It’s pretty incredible to see how nostalgic gamers are for the Xbox 360 lately as it hit the twenty-year milestone but it does show just how much of an impact it had on people back then… and perhaps even increases the contrast between its success and the stumble that became the Xbox One launch. But when you look back at it, it was a pretty incredible machine that I think should be looked on as being the most flexible console ever released.

What do I mean by flexible? Well, if anything the 360 probably demonstrated Microsoft at their best when it came to software. While the hardware itself was extremely capable it was Microsoft’s ability to keep the system fresh and evolving over time was a feature that had never been seen before. Looking back, there was the original “blades” UI, followed by the “New Xbox Experience” which coincided with the Kinect sensor launch, another to align the console more closely with the Windows 8 “Metro” design language and at least one other (?) to smooth over some of the rough edges of the Metro design after Windows 8 died a quick death.

In comparison, Xbox One did have some major changes early on after they stepped away from the focus on TV, Kinect and “always on” but the changes became more subtle after that, though they did adopt blades-like functionality and navigation that won over people. It was less of reinventing the console UI like the 360 and more incremental.

Interestingly both had backwards compatibility but the 360 unbelievable wins out with support for a greater number of original Xbox games (over 450, according to Wikipedia) than the Xbox One and later consoles (over 60, from Wikipedia again). As a result, I still keep my old 360 around so I can play a number of the games from my collection. It may not look as pretty as the upscaled versions that the later Xboxes support but the odds of you being able to play an original game on it are far, far better.

Then there’s what was introduced through the system’s lifespan. Party chat let a bunch of friends jump in and talk over a channel regardless of games. Achievements and Gamerscore added a new measurement of success against the games you’ve played. Xbox Live Arcade provided an outlet for smaller games to be given a lot of exposure and recognition. Media integration was expanded to allow for custom soundtracks and connections to a server through Windows Media Centre or Universal Plug and Play for streaming videos which worked nicely for me but would later take a backset once streaming apps like Netflix launched. Then there were cloud saves… yep, the 360 did it first and it became a huge factor allowing backward compatibility to cross from one generation to the next as the majority of my 360 saves were able to be picked up and used.

Finally is, of course, the games. I was lucky to start with Project Gotham Racing 3, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and The Elder Scrolls VI: Oblivion so was running with some heavy hitters from the outset. Of the three, Oblivion got the majority of my time and all achievements unlocked in the process… funnily enough, I didn’t spend much time on it at first as the shooting and driving kept me occupied for a while. Backward compatible Halo 2 sessions were also an early fix and probably got me into playing Xbox games online more than anything else at the time. Call of Duty 2 got a lot of time as well and started my path down that franchise.

Down the road came the big shooters like Gears of War, Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare with the latter being a defining point in both the genre and online gaming as a whole. But I did find a lot of other game and franchises have a good run on my console such as Bioshock, Borderlands, Guitar Hero, Forza Motorsport, Grand Theft Auto, Mass Effect and so many more that it’s hard to keep a list small without neglecting a pile of games that made an impact at some point in your time with the console. To be fair, the system rocked a lot of bangers from start to finish! For better or worse, many of the franchises that made their mark here would be integral to the platform in future console generations.

I was lucky to ensure that when I first switched on my new 360 I had a broadband connection and would be fully online from the outset. I didn’t use Xbox Live on my original Xbox so would not have any prior experience with the service to make comparisons or give me an indicator of what to expect. Regardless, I’m still running with the very same Gamertag that I created on that day and it seems wrong to ever consider changing it. Weirdly it’s almost as much a part of my identity as many other parts of my life like my career, education and background as it’s been there for so long.

Coolest part for me is that a number of people I met back then are still in my life and were introduced through gaming on the 360 – many of us are still playing games together too. If there’s a new game out or on the horizon that requires a team of players to dive in and cause some damage to others our themselves, I know where I can find a group willing and able and that’s a cool thing, even after 20 years. The system in those early days did help foster meeting people as lobbies were usually chill and friendly as reputation scoring was tied to your account and matchmaking. Nowadays in the world of wannabe streamers and rage bound cheaters, reputation scores for everyone would be at a constant low and the system would break… I think the Xbox team saw that and wisely rolled it back over the years.]

Wild to think back to it being twenty years ago… but it was a great time and while those old games might be gathering dust on my shelves more than they used to, but the memories are still fresh and I know I can still go back and play a game or two if I feel like it. It’s been a good run and I’m glad to have been a small part of it. 🙂