Microsoft to allow games to require hard drive space for MMOs

After months of denials, Microsoft finally admitted that it will allow game developers to require a hard drive for some consoles games. The info was essentially let loose at GameFest Microsoft Game Technology Conference earlier last week (August 13-1, 2007) in Seattle, WA, by a Microsoft rep who said:

“Feel free to require 30GB for your game. That’s just going to make your potential audience a lot smaller.”

Microsoft has basically lifted the hard drive space restriction for MMO developers, potentially meaning that the Xbox 360 versions of games can be nearly identical to PC versions. Xbox Live games will still be capped at 150 MB though no mention was made about non-MMO consoles games.

Requiring a hard drive and hard drive space for a game is a great idea – look how well it worked for Sony and its Final Fantasy XI bundle for the PS2 and how much it peeds up PS3 games. Oh wait. It really didn’t/doesn’t. It mean more load times, more game updates to download (and we all love waiting for those) and more money spent to upgrade your hard drive (cough *more hacking* cough) to accommodate all your favorite games.

Microsoft rep is right, it will really limit the potential audience for any game.

I’m really not against hard drive space for games. In fact, I think most game systems should have some type of internal memory. I just want to be able to install my own, less expensive hard drive and upgrade it at will instead of paying a small fortune for a Microsoft branded product. MMOs are already so expensive with the initial game cost, monthly fees and other microfee incidentals. Why not pile on the requirement of a $200+ hard drive? Gamers love crap like that.

Read [PCWorld] Site [Gamefest]