Xbox 360 512 MB Memory Unit and Halo Faceplate

Last weekend I removed and took my Xbox 360's 20 GB HDD to a friend's place, and while this wasn't the first time I've removed my HDD, it was the first time I've traveled around with it. I must say, I found its chrome finished rim rather flimsy and that, coupled with the fact that my 4.5 month old brand new Xbox 360 Pro System broke in early May, well, it got me thinking.

My Xbox 360 can be replaced, which it already has been since I'm now using a refurbished unit that was provided under warranty by Xbox Support. Should something ever happen to my HDD, however, I'm screwed. Odds are the data would be unrecoverable, and that means that around 150 hours of play time on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion alone would go down the drain.

This Canada Day weekend, Best Buy is having an Online Only Sale which includes 20% off all Xbox 360 Accessories, so I decided to purchase a 512 MB Memory Unit (64 MB version shown) for the sole purpose of backing up my Xbox 360 save games.

It's unfortunate that Microsoft is cashing in on storage options for its console, and that you can't save games to conventional USB Flash Drives, however the sale cost price of their 512 MB Memory Unit was not too bad, and it's providing me with piece of mind. Too bad I can't copy original Xbox Backward Compatible profiles and save games to it, but now I can also take my Xbox 360 Profile and Xbox Live Arcade games to friend's places on my own bloody key chain!

I also decided to treat myself to a little cosmetic upgrade for my Xbox 360. The Halo Faceplate is under the same 20% discount, and I decided to pick one up. It also comes with a free download of the Halo Trilogy Theme for the Xbox 360 Dashboard, which features the Master Chief from Halo 3, Halo 2, and Halo: Combat Evolved on the first 3 Blades respectively, and 343 Guilty Spark with one of the Installations on the System Blade.

One thing I gotta say is that removing an existing Faceplate from an Xbox 360 is a pain in the ass. All you have to do is grab the little indent on the right side (or bottom if your Xbox 360 is in the vertical position) and pull until it detaches. Well I swear I nearly broke my original Faceplate removing the damn thing. It just wouldn't come off, and after triple checking the instructions to make sure I was indeed doing it right, I pulled so hard that it flew halfway across the room! Nothing was broken on the Faceplate or the console, thankfully, but geez! Talk about tough customization.

I also found that attaching the Halo Faceplate was a little tricky, but it was simply a matter of applying even pressure to both sides. I must say that the unit looks nice with the Master Chief on the front, and while I like the Halo Trilogy Theme, it's disappointing that in 3 of the 4 Blades, the Master Chief is covered by online ads. But then, I can always play in Offline mode, now can't I.