This month marks the sixth anniversary for Xbox 360, and the fifth for PlayStation 3 and Wii. In the past, five years was the typical
lifespan for a video game console, but I think it’s safe to say none of
the current generation consoles are going anywhere just yet. Things
have been different this time around. Instead of out-right
replacements, consoles have seen numerous upgrades on both the hardware
and software ends that have changed them drastically. Just over the
past couple months, Xbox 360 and PS3 have added their own motion sensing
control schemes (Kinect and Move, respectively), which is the of course the Wii’s main feature.
Speaking of Nintendo’s Wii, it’s the only current gen console that hasn’t seen any major upgrades. With the exception of the protective gel for the Wii remote, the Wii Motion Plus attachment, and some additional colours, Wii’s hardware has remained in its original state.
It’s interesting to look back at the original hardware for the other two, and even screenshots of previous versions of the software. Microsoft just rolled out the third major redesign of the Xbox 360 dashboard to coincide with the launch of Kinect. PS3′s XMB hasn’t changed much aesthetically, but they have been adding new features and even tacked on their own achievement system – trophies.
When it comes to Xbox 360 and PS3, there are plenty of reasons for upgrading to the latest model. At the beginning, storage space was pretty much the only viable reason, which wasn’t enough for most. But since both consoles have now been completely redesigned to be smaller, quieter, and better looking, they’re much more difficult to resist. I can attest to that, as I’ve recently upgraded both consoles, and wanted to share my experiences. With large amounts of data, precious save games, and DRM riddled content, migrating isn’t as easy as you might hope.
My first Xbox 360 was a Core unit, which came with a wired controller
and no hard drive. I purchased it in January of 2010 and only went with
that bundle as the Premium was sold out everywhere, and had been for
months. It ended up costing me nearly (well lets say alot) after purchasing the hard
drive and wireless controller separately, which is bloody insane! Since January 2011, I’ve owned a Core, Premium (later re-branded Pro), two
Elites, a 250 GB S, and a 4 GB S. Those are the consoles I bought new.
Of course, several of them were replaced due to hardware failures,
RRoD, and such.
The biggest problem with migrating to a new Xbox 360 is the DRM. Every game, add-on, theme, avatar accessory, etc. you purchase from the Xbox Live Marketplace has DRM which attaches itself to your console – not the hard drive it’s attached to, the console itself. If you move the hard drive to another console, you can use the DRM content, as long as you’re connected to Xbox Live so Microsoft can verify your account is the one that purchased it. In order to transfer your content licenses, you need to go through a bit of a process.
Now that USB storage devices are supported, there are at least some free options to move content. Unfortunately, the Xbox 360 has a very poor file management system, and it would literally take hours to pick and choose the content you need to move. For Ksh 1000, you can purchase a first party transfer cable that automates this entire process for you.
Once the files have been moved, the license transfer process can begin. From the Xbox website, you can initiate the transfer, which will allow you to pick the console to transfer from, and of course to.
The last step is absolutely excruciating, where you have to go through your download history manually and re-download each item to attach the licenses to the new console. You can do this relatively quickly via the Xbox website, but it is still a long and tedious process. I believe it took me nearly two hours last time, and I should note that you can only do this once every twelve months.
My initial PS3 purchase was in June of 2009, Similar to the Xbox 360, the PS3 came in two flavours at launch – 60 GB and 20 GB. I went with the 60 GB, and stuck with that system until just a couple months ago. It was sturdy, never had any hardware or software issues, and acted as the primary media player in my home. My only complaint, was that it ran hot and in turn, was fairly noisy due to the fans. Despite being in a fairly open area, the fans would kick in whenever a Blu-ray movie was playing, and would be even louder while running a PS3 game. After checking eBay and seeing the 60GB models going for upwards of Ksh 20000 (the price of a new 160GB Slim model), I decided it was time to upgrade.
Sony has a migration tool built available in the System settings in XMB which automate the process of moving your files and transferring licenses. Similar to Xbox 360, PS3 also has DRM on content you download from the PlayStation Store. In this case, migrating was a much simpler job.
The new and old consoles are connected via an Ethernet cable. On-screen instructions guide you through the process of preparing each console before the migration begins. My only complaint here, is that I wish they would give you a list of things you need to do on the original console before moving ahead with the migration. For instance, the first step was to de-authorize my main account, which removes the link between the content licenses and the console. You’re instructed to do this, then return to the migration tool. Upon doing so, you’re told the next step, which requires you to leave migration tool once again to perform said action. The process seems tedious due to the back-and-forth, but it’s really not in comparison to Xbox 360′s.
Transferring the content itself can take some time, depending on how much you have. But once it’s complete, you simply authorize your account on the new console, and you’re done.
there you are>>lets go back to our XBOX 360 & PS3 and do what we do best #draaaaaaap
Speaking of Nintendo’s Wii, it’s the only current gen console that hasn’t seen any major upgrades. With the exception of the protective gel for the Wii remote, the Wii Motion Plus attachment, and some additional colours, Wii’s hardware has remained in its original state.
It’s interesting to look back at the original hardware for the other two, and even screenshots of previous versions of the software. Microsoft just rolled out the third major redesign of the Xbox 360 dashboard to coincide with the launch of Kinect. PS3′s XMB hasn’t changed much aesthetically, but they have been adding new features and even tacked on their own achievement system – trophies.
When it comes to Xbox 360 and PS3, there are plenty of reasons for upgrading to the latest model. At the beginning, storage space was pretty much the only viable reason, which wasn’t enough for most. But since both consoles have now been completely redesigned to be smaller, quieter, and better looking, they’re much more difficult to resist. I can attest to that, as I’ve recently upgraded both consoles, and wanted to share my experiences. With large amounts of data, precious save games, and DRM riddled content, migrating isn’t as easy as you might hope.
The biggest problem with migrating to a new Xbox 360 is the DRM. Every game, add-on, theme, avatar accessory, etc. you purchase from the Xbox Live Marketplace has DRM which attaches itself to your console – not the hard drive it’s attached to, the console itself. If you move the hard drive to another console, you can use the DRM content, as long as you’re connected to Xbox Live so Microsoft can verify your account is the one that purchased it. In order to transfer your content licenses, you need to go through a bit of a process.
Now that USB storage devices are supported, there are at least some free options to move content. Unfortunately, the Xbox 360 has a very poor file management system, and it would literally take hours to pick and choose the content you need to move. For Ksh 1000, you can purchase a first party transfer cable that automates this entire process for you.
Once the files have been moved, the license transfer process can begin. From the Xbox website, you can initiate the transfer, which will allow you to pick the console to transfer from, and of course to.
The last step is absolutely excruciating, where you have to go through your download history manually and re-download each item to attach the licenses to the new console. You can do this relatively quickly via the Xbox website, but it is still a long and tedious process. I believe it took me nearly two hours last time, and I should note that you can only do this once every twelve months.
My initial PS3 purchase was in June of 2009, Similar to the Xbox 360, the PS3 came in two flavours at launch – 60 GB and 20 GB. I went with the 60 GB, and stuck with that system until just a couple months ago. It was sturdy, never had any hardware or software issues, and acted as the primary media player in my home. My only complaint, was that it ran hot and in turn, was fairly noisy due to the fans. Despite being in a fairly open area, the fans would kick in whenever a Blu-ray movie was playing, and would be even louder while running a PS3 game. After checking eBay and seeing the 60GB models going for upwards of Ksh 20000 (the price of a new 160GB Slim model), I decided it was time to upgrade.
Sony has a migration tool built available in the System settings in XMB which automate the process of moving your files and transferring licenses. Similar to Xbox 360, PS3 also has DRM on content you download from the PlayStation Store. In this case, migrating was a much simpler job.
The new and old consoles are connected via an Ethernet cable. On-screen instructions guide you through the process of preparing each console before the migration begins. My only complaint here, is that I wish they would give you a list of things you need to do on the original console before moving ahead with the migration. For instance, the first step was to de-authorize my main account, which removes the link between the content licenses and the console. You’re instructed to do this, then return to the migration tool. Upon doing so, you’re told the next step, which requires you to leave migration tool once again to perform said action. The process seems tedious due to the back-and-forth, but it’s really not in comparison to Xbox 360′s.
Transferring the content itself can take some time, depending on how much you have. But once it’s complete, you simply authorize your account on the new console, and you’re done.
EasyPeasy? Not Quite, But Manageable
Neither solution is perfect, but it’s good to see that both manufacturers at least have tools available to assist and somewhat streamline the process of migrating to a new console.there you are>>lets go back to our XBOX 360 & PS3 and do what we do best #draaaaaaap
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