Just got a 360, now what?

[SpaceBooger]

I was given my brother-in-law's Xbox 360 Slim my oldest son loves the Forza series, so I am going to get those games, but I do have some questions.

I have a pretty large PS3 collection so I already have many games that were on both systems (ie Fallout 3, Borderlands, Diablo 3) so what games should I get for this other than the Forza games?

Also, I heard that the oXBOX emulation is lackluster and I have my oXBOX hooked up, so other than backwards compatibiliity now that the 360 marketplace is shut down: Is there any reason to buy a HHD (official or not official)?

Thanks!

[Ack]

Well, SB, it's partly gonna come down to what you want to play. Horror games like the original Condemned, RPGs like Blue Dragon, you have Ninja Gaiden II and the Gears of War series. More racing games like the Project Gotham Racing series, Ridge Racer 6, Race Pro, etc.

[SpaceBooger]

I did get Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, I love Dragon Quest and all things console RPG.
I just didn't know if there were others I should look for... And the HDD thing.

It seems that unlike the generations before this Gen, the 360 and PS3 are full of the same games that run a tad bit better on one particular system.
Plus all the good games aren't too have remakes or releases: I have the Xbox One remake of Gears.

[Ack]

Well, you have Culdcept Saga, Fable II, Lost Odyssey, MagnaCarta 2, Spectral Force 3, and Too Human as some of the 360-exclusive RPGs to look into. I don't know if all of these would be of interest, but it's a place to start.

[Jagosaurus]

Definitely check out the Halo & Gears of War games. They're a must for the generation and some of my all time favorites. Halo Reach storyline hits hard & Gears 2 really cuts deep for an action horror title.

Sounds like you have good taste already but the original notable exclusive JRPGs were:

Lost Odyssey
Blue Dragon
Infinite Undiscovery
Operation Darkness
Star Ocean Last Hope (later hit PS3)
Tales of Vesperia (later hit PS3)
Enchanted Arms (later hit PS3)
Eternal Sonata (later hit PS3)
The Last Remnant (later Remastered for PS4)
... notice a theme lol

[Edit - missed Culdcept Saga & MagnaCarta 2 that Ack mentioned ]

Spectral Force 3 is a strategy RPG I'd love to try as a fan of the genre... but the price tag is too high these days for what most say is a mediocre title.

Too many of these on my backlog!

If you look at ever getting a Series X or One, worth noting the 360 backwards compatibility via disc is really a perk. Some of titles have notable improvements on 1X & Series consoles (frame boost, HDR, 4K res bump). The original Gears games are standouts for me here. They play and look like next gen (then) titles.

I'll look through my 360 games & achievements list for some more recommendations.

[Jagosaurus]

Regarding your HDD question, you can rip games from disc HDD (without any modding) and play from HDD. This saves wear on disc drive & improves load times ... mostly. Halo 3 is an exception with how Bungie programmed streaming data off DVD disc.

Okay... looking back at my Achievements, I'd recommend Kameo. Think Zelda-ish gameplay with some Rare flare. This game has a really interesting history. Started out as a N64 title in development, shifted to Gamecube > to original Xbox > to 360 launch title. Crazy it ever got released.

The first Dead Rising was also exclusive to the 360 until the PS4 gen. If you like racing, dig into Project Gotham Racing 3 also.

This was the generation of solidifying Forza, Gears, Halo, & Fable as the big 4 IPs for Microsoft. Those are your key exclusive series.

Also, the OGX emulation is really pretty solid. If a game is on white-list, it's usually a good experience. Honestly, amazing feat considering the Power PC to x86 emu. Their architecture is completely different, and its handled via software (vs Sony via old console chips/hardware on PS3 MoBo). ~460 games are playable which is roughly half the library. The HDMI out is really nice depending on your 360 model. We played A TON of Halo CE & Halo 2 this way back in the day. You can check the titles and any quirks here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_X ... h_Xbox_360

[Ziggy]

I purchased a 360 for the first time in 2022 (thread about it in this sub forum) so I was in the same boat as you. I had a PS3 that generation, and the lack of exclusives made me feel like I wasn't missing much.

I don't know the cost of adding a HDD, but if it isn't a headache, I would definitely add one. Like Jag said, you can rip games to the HDD on a stock console. You still need the authentic DVD in the drive, to act as a key, but you can load games from the HDD. Save the wear and tear on the optical drive (most common point of failure) and improve loading times. Also, less noise coming from the console while gaming.

I had a lot of fun with backward compatibility on the 360. There's a lot of great games that run perfectly (or near enough) that I would say, yes, it's another reason to add a HDD.

Although I will say that last year I decided to purchase an actual OGXBOX, and now I no longer use my 360 for that purpose. The 360 opened the door for me to explore the OGXBOX library, and I liked it enough that I decided to get the dedicated hardware for it. That said, I would still recommend getting a HDD for your 360 if only for the ability to rip games.

[Jagosaurus]

I had a lot of fun with backward compatibility on the 360. There's a lot of great games that run perfectly (or near enough) that I would say, yes, it's another reason to add a HDD.

Although I will say that last year I decided to purchase an actual OGXBOX, and now I no longer use my 360 for that purpose. The 360 opened the door for me to explore the OGXBOX library, and I liked it enough that I decided to get the dedicated hardware for it. That said, I would still recommend getting a HDD for your 360 if only for the ability to rip games.

...okay, this is a bit confusing for new comers to system.

OGX games via BC do require a HDD because there's a patch/system update required for it that lives there.

But... you can't rip OGX games to the HDD like 360 games ...

BUT ... when the marketplace was open, you could DL those digitally purchased OGX titles to HDD and it's possible on a modded system.

Odd quirk.

[SpaceBooger]

Yeah, so I ended up getting an aftermarket HDD from Amazon. I was able to rip games to it, but couldn't do oXBOX games.
I had to do a little workaround where I added the stock partition number 2 from an Official MS HDD to the aftermarket drive.
It wasn't hard. I had a SATA to USB connector so it was an easy fix.

I guess the emualtor for the oXBOX is on that second partition and MS did not release it so an official HDD had to be purchased for backwards compatibility. I will use my oXBOX because I heard the 360 BC wasn't an improvement over the original console... but I wanted to have the ability to use it if I wanted.

Now with the HDD it seems as if the 360 games I got with Gold during my one year subscription have downloaded to the 360 - so now I have Castelvania LOS & SotN, Sonic Generations, Injustice, Portal, Torchlight and some Micro Machines rip off. I was surprised they downloaded with Marketplace being closed.

[Ziggy]

I guess the marketplace is closed to new purchases, but the servers are still up to download previously purchased stuff. Good to know!