QUOTE |
The Xenon console is designed around a larger world view of storage than Xbox was. Games will have access to a variety of storage devices, including connected devices (memory units, USB storage) and remote devices (networked PCs, Xbox LiveĀ). At the time of this writing, the decision to include a built-in hard disk in every Xenon console has not been made. If a hard disk is not included in every console, it will certainly be available as an integrated add-on component. |
If that's the hardware, we can make some safe assumptions...
1) If there's a HDD inside, no problem.
2) If not, it should be simple to add an external, USB hard drive.
3) It should also be simple to support booting from USB disks in the BIOS of whatever mod chips are designed.
The Xbox2 is less of a PC than the original, but really only becase of its CPU (based on PowerPC rather than x86). However, as long as people have screwdrivers and it remains based, however loosely, on standard PC technology (like USB), it'll remain quite hackable. I'd kinda prefer having the hard drive as an external unit. It makes it damn easy to tweak the data by hooking it to a computer, and it's also easy to take it to a friend's house. You also won't void your warranty, or have to put up with various annoying forms of encryption and other inept hackproofing.
It would be nice to find a way to bootstrap the sucker from a USB Hard Disk without actually using a mod chip. All it takes is a good, solid bug in the default code somewhere (and hey, it's MS, so you know there will be plenty), and one could create a CD-ROM that exploits it and simply transfers control out to the hard disk. No more voiding warranties or dealing with "illegal" hardware hacks and other such crap. If you want to play the hacked one, you hook up a hard disk, pop in the hack boot cd, and you're off.
Time will tell.