The Xbox 360
By Thonos
3/23/2016
NOTE: While I talk about the Xbox 360 in the past tense, as of the posting of this article you can still get new Xbox 360 systems and games.
Coming out of the 6th generation of consoles I was pretty vested into Microsoft's Xbox. It became my go-to system for game releases and most of my time was on that system. When I got my first apartment in 2006, I got my first big screen TV and I got a Xbox 360. While I did get a Nintendo Wii and late into the generation a Playstation 3, the Xbox 360 was my main console. All my friends had one and with the library of games for the system and Xbox Live, this was a great system to have.
First thing I liked about the 360 was the system setup. While I was not a fan of the system design and navigation that was done later to the system, the early system setup was nice and easy to use. You were able to customize background images and download themes from Xbox Live. This may seem silly to point out, the Playstation 3 allowed the same thing. But early on, this was just a small way to make your system your own, which is something I enjoyed.
Notable early games I got for the system were The History Channel: Civil War A Nation Divided, Ninety Nine Nights, Battlefield 2 Modern Combat, Chromehounds and Burnout Revenge. Being a history buff, The History Channel: Civil War A Nation Divided was a game I had a lot of fun with. Burnout Revenge was another great game in the Burnout series. Ninety Nine Nights was a decent Dynasty Warriors clone. After I got my 360 I jumped right onto Xbox Live with games like Chromehounds and Battlefield 2 Modern Combat. There were others, but these were the ones that stick out in my mind.
One thing that the Xbox 360 pushed was the achievement system. People have mixed views on achievements and I can see both sides of the argument. On one hand it does seem stupid to keep playing a game just to get a popup on the screen saying you got X amount of points for doing something. Especially when that score means nothing and is just for bragging rights. However, completing all the achievements in a game does show dedication to the game. Admittedly, I did keep playing some games like Ninety Nine Nights well past the point of boredom just to say I got all the achievements in the game. However, everywhere you look now most games and systems have some form of achievement system in place.
During the middle of the consoles lifespan some of my favorite games were Earth Defense Force 2017, Splatterhouse and Soul Caliber IV. Soul Caliber IV has become one of my favorite fighting games. Splatterhouse was a game I picked up based off of my knowing the name and I ended up having a lot of fun with the game. Earth Defense Force 2017 is one of those games that is far from great but I had fun with it regardless. I also did get Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare and while I am not a Call of Duty fan, I have to admit I did enjoy this game.
I can not talk about the Xbox 360 and not mention Dynasty Warriors. While I make it pretty well known that I am a fan of the Dynasty Warriors franchise, I am also a fan of other games in the Warriors series. On the 360 I owned Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires, Dynasty Warriors 6-8, Strikeforce, Dynasty Warriors Gundam 1-3, Warriors Orochi 1-3 and Samurai Warriors 2 Empires. Out of those 12 games the only one I was not a huge fan of was Strikeforce. The Warriors Orochi games was a great combination of Dynasty and Samurai Warriors along with some guest characters. Dynasty Warrior Gundam games were a great way for me to see Gundams from other anime series and this is how I got into some other Gundam franchises. I went into the Xbox 360 being a fan of Dynasty Warrior games and I ended with me being a fan of Koei Temco games.
Xbox Live arcade and Xbox Live Indie games were two other great ways to get games for the system. Xbox Live arcade games were usually smaller in scale and price but still provided a enjoyable experience. Some notable ones I remember were Bionic Commando Rearmed, Zuma's Revenge, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Toy Soldiers, Castle Crashers and Puzzle Quest. Xbox Indie Games was a great way to experience games from the community. Zombie Estate, Battle for Venga Islands and Conquest are some examples of the many games that I bought and played through the Xbox Indie Game section. In some ways I had more fun with games from these two parts of the 360 than I did many retail games.
Late into the console cycle I was still getting some great games. Injustice: Gods Among Us came at a time where I was heavily reading DC comics so at the time this game was perfect for me. The 2011 Mortal Kombat game that came out during this time was also very good and one of my favorites in the franchise. And while Burnout will always be my favorite racing franchise, the Forza series is a great racing series and one that I always get when a new one comes out. Even at the end of the console cycle when I was focusing more on PC and PS3 games, I still made time for my 360.
Over the course of the system there were many games that I played online with my friends and family. While I could care less about Perfect Dark Zero's story mode, I did have a lot of fun with its multiplayer. Gears of War with two people was fun online while Halo Reach was equally as fun. Arcade games like Assault Heroes made me feel as if I was playing a SNES game with my brother. I would have to say though that Saints Row The Third and GTA IV were probably the most fun I have ever had playing a game online outside of MMO's. These are just some of the many games that I played over Xbox Live.
One thing I was not a big fan of with the 360 was the Kinect. While it was an interesting concept, the Kinect in use, at least for me, was a major letdown. The camera tracking was always off, the games were almost always bad and, just like the Wii, after playing for 30 minutes I just wanted to sit down. The only Kinect game that I enjoyed was Kung Fu High Impact and even that was not that great. I often do not regret getting accessories for consoles, but this was one of those times that I did.
During the Xbox 360 console run I did suffer from one Red Ring Of Death (RROD) incident. Overall it was not that big of a deal, I had it for 3 or 4 years when it happened and I ended up upgrading to a better model. But I knew some people that went through 3 Xbox 360s in the time I went through 1.
Overall I had a lot of fun with the Xbox 360. While I did switch over to the Playstation 3 during the end of the console cycle, I still got and played many games on the 360. The Xbox Live Arcade and Indie Game sections added a lot of value to the system in my opinion. While I do not actively collect for the 360, I still get a game for it if I can get it for the right price.
By Thonos
3/23/2016
NOTE: While I talk about the Xbox 360 in the past tense, as of the posting of this article you can still get new Xbox 360 systems and games.
Coming out of the 6th generation of consoles I was pretty vested into Microsoft's Xbox. It became my go-to system for game releases and most of my time was on that system. When I got my first apartment in 2006, I got my first big screen TV and I got a Xbox 360. While I did get a Nintendo Wii and late into the generation a Playstation 3, the Xbox 360 was my main console. All my friends had one and with the library of games for the system and Xbox Live, this was a great system to have.
First thing I liked about the 360 was the system setup. While I was not a fan of the system design and navigation that was done later to the system, the early system setup was nice and easy to use. You were able to customize background images and download themes from Xbox Live. This may seem silly to point out, the Playstation 3 allowed the same thing. But early on, this was just a small way to make your system your own, which is something I enjoyed.
Notable early games I got for the system were The History Channel: Civil War A Nation Divided, Ninety Nine Nights, Battlefield 2 Modern Combat, Chromehounds and Burnout Revenge. Being a history buff, The History Channel: Civil War A Nation Divided was a game I had a lot of fun with. Burnout Revenge was another great game in the Burnout series. Ninety Nine Nights was a decent Dynasty Warriors clone. After I got my 360 I jumped right onto Xbox Live with games like Chromehounds and Battlefield 2 Modern Combat. There were others, but these were the ones that stick out in my mind.
One thing that the Xbox 360 pushed was the achievement system. People have mixed views on achievements and I can see both sides of the argument. On one hand it does seem stupid to keep playing a game just to get a popup on the screen saying you got X amount of points for doing something. Especially when that score means nothing and is just for bragging rights. However, completing all the achievements in a game does show dedication to the game. Admittedly, I did keep playing some games like Ninety Nine Nights well past the point of boredom just to say I got all the achievements in the game. However, everywhere you look now most games and systems have some form of achievement system in place.
During the middle of the consoles lifespan some of my favorite games were Earth Defense Force 2017, Splatterhouse and Soul Caliber IV. Soul Caliber IV has become one of my favorite fighting games. Splatterhouse was a game I picked up based off of my knowing the name and I ended up having a lot of fun with the game. Earth Defense Force 2017 is one of those games that is far from great but I had fun with it regardless. I also did get Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare and while I am not a Call of Duty fan, I have to admit I did enjoy this game.
I can not talk about the Xbox 360 and not mention Dynasty Warriors. While I make it pretty well known that I am a fan of the Dynasty Warriors franchise, I am also a fan of other games in the Warriors series. On the 360 I owned Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires, Dynasty Warriors 6-8, Strikeforce, Dynasty Warriors Gundam 1-3, Warriors Orochi 1-3 and Samurai Warriors 2 Empires. Out of those 12 games the only one I was not a huge fan of was Strikeforce. The Warriors Orochi games was a great combination of Dynasty and Samurai Warriors along with some guest characters. Dynasty Warrior Gundam games were a great way for me to see Gundams from other anime series and this is how I got into some other Gundam franchises. I went into the Xbox 360 being a fan of Dynasty Warrior games and I ended with me being a fan of Koei Temco games.
Xbox Live arcade and Xbox Live Indie games were two other great ways to get games for the system. Xbox Live arcade games were usually smaller in scale and price but still provided a enjoyable experience. Some notable ones I remember were Bionic Commando Rearmed, Zuma's Revenge, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Toy Soldiers, Castle Crashers and Puzzle Quest. Xbox Indie Games was a great way to experience games from the community. Zombie Estate, Battle for Venga Islands and Conquest are some examples of the many games that I bought and played through the Xbox Indie Game section. In some ways I had more fun with games from these two parts of the 360 than I did many retail games.
Late into the console cycle I was still getting some great games. Injustice: Gods Among Us came at a time where I was heavily reading DC comics so at the time this game was perfect for me. The 2011 Mortal Kombat game that came out during this time was also very good and one of my favorites in the franchise. And while Burnout will always be my favorite racing franchise, the Forza series is a great racing series and one that I always get when a new one comes out. Even at the end of the console cycle when I was focusing more on PC and PS3 games, I still made time for my 360.
Over the course of the system there were many games that I played online with my friends and family. While I could care less about Perfect Dark Zero's story mode, I did have a lot of fun with its multiplayer. Gears of War with two people was fun online while Halo Reach was equally as fun. Arcade games like Assault Heroes made me feel as if I was playing a SNES game with my brother. I would have to say though that Saints Row The Third and GTA IV were probably the most fun I have ever had playing a game online outside of MMO's. These are just some of the many games that I played over Xbox Live.
One thing I was not a big fan of with the 360 was the Kinect. While it was an interesting concept, the Kinect in use, at least for me, was a major letdown. The camera tracking was always off, the games were almost always bad and, just like the Wii, after playing for 30 minutes I just wanted to sit down. The only Kinect game that I enjoyed was Kung Fu High Impact and even that was not that great. I often do not regret getting accessories for consoles, but this was one of those times that I did.
During the Xbox 360 console run I did suffer from one Red Ring Of Death (RROD) incident. Overall it was not that big of a deal, I had it for 3 or 4 years when it happened and I ended up upgrading to a better model. But I knew some people that went through 3 Xbox 360s in the time I went through 1.
Overall I had a lot of fun with the Xbox 360. While I did switch over to the Playstation 3 during the end of the console cycle, I still got and played many games on the 360. The Xbox Live Arcade and Indie Game sections added a lot of value to the system in my opinion. While I do not actively collect for the 360, I still get a game for it if I can get it for the right price.