50MB limit for Arcade games a thing of the past?
1UP received some juicy new info from one of their anonymous sources; according to their source the 50MB limit for Xbox Live Arcade games is soon to be expanded to 250MB. 1UP’s source also stated that “with Microsoft’s approval, that size can be expanded to 450 MB”. Microsoft refused to confirm the rumor and stated that Castlevania is the only game planned that breaks the 50MB limit.
The 50MB limit has always forced XBLA developers to use all sorts of workarounds such as procedural textures and paid DLC but if 1UP’s source is correct then this shouldn’t be a problem much longer.
When asked for comment on the reported change to file size, Microsoft said, “We do not comment on rumor and speculation and so we can not confirm that rumor. Aside from the exception we granted for ‘Castlevania: Symphony of the Night,’ we have not announced any plans to alter the file size standard for Xbox Live Arcade games. However, adjusting the size limit is certainly an option in the future, and as always, we are listening to feedback both from gamers and developers on what will provide the best user experience. Whatever choice we make, we will hold a position that provides for the best possible Xbox Live Arcade gameplay experience.”
The Core users without a HDD seem to be excluded from certain future arcade titles as the current MU is only capable of storing 64MB of data. However, EBGames.com lists the 256MB MU, that was initially announced during last year’s E3, for next March at a price of $59.99. However, 1UP expects an even larger MU; “If there is a memory card upgrade (and there will be, eventually) expect it to hold 512 MB of data”.
It’s hard to tell whether or not this rumor is plausible or not, 1UP is usually pretty credible but anonymous sources are always shady and Microsoft’s denial doesn’t help their story either. However, we really hope this rumor turns out to be true, especially with the stuff Sony is doing on their Playstation Store such as Tekken and Gripshift. Keep an eye on Xboxic for updates concerning this story.
If this is true, i hope it is, then those bigger hard drives are going to be needed even more.
Actually it was recently proven that 1up is only correct on their speculation 50% of the time.
…Bigger arcade games = More expensive arcade games…
so could end up being true…
I don’t know why they don’t just do some sort of Dashboard update which allows people to use USB flash drives as memory cards.
True, MS might then lose out on being able to charge more for a 256mb ‘memory card’ than you would pay for a 4gb flash drive in some places, but at least it would then render the core users’ arguments moot.
surely by now 90% of user will have a HDD so microsoft should know this and adjust the limit size accordingly
we wouldnt be talking about this if the hdd was standard like ps3 and yes a larger one !!!