So I bought a brand new Xbox 360 with 250GB hasper, 1 brand new controller, oh yeah and I kept the HDMI of my old Xbox 360… and brand new fresh warranty too all for 180$

And I could still sell the MW2 console skin too but I kind like it … it makes my console look like a super elite :3

Now if you do that with a regular elite… that’s actually now bundled with Halo ODST and Forza 3… well you do the math….

Hate to jump on the bandwagon but I have to agree with everyone, the hard drives are overpriced by 50%. Since the PS3 price drop the 360 needs to be more value aware.

So Major, when is the 500GB HDD coming out and how much will it cost

that be the next rant around here

@ Carnage Rules

People like you, who pay way too much for way too little, is why the discussion of it being overpriced is valid. Are you really saying that if I had $100 to willingly drop on 120g of memory that it would be a justifiable purchase? Puh-LEASE! If you keep making stupid purchases, companies will keep charging stupid prices. Case closed, everyone can go home now.

I am happy about this! I didn’t want a new console to upgrade the drive. Price isn’t really an issue. These will be available cheap in all the usual places soon enough too, so if it’s that steep for your wallet and you want it, wait for the right moment. I maxxed a 120GB by downloading every trial game from the arcade, having a couple demos of disc titles, a bunch of DLC, and some game videos. I’ve been “selectively deleting” since then. Now if they put a couple of GoD on them for the holidays this year there will be even more interest I am sure. From what I’ve been reading I may need to pick up a 16GB memstick for my 360 soon enough too.

Ok, here’s my question. I had an original XBox360 with 20GB drive, I upgraded to an Elite console after RRoD and copied over all my files to the 120GB HDD via the transfer cable kit. Now if I recall it was said I could only move files once from the 60GB to 120GB HDD. Now with the 250GB available for retail in about a week I need to know just one thing. Will I be able to again transfer the data off my current 120GB HDD (that was originally migrated from my 60GB) onto the new 250GB HDD? Now that we can install games my current 120GB has about 15GB left and I’m seriously considering purchasing a 250GB HDD ONLY if I can transfer all my data again. Can someone from the XBox division PLEASE answer this question. Thanks

@Shiaoran: You can’t fit a 2TB drive in the PS3 as it only takes 2.5″ drives. There were mods made to allow a 3.5″ drive to fit or even connect externally on the original models but as it stands no such mods were made on the slim version so all users are capped at 640GB anyways. As for the 360 well… Only time will tell. The internals are just any standard 2.5″ drive (there are a few different brands being used) and a wiring adapter to convert the sata connection to their proprietary connector.

Thanks for the info, Major Nelson. Like many others, I’m a tiny bit discomfited with the price, but nonetheless, I am for certain the casing is the reason for part of it; I’m getting one as soon as it arrives on the local retailers’ shelves.

@Carnage Rules
Your example is hilariously irrelevant. You don’t see many people driving around in a Ferrari because it’s a luxury vehicle. Yeah, any company can set any price they want for any product, but there are products specifically designed for those in the upper class. This is why we have the word “luxury”, and also why we have Stephen Colbert’s very informative Colbert Platinum. The 250 HDD is not and should not be a luxury item. The Xbox Arcade recently went on sale for the same price at this hard drive. That’s ridiculous.
Yeah, people know that if they don’t like the price of something, they don’t have to buy it. People understand basic economics as well, and the concept that if something doesn’t sell then the price will drop. Unfortunately, this product will sell. The network adapter for the 360 has been overpriced since the day it came out, but it sells anyway. It sells because there’s no other easy alternative. Likewise, if you want a 250 HDD you can either pay nearly $300 for the console or half that for the hard drive. Consumers are absolutely allowed to have a voice when blatant price-gouging is being exercised. It’s like if they released Halo: Reach for $200. Would that not be okay to scrutinize either?

@DiatomicMaster

I could have compared a thousand things. The two vehicles being exotic or luxury wasn’t the point. I guarantee you that MS doesn’t have three monkeys throwing feces at numbers to come up with prices. I’m sure a lot of data is collected and examined to figure how much they SHOULD and CAN charge for a product. Halo: Reach $200.00? Are you forgeting about Halo 3 Legendary Edition?

Why didn’t you release it in BLACK!? ;-(

And to add insult to injury on the color, I paid HALF THIS PRICE for a drive FOUR TIMES LARGER last week. That means Microsoft is asking 8X over retail market storage rates.

i am so MAD right now, I’ve been looking for a NEW 120gb hdd for about 2 weeks now. i couldnt find one anywhere, from amazon to the local k-mart not a single one. so yesterday i went to the M$ store online and settled with the 60gb starter kit and got the transfer kit with it. $132 WTF i must have the worse timing ever…

@CARNAGE RULES

do you not find it annoying a 1tb external drive is only about £60 yet a 250g xbox drive is say £75 when its the same hardrive inside.

@Carnage Rules
*My* point was that your comparison was bunk. Microsoft may not have monkeys crunching their numbers, but they do have some kind of animal with a genetic predisposition to greed.
And no, I didn’t forget about the Legendary Edition. But here is where your Ferrari reference may work. You see, most people would prefer to purchase a new yet modest car to get around, whereas it’s only the people with the extra cash flow who go for luxury cars like Ferraris. My example of Reach selling for $200 was not specified as any special or limited edition, but rather the basic game. The point in that is people should not be sheep, and when something is overpriced it’s perfectly valid to complain. When someone from the marketing section creates their own blog, I’m sure everyone will migrate there. Until then, Major Nelson’s blog has to face the brunt of the backlash.

Major, they already charge us around 220 dollars for the 120gb HDD at GAME – here in Sweden – WTF?!
Now, you/ms might say;well thats not majors/our fault its because of taxes and stuff and greedy game stores in Sweden – wrong. It is MS fault, because, when you refuse to let people use their USB or install their laptop HDD as ps3 does, it leaves stores with opportunities to screw the consumer over.

XBOX isnt the cheapest console, well it is, if you wanna play without a HDD, no online-service etc then it is.

lol @ Carnage_rules – it’s bootlickers like you that give Microsoft its self-delusional sense of grandeur.