26th May 2005, 9:32 PM
Formatting partitions is a common practice, but here's the deal. They can't "lock" a widely used card for ONLY one system or another, or they totally defeat the purpose. How would they do that? The only way they could lock out the PS3 and 360 (let's assume they all used the same memory card) would be to ALSO lock it out for saving photos, MP3s, movie files, and so on. They won't be doing that. If they are using a memory card, they are agreeing to use the preexisting partition without formatting. You might notice that they have GCN memory card slots on that system. So, that won't be an issue as far as compatibility with GCN games.
So, yes I'm pretty sure that IF they all used the same memory card, you COULD use the same card on all three systems. But, before you consider what this means for 3rd party games released on all 3 systems, the files themselves would likely have proprietary formats for saved games. So, while your card might have both the 360 and Revolution saves, they would be in different formats by requirement and wouldn't be usable on the other systems in that manner. Buut... that's assuming they actually forced people to keep that standard... It's very possible a company like EA might say "screw that" and create their own format that's the same across all 3 systems. Not sure how that'll work with the browsers of each individual system (you know they'll have special formatting for save files set up just for the purpose of things like 3D animated models spinning around and stuff that says "certified Revolution Save File, Secure" or something.
So, yes I'm pretty sure that IF they all used the same memory card, you COULD use the same card on all three systems. But, before you consider what this means for 3rd party games released on all 3 systems, the files themselves would likely have proprietary formats for saved games. So, while your card might have both the 360 and Revolution saves, they would be in different formats by requirement and wouldn't be usable on the other systems in that manner. Buut... that's assuming they actually forced people to keep that standard... It's very possible a company like EA might say "screw that" and create their own format that's the same across all 3 systems. Not sure how that'll work with the browsers of each individual system (you know they'll have special formatting for save files set up just for the purpose of things like 3D animated models spinning around and stuff that says "certified Revolution Save File, Secure" or something.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)