XBox 360 is discontinued. What are your thoughts on the console?

Retr0gamer · 26-04-2016 06:50PM #1

So the XBox 360 has been on life support for quite some time now with no major releases in well over a year. Microsoft have finally pulled the plug and discontinued production of the console after a little over 10 years. That's a pretty incredible run only beaten by the likes of the Gameboy and Nintendo Famicom.

So how do you feel about the consoles legacy?

Me, I've got mixed feelings about it. The launch wasn't all that great but at least there was some decent stuff amongst the crap. Project Gotham Racing 3 was the only real classic while Kameo was fun if vapid but looked great, and Amped 3 was a great overlooked game. The rest was a mix of the meh, the bad and the PC ports. The first year wasn't all that great. Geometry wars gave an early taste of what XBox Live would become, Oblivion impressed but was still a terribly performing PC port and Dead Rising was janky as all hell but made up for it in sheer inventiveness.

It was nearly a year after launch that I decided I needed a XBox 360. I think for many like myself Gears of War is the title that really turned peoples heads. For all it's dudebro bravado and idicoy Gears was just a really solid action game confidently executed. It also looked better than anything else on the market. I had to have one that christmas, and when I didn't get one I marched down to xtravision on st. stephen's day to buy one. The other game that interested me was Viva Pinata, a game that was way more fun (and complicated) than the visuals would have you believe.

2007 brought the PS3 which was a complete disaster for Sony. The launch was piss poor, the big FPS exclusive Resistance looked like a bland PS2 game that had been upscaled and for the privilege you had to pay 200 euro more than the 360 asking price (with hard disk). The PS3 would continue to be the butt end of most jokes for over 2 years receiving terribly performing ports and exclusives that failed to live up to expectations.

Meanwhile the 360 had some pretty decent months ahead of it. Outside of a PC it was the best place to play mutliplatform ports, XBox Live while a subscrtiption service was a damn sight more stable than the PSN network and it got the best exclusives. The console received some high profile exclusives like Halo 3, Bioshock, Crackdown, Ninja Gaiden 2 and also it's share of quirky games like Earth Defence Force and Eternal Sonata.

XBox Live was also providing a great wealth of indie titles and classic games but it wasn't until Braid arrived that the true potential of a digital marketplace to host smaller budget indie masterpieces. XBox Live in the early days provided a wealth of titles that PSN could not match (although later it came out that this was through some pretty unscrupulous means.

Around late 2009 onwards my attention was more on my PS3. I had a gaming PC and it made me realise that the vast majority of the 360's content was available on this platform. The PS3 on the other hand had started to pick up it's own exlusives and slowly began to race ahead. Uncharted was pretty much the first game worth playing on PS3 and shortly after Valkyria Chronicles arrives. 2009 saw the PS3 play host to two games that were by far and away the best games that year, Uncharted 2 and the even better Demon's Souls. PSN improved greatly and so did the store content. Microsoft's attention on the XLBA store lapsed while Sony funded, as a third party and through it's first party development, some excellent exclusive digital only games. The XBox 360 slowly faded to irrelevancy and while any third party games on the PS3 didn't interest me since I had a PC it still provided me with some great Sony and Japanese exclusives. Developers started to get a handle on the PS3 architecture and a bad PS3 port like Bayonetta was the exception rather than the rule.

So in retrospect the XBox 360 had a great start but I feel Microsoft just couldn't keep the momentum growing. It focused too much on keeping the dudebro college student demographic happy with competent but dull action games while Sony continued what it had done on PS1 and PS2 by funding the development of quirkier titles to fill in the gaps in the software library left by third parties. The 360 for me will not go down as a classic console. Too many of it's games are available on PC or other platforms and it just doesn't have a great wealth of exclusives. However those first few months with the console brought me a lot of fun.

Sephiroth_dude · 26-04-2016 07:04PM

Tales of Vesperia was the only reason I brought one , I love that game.

That_Guy · 26-04-2016 07:08PM

I had both a regular 360 and a slim model. I think it's a console that will be considered great by many but ultimately flawed given the RROD and many faults it had.

On a personal level, I got so much enjoyment out of my 360 particularly my slim model. Looked fantastic imo.

Gears of War/Alan Wake/1 vs 100/Arcade Marketplace/Crackdown and Fable II will always have fond memories for me.

Once the PS3 slim came around, I invested in one of those and it kinda took over most of my playing time because there just wasn't a whole lot that MS were offering by way of "must have exclusives etc"

PS+ ensured that I always had something to play on PS3 whereas I'd gone through most of the catalogue on 360.

One thing it has over the PS3 is the controller. Absolutely up there with the Gamecube controller in how good it feels in the hand.

I have no allegiance to either console but the 360 initially had me hooked but fell away towards the end. Anything that was cross platform I bought on the PS3.

26-04-2016 07:40PM

One word sums it up for me 'Achievements'

For me it was my 1st time being introduced to a social aspect in gaming. Up to that point I'd always played by myself and had never used voice chat with strangers. Made some really good pals too.

Think it's fair criticism that it had too many cross platform games and that sony had the better ones in terms of something different or left of field. That trend has followed on to the One unfortunately.

ERG89 · 26-04-2016 07:53PM

Loved last gen tbh. The RROD was a disaster that they handled pretty well with the 3 year warranty.
Mass Effect 1-3, Witcher 2, Alan Wake, Gears, Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim, Assassins Creed II, Forza 3/4, Fable 2, Orange Box, Left 4 Dead, Bioshock, Batman, COD 4, Portal 2, XCOM, Bayonetta, Dead Space, Far Cry 3, XBLA games & loads more.
This gen has been sparse in comparison so far especially in new IP's

johnny_ultimate · 26-04-2016 09:37PM

Its legacy, and this is not an insignificant one, is that it was the first full realisation of an online console. Sure, previous machines had had online functionality, but the 360 was the fully formed one. And while it certainly as a result helped usher in some regrettable business practices, it also allowed the independent industry to really take off, which is something that should be celebrated. Whatever you think about achievements and the like, there's little denying Microsoft and several notable 360 games set the online formulae that still persist. And those first few years really a very strong few years for the 360, even despite the RROD catastrophe.

It is fascinating how much of a late life nosedive it took though. Around 2010-11 the 360 just grinds to a halt for almost anything other than multi platform titles. Exclusives were thin on the ground, with even the mainline franchises losing a bit of attention as they passed to new developers. There were a few bright sparks, for sure - the low cost of DVD production meant it bizarrely but happily turned out the be the best console ever for Western fans of Cave's brand of ballet hell

But yeah, I think the huge explosion in Steam's popularity/range and Sony doubling down on the exclusives (including novel download titles and AAAs alike) really hurt Microsoft in the 360's latter years, and to a significant degree has carried over to the next generation (although MS is putting serious effort into improving at least).

Would be remiss to not mention one other enduring legacy though: dat controller. Iffy d pad aside, it has earned its place as the PC controller of choice by just being really capable and comfortable. Lacks the charm of the greatest - the hallowed GameCube controller - but is just impressively robust and, well, solid.

K.O.Kiki · 27-04-2016 09:45AM

It has a good controller that works nearly flawlessly with my Steam library.

Thank you Microsoft for finally releasing a successor to the SideWinder

Shiminay · 27-04-2016 10:06AM

I still have 4 broken 360s in my hallway including a Halo 3 branded one which was the first one I bought. I only bought a console for GTV IV and I only bought a 360 cause all my friends had one and we regularly had XBox LAN parties

Whilst it's arguable who "won" the last generation (if one is daft enough to consider that some sort of goal), the 360 was everywhere. MS just threw more and more and more money at it to make sure it was a success and it worked. Like many of you, I agree that the controller is the most memorable part for sure

I will, however, never forgive them for the RROD and whatever billions it cost them was not enough.

Tipsy McSwagger · 27-04-2016 10:16AM

RROD

Retr0gamer · 27-04-2016 10:34AM

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Thank you Microsoft for finally releasing a successor to the SideWinder

That first generation sidewinder is one of the best joypads ever made. 6 face buttons, a d-pad that was on par with the amazing Sega Saturn one and the way you could daisy chain 4 controllers together made it fantastic for emulation. I just wish I could get it working on my new PC

Duggy747 · 27-04-2016 10:37AM

Hardware-wise, it was pretty bad on it's release because of failures. I won one at work and the thing was dead within 3 months from feck all use, destroyed the GTA IV disc that was in it too.

Took it apart and saw the crappy disc drive had practically fallen apart on the inisde. Some blobs of glue managed to get it back to life though I didn't really spend any time with it as I didn't trust to put any new games into it.

The controller was a damn fine thing though and I still use a 360 one to this day for PC and Raspberry Pi.

ShaneU · 27-04-2016 11:08AM

First HD console, first always online console, and also the first (and hopefully last) console that bricked on me (at least) four times.

Fun Fact: my first 360 red ringed right out of the box, I could get about 5 minutes into Gears before it failed.

Had a blast playing GoW, Modern Warfare and Halo 3 online. I never played online on PC so it was a completely new experience for me. Unfortunately not long after this, Microsoft's first party games started to dry up. Gow2's online was terrible at launch and Call of Duty got worse over time.

Does anyone remember the disaster that was Call of Duty 3 online on 360?

SeantheMan · 27-04-2016 02:37PM

7/10

murphyebass · 27-04-2016 06:41PM

Gears of war
Halo
RROD
Online play
HD

That pretty much sums up the 360 for me.

I'm only getting around to single player campaigns now.

Hopefully this 360 doesn't rrod for a while so I can get through some of the backlog.

Randall Floyd · 27-04-2016 07:48PM

Bought mine in late 2009 and have put literally thousands of hours into it. Standout games on it for me would be:

Bayonetta
Red Dead Redemption
Dark Souls

It was a great system that allowed you to play a vast array of games cheaply.

Polar101 · 28-04-2016 10:50AM

RROD. Which put me off from buying it and I got a PS3 instead. The dodgy DVD drive didn't help either. I reckon I'd been happy with the later models though. But while it was a big success, hardware-wise they got a lot of things wrong.

Maximus Alexander · 28-04-2016 10:53AM

I never had a 360 (always stuck to PS because it was more likely to have exclusives I couldn't get on PC), but I still use the controller with my laptop and it's excellent. So for that alone it gets my thumbs up.

the groutch · 28-04-2016 11:26AM

for all the complaints about RROD, Sony didn't exactly cover themselves in glory with their YLOD.
I think with both consoles it was a symptom of being rushed to market for the "holidays".

Cuddlesworth · 28-04-2016 11:58AM

Nobody feels a little ripped about the HD-dvd player....

chrislad · 28-04-2016 12:40PM

I'm probably going to be one of the few, but I remember being wowed at King Kong, one of the launch titles. As a game, while I did enjoy it, it was mediocre (and time is probably being kind to it), the scene with the T-Rex in the rain still stands out.

Retr0gamer · 28-04-2016 01:08PM

chrislad wrote: »

I'm probably going to be one of the few, but I remember being wowed at King Kong, one of the launch titles. As a game, while I did enjoy it, it was mediocre (and time is probably being kind to it), the scene with the T-Rex in the rain still stands out.

It wasn't much better looking than the Xbox version and was unplayable in HD, there was a bug that made the game too dark to see anything when played in HD.

I didn't like the game, it was flawed but it was an interesting game where you couldn't rely on guns and had to use the environment to your advantage.

Shiminay · 28-04-2016 02:58PM

When I was a minimum wage slave to the hotel industry, the 360 was my main source of gaming until I was finally able to rejoin my rightful place as a PC gamer

There was some overlap for sure, but for the most part, my 360 never again saw the light of day after I was back up and running with a machine that had real grunt. The only time it came out in the last 4 years was for GTA V.

Jordan 199 · 28-04-2016 03:05PM

I bought my XBOX 360 back in January 2012. It is a great console and I split my time between it and the XBOX One. It was the 4GB model so I when I needed to increase storage I would use USB flash drives until I eventually inserted a hard drive into the console.

Some of the best games I ever played on the 360 were Far Cry 3, Assassin's Creed Black Flag and GTA V. GTA V was the first new released game I got for it.

Another big plus is the controller. Very comfortable to use and very well built. The controller layout was one of the factors that prompted me to get the XBOX One.

I have had a great time and will continue to have a great time with the 360.

Temptamperu · 28-04-2016 03:43PM

I bought mine when Oblivion came out. Thousands of hours played on it but my first one RROD'd .they replaced it handy enough. It was a great little console and I still use it the odd time.

That_Guy · 29-04-2016 02:42PM

Was just doing a bit of a clear out the other day and came across 'Hitman: Blood Money' for the Xbox 360.

I remember I couldn't finish it because for whatever reason the game wouldn't run with a HDMI cable after I upgraded my TV.

I'm almost certain there were a couple of other games that couldn't run unless you used the VGA type cables that came with the original 360.

Anyone else have similar issues?

sniper_samurai · 30-04-2016 01:13AM

That_Guy wrote: »

Was just doing a bit of a clear out the other day and came across 'Hitman: Blood Money' for the Xbox 360.

I remember I couldn't finish it because for whatever reason the game wouldn't run with a HDMI cable after I upgraded my TV.

I'm almost certain there were a couple of other games that couldn't run unless you used the VGA type cables that came with the original 360.

Anyone else have similar issues?

It could run on hdmi cabled Xboxes. Stupidly enough you needed to connect the composite cable to the xbox, then set it to Pal60 before switching the cable back to the hdmi for it to work.

Beefy78 · 04-05-2016 12:35PM

the groutch wrote: »

for all the complaints about RROD, Sony didn't exactly cover themselves in glory with their YLOD.
I think with both consoles it was a symptom of being rushed to market for the "holidays".

With both consoles it was a case of cutting costs trying to get the price down. If consoles cost what they should cost then they could use better components and would last much longer.

Retr0gamer · 04-05-2016 01:16PM

A lot of blame can be placed on regulations disallowing the use of leaded solder. Lead free solder is absolute pish and replacing the solder is a good fix for the problem.

Then again whoever designed the 360 with the DVD drive sitting right on top of the GPU heat sink should be shot.

Cuddlesworth · 04-05-2016 09:30PM

Retr0gamer wrote: »

A lot of blame can be placed on regulations disallowing the use of leaded solder. Lead free solder is absolute pish and replacing the solder is a good fix for the problem.

Tin whiskers are pretty though.

04-05-2016 11:13PM

Retr0gamer wrote: »

A lot of blame can be placed on regulations disallowing the use of leaded solder. Lead free solder is absolute pish and replacing the solder is a good fix for the problem.

Then again whoever designed the 360 with the DVD drive sitting right on top of the GPU heat sink should be shot.

Was bored earlier and browsing google now on my phone to see what articles it wanted to feed me and came across an article on RROD could have been Moore being interviewed I'll check for a link later, but he was basically saying it cost MS 1.15 billion and that the case was designed 1st and everything else had to fit inside it. Pretty much putting it down to aesthetics as the root of the problem.

Potential-Monke · 05-05-2016 12:06PM

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Microsoft have finally pulled the plug and discontinued production of the console after a little over 10 years. That's a pretty incredible run only beaten by the likes of the Gameboy and Nintendo Famicom.

Hang on, only beaten by the Gameboy and NES? The PS2 ran from 2000 to 2012 (2013 outside of Japan), and the original Sega Master System is still for sale in Brazil (28 years later by a company called Techtoy, who also still produces the Genesys).

XBox 360 is discontinued. What are your thoughts on the console?

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