Major, an update on the Third-party memory card situation would be great!

@IconicSoulJA

I don't think there is much of an update dude. They said they wont work anymore and the update that went out this weekend proved that. And those who lost their saves they had a week to remedy the situation before the update went out.

Thanks for posting the show Major & E.

In response to Stepto and Major regarding the memory cards:

Then you should have been talking them down since years ago! Instead of the a week or so before the updates!

BTW I don't see the Microsoft logo on the Turtle Beach headset!! I guess that's unauthorized as well. There is no offical Microsoft Xbox logo on the their website either. I guess we shouldn't purchase that either. You guys are hypocrites. You just advertised an unauthorized device.

Downloading now. Sooo when does halo waypoint drop?

Off Topic. But who can I complain to about the lack of Zune HD apps?

IconicSoulJA: people aren't using third-party headsets to mess with their gamerscores and save files, you bonehead.

Rather, you should campaign against things like Nyko's Intercooler which promotes hardware failure, instead of keeping consoles cooled.

Major the podcast isn't on Zune marketplace yet. :(

Never mind, it's up.

@Twilight Now: Bonehead, good one. So I guess anyone who uses the third-party memory card is automatically using it in illegal ways. Thanks for labeling bargain or uninformed shoppers as criminals. Microsoft is pretty much MONOPOLIZING the memory unit market because there is a cheaper solution available. If they really cared about the issue of Memory Unit tampering, they would have been advising to people about the issue for years instead of a week ago. Just like they always say don't mess with your console because you will get banned. If you get banned, you have been warned for years. Now, people who are uninformed (people who don't read this site which is a large amount of LIVE users) will loose their data if they have these cards. Of course, Micro$oft does not care about people's data. They care about the bottom line. As for the Nyko Cooler, I have not used that product so I cannot campaign against it. Also, I've not heard Major Nelson advertise that product so why campaign about hypocrisy in Microsoft with a product I've not heard Major Nelson speak about. You obviously just wanted to defend Major Nelson and Microsoft on a bogus policy that will give them more revenue in the Memory Unit Market. As soon as these alternatives came out, Microsoft should have issued a statement. They ignored it until they came up with a solution to ban it. I do appreciate the warning but 1 WEEK was not acceptable.

Oh BTW this has Microsoft's Xbox section written all over it...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act. Its principal mission is the promotion of "consumer protection" and the elimination and prevention of what regulators perceive to be harmfully "anti-competitive" business practices, such as coercive monopoly.

In economics and business ethics, a coercive monopoly is a business concern that prohibits competitors from entering the field, with the natural result being that the firm is able to make pricing and production decisions independent of competitive forces.[1] A coercive monopoly is not merely a sole supplier of a particular kind of good or service (a monopoly), but it is a monopoly where there is no opportunity to compete through means such as price competition, technological or product innovation, or marketing; entry into the field is closed. As a coercive monopoly is securely shielded from possibility of competition, it is able to make pricing and production decisions with the assurance that no competition will arise. It is a case of a non-contestable market. A coercive monopoly has very few incentives to keep prices low and may deliberately price gouge consumers by curtailing production.[2] Also, according to economist Murray Rothbard, "a coercive monopolist will tend to perform his service badly and inefficiently."[3]

Source: Wikipedia.org

Sound familiar??

is it only the memory cards that are being banned? or is it all 3rd party hardware?

@IconicSoulJA

Locking down Xbox 360s to 1st party memory storage devices only ISN'T a monopoly in the sense of the wikipedia article you just copy pasted.

Microsoft would be a monopoly if they owned the entire console market, not for making proprietary hard drives required for proprietary systems connected to the proprietary Xbox Live network.

I wish some people would just grow a brain and think once in a while.

Now for some constructive posting.

@crankyvampy

Only 3rd party "storage devices" are becoming unusable because of the update.

Buy a hard drive and stop crying.

How does MS feel about this?

Netflix is coming to the PS3

www.joystiq.com/.../netflix-is-coming-to-the-ps3

Discrete math or discrete structures, omg i have that now and it sucks! And it really is just to flunk students out -.-" i hate that

good show :}

People wouldn't be screaming so much about the ban on 3rd party memory devices if the MS ones were't so damn expensive.

@mchiefvs360 Official Microsoft memory units and hard drives can also be used for hacking and cheating, so your argument is null and void! Wake up and realise that this is all about corporate greed, let them get away with it this time and who knows what they will do in the future!!

I would like to see the starting times for this podcast also, when I want to listen to a certain section or person, such as Stephen Toulouse.

I agree with Grumpybum...  I was thinking about buying a Datal MU this week, so Major in effect saved me $50.  But still, the prices of memory for the MS machine is retarded.  All I want is a decent sized piece of portable memory I can take with me to a friends....Is that so hard?

Personally

1)I do not care about gamerscore

2)If people want to cheat to get a high e-peen who cares?

3)Not everyone who buys one cheats their gamerscore, some people just like reasonable amounts of memory for reasonable prices.

4)There is still alternatives out if people really want to cheat, if someone is really wanting to cheat their gamerscore they will.

Maybe I am just too old, I cannot figure out why people care about gamerscore, I can somewhat understand it for completionists..but why care about some random dude you do not know and will never ever encounter?

Whilst you have Microsoft apologists like mchiefvs360, they will continue to dump on their customers.

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Microsoft haven't listened to the huge numbers of people telling them how derisory they think this is and have gone ahead an included it in the update anyway, without any reasonable or credible explanation as to why. Microsoft's own transfer cable can be used with the Xbox360 HDD and a PC to access gamesave data and hack it. Piracy and gamesave hacking is NOT a valid reason, it is greed and monopolistic.

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It's a repugnant move from Microsoft, such that from now on I'll be carefully considering which platform I'll be purchasing multi-format releases on. I see no reason to continue to support a company at the level I have been when it treats its customer with such disrespect.

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This has begun with Operation Flashpoint, Tropico III, and Left4Dead 2 which I've ordered on PC and Borderlands which is a PS3 purchase. If you care to look at my user account on your database, you'll also discover the massive amount of extra game content I fork out for, now nearing 50 GB odd and at substantial cost. I'd imagine all four of those titles listed above will have DLC at some point, so not only are you losing out on the initial purchase, but you're also missing out on further money I'm likely to spend for extending those games.

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Well done at Redmond - give yourself a one handed round of applause.

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Oh, the Turtle Beach headsets - I emailed Turtle Beach Tech Support to clarify if they are indeed authorized 3rd party peripherals, this is the response I received from Rowan there:

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QUOTE "Our products are not officially licensed by Microsoft for use on the Xbox 360. However, they are specifically designed and tested to work on the Xbox 360, and are very popular among Xbox 360 gamers -- including pro's!"

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So not only are you poking loyal customers in the eye by banning "unauthorized" 3rd party memory cards, you're also being a bunch of hypocrites for allowing the Xbox360 to continue to support the Turtle Beach products.

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You can't stick your head in the sand and hope this issue will go away and people will forget - I will be around to remind you every time you lose a sale from me to another platform due to your actions.

@mchiefvs360 What a pointless rant... Microsoft have got a lot of things right this console generation agreed, but they also get things wrong. You can butt kiss MS all day long, that's fine, but some people like to speak out when they see a huge company like microsoft getting things wrong as in this instance. It's called freedom of speach, it's also a way of putting wrong's right when the masses speak up (nearly 500 posts on the original announcement re unauthorised memory units)0. What the 360's install base has to do with this and the bit about apple I have no idea, and anyone who ends their post with 'Go Microsoft! w00t!' - well need I say any more.

As good as Zune Video is, it is light years away from the quality of Blu-ray. Zune Video is missing DTS Master Audio and Dobly HD, lacks 24p, is compressed, and has a low bit rate and can look stuttery(my connection is 22Mbps-33Mbps fast).

Yes, for many people Zune Video is an excellent option for high quality movie content over DVD, but if you want the best you are gonna have to get a blu-ray(and a kick ass tv and receiver). And at least I can sell or loan my blu-rays if I want.