Xbox 360 Fanboy

[Update: The giveaway is now closed and our winner selected. Once the winner is verified, we'll put up an announcement post.]

Hey kiddies, don't forget that we're giving away a 120GB hard drive for the Xbox 360 in celebration of the impending arrival of Halo 3. Entering the giveaway is incredibly easy, and it will take you less than two minutes. That's two minutes for 120 gigabytes of awesome. All you have to do is head over to the official giveaway post and enter. You've got two hours to do it before we pick our lucky winner, so get to it already! Oh, and if you don't win fear not, because we've got lots more stuff to give away this month. Keep your eyes peeled next week for the next bit of swag*.

*Hint: next week's swag is even better (and more valuable) than a 120GB hard drive. Think about that.

If you're a current 360 owner and are in the market for a new 120GB HDD or the Xbox 360 Elite in the coming weeks, then you'll be dealing with some HDD data transferring. And thanks to Major Nelson's data transfer demo, the whole process will be painless. In the embedded video above, Major and his clothes twin Albert walk you through the whole thing step by step and even do a little Xbox 360 Elite unboxing to boot. It's actually quite simple and should take less than an hour to move all your data to your new 120GB behemoth. And, as if it wasn't mentioned enough, the data transfer will be permanent and can only be done once. So, make sure this is what you want, as there's no going back.

The hard drive prophecy has come true. Xbox-Scene is reporting that the new version of HDDHackr has been released allowing the use of an unlicensed 120GB hard drive for your 360 storage. The HDDHackr program uses the newly found 120GB signature and will allow anyone to use a specific 120GB WD HDD for their 360 storage saving roughly $100 over Microsoft's official Xbox 360 120GB HDD. Though, you'll need to be somewhat familiar with hacking programs and PC hardware setup to get the drive up and running. But, if that's your thing, you can save big bucks and up your Xbox 360 hard drive capacity to 120GB the l33t way. So, is anyone up for the challenge?

If the Xbox 360 has one consistent complaint, it is undoubtedly the cost of its peripherals. In particular, the price of its hard drive has been the most difficult to stomach. $99 dollars for 20 gigabytes seems positively ludicrous in today's world of cheap storage. The new 120GB hard drive isn't much better, clocking in at $179. Microsoft has defended the pricing structure, saying that they demand very strict specifications from manufacturers (things like drive speed, security, etc.), but it's hard to believe it couldn't be had for less.

Enter one lucky 360 fanboy by the name of Scooter. Scooter spotted a 120GB hard drive at his local Wal-Mart. Looking closer, the drive was priced at a cool $99.88. Seizing upon the opportunity, he asked a clerk to open up the case and ring it up. Of course, once the item was scanned, it came up as $172. After a quick interchange with customer service, it's revealed that Wal-Mart store policy requires that items be sold for the price at which they are marked (even if the price is incorrect). So, he walks out with a 120GB drive for a full $80 less than retail price.

Granted, we're sure the display price was corrected immediately following the sale, but it's nice to hear that at least one fanboy managed to stick it to the man. Our advice: scour your area Wal-Marts for mislabeled hard drives. You might end up with a killer deal. Follow the "read" link for photographic proof of the $99 120GB HDD.

[Thanks, Scooter]

Over at TeamXbox they got the dish on what content will be preloaded on the newly announced Xbox 360 120GB HDD. First off, all the preloaded content will be available on both the Xbox 360 Elite hard drive and the seperate retail version. As far as content goes, everything that's preloaded on the 20GB model will be included on the new 120GB drive. We kind of expected this since the new drive is huge ... uber huge. This 120GB behemoth will also come preloaded with a bunch of other content not available on the 20GB drive including demos like Lost Planet, Street Fighter II, and Call of Duty 3. You'll also see more trailers, gamer pictures, and themes, all of which you can delete instantly or savor for the long run. A full list of the 120GB HDD's preloaded content can be found after the break.

[Thanks, Derka]

It looks like promotional materials for the new "rumored" Xbox 360 120GB hard drive are surfacing. We received this picture from fanboy reader Ralph, who says it's a shot of Gamestop's promotional poster for the much rumored 120GB hard drive. Yes, we know it's a tiny picture, but Ralph says it's so small because it was sent to him via his trendy little Blackberry. Stupid Blackberrys and their small screens. So, is this confirmation of a new 120GB hard drive and possibly the Elite 360? Not exactly, but it makes for great speculation goodness. And we all know how much we love our rumors and spec.

[Thanks, Ralph]

The Datel Xport 360 showed up at Best Buy un-announced and caused some confusion with Datel's other data transfer solutions. Xbox-Scene has a forum post with details on the new device, which should let you back up your 360 hard drive with ease. Datel does come up with some decent stuff and I'd like to thank them for not bombarding us with a stream of press releases and viral ads. But it would help sales if they let people know when they have a new product.

In a crushing blow to people who believe everything they see on the internet, German-language blog Xbox-Archiv.de reports (crappy English web translation here) that Microsoft Senior Product Manager Boris Schneider-Johne confirmed the 100GB 360 hard drive supposedly pictured at X06 Korea is a photo-shopped fake. According to Boris, there was no such product announcement. Additionally, Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb told our own Richard Mitchell that the 100GB tale "looks like fiction" to him. This should clear up the confusion resulting from conflicting reports on the veracity of this story.

[Thanks Ankalagon]

Yahoo Games has confirmed that the PS3 will ship with a standard 60 gig hard drive that can be upgraded if preferred. Not clear if the upgrade means a larger hd, or an additional drive altogether (Joystiq thinks the latter).

Maybe I'm spoiled by the 200 gig drive I stuck in my original Xbox, but it irks me that PS3 fanboys get to brag about a bigger hard drive, even if Ken Kutaragi has yet to claim it can bend space and time.

Do you think Microsoft is obligated to release an upgraded hd to match Sony? I've heard many people say that they don't "need" that much space, but that sounds like  a sour grapes position, especially if you believe that the future is all about downloadable games and content.

If you're the type of person who enjoys a little self-delusion at the end of a long work day, you've probably already bought the happy internet rumor that Best Buy will soon be offering premium 360 bundles with 100 gig hard drives. Joystiq commenter James, also a totally anonymous, unverified low-level Best Buy employee has a more plausibe scenario:

Incorrect. Best Buy is holding back its 360 units because it is having a giant April gaming promotion, featuring online contests, tons of 360s on a daily basis (or something like that), and a contest for its employees and Media Supervisors.

This was revealed to the supervisors on Saturday, after a previous e-mail noted that we should not expect our regular 360 shipments for a bit.

I myself choose to remain self-deluded in lieu of the purchase of my super-secret-double-premium Best Buy package with 100 gig HD, relaxed copyright protection and value-added 80-inch plasma display.

Update: MS has officially shot down this pipe dream.

Early next week 360Sata will release a $20 PCB that allows you to connect your Xbox 360 Hard Drive to your PC without opening the hard drive bay and voiding the warranty (no it won't let you upgrade the hd size). The site has an informative FAQ about USB-to-Sata converters, etc.

[Thanks, MaxConsole]

Our skepticism regarding Datel's 4GB USB HDD appears to have been well-founded. Reputable import shop, Lik-Sang, has gotten their hands on an early unit and confirmed our apprehensions:

"...If you are waiting for a third-party HDD for your core Xbox 360 system because you are pissed at both the high price and low availability of the official Microsoft unit... well, this is not yet what you have been begging for. This new device is connected to the 360 via the USB connection, same as any other portable PC hard drives or USB drives would be, and it does not offer the same range of options as the official HDD does (no game saves, no going online, only media files transfer). It also offers only 4GB of space..."

I think it's best to stay clear of this one, unless your requirements for external storage demand glowing green lights; otherwise, grab an MP3 player and get all the functionality of the Datel unit, and a portable music player to boot!