well, i'm one of the few i suppose who think the hard drive was a waste for msft this generation.
before i thought it was a good idea. this was based on msft being able to do things other consoles couldn't. that could have been huge. ps1 broke out of the race against n64 with final fantasy 7. it was a game that took full advantage of the cd format. a game that couldn't be done on any other console at the time.
now msft has a hdd. the only game that comes to mind which can only be done on xbox due to hdd, is blinx. which is not blockbuster title. so the first problem i see is that msft has yet to release a great hdd based game. do i have any ideas for how to take advantage? no. but i'm not a game developer for msft, or msft management trying to attract gamers. i would have thought they had great ideas before deciding to include a hdd in the console.
second, the uses of hdd we have seen so far are a) not something great that would grab the attention of a random gamer, and b) not well known by a random gamer. how many people who walk into a store to buy a console are aware of being able to download content, rip musics and make custom tracks, not have to buy a memory card. even if these features are all msft saw in their vision of a console with hdd, they should have a) required all developers, especially their own, to make full use of those features and put required tutorials/training levels in all games explaining the features, and b) advertised the features.
but given the state of how msft is treating their console, i think it ultimately turned out to be a waste of money for them. money that could have been spent elsewhere for the xbox.
something like a mmorpg would make good use, but where is a blockbuster mmorpg? they should have had a mmorpg and live launch with xbox itself. or since they had to delay live for 1 year, they should have at least had a big name mmorpg to kick off live. now with current consoles hitting mid-stream and slow talk of next generation consoles starting up, and current race pretty much set (ps2> xbox +gc), it doesn't matter as things won't change.
maybe it would have been more of a neck & neck race between ps2 and xbox, if msft handled things differently
before i thought it was a good idea. this was based on msft being able to do things other consoles couldn't. that could have been huge. ps1 broke out of the race against n64 with final fantasy 7. it was a game that took full advantage of the cd format. a game that couldn't be done on any other console at the time.
now msft has a hdd. the only game that comes to mind which can only be done on xbox due to hdd, is blinx. which is not blockbuster title. so the first problem i see is that msft has yet to release a great hdd based game. do i have any ideas for how to take advantage? no. but i'm not a game developer for msft, or msft management trying to attract gamers. i would have thought they had great ideas before deciding to include a hdd in the console.
second, the uses of hdd we have seen so far are a) not something great that would grab the attention of a random gamer, and b) not well known by a random gamer. how many people who walk into a store to buy a console are aware of being able to download content, rip musics and make custom tracks, not have to buy a memory card. even if these features are all msft saw in their vision of a console with hdd, they should have a) required all developers, especially their own, to make full use of those features and put required tutorials/training levels in all games explaining the features, and b) advertised the features.
but given the state of how msft is treating their console, i think it ultimately turned out to be a waste of money for them. money that could have been spent elsewhere for the xbox.
something like a mmorpg would make good use, but where is a blockbuster mmorpg? they should have had a mmorpg and live launch with xbox itself. or since they had to delay live for 1 year, they should have at least had a big name mmorpg to kick off live. now with current consoles hitting mid-stream and slow talk of next generation consoles starting up, and current race pretty much set (ps2> xbox +gc), it doesn't matter as things won't change.
maybe it would have been more of a neck & neck race between ps2 and xbox, if msft handled things differently
I really doubt they win over people because of a HD and 4 ports, those are just extras that people that have xboxes brag about 
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