Huge news for gamers, the Xbox 360 Spring 2010 update will include USB storage support!  What does that mean?  Well it means that Xbox 360 owners will not be handcuffed to the Microsoft’s proprietary hard drives, which has been the only way for gamers to store game data, profiles, and Xbox Live content.  This also means that you will be able to copy the game disc to a USB drive, as long as the USB drive has a large enough capacity.  According to internal documents that the gaming site Joystiq has acquired and from 2 additional sources, Microsoft is apparently going to allow up to 2 high capacity USB storage devices, connected at once to the Xbox 360 Entertainment System. 

 In the document a senior software development engineer at Microsoft, states that due to “increased market penetration of high-capacity, high throughput USB mass storage devices” is a reason behind the decision to allow USB support.  This is going to mean that means downloaded Xbox Live and Arcade games, DLC, other associated game files, and even installed disc-based games can be saved to an external HDD of your choosing.  There will be some apparent requirements for the storage support.  The USB mass storage device must be at least 1GB, and maximum capacity is 16GB.  After a compatibility check, the console will occupy 512MB for the system partition, and the remaining will be for the users content.  This is a big plus for gamers who have long been tired of Microsoft’s strict HDD pricing.  The USB support feature has been available on the PlayStation 3 since its conception in 2006.  The update should be rolled out in a Spring 2010 firmware update.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed!