Microsoft Bumps Up 360

Posted Mar 6, 2007 by Wes Phillips

Updated Mar 6, 2007 at 12:13 PM

Microsoft is finally bumping up the size of its hard drive. Ok, flash drive.

Monday at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco, Microsoft announced the release of a 512MB Memory Unit for the Xbox 360 on April 3. It will include the game “Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved” and a price of $49.99. The 64 MB version was hardly cutting it, if you actually used one.

Microsoft also announced that they are upping the size limit for Live Arcade titles from 50 MB to 150 MB. This will allow for more complex games for the download service.

Is all this increase in size a sign that a larger hard drive is in store for the 360? It’s been rumored for a long time that a new machine with HDMI ports and a 120 GB hard drive is in the pipeline. I’m running dangerously low on space for my 20 GB drive, especially since Microsoft started pushing high-def movie rentals over the Live Marketplace.

It also could be answer to Sony, whose PlayStation Network offers some hefty downloads and more complex games. If Microsoft wants a foothold in the high-def living room of tomorrow, 20 GB just isn’t going to cut it. And it seems they may be getting the picture