i know alcohol, demon tool etc etc...but nevertheless it implies a little bit of effort that's out of reach for the average joe (and disc emulation isn't always successful: see issues related to virtual IDE vs virtual SCSI): vast majority of gamers (better the vast majority of gamers that buy original games) are well used to insert the disc into their DVD player and click on the "start game" button that pops up (magic of autorun: made for the average joe).

I think this is a great idea now that I fully understand it , running games entirley of the hard drive regardless of wether you still need the disc or not gives worthwhile benefits.

The pirates will love this too ,but for other reasons.

pirates already love x360...sadly. That was/is also (again sadly) true for PS2.

It's a great idea. I'm thinking purchasing the 120G HD.
I think most 360 owners will love this feature and use it for certain games (ones with more than one disc)

PS3 fans won't like this feature for some odd reasons. But who cares about them liking it or not?

The pirate issue - It requires hacked firmware on the drive to do it and thats exactly the same as what happens already. The firmware on the Xbox360 itself has NOT been hacked, just the drive. So they'd still need the Full CD anyway and its not like they can get on Live AFAIK to install the updates so they can actually do this kind of this. So therefore its a MOOT point.

What this means essentially is that an Xbox360 Elite/Pro 60gb will play multiplatform games, especially GTA IV etc better than the PS3 IF you do a full install.

Theres also the noise issue as the biggest source of noise is actually the Hard disks, so it makes buying an old noisy Arcade and installing a 60/120gb HDD a viable option for people as it cuts the noise down considerably.

Beacause it's hard to come up with reasons why MS shouldn't do this...

You are just grabbing at the straw here to find something negative about this.

This option will allow 360 owner if he or she so DESIRED to install the game in his collection (rent or own) onto the HDD. You will still need to insert that particular game disc into the tray for the game to start.  (Do you not own any computer games?).

So what benefit will this serve?  Well consider how noisy Xbox 360 when it spins to stream textures, this will allow the system to operate at lower noise.  It will most likely decrease load time and make game run faster and smoother.

The key here (may be this is hard for you to understand as a Sony PS3 advocate) is that you have a choice.  You do not have to do this if you don't want to.  (Unlike Sony PS3 where some games require that you do install the games, sometimes multiple times such as MGS4). 

It's not a requirement it's an option.  Do I wish for quieter drive for the 360 ? yes but since making 12X drive to be quiet in that tiny little box is very hard, this option is the next best thing.

Yes it is just like HOME is great since it's free IF it is optional and you are not force to use it. (I don't think we will be force , I am sure home will launch from XMB just like PSN).

To me the greatest boon of this is reducing the strain on the disc drive, I already had two die on me. It blows however that in order to reap that benefit we're forced to pay the ridicolous amounts they ask for HD storage.

You don't have a 60GB drive. I don't have one. None of the current 360 user base that bought a 360 Pro has one either.

That's well over 50% of the overall user base.

So you're proposing that all these users who saw the HDD as a necessary option are going to buy a $99 60GB drive or a $180 120GB drive?

Reality check please.

Two, a full disc image install will most likely take longer than "just 15 minutes" to copy, seeing as how it typically takes longer than that on a PC to install a game published on DVD.