Blu-ray discs crack 100GB barrier, two new specs introed + Xbox 360 USB storage update now live

If today's 50GB Blu-ray discs aren't roomy enough for your needs, the Blu-ray Disc Association might have something right up your alley. The organization has announced two new media specifications, BDXL (High Capacity Recordable and Rewritable discs) and IH-BD (Intra-Hybrid discs), and the former offers up to 128GB of storage by incorporating three to four recordable layers.

BDXL is mostly aimed at commercial sectors, such as broadcasting or medical and document imaging enterprises that need high-capacity discs for archiving purposes. It provide 100GB or 128GB write-once options, while rewritable solutions peak at 100GB. A mainstream version of BDXL is also in the pipeline for regions with high BD recorder consumption.

IH-BD discs aren't quite as capacious as BDXL, but they're an interesting development nonetheless. The discs implement a single BD-ROM layer and a single BD-RE layer to protect users from overwriting critical data, while still remaining flexible. All of that's fine and dandy, but there is some bad news: you'll need new hardware to play back or record BDXL or IH-BD media.

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Xbox 360 USB storage update now live



As expected, Microsoft has begun rolling out a new system update for the Xbox 360 that will finally add support for USB storage devices. This means users will be able to take their game saves, Xbox LIVE gamer profiles, demos or Arcade game downloads with them using a thumb drive with anywhere between 1GB and 16GB capacity.

Each console can have up to two devices registered to it and connected at once for a maximum capacity of 32GB. To use a USB flash drive, you must first configure it in the memory area of the 360's system settings menu, committing up to 16GB of space to console use exclusively. You can also hook up an external hard disk drive, of course, but no matter how large the drive is only a 16GB partition can be made.

To support the new functionality, Microsoft has partnered with SanDisk to sell pre-configured, 360-branded 8 and 16GB flash drives for release in May. Both are available for pre-order now priced at $35 and $70, respectively -- which, unsurprisingly, is quite expensive considering you can get the same amount of storage elsewhere for $15-30.