I think it’s pretty undeniable that the Xbox 360 is one of the greatest video game consoles ever made. Released twenty years ago today, it was Microsoft’s second stab at cementing themselves as a genuine contender in the ‘Console Wars’, and undoubtedly their most successful. But as the industry looks back twenty years past, with nostalgia and rose-tinted glasses firmly on, it’s worth a gentle reminder. Gaming has never been better than it is right now.
The Golden Age
It’s fair to say that many players (especially us ol’ grey beards in our early forties) look back at the Xbox 360 as a ‘golden age’. In many ways, it was. The Xbox 360 ushered in the HD-era, evolved Xbox Live into a thriving ecosystem and helped fuel the resurgence of smaller, independently developed games and a fully featured digital marketplace. It quite literally is the foundation for what modern consoles do today, and it left a surprised Sony scrambling to catch up (don’t worry fanboys, they did, and the rest is history, so cool your jets).
I’m sure I’m not alone in being able to easily list some of the incredible games that arrived as a part of the Xbox 360 generation. Xbox Live Arcade, ushering in classics like Braid, Limbo, Shadow Complex, Castle Crashers and more transformed and pushed forward the digital industry.
Incredible AAA titles like Bioshock, Mass Effect, Gears of War and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 felt fresh and new and became massive franchises that set the scene for the future. The arrival of Halo 3 in 2007 felt like a genuine event in entertainment – I remember being at the BFI IMAX in London to watch it be played live for a launch bash – pretty cool.
The Good Ol’ Days
The Xbox 360 felt like a true pioneer (even though the Dreamcast helped pave the way), and it was host to some incredible games, sure – I often think that’s why I look back at it so fondly, but it’s fair to say I also had far more free time. No kids, less responsibilities and stresses in life – and that often meant a lot more time to actually play games – and to play them with friends.
Xbox Live, first introduced on the original Xbox console, became dramatically expanded in the 360 era. Online play felt smoother, more accessible and arguably essential to the Xbox 360 experience. My dashboard was alive with real people, and the friendships I made twenty years ago are still going strong today. People from up and down the UK, from all walks and talks of life, became some of my greatest and most trusted friends.
At some point a couple of years in, I decided to invite these strangers, these ‘voices’ at the other end of my headset over for a LAN Party. In hindsight, the decision to just invite random strangers to your house is a bit risky, but thankfully it all paid off.
The LAN Party’s were affectionately named ‘Sikfests’, and became a frequent occurrence, sometimes every 3 or so months – even though it meant lugging CRT TV’s around, it was worth it. It blows my mind that sixteen people used to somehow cram into my small flat, though we were all very pleased when the 360 VGA cable became a thing – monitors meant a little more room!
Eventually it expanded into paintballing, gaming montages and all sorts. I actually had a lot of fun strolling down memory lane, digging out all sorts of moderately embarrassing photos of that time, but it’s really great, looking back. This is why I love the Xbox 360 era so much. The games were amazing, yes – but it was the friendships and the memories that made it truly special.
A Foundation For The Future
As great as it was back then though, modern gaming has far surpassed what I ever thought possible in my youth, and it’s not really about graphical fidelity or frame rates, HDR or Raytracing. It’s about how easily we can play now, and how truly accessible gaming has become that has me loving the current era of video games like no other.
In the Xbox 360 era, truly big games happened maybe once a quarter, if you were lucky. Nowadays, hundreds of games ship every month – some big, some tiny, and many that sit somewhere in-between. We’ve seen a resurgence of smartly scoped AA games that look as good as anything made by one of the big publishers, and the reality of this modern era is that just about anything can play games nowadays, and even the weakest of devices can somehow handle it – even if it is via streaming.
With subscriptions services like Game Pass and PS+, we have unprecedented access and choice to how we play, what device we use, and the sheer number of games mean there’s always something new to play. Hell, the number of ‘free’ games you can get alone is mind-boggling.
And a lot of these foundations were laid, system by system, game by game, by the Xbox 360. Indie developers are breaking records left and right, with unique, brilliant games that defy expectations and surprise the industry. Cross-platform has become pretty much standard across the board, meaning friends on other devices can jump in no matter where they play.
I know I write all this against a backdrop of AI, and layoffs, studio closures and all sorts of other threats – but big picture, from a consumer point of view – gaming today is pretty awesome. Don’t let anyone convince you it isn’t.
Nostalgia, as they say, is one hell of a drug, but it doesn’t need to mean that how we’ve got things today is bad, or worse. The Xbox 360 was an extraordinary console, and it was in turn, an extraordinary time to be a gamer – but gaming itself has never been better than it is right now.
