Console of the Month (April 2022): XBox 360

[Ziggy]

As some of you might already know, I just recently picked up a 360 for the first time back in February. I've mostly been enjoying it.

I have fond memories of the seventh generation. I had graduated high school, and this was my first console generation as an "adult." I had a Wii, and then eventually got a PS3. Two current gen consoles was enough for me. I was briefly on the fence on getting a PS3 or a 360. Pretty much all of my friends had a 360 (one person I knew had a PS3), but the RROD problems pushed me to get a PS3 instead. And besides, I had a PS2 so there was familiarity in the controller. But I always thought the 360 was somehow cool. Even though the failure rate was super high for the original model, that didn't seem to slow them down at all. What a strange occurrence, when you think about it. We could have an entire thread and discussion just on the RROD. Anyway, I mostly didn't give a hoot about the 360 during its life. So many games were cross-platform, and I either didn't know or didn't care about any 360 exclusives at the time. I had the Wii and PS3, and that was enough to fill my video game time.

The 360 was always a curiosity for me though. So many people seemed to have had a blast with it. And most games are super cheap right now. I'm glad I got mine, I've been having a blast with it.

I said I've "mostly" been enjoying it, because there were a few annoyances. When I first got it, it took quite a bit (and by that I mean it was very aggravating) to get signed into Live with an existing MS account. And then just recently, there was a widespread problem with not being able to sign into Live on a 360 (error code 80151103). The 360 was jokingly tagged the "offline" console, back when MS announced the One, but it really isn't. I was in the middle of playing Need for Speed Hot Pursuit when the sign-in problem happened, and then I couldn't load my save file. Even though my saves are stored on the 360's HDD, and even though the game's own servers are no longer online, because I wasn't signed into Live the game wouldn't load my save data. It was very frustrating.

But yeah, as for actually playing the games, I've really enjoyed the 360 so far. Later when I get the chance, I'll post my game list along with some thoughts about the games I've played so far.

Definitely RGH mod it, slap Aurora dash as default on it, load it up with all the games on a big SATA drive, and never deal with the MS ecosystem again. So much better once you bypass all of it.

360 modding seems daunting. Not that the mods themselves seem hard to perform, but just figuring out which version of which mod you need/want.

Also, playing Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. Easily one of my favourite games.

I downloaded the demo of it, but haven't really tried it yet. I need to get the fact that it's NOT a 3D platformer out of my head, and just accept that it's a totally different kind of game, before I can attempt it.

Don't forget the two N64 Banjo games, with the elusive Stop 'n' Swop secret implemented. Highly recommended!

Wait, what? So how does it work?

[Gucci]

I had to refresh my memory: see here.

In a nutshell, it mostly ties into unlocking parts for Nuts & Bolts.

[lwcook]

360 modding seems daunting. Not that the mods themselves seem hard to perform, but just figuring out which version of which mod you need/want.

In the past that was definitely true. However, it's gotten a lot more straightforward as the new RGH3 method can be applied to almost all revisions. No longer have to figure out what chip you need or if you have to be on a certain dash version. Definitely would recommend it with your skill set as it opens up a lot of delisted games and dlc that is otherwise unobtainable.

https://xbox360hub.com/guides/rgh-3-guide/

[Ziggy]

OK, so here's my 360 collection so far.

With the exception of one or two games, these were all between $5 and $10 including tax and shipping. Even with the few that were above $10, the average price per game is still below $10, so I'm happy.



I might have said some of this already in my 360 thread from February, but I'll reiterate here...

Bodycount - Said to be a spiritual successor to Black. I had just played Black for the PS2 month and had a blast with it, so "spiritual successor" was all I needed to hear to pick this one up. It's a little above $10, but hopefully worth it. I hope to get to playing this one for this month.

Call of Duty 3 / 4 / MW2 - I had COD3 briefly for the Wii when it was new, but it seemed like a clunker so I ditched it. The PS3/360 version is said to be better, so I'll give it a try. Especially for the cheap price tag. COD4 I have owned on the PC since it was new. I never finished the single player campaign, I've said this a few times already, but I was getting burnt out on FPS games at this time. So I completely skipped MW2, but it's super cheap now for the 360 and I'm starting to appreciate FPS again.

Fable II & III - I had Fable The Lost Chapters on the PC and I was really enjoying it. I was very disappointed when the sequel remained a 360 exclusive. It was one of the few 360 exclusives that I knew about (at the time) that made me wish I had the console. Looks like the third one got a PC port, but I guess I lost interest by the time it came out.

FIFA14 - A loose disc came with my 360 console. And when I say loose, I mean the seller threw it in a box with the console, controller and heavy ass power brick. No case, no envelope, nothing. It's scratched to hell, but surprisingly it still works LOL. I printed out a cover for it.



Forza Motorsport 3 - This comes up when you Google for best racing games exclusive to the 360. I didn't know much about it, other than it's on such best-of lists, and it was cheap, so I picked it up. Then I discovered that it's similar to Gran Turismo. I not a huge fan of the simulation type racing games, I prefer more arcade type action. But I've played a bit of it and so far I actually really like it.

Gears of War - Another game that's super cheap. I know the first one isn't exclusive to the 360 (it got a PC port) but I figured I should start with the first game. This is one of those series that you'd have to be living under a rock to not have heard of it. And yet, I've never played any of them. Maybe I'll get to it this month.

Halo Wars - I kind of want to get Halo 3 for the 360, but I already own the Master Chief Collection on Steam. So I decided to get this one instead (that makes more sense in my head than it does when you say it out loud.. or type it... whatever). I can remember when this game came out. The Halo hype was real, and all the FPS hardcore gamers were like, "Real... time.... strategy?"

Kameo: Elements of Power - Got this one on the suggestion from Jagosaurus in my 360 thread. The reviews suggest that it's eye candy but the gameplay isn't very deep. And that seems to be what I've found so far, but I've only played a couple of hours of it so far. The graphics and art direction just scream RARE 3D platformer, which is really neat. The gameplay seems kind of dumbed down though, compared to Banjo or DK64. Which may be a good thing, I'm not always in the mood for such a deep collectathon.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit - I know this isn't at all a 360 exclusive. Not only was it multi-platform back then, but it has since been remastered with a multi-platform release. But it's cheap and the 360 is my new toy, so I picked it up. But then there was a problem with signing into Live, and I couldn't access my save data for the game, so I ordered a copy of the remaster for PS4. Now that I can sign back into Live, I'm not sure that I'll continue playing it on the 360, knowing that I might one day lose my progress in it.

Ninja Gaiden II - This got an "upgraded" Sigma port on the PS3, but some say this version is still better. The gameplay is intense, I'm having a blast playing it so far.

The Outfit - Heard good things about this one, haven't played it yet.

Perfect Dark Zero - From what I've read, this game is just sort of mediocre. I played the first level and there was really nothing that sucked me in. Although I guess I could say the same thing about the original N64 game, I never cared for it much.

In the past that was definitely true. However, it's gotten a lot more straightforward as the new RGH3 method can be applied to almost all revisions. No longer have to figure out what chip you need or if you have to be on a certain dash version. Definitely would recommend it with your skill set as it opens up a lot of delisted games and dlc that is otherwise unobtainable.

https://xbox360hub.com/guides/rgh-3-guide/

Thanks, I'll have to check that out when I get the chance.

[dsheinem]

Black - Said to be a spiritual successor to Black.

I always thought it was just a port?

Call of Duty 3 / 4 / MW2

COD 4 and MW2 are the two games, in my opinion, most responsible for the direction/evolution of the FPS genre during the 2010s. Both are phenomenal. As I understand it, the Wii ports of the COD games are totally different beasts, and generally suck in comparison.

Forza Motorsport 3 -

The main Forza games have largely edged out the Gran Turismo series for "popular racing sim" over the past decade or so, but I find them similarly boring (if gorgeous). You really should try the Forza Horizon games - Forza Horizon 2 is especially good, and one of the last great racers for the system.

Gears of War -

The GOW games are all solid, but the first is my least favorite. If you sort of like it but find it clunky/maddening at points, that's par for the course. They improve quite a bit as the series goes on, and GOW2/3 are both excellent.

Halo Wars

This might be my son's favorite 360 game, and one he still plays from time to time. A great RTS-lite, and easily the best designed one for consoles at the time.

The 360 is such a beast of a system - I have always thought of it as comparable to the Genesis (at least in the analogy SNES:Genesis::PS3:360). Both of those systems are great and do different things well, and neither really compares in a meaningful way to the Wii (which is its own weird and wonderful thing). If all you played during those years was a Wii and/or a PS3, you really did miss a lot.

[Ziggy]

I always thought it was just a port?

Sorry, I meant Bodycount is a spiritual successor to Black. That's what I get for typing too fast and not proofreading it. Black did get an oXbox port, though.

COD 4 and MW2 are the two games, in my opinion, most responsible for the direction/evolution of the FPS genre during the 2010s. Both are phenomenal. As I understand it, the Wii ports of the COD games are totally different beasts, and generally suck in comparison.

Wouldn't you say it's because of the online multiplayer that made them such runaway hits? It seemed like everyone (except me) was playing COD4 online. I had a friend that bought a PS3 and a 360 so he could play COD4 with his friends that had either console. He also upgrading his video card in his desktop to play it on PC, as well as bought a laptop to play it at work (he ended up getting fired from that job - go figure).

The main Forza games have largely edged out the Gran Turismo series for "popular racing sim" over the past decade or so, but I find them similarly boring (if gorgeous). You really should try the Forza Horizon games - Forza Horizon 2 is especially good, and one of the last great racers for the system.

Thanks, I'll check it out. So it's more arcade like / less sim like?

The GOW games are all solid, but the first is my least favorite. If you sort of like it but find it clunky/maddening at points, that's par for the course. They improve quite a bit as the series goes on, and GOW2/3 are both excellent.

Thanks for the heads up. I wont write off the series if I'm not crazy about the first game.

A great RTS-lite, and easily the best designed one for consoles at the time.

Great, I was actually hoping it would be more lite. Such games are easier for me to get into these days, with less time to devote to gaming.

The 360 is such a beast of a system - I have always thought of it as comparable to the Genesis (at least in the analogy SNES:Genesis::PS3:360). Both of those systems are great and do different things well, and neither really compares in a meaningful way to the Wii (which is its own weird and wonderful thing). If all you played during those years was a Wii and/or a PS3, you really did miss a lot.

Yeah, I feel like the Xbox console line is the spiritual successor to Sega consoles. The 7th gen consoles were definitely a crazy generation though, for sure. To think of the nutty things that happened, for all 3 consoles, and we had MASSIVELY popular games come out on all three of them. I guess if I'm being honest, I would have also purchased a 360 during its lifetime (especially after revisions fixed the RROD problems) if I had better income at the time. I may have intentionally turned a blind eye to the console at the time, knowing that I couldn't afford one.

The SNES Vs Genesis console war is tied to my childhood in such a way that I don't think it could ever be beaten in terms of how fondly I remember it. But The Wii/PS3/360 gen is a real close second for me. Not that I didn't have a good time with the two generations in between, because I very much did. But something about that 7th gen was just really amazing. In some ways it was better than the 4th generation. Although there were other competitors to the SNES and Genesis, they were really insignificant. That 4th gen was all about the SNES and Genesis, nothing else mattered. So, two consoles. But the 7th gen, we had THREE major consoles that were all slam dunking it with games. Although there were games in the 5 and 6th gen consoles that I really enjoyed, I wasn't blown away by game after game across all platforms like I was in the 4th and 7th gen consoles. I guess it was just being in the right frame of mind at those times. But even my own person experiences and feeling aside, the 7th gen was still a big deal in many ways.

[lordb0rb4]

The seventh generations was my favorite of the HD consoles by far, owning all the 3 consoles and a capable PC was pure bliss.
The Xbox 360 was the last one i got although Halo is one of my most beloved series but even before owning one there was one aspect that fascinated me until this very day:
Achievements and the Gamerscore ecosystem.
I'm actually already revisiting the 7th gen so this month and so far i finished some launch games:
Ridge Racer 6
Call of Duty 2
All via xbox one's backward compatiblity program, amazing stuff!
Here's my playlist for this month:

FEAR 2
Oblivion
Earth Defense Force 2017

[alienjesus]

My XBox 360 actually used to belong to my wife - it's an original model that's somehow still holding on. Her first one had red ring of death the first time we ever plugged it in, but the replacement has been going strong ever since. It's not our most used system ever which might be why.

Even though this generation is kind of known for bringing in online multiplayer, the XBox 360 is a system I've almost exclusively used for local couch co-op and multiplayer gaming. My wife (then girlfriend) originally picked up the system to play Left 4 Dead with our university housemates, and that and the sequel got a lot of play time with us. We also worked through several of the Lego games in co-op (Indiana Jones, Harry Potter), all of Resident Evil 5 and Castle Crashers.

Other than that, the XBox has mostly been used during games evenings to play Halo 3 via LAN setup with my friends. There's been a lot of 8 player matches over the years, but unfortunately I'm not sure I have enough people I could round up to do that again!

I've picked up a few more single player 360 games over the years - Sonic Generations and several of the Cave shmups for example - but the 7th gen is one I've not really explored much outside of the Nintendo's systems. Maybe I'll get to it one day, but in the grand scheme of systems I collect for, the 360 is pretty low down my list.

[Ziggy]

Nice memories, AJ.

Her first one had red ring of death the first time we ever plugged it in, but the replacement has been going strong ever since. It's not our most used system ever which might be why.

Although more rare, it's not completely unheard of to have an original model last a really long time (for example, all the way to 2022) before it gets the dreaded RROD. But another possibility is that it's a later motherboard revision that isn't prone to RROD. The last motherboard revision to the original phat model did eventually fix the RROD problem, from what I've read.

[marurun]

My only 360 experience is borrowing the console from a friend to use it to watch Avatar on Netflix. That’s it. All I got.