controllers

Ok, technically you don't need a memory unit, thanks to the XBox's hard drive, but there is one reason why having one is a very good idea: backup. If you XBox hard drive decides to call it quits, all of your saved games will likely go with it. If you're into long games such as Morrowind, that is a large time investment down the drain. Spend the cash and keep 2 copies of your most important saves.

The official XBOX Memory Unit isn't really a must-have item if you don't plan on trading games or playing games with other people. The internal hard drive is pretty sufficient for saving your games and settings, but I would recommend getting a memory unit so that you can keep saved games "backed up" or if you want to prove to your friends that you did indeed beat that game or unlock that special car.

As a rule, I only buy memory cards from the console's manufacturer (ie: MICROSOFT). Doing this, you get 100% compatibility and generally better data intergrity and reliability than some 3rd party cards.

This thing is TINY! You won't even notice it in your controller. Saving, transferring files is easy...usually you just designate in the game that you want to save to the card, or you can copy and transfer directly from the XBOX dashboard when you boot up the XBOX without a game. 8MB, while tiny compared to the capacious hard drive, is still a pretty sizeable amount of storage space and mine has been 100% reliable; no corrupt or lost data whatsoever!

My recommendation: get the memory card. Even though you may not immediately need it, it's still a good idea to have it in your controller!

8 Megs might not seem like a lot, but i was able to fit all my Grand Theft Auto 3+ Vice City , Thief, Max Payne, Medal of Honour, Ghost Recon,Fifa 2004 and Euro 2004 games no prob. The reason i did this was that my x box laser for some reason stopped picking up the games on time, resulting in many games cutting off and a "disc is dirty or damaged" message. I couldnt bear playing GTA.VC for weeks to get where i was so i bought the card, booted my saved games then traded my x box in. When I got the new box, the games transferred without fail, i was very satisfied. So if any of you all are experiencing problems like above and your x box is still under warranty, you might want to try that.