We have received from the mighty Datel the first evaluation sample of their next product to come: a new 4GB "harddrive" solution for the Xbox 360. Will it rock or will it suck? Will it float or will it sink? We're about to find out soon.
One thing is for sure, 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, same as the very popular HDD that these guys just outted for the PSP. In fact, it uses the same Magicstor 4 gigs microdrives inside. From our point of view, the coolest thing about it is probably the greenish power button drawing on the top of the product. Or arguably the fact that a green glowin' light comes out of the USB connector when you slot it in your console [wow]. Lik Sang is not convinced if this gimmick will prove to be cool enough for geek-chic circles and hardcore gamers out there. But then again, Datel is probably aiming at the pick-my-games-at-supermarket-with-my-salad crowd on this one. We don't know the final price point and firm release date as of yet.