I see the USB option as just another method of complicating things. Like many others have stated, consoles have finite amounts of slots, USB keys can get lost, players can swap/trade/lose/use the right/wrong keys…nevermind the fact that this system could still turn out to not be helpful in the slightest as we still don’t know 100% what Capcom is going to make available for this.
Setting custom gems takes far too long even when both players know exactly which gems to choose. Even if the gem selection menu is added to the character screen it still takes too long to pick them individually.
The preset option is really the only way to go. Really all Capcom needs to do is add a few more presets (meter gems are missing, as are life gain gems, etc).
Why not? Why can’t I use the same file on both consoles? As far as I know there are no console exclusive gems, and there’s no reason the PS3 and the X-Box360 can’t read the same file formats from the USB stick. I know for a fact that they can because I’ve watched .avi files from the same USB stick on my PS3 and my X-Box.
People seem to think the file that’ll be saved on the USB will contain the actual code for the gems. It does not make any sense for them to do that, though. Capcom wants to have people playing online while having access to different DLC gems. They don’t want to get a situation where you buy a new set of gems and then are locked out of player against players who haven’t bought that specific set. We know Capcom doesn’t want this because the company didn’t take that route for other DLC in their fighting games (the exception being a downloadable expansion pack, namely AE). You can chose not to buy Jill and Shuma-Gorath, but are still able to play against those characters online, right? This means that the data for the DLC gems has to be on your system anyways. All you get by buying DLC gems is an access key that allows you to use those gems. If they expand the range of gems in the future, that data will be included in an update that’s installed automatically whenever you go online, so Capcom knows the data is available for everyone who wants to play online.
All Capcom needs to do is create a file format for storing the gem setups that can then be read by both consoles. This file needs to contain nothing more than a list of the characters and their respective gem load-outs. The gems are represented by a number (as we know they are already from what we’ve seen from the system). Of course the file will be encrypted to prevent people from tampering with the file (to gain access to gems they haven’t bought, for example). But other than that it will be a very simple file that can be read by both consoles.
If Capcom does this right, and again, I don’t know if they will but I don’t see why they wouldn’t, your USB data will be usable on both consoles.
