Xbox 360 to get limited USB storage in update
updated 02:00 pm EDT, Thu March 18, 2010
New X360 firmware to put games, saves on USB
A leaked document on Thursday has shown that an upgrade to the Xbox 360's firmware this year should finally give it support for USB storage. The revision discovered by Joystiq would consume 512MB of space for actual system use but would give as much as 16GB per drive (up to two drives) to save game information, including Xbox Live Arcade installs and even full game installs. Customized setup would let gamers reserve existing space to avoid wiping out valuable content from a computer.
The expansion would prevent gamers from using a potentially cheaper USB drive to avoid external hard drive upgrades but would be a more effective replacement for the specialized memory cards that Microsoft has had to make until now. The USB-based but still proprietary cards top out at 512MB and have rapidly grown too crowded for all but basic information like saved progress or profiles.
Firmware containing the upgrade should roll out this spring and could also roll in other features, but what these would involve is still a mystery.
