Earlier in the month we reported on pretty convincing evidence that showed the Xbox 360 to be supporting external storage in an upcoming update. Today, Microsoft revealed that the update will be hitting Xbox 360 owners on April 6.
"On April 6th, we will be releasing a system update over Xbox Live for your Xbox 360 that will allow USB flash drives to be used for storing profiles, game saves, demos and more," Xbox Live director Larry Hryb wrote in his blog. "You will then be able to configure how much storage to use on the device, up to 16 GB. The remaining space on the flash drive will be accessible by your PC or Mac. USB Hard drives may work, but like flash memory, you’ll only be able to use up to 16GB of space."
This news should come as a huge relief to Xbox 360 gamers already at the brink of their storage, especially for those without hard drives or are still using the old 20GB models.
Hryb does want to clarify a couple of points:
· You can have 2 devices connected to the console at a time, enabling up to 32GB of simultaneous storage.
· The system won’t just configure the device once it is connected to the console. You’ll need to head to the memory area in system settings, select your USB Device, and choose from Configure Now (Format and Configure the Full Device), or Customize (you can choose how much memory you want configured for Xbox360 from the free space on the device.)
Of course, nothing is complete without some new merchandise. Microsoft has teamed up with SanDisk to release an Xbox 360 branded USB flash drive in May that comes pre-configured out of the box and ready to go. Pricing for the special drives are to be announced.
