Rumor: Cafe has 8 GB internal storage, maybe no 1080p

[Squilliam]

greenmedic88 said:

Squilliam said:

Actually the reason why the Xbox 360 has no HDD in the Arcade is because they doubled the RAM in the console to 256 MB, so it was a good tradeoff because the alternative was even worse.

Anyway if Nintendo go for a reasonable system such as 1GB of RAM with 6-8* Blu Ray they'll have a better stream speed/memory size ratio than the PS3, including the HDD streaming from the install (if applicable)

The only thing MS got out of making HHDs optional was an initial $299 SKU to shave $100 off the entry price. They did it to offer a low cost alternative. It had nothing to do with the Xbox having "so much RAM" that it didn't need external storage of any kind.

In 2012, 8GB of flash memory will be the equivalent of the 512MB of flash Nintendo put in the Wii. Which everyone who actually used their Wii and bought VC/WiiWare games complained about. Unless they're not planning on selling DD games or content without some pretty serious capacity limitations (no 1GB demos or XBL/PSN games), it's pretty short-sighted.

From what insiders said at Beyond3D Microsoft asked developers whether they wanted a HDD in every box or 512MB or RAM, developers chose the latter and the rest is history. Remember that $299 Xbox 360 needed a memory card and came with a wired controller, it wasn't just the HDD.

As for 8GB of flash, well since developers don't need to know how much capacity the NES 6 has that could simply be a development kit quantity. I think it'd be enough for most but it's still up in the air as to how much they'll actually include. It depends on what shape their network strategy has and will evolve into.