XBOX 360 Users, I have a question

[DoTheFandango]

Ok -- I don't have a 360, but I have enough money for either this or a Wii, not both. I really want a Wii, but this answer will determine which one I get.

Ok, so I would get a premium system. This gives me approx. 13 to 15GB to use for downloads and shit. That's fine. But I also want the XBOX to be able to play music that I have on an external hard drive. Can it do this? Further, can I save stuff to this external hard drive instead of the one that comes with the XBOX to start with?

[Ewan]

Get an original Xbox and mod it and put on XBMC. Then it can do allll that shit. Can also stream videos (plays pretty much any format (X360 doesn't play divx etc)) and music over the network. And yeah the most recent version supports external harddrives (USB) as long as they are FAT32.


EDIT: And then get a Wii

[DoTheFandango]

Get an original Xbox and mod it and put on XBMC. Then it can do allll that shit. Can also stream videos (plays pretty much any format (X360 doesn't play divx etc)) and music over the network. And yeah the most recent version supports external harddrives (USB) as long as they are FAT32.


EDIT: And then get a Wii

I already did all that shit. I'm looking for the next-gen dude. I want to play Gears of War.

[Dameon Angell]

As long as your Computer and your Xbox 360 are connected to your same network you can play whatever music and video off of your computer into your Xbox 360. You just have to go thru this couple step setup process to install this program called "Microsoft Media Connect". That and your Xbox 360 Dashboard (the opening menu screen, where you control most of your 360 functions) needs to be upgraded to the latest version. That should be done immediately after you turn it on, and are connected to Xbox Live.

I use the music on my HDD all the time when I play Street Fighter 2 Online on that, or Project Gotham 3 Online. I'll check into it more, for external HDDs more, but I remember you just select the drive/folders you wanna "share" with the Xbox 360 and that's that. You'll pick it up on the music section. Same goes with any movies on your PC.

So, in closing, you can't save your Xbox game/media data to your Computer, as far as I know, without a third party program that you can buy for like $20. But, you can take the media off of your PC and stream them into your Xbox 360 while you use it via your network.

I hope I made sense with that, just ask and I'll go step by step with it.

[DoTheFandango]

I don't want it to touch my PC at all. I want it to read the USB HD and say, here's music and movies, I can play these. Can it do this?

If I wanted it to go through sharing stuff on my PC, I would just use my PC. Having it stream makes no sense to me at all. If it can't read the damn thing off my HD via USB, it's useless to me. The next-generation isn't about graphics, it's about what the machine is going to let me do. If I can't HOOK A USB HARD DRIVE INTO THE USB PORT and SAVE AND LOAD STUFF TO AND FROM IT, that's just monopolizing and bullshitty.

I know I can't do this shit with a Wii, so if anyone makes that point I will cut their balls off. If I buy a Wii, it's not for the fucking media systems, it's for the fun that I will get playing that shit plastered.

[PUNK rock]

My roommate has played Gears of War for about 20 hours since it came out last week. Looks really nice, even on a crappy TV. Pretty sure it can play movies, music, etc. from a USB hard drive.

[Dameon Angell]

I'll plug my USB Hard Drive into my Xbox 360 right now and see .... (to be continued)

[Dameon Angell]

continued...

Yes, it works. Just plug in your USB Hard Drive or any other USB device that holds music or video (like your ipod, personal media player, psp, etc*)



First goto your Xbox 360 Dashboard and move right to your "Media" blade.



Next goto the section you wanna view: Music, Video, or Pictures



For example purposes, we goto music. The options stated are..

1. Music Player - If you have music on now, then you can use this option to control what you have going.
2. Hard Drive - If you have music or video stored on your Xbox 360's hard drive, then you can access it here.
3. Computer - If your computer is on the same network with the Xbox 360 (along with any HDDs connected to that PC), you can access your music/movies here and stream them.
4. Current Disc - If you have a DVD or Music CD, play it here immediately.
5. Portable Device - This is the option you are most interested in. If you have your External HDD plugged in, or any other USB device, select this option to access it.

[Dameon Angell]

And then you can access your folders just like you would on your PC. The Xbox 360 will play most any audio file and video file. The only problem I had was playing video ".mod" files. But, that's only an issue if you have a camcorder or something, lol. In your case, for music, you'd be perfectly solid in using it.

Note: The only catch to use this is you have to update your Xbox 360 Dashboard (what you see in the pictures, your main screen) to the latest version to access the 'portable system' feature.

Another note: In my pictures, the folders "Music" and "Videos" are the actual names of the folders in my external HDD. You don't need to edit your folder names to conform to any standards, it'll read the folders and files as is. All you need to do is select them and/or add them to a playlist.

[DoTheFandango]

Sweet tits, thanks alot Dameon. I knew you would be the person to ask.

Is there any way I can save Demos, Downloads, Game Save Data?

[Dameon Angell]

You can't save the game files directly to your external HDD or PC. Most likely you can buy a third party program to do that for you, which I've seen. I think at that point you'll have to use the Xbox 360 HDD/Memory Card. I'm pretty sure they did that to make sure people won't use another HDD to mod the 360 or something.

[DoTheFandango]

That I don't mind as much as the music, and now I'm back to square one on deciding what to get.

360 has Gears of War, so I think it may be Microsoft's lucky day.

[Dameon Angell]

As you can see from the screenshots, I picked up Gears of War the other day, already beat the Campaign on "Casual (easy)" setting, gonna go thru it again on medium, then hard to get all the achievements for that. The Last (5th) act is insanely, awesomely fun. CliffyB has made his masterwork.

[Ignominy]

Gears of War

So fucking fun. Started playing through co-op on "hardcore" difficulty with my roommate, the game is amazing and awesomely done. The dramatic effect of teamwork, flanking, positioning, and tactics paired with the stunning gameplay makes me think it has to be more fun with two people, though I can't imagine it being boring with one. I dunno, you tell me Dameon, did you go it alone?

[Dameon Angell]

I did both. I went to StyLis' house and we did Co-Op and that was amazingly fun. I finished it on solo, as well, and it was still as amazingly awesome ... I enjoyed having a whole screen to myself, lol. The only big issue was the final boss fight. Dom kept getting himself killed like an idiot, and I never had the time/ability to save him .. you know ... with the last boss on my ass.