Looks like the flash drives aren't going to be as overpriced as the old memory cards. $70 for a 16GB drive and a free month of Live isn't too bad. From Sandisk's site:

"Includes these unique extras:
1. Gold Membership
One month subscription to Xbox Live® Gold membership included.†
2. Game On!
It's always "game on" with the Xbox 360® USB Flash Drive by SanDisk®. Carry your game with you anywhere you play.
3. Hassle Free
Pre-configured "Plug and Play" with XBOX 360®. The Xbox 360® USB Flash Drive by SanDisk® includes Xbox 360® updated software††
4. Take the full advantage of Xbox Live ®††
Download games,map packs, avatars, music and video.


BONUS! Purchase one today from SanDisk.com and get a free lanyard.**
(while supplies last)16GB $69.99
Item# SDCZGXB-016G-A11 Xbox 360® 16GB USB Flash Drive Add to Cart


8GB $34.99
Item# SDCZGXB-008G-A11 Xbox 360® 8GB USB"

You know they've broken our spirits when double the typical price is considered not too bad.

Oops. Last time I priced 16gb drives, they were Cruzer Titaniums and were $60. You're right - Sandisk has other 16gb USB drives for $35 on Amazon. At least they have the "unique feature" of being "game on." That's gotta be worth something.

is now officially in the Arcade market again.

Crackdown 2:

Amazon shot out emails last night alerting consumers to the release date. July 6th. I haven't seen that date mentioned before. Also, it's only $56.99 right now. No gift card offer yet.

I still need to play through the first one, it's up on my list though.

I know I could easily look this up, but I'm going to ask it here. When I go to play COD at my friend's house, I have to constantly recover my gamertag, and then recover it at home. Is there a way to easily transfer it? Will a memory card let me avoid that time?

Yeah. Keep your GT on a MU or USB stick and plug it in and you're ready to go. If you frequently play at friends, there is no reason to keep your GT on the hard drive. There is no 'recovering' in this process, it acts just as if your GT was on the HDD.

So, let's say I have 2 XBOX's in my house....I only have 1 GOLD LIVE Account, so I could put my GT on a flash drive and just move it from 360 to 360 if I want to stream Netflix?

Yes.

groupie!

so when i turn on 360 later, will this software update automatically appear or do i have to download it to my queue from the marketplace, like for demos and stuff?

Auto.

ty.

I still find it curious that the 360 can do a major system update in the matter of a minute or two while it takes several HOURS to do a system update on the PS3. There must be some logical reason for this, but I have no idea what it is.

I'm waiting for the next gen stick with blast processing.

I need to find my 4GB stick. Not enough to use, I just want to archive some videos and stuff - I assume that can be done?

Maybe the PS3 does a more complete OS update rather than just patch in the fixes? Not sure.

I've never had one take several hours. The longest thing for me is always the download, but even that's relatively fast if I do it late at night and not during peak times.

About the USB flash drives, there are different kind of flash drives. Kingston for example has 3 versions at the same size, for different speeds. The more expensive 16 GB drive is around $50 in Amazon (DataTraveler 410). And yeah, they are more expensive because they have the best read and write speeds.

My only guess is that the official Sansa drives have similar speeds, not "slow" as the $35 for 16 GB drives, that plus all the extras, and having the xbox logo is why they cost $70.

But yeah, I'm getting one of the $35 ones.

*Unless there's a clear difference in performance.

Does anyone know if you can use two separate 16 GB USB sticks plugged into the back USB slot at the same time using a USB hub?

So, you can put videos on the THUMB Drive now and they will play? I usually stream through PS3 media server, but I don't get a good connection on my 360 upstairs.

I've been able to do that for awhile, I thought? I've played divx encoded files off of a small thumb drive in the past.

Huh...interesting....maybe I had the wrong file format when I tried. I will try again I suppose (or get a wireless N router and stream better hopefully).

Yeah, the 360 has always been able to read media off the usb drives, just never been able to use them for system data.

So, I've been out of the loop today and have yet to do any experimentation myself. Has the system been cracked yet so I can move stuff to my PC for safekeeping?

I thought the exact same thing today.

It always makes me wonder what the hell is up when it takes a demo like GOWIII hours to download (and even after downloading you have to install it...jesus) and I can have a demo the exact same size downloaded to my xbox in 5 minutes with no additional install time.