The 360 Arcade is a complete rip off, ESPECIALLY for gamers

I am utterly dumbfounded as to why people use the Arcade when doing price comparisons in System Wars. The Arcade model is so horribly gimped by comparison to the other 360 models, it's not even funny. I mean, even the cheapest PS3 has all the same functionality as any other PS3 with very rare exceptions.

So why do I say this? Well, I bought a 4GB "Slim" model. Let's be realistic here, with the support for flash drives now and the fact I have plenty of flash drive space, 4GB would ideally be plenty of internal memory for all my game data ever.

But that's what I get for thinking logically.

After putting in Halo 3, I find that Theater mode is completely blocked to me. That's correct. I cannot save any of my own films, anyone elses films, or even watch them in any shape or form. Theater mode on an Arcade, does absolutely nothing. Why? Because I don't have a Microsoft hard drive. Thats right, 4GB of space? Not enough, clearly.

But alright, I could deal with that. Theater is nice, but if I must I can live without it.

But it didn't stop there. Sorry, you also can't download map variants. Yes, map variants. Things that barely even take up a few megabytes. You can save your own though, thank god, so at least Forge isn't completely useless.

You'd think that'd be the end of it. It's illogical, but at least it makes sense in that Theater and map variants require extra files beyond your game save. So, silly as it may be, it has some (bad) reasoning.

Sorry though, it doesn't end there either. Wanna play co-op? Too bad, you need a hard drive. Wanna play Firefight in ODST? Sucks to be you, you need a hard drive to play that too. Yes, that's right you need a hard drive to play co-op too.

So with both Halo 3 and ODST, simply because I have an Arcade, I only get half the game. I may have enough space to use the whole game, but Microsoft doesn't care, you need one of their ridiculously priced hard drives to access features you don't even need that much space to use. And know what's great? To my knowledge, there are no hard drives I can even buy for the Slim. I'm up a creek without a paddle, so to speak.

So I guess what I'm getting at is, why compare the Arcade to the other consoles. The Arcade is gimped, horribly. The others? Not so much. When you buy any model Wii, you get the same Wii everyone else does. When you buy any model PS3, you get the same PS3 everyone else does. All your games work to their full extent. You buy a 360 Arcade? Sorry, you only get half your games now.

If you're gonna price compare, use a real 360, not this horribly gimped nightmare.

Wasn't even aware of such things. Damn that really sucks.siLVURcross

This is why I'm a happy PS3 owner :P

seems ridiculous they would block those features.

but yea, i think saying you are getting half your games with the 4gb... is a bit of an exaggeration.

This is why I'm a happy PS3 owner :P

seems ridiculous they would block those features.

but yea, i think saying you are getting half your games with the 4gb... is a bit of an exaggeration.

I thought it was a given the arcade sucks. jg4xchamp

This is news to me, which I doubt as the box does not say Hard Drive Required, in which sense you would have good grounds to sue for not including all of the requirements on the box. Or stating that some of these features may not be available without a hard drive, it says some Services may not be available, but makes no such note to a hard drive, only a headset or camera.toxicmog

Ouch. I'd never buy a smaller hard-drive capacity console anyway, but still - that kinda sucks.icygangsta

I thought if you got a 4GB you could add USB drive that acts as a HDD in addition to the 4GB. So you're saying they just arbitraily block this because it's not MS branded???

Damn. I was thinking of getting the 4GB as a second system. (waiting for holiday sales). If you are "blocked" from online features for no apparant reason then that is BS. I thought them going back to allowing USB hard drives solved all of this...

I don't like the glossy finish on the 250gig, so I'll be buying the 4gig Kinect bundle, You know on youtube some guy broke the casing of his 120 gig HDD from is Xbox elite and used it in his new slim it works, I'll do that

I thought if you got a 4GB you could add USB drive that acts as a HDD in addition to the 4GB? Damn. I was thinking of getting the 4GB as a second system. (waiting for holiday sales). If you are "blocked" from online features for no apparant reason then that is BS. I thought them going back to allowing USB hard drives solved all of this...2Chalupas

[QUOTE="toxicmog"]This is news to me, which I doubt as the box does not say Hard Drive Required, in which sense you would have good grounds to sue for not including all of the requirements on the box. Or stating that some of these features may not be available without a hard drive, it says some Services may not be available, but makes no such note to a hard drive, only a headset or camera.Skittles_McGee

[QUOTE="Skittles_McGee"][QUOTE="toxicmog"]This is news to me, which I doubt as the box does not say Hard Drive Required, in which sense you would have good grounds to sue for not including all of the requirements on the box. Or stating that some of these features may not be available without a hard drive, it says some Services may not be available, but makes no such note to a hard drive, only a headset or camera.siLVURcross

[QUOTE="markinthedark"]

seems ridiculous they would block those features.

but yea, i think saying you are getting half your games with the 4gb... is a bit of an exaggeration.

Skittles_McGee

yea thats why i said its ridiculous.

maybe those games actually couldnt be played on the old 360 arcade version, and since its an older game it recognizes the console as the old arcade rather than the new 4gb version?

i dont know, it makes zero sense... thats the best guess i could come up with. Seems like a simple update could fix the issue if devs got around to making it though.

That doesn't make any sense... Is it only for ODST? Have you tried any other games?hexashadow13

I've been complaining about this for quite sometime now lol...

• Original Xbox dvd remote needed to play dvd's on console
• XBL Gold charge
• 256mb arcade model

When will people learn about M$?

LOL at you buying the cheapest 360.

I am utterly dumbfounded as to why people use the Arcade when doing price comparisons in System Wars. The Arcade model is so horribly gimped by comparison to the other 360 models, it's not even funny. I mean, even the cheapest PS3 has all the same functionality as any other PS3 with very rare exceptions.

So why do I say this? Well, I bought a 4GB "Slim" model. Let's be realistic here, with the support for flash drives now and the fact I have plenty of flash drive space, 4GB would ideally be plenty of internal memory for all my game data ever.

But that's what I get for thinking logically.

After putting in Halo 3, I find that Theater mode is completely blocked to me. That's correct. I cannot save any of my own films, anyone elses films, or even watch them in any shape or form. Theater mode on an Arcade, does absolutely nothing. Why? Because I don't have a Microsoft hard drive. Thats right, 4GB of space? Not enough, clearly.

But alright, I could deal with that. Theater is nice, but if I must I can live without it.

But it didn't stop there. Sorry, you also can't download map variants. Yes, map variants. Things that barely even take up a few megabytes. You can save your own though, thank god, so at least Forge isn't completely useless.

You'd think that'd be the end of it. It's illogical, but at least it makes sense in that Theater and map variants require extra files beyond your game save. So, silly as it may be, it has some (bad) reasoning.

Sorry though, it doesn't end there either. Wanna play co-op? Too bad, you need a hard drive. Wanna play Firefight in ODST? Sucks to be you, you need a hard drive to play that too. Yes, that's right you need a hard drive to play co-op too.

So with both Halo 3 and ODST, simply because I have an Arcade, I only get half the game. I may have enough space to use the whole game, but Microsoft doesn't care, you need one of their ridiculously priced hard drives to access features you don't even need that much space to use. And know what's great? To my knowledge, there are no hard drives I can even buy for the Slim. I'm up a creek without a paddle, so to speak.

So I guess what I'm getting at is, why compare the Arcade to the other consoles. The Arcade is gimped, horribly. The others? Not so much. When you buy any model Wii, you get the same Wii everyone else does. When you buy any model PS3, you get the same PS3 everyone else does. All your games work to their full extent. You buy a 360 Arcade? Sorry, you only get half your games now.

If you're gonna price compare, use a real 360, not this horribly gimped nightmare.

[QUOTE="hexashadow13"]That doesn't make any sense... Is it only for ODST? Have you tried any other games?Skittles_McGee

well reach will most likely be coded to recognize the new 4gb arcade sku.

it would make sense that reach wouldnt have the same issues.... but who knows.

• Original Xbox dvd remote needed to play dvd's on console
• XBL Gold charge
• 256mb arcade model

When will people learn about M$?

CB4McGusto

That trash is just a way for MS to pad sales and allows lems to claim "ownage" when their precious NDP sales come in.

Just use 2 16GB thumbdrives and you have an instant 36GB if you include the 4GB with the Arcade. Get over it. What a waste of bandwidth.CuteCakes

And how much do 16gb flash drives run in the US? Around 30 dollars from what I see.. two of them would place him at 260 which is more than a old pro and only 40 off of a 250gig version...

[QUOTE="Skittles_McGee"][QUOTE="hexashadow13"]That doesn't make any sense... Is it only for ODST? Have you tried any other games?markinthedark

well reach will most likely be coded to recognize the new 4gb arcade sku.

it would make sense that reach wouldnt have the same issues.... but who knows.

I am utterly dumbfounded as to why people use the Arcade when doing price comparisons in System Wars. The Arcade model is so horribly gimped by comparison to the other 360 models, it's not even funny. I mean, even the cheapest PS3 has all the same functionality as any other PS3 with very rare exceptions.

So why do I say this? Well, I bought a 4GB "Slim" model. Let's be realistic here, with the support for flash drives now and the fact I have plenty of flash drive space, 4GB would ideally be plenty of internal memory for all my game data ever.

But that's what I get for thinking logically.

After putting in Halo 3, I find that Theater mode is completely blocked to me. That's correct. I cannot save any of my own films, anyone elses films, or even watch them in any shape or form. Theater mode on an Arcade, does absolutely nothing. Why? Because I don't have a Microsoft hard drive. Thats right, 4GB of space? Not enough, clearly.

But alright, I could deal with that. Theater is nice, but if I must I can live without it.

But it didn't stop there. Sorry, you also can't download map variants. Yes, map variants. Things that barely even take up a few megabytes. You can save your own though, thank god, so at least Forge isn't completely useless.

You'd think that'd be the end of it. It's illogical, but at least it makes sense in that Theater and map variants require extra files beyond your game save. So, silly as it may be, it has some (bad) reasoning.

Sorry though, it doesn't end there either. Wanna play co-op? Too bad, you need a hard drive. Wanna play Firefight in ODST? Sucks to be you, you need a hard drive to play that too. Yes, that's right you need a hard drive to play co-op too.

So with both Halo 3 and ODST, simply because I have an Arcade, I only get half the game. I may have enough space to use the whole game, but Microsoft doesn't care, you need one of their ridiculously priced hard drives to access features you don't even need that much space to use. And know what's great? To my knowledge, there are no hard drives I can even buy for the Slim. I'm up a creek without a paddle, so to speak.

So I guess what I'm getting at is, why compare the Arcade to the other consoles. The Arcade is gimped, horribly. The others? Not so much. When you buy any model Wii, you get the same Wii everyone else does. When you buy any model PS3, you get the same PS3 everyone else does. All your games work to their full extent. You buy a 360 Arcade? Sorry, you only get half your games now.

If you're gonna price compare, use a real 360, not this horribly gimped nightmare.

Did you format your USB drive? I ask because my nephew has no problems using the USB i bought him as a storage device for any game, including Halo 3. And yes he has the 4GB slim. Im not sure what you are doing wrong, but the 4GB memory should be enough and be used by the game. Again, my nephew has no problems like that with Halo 3. :|

Also, your USB drive has to be fast enough to support game storage, not just video streaming. Some USB drives simply arent fast enough to be of use. The console will tell you when you format it. I have 1 USB that wont let me store game data because its too slow, but when i bought a 8GB PKNY drive, it works. Thats what i bought for my nephew. So its not the console, its the USB you are using. Im not sure why your console wont let you use the 4GB though

Why should I? Clearly the Arcade model never was and isn't aimed at gamers, perhaps you should stop being so cheap?CuteCakes

So then why are you defending it when he is complaining about it?

[QUOTE="Skittles_McGee"][QUOTE="CuteCakes"] Just use 2 16GB thumbdrives and you have an instant 36GB if you include the 4GB with the Arcade. Get over it. What a waste of bandwidth.CuteCakes

[QUOTE="Skittles_McGee"][QUOTE="CuteCakes"] Just use 2 16GB thumbdrives and you have an instant 36GB if you include the 4GB with the Arcade. Get over it. What a waste of bandwidth.CuteCakes

Did you format your USB drive? I ask because my nephew has no problems using the USB i bought him as a storage device for any game, including Halo 3. And yes he has the 4GB slim. Im not sure what you are doing wrong, but the 4GB memory should be enough and be used by the game. Again, my nephew has no problems like that with Halo 3. :|navyguy21

if you look at the back of the halo 3 and odst game boxes it says "optimized for hard drive". Its not Microsofts fault at all. It WOULD be Bungies for optimizing the game for a hard drive. But its your fault for not reading the fine print and making sure you have everything you need before buying a game and game console.. no one here to blame but yourself. SLUSHiNaToR

[QUOTE="CuteCakes"][QUOTE="Skittles_McGee"] You did an excellent job of not reading a single word I said.Skittles_McGee

That's what happens when you don't research what you're buying first. It's like complaining after you upgraded and sold your PS2 to get a PS3 slim and you found out the hard way you can't play PS2 games on it.

[QUOTE="Skittles_McGee"][QUOTE="CuteCakes"] Why should I? Clearly the Arcade model never was and isn't aimed at gamers, perhaps you should stop being so cheap?CuteCakes

That's what happens when you don't research what you're buying first. It's say complaining after you upgraded your PS2 to a PS3 slim and you found out the hard way you can't play PS2 games on it.

gago-gago

upgrade your hd :PGiancar

[QUOTE="markinthedark"]

[QUOTE="Skittles_McGee"] Halo 3 and ODST. I'm going to assume Reach will probably be that way as well (much to my dismay) So far all I've played since I got my "Slim" though is the Halo games, and some XBLA stuff and BC2. I really haven't done any research on this kind of thing, this is all stuff I've found out the hard way.Skittles_McGee

well reach will most likely be coded to recognize the new 4gb arcade sku.

it would make sense that reach wouldnt have the same issues.... but who knows.

yea its a pretty raw deal anyway you look at it. Like i said though, those other games were released before the 4gb arcade... so its quite possibly they werent able to be played on the old arcade model, and the game code is recognizing your new arcade model the same as the old arcade model without bothering to check the available HDD space.

But I can see why its hard to be optimistic about reach. I would certainly hope reach would be designed to recognize the new 4gb arcade models and play correctly though. Would be pretty devious of MS if they were actually intentionally limiting these features by design in order to sell hardware upgrades... i hope MS isnt that slimy, but you never know.