This is not one of those times.  A few days ago, I wrote an article about how with the introduction of a 60gb Xbox 360, installs became a possibility.  Today’s news?  Installs are coming.  (For those of you that missed the second link (or if you’re lazy), here’s the direct quote “Play from hard drive. Copy your games from the game disc and play directly from the hard drive. Not only will the drive not spin, but load times are quicker, as well. Of course, you will still need the disc in the tray to prove you own the game.“)

Now I know people are going to jump on this post and say “It’s not required like PS3!”  or “It’s just for multidisc games!”.  I’m here to tell you that you are more than likely lying to yourself.  Seriously.  Most people when it was mentioned that installs were even coming stated “No they aren’t, 360s will not have installs”.  Well that is a moot point now.

My thought?  Get ready for a backlash because the 360 is going to have mandatory installs.  There are several reasons why.  Allow me to list:

1. The move of consoles becoming more like small scale computers.
You’ve noticed this even if you didn’t want to admit it.  Hard Drives?  Web Browsers?  Download Stores?  Welcome to the age of the console PC.  I think it’ll be here for a while so get use to it.

2. Rising developer costs means less exclusives.
This is not related to the OH SNAP Final Fantasy 13 going to 360 but it shows the point well.  Less exclusives are going to remain exclusive.  For a developer, it makes no sense to remain exclusive in my opinion because there is more money to be had if the game can reach more people (so the run of the mill “We made it multiplat so that as many gamers can play it as possible” bull can end).

2a. With more multiplat titles, devs need to stream line for mass effect(HA! Get It?)iveness
PS3 has installs.  It’s old hat.  Now that the 360 has a larger hard drive, I think it’s safe to say we’ll see some installs coming that way too.  Before, with a 20gb hard drive this would have been ridiculous.  Which means one thing for you 20gb Xbox360 gamers (Myself included).  Prepare to be screwed.  Yes the base of 360 hardware is more than likely mostly 20gb systems.  Here’s my guess of what happens.  Microsoft is going to pull a PR move and offer us a trade in for a larger hard drive with a transfer of info.  Then the following week or month it is announced that “Certain game” will have a “Suggested Install” (I think this is already coming with Soul Calibur 4).  Next stop, required.

Again, this is just the thoughts of one gamer.  But I leave you today with these words of warning.

Prepare to be Screwed. (If you do prepare, it may hurt less….)