Its production lasted more than ten years, and at that time it became one of the ten best-selling consoles of all time.
2021 Golden Joystick Awards
We're celebrating 50 years of gaming together with the 2021 Golden Joystick Awards, the world's largest publicly voted gaming awards ceremony. This year's show will celebrate a milestone in video game history, the launch of Computer Space, the world's first commercial arcade machine, in November 1971. And we'll be looking for your votes on the best console of all time (starting in 3:00 pm GMT, November 8) - Will the Xbox 360 make the cut?
It's safe to say that the Xbox 360 is one of the brightest stars in Microsoft's sky. Especially since it is delimited by a large red ring of death.
While Nightmare of Death Red Ring still casts a shadow over the Xbox 360's storied reputation (both in the personal memory of gamers and in general), it is an incredibly important console for both Microsoft and the gaming world in general.
In an era when online gaming was beginning to flourish, the 360 was at the forefront, pushing it into the mass market with a completely redesigned Xbox Live infrastructure. Additionally, its introduction of achievement points and player scores added a new competitive dimension to games that helped players extract as much of their games as possible.
Great games, great controller, great moments
In addition to taking advantage of and greatly improving the online infrastructure of the original Xbox, the 360 offered a much more attractive and streamlined design. A design that has only improved with the Elite version of the console.
Not only did the console itself look good, but its controller was a pleasure to use and was a huge improvement in terms of usability over the original. Big enough to feel substantial in your hands, but with the buttons pressed just enough that you didn't have to stretch, it was comfortable to wear for extended periods of time and didn't require much thought to get used to.
It was best to have a comfortable controller, as Xbox 360 has put together an excellent library of games, both exclusive and non-exclusive. It was the only place where the Halo, Gears of War and Forza franchises could be played and arguably helped define its identity as a console.
Halo 3 in particular is a game inextricably tied to Xbox 360 and in an era of increasing cross-platform development and dwindling console pets, that's quite a feat.
In 2007, it was the best-selling game in America, which is amazing considering it was only available on one console, but is a testament to the influence of the franchise. This not only raised the bar for first-person console shooters, but it showed just how good massively multiplayer online games can be.
In fact, the Xbox 360 had many games that took full advantage of its power and were worth buying.
Set Xbox 360 games
Fable 2
Knowing that this game was in development was one of the main reasons I bought an Xbox 360. While the Fable franchise has always promised more than it can deliver, it is an excellent series and the second work is arguably the best. It has a distinct sense of humor and visuals, an atmospheric soundtrack, and a truly imaginative and enjoyable world to explore.
Although Fable 3 was a relative disappointment, I still cherish my memories of Fable 2.
Banjo Kazooie: nuts and bolts
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was another title worth buying for the Xbox 360. The third title in the Banjo Kazooie franchise focused on car manufacturing. Although it divided, it was a lot of fun.
In fairness, while this is a standout title, there are plenty of games developed by Rare exclusively for Xbox that would convince us that this is a console worth owning, including but not limited to Kameo: Elements of Power and Viva Pinata.
Alan Wake
Last but not least: Alan Wake. This is the game that brought in elements of psychological horror similar to the extremely enjoyable Fatal Frame series and is therefore inherently tied to PlayStation on Xbox and it definitely worked.
The game was intense and cinematic, pushing the HD visuals and processing power of the Xbox 360 to show exactly how good it was. Not only that, it was another type of Xbox title that showed it was a console for much more than just sci-fi shooter and driving games.
For me, the Xbox 360 was the console that indicated that Microsoft really wanted to be successful in console games. It was a huge step up from the original Xbox in terms of power and design, with strong online services and an engaging library of games that made the most of its power. We just won't talk about the Kinect, okay?
- Vote for your best game of all time and the best gaming hardware of all time by visiting goldenjoysticks.com; voting ends November 12.