Datel Suing Microsoft over Max Memory Card Lockout

[Gorankar]

MS only locked out mem cards larger than the ones they sell.

There may be a technical or anti piracy reason for this.

Datel makes unlicensed products for multiple consoles and hand helds. Some of thes e products are, regardless of how Datel markets them, mainly used for cheating and/or piracy.

This may have just been a boneheaded error on the part of the firmware team. They might have just not taken any mem cards over the size of the ones MS makes into consideration.

There are numerous reasons this might have happened with out the "ZOMG M$ iz teh vil!!!" ranting and raving some are spouting.

My opinion is that it is their console. They can do what they like with it, whether I like it or not. It's not like they suddenly decided that the 360 would not work if you also owned a PS3. That sort of behaviour is reservd for Nv.

 

[JCDenton]

. It's not like they suddenly decided that the 360 would not work if you also owned a PS3. That sort of behaviour is reservd for Nv.

No, they just decided that the 360 would not work if you also owned a hard drive that was not purchased at their extortionary rates of over $1.00/GB. Much classier.

 

[Seraphic]

There might be a small anti-piracy reason for doing this.
But I think real reason is so people HAVE to buy Microsoft brand 360 storage units.
And we all know they charge massive inflated prices for these (hard-drive for example).
All about money...

 

[Elledan]

There might be a small anti-piracy reason for doing this.
But I think real reason is so people HAVE to buy Microsoft brand 360 storage units.
And we all know they charge massive inflated prices for these (hard-drive for example).
All about money...

What anti-piracy reason? It's a friggin' memory card, for crying out loud. It stores save files and such stuff. It doesn't do anything the official, 300% markup, official XBox memory card doesn't do already.

MSFT is merely doing what it does best: strangling competitors through whatever means necessary so that they can charge the prices they want.

 

[LoneWolf]

I really hope Datel wins against them. There is no reason for MS to close that off after 4 years of letting it happen. If they were going to do this, they should of done it from the release of the system, yet they let it go on since 2005 and now want to do this. It has no motive other than to be selfish.

FTW. This is how I look at it.

If MS had done it from the outset, that'd be one thing. They let this go, and then tried to change their minds.

 

[FoxhoundOp]

I was already apprehensive about buying an Xbox 360 because of RROD now I'm definitely not getting one.

 

[Serpico]

I was already apprehensive about buying an Xbox 360 because of RROD now I'm definitely not getting one.

It isn't as compelling a purchase as it was two years ago. Back then I would have argued strongly in favor of the 360, now I tell new buyers to buy a PS3 unless they absolutely must have Gears or Halo. Retail and downloadable libraries are 99% the same between both platforms, but the PS3 comes with Blu Ray, wifi, is open to a wider variety of accessories and peripherals, it has better exclusive downloadable games, and it has the GOTY and IMHO the best single player action game since Half Life 2, Uncharted 2, as an exclusive.

I own all the consoles and use the 360 the most, mainly because I got it first and most of my friends got on it first, so for multiplayer it makes more sense for me even though I also have lots of friends also on the PS3. If I was jumping into a console now, fresh, and was limited to a single choice, it would currently be the PS3, no question.

 

[JCDenton]

It isn't as compelling a purchase as it was two years ago. Back then I would have argued strongly in favor of the 360, now I tell new buyers to buy a PS3 unless they absolutely must have Gears or Halo. Retail and downloadable libraries are 99% the same between both platforms, but the PS3 comes with Blu Ray, wifi, is open to a wider variety of accessories and peripherals, it has better exclusive downloadable games, and it has the GOTY and IMHO the best single player action game since Half Life 2, Uncharted 2, as an exclusive.

I own all the consoles and use the 360 the most, mainly because I got it first and most of my friends got on it first, so for multiplayer it makes more sense for me even though I also have lots of friends also on the PS3. If I was jumping into a console now, fresh, and was limited to a single choice, it would currently be the PS3, no question.

Same. I'm a launch owner of both the 360 and PS3 and I'm really starting to hate the 360 fter having been a huge Microsoft backer with xbox/PS2/gcn. Microsoft is doing its best to kill both PC and console gaming...the anti-competitive, anti-consumer stuff they do with the 360 is outrageous. And I feel like Microsoft spearheaded the whole DLC movement to make us pay more for less. Anyone remember the days of logging on to Ghost Recon Island Thunder and finding those sweet free maps? Now we have Microsoft forcing companies to charge for things they'd like to give away free.

Then on the merits of the console, you get ripped off so badly buying a 360. Play and charge kits, hundreds of dollars over the console's lifespan to play online, a tiny hard drive and ridiculous prices to upgrade. Plus the console is region-locked, has terrible reliability, and is actually falling behind PS3 in terms of good exclusives. Oh, and don't forget the poor backward compatibility which means you need to keep your original xbox.

Sony has really impressed me this time around. Yeah, they launched at a high price but you pay that and you're in. The controllers charge with USb cables, you can use your own hard drive, free online, blu ray. And they could have easily cracked down on gamesharing, but there have been interviews where they say the goal is to get as many people downloading as possible. Most DLC is around 2x to 3x the price of what I'd consider a good value, so being able to buy it for 80% off is a homerun in my book.