A decade ago today thousands of people stood outside electronics retailers in the bitter cold, waiting for their chance to sell an Xbox 360 on eBay. I blame those killer faceplates.
I remember the Xbox 360 launch like it was yesterday, because in the grand scheme of things it was. I wasn’t going to get one, and then at the very last minute I scraped together $US400 and change to add Microsoft’s curvy white box to my video game collection. I bought an HDTV specifically to showcase its higher resolution. Not a flat-screen HDTV mind you, but a massive 100 pound box that could display 720P but was still standard 4:3 ratio, so everything was severely letterboxed.
Why did I need an Xbox 360? Obviously it was for the games. I mean check out this launch lineup:
- Amped 3
- Call of Duty 2
- Condemned: Criminal Origins
- FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup
- GUN
- Kameo: Elements of Power
- Madden NFL 06
- NBA 2K6
- NBA Live 06
- Need for Speed: Most Wanted
- NHL 2K6
- Perfect Dark Zero
- Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
- Project Gotham Racing 3
- Quake 4
- Ridge Racer 6
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06
- Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland
OK, maybe it wasn’t the launch line-up. Most of those were upscaled ports, and those that weren’t seemed determined to prove just how plastic-y 3D graphics could be.
No, I’d say it was the promised of Xbox Live Arcade. I’m pretty sure I purchased the Xbox 360 for Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
As for those interchangeable faceplates, don’t knock them. One of the things that got me on then Kotaku-boss Brian Crecente’s radar was an entry in a Best Comment contest that scored me a limited edition Xbox 360 launch faceplate.
I’d say share your favourite Xbox 360 memory below, but many of you are still playing it. Maybe share your favourite memory up to this point?
Comments
33 responses to “The Xbox 360 Is Ten Years Old Today”
Still using the good old 360. I played the first ‘Assassins Creed’ on PC and couldnt believe how boring it was. Fast forward 2015 and I bought ‘Black Flag’ – Love it, play it every week. I also have a decent collection of HD DVDs that I bought for about $2-$5 each. Love my 360 (except that time it overheated and died)
I wonder if there are any 10 year old xbox 360s around though. That original run had such bad overheating issues…
From what I seen, I would think there was 100% failure rate for release/near release day consoles. I don’t know anyone that didn’t need to replace their 360.
Sorry to disappoint you then 😛
I have been proven wrong then, and impressed with your 360’s survivability!
Hello. Never needed to replace one. I’ve had many…none of which malfunctioned in any way…well, not until after I painted it, which was about three years after I bought it. Others have suffered accidental destruction (Read; insane ex Girlfriend.)
My launch console is still going! It’s in a box now since I got an Xbone, it served me well.
I still have my Day 1 360 🙂 it looks beat up but it still works haha.
My missus has a working pre-ordered day 1 x360 with the 20Gb HDD and no HDMI output.
I’m on my 6th (Black Elite 250Gb, the model just before the slim) and the disc tray is extremely temperamental. 3 were replaced with warranty for RRoD, the others were upgrades.
I still have a launch day 360. I’ve had to bolt the heatsink to the motherboard with some real bolts so it doesn’t come loose but she still runs fine 🙂
My 2009 model had to retire this year thanks to the power brick overheating!
Got one over the over the ps3 specifically for gears of war and I loved it! I still use the 360 controller for my pc to this day I think it’s the best controller design to this day.
It just slots into your hand very nicely and has a fantastic button layout. I’m on a ps4 now and it has taken a little getting used to.
Yeah same here, I don’t have the biggest hands in the world but I still get sore hands when playing with both the PS3 and ps4 controllers for a long time. I haven’t tried the xbox one controller yet but I hope it’s good cos my 360 controller’s cable is badly damaged so not sure how long it’ll last…
Amazing, I’ve never had a controller last more than 1 year.
Really? I’ve never had a controller die on me. My oldest one is the 360 controller and it’s been going since 2007!
I bought my last 360 near the start of 07 and it still runs fine to this day. Only one RRoD ever and that was simply because the power plug wasn’t quite in the transformer properly.
I had perfect dark, pgr, and condemned on launch (and the sweet pd face plate).
Took it home at midnight, hooked it up to the surround sound, and we just about crapped ourselves playing condemned! We actually had a very similar experience when we got a psx and resident evil (you know the moment in that!).
Perfect dark was a shadow of its former self, but we had tonnes of fun taking two people online with it. Skeleton mode was great.
I liked my 360, and Sega needs to make another condemned.
Good ol’ RRoD.
I love my machine so much, I replaced it after five solid years of service. I abuse this thing so much. At the moment, it’s mainly used for Netflix, because I need one of the shiny new boxes to play new games I want. My personal highlights on my 360 include:
Guitar Hero/Rock Band- I needed a way to get non-gamer friends interested. This was exceptional.
Fallout 3- A game so good it was bad for my health.
Halo 4- I really liked the story. I know I’m in the minority. I don’t care.
XCOM- Can’t wait for two. It’s looking awesome.
Tomb Raider- It might be a popcorn game, but it’s a great one.
Bioshock Infinite- I loved the story so much, I played through it in front of my Mum so we could talk about the alternate reality shit. She likes that stuff.
Dishonoured- I can’t find my copy right now. It irks me, a lot.
MGS Revengeance- Just the most batshit insane game I’d ever played until that point.
Bayonetta- See above. One day I will get a Wii U, and the sequel will be one of the main reasons.
Like all generations, I had to be frugal, so I waited two years. It was a great move. By then there was a cheap back catalougue of great games, and my mates had some games for me to borrow.
Apart from the incredible large amount of hardware malfunctions these things had, I honestly consider the 360 as one of the best consoles created. In terms of reliability, easy UI, simple but useful functionality and is still having games released on it 10 years later.
Ah the 360. Wonderful console.
Play the latest HD games while also saving on one’s heating bill depending on the model, :-P.
Sold the wife on that I can get a Xbox One with backwards compatibility….. She said so you’re throwing the white one out now….
I said no…. It’s now next to the PC.
Loved my Xbox 360. Have the Star Wars R2-D2 edition and a black edition with Kinect (“what’s that Daddy?”) for the missus and her dancing games when they were a thing.
Had 2 RRoD in my time, but that damn console brought me co-op online multiplayer and Xbox Live was fantastic. Fallout 3, Gears, Forza, Skyrim, Ass Creed, Left 4 Dead, Rainbow Six Vegas, so many titles to mention.
It had great UI and seamless party chat and invite/friends system. Then Xbone happened. WTF?
I’ve had my 360 Arcade (since upgraded with a HD) since late 2009 without any issues and I still occasionally play through some of my older pile of shame titles. The only issue I have is a loud disc drive, otherwise smooth sailing! I went PS4 though after having been Xbox only since 2002, once backwards compatibility actually includes titles I own and play occasionally (RDR, various CoD, AC & Halo games) I’ll retire the 360 to the land of the long sleep.
pft only sheep buy consoles at launch.
First x360 carked it, had microsoft repair it and sold it soon as i got it back. Few years later grabbed a RGH x360 and been serving me faithfully ever since.
Who can complain about free games?
This mean that 10 years ago, I was on the wrong side of the sales counter, fielding all the blame about why you couldn’t move the console while it was on with the disc in and how replacing it was now my responsibility, and who won’t the controller synch, and how do I connect to Xbox Live what do you mean I need the internet doesn’t that just come with it, and so on and so on…
I got mine a couple days after launch when I bought a nice HD LCD from JB HiFi, got the dude to do an awesome deal that saw me walk out of the store with a TV, 360, extra controller and 2 games, all for only $300 more than the cost of the advertised cost of the TV so I was happy.
In the 10 years since I am now up to my 7th xbox 360, most of which were the original models, I had to send 4 back for repair and replacement, and Microsoft Customer Service got progressively worse, until I ended up selling my console and games collection out of frustration.
I bought a second hand Star Wards Xbox 360 from EB Games for $180 on special when they were doing a clearance, and so my 7th is still alive and well and sounds like R2D2 when I open or close the disc tray, thats a win.
I currently have the Red Gears of War edition Xbox 360 with the red controllers.
I love it!!!!! I have had 2 white ones, one ROD, the replacement sold to a friend.
Happy Birthday my friend hope your still going for another 10 years 🙂
I bought it in 2009 but I’ve really just started getting the best games for it. I have:
-Halo: Reach
-Fable 2
-Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
-Perfect Dark: Zero
-Castle Crashers
-Dark Souls
-Forza Horizon
-Viva Pinata
A fair amount, but there are still so many I want! Like Crackdown! Saints Row 2! Mega Man 9 and 10! Red Dead Redemption! Fallout 3! Metal Gear Rising: Revengance! Blur! Burnout Paradise! Dead Rising! Bulletstorm! SO. MANY. GAMES. *collapses*
Got one ‘free’ with a laptop from Hardly Normal. Sold it about a month later. Didn’t like anything about it.
I still remember seeing the colourful blades UI and thinking this the future!
Thanks for the article Mike. Just want to inform all folks who live outside US that Xbox 360 is a great media Player. If you want to access Netflix and other streaming stations on your Xbox 360 you can use UnoTelly as I do to get around the geo block.