On November 22nd, 2005, the Xbox 360 launched to quite the celebration, both in the gaming scene and in the Mojave desert via an event known as “Zero Hour.” If you had told me then that 15 years later I’d be writing this article about the event, I’d have probably thought you were crazy. I never knew the Xbox 360 would, so many years after the fact, become a system I had a fondness for.
The story of the Xbox 360 is pretty well known by gamers. It continued an evolution to gaming started by its predecessor, the Xbox, namely in networked gameplay — that is, Xbox Live. While, sure, the PlayStation 2 and GameCube had some online gaming, it was a scant amount compared to the Xbox, and the 360, seen as a “revolution” in gaming (hence one reason for the name) would push the online aspect of gaming, for better or worse, to the forefront.
In retrospect it was certainly a double edged sword – on one hand we got games that regularly had updates and new content being produced, and could be enjoyed with players around the world, much like PC gaming had had for years. On the other hand, you had to deal with random people, companies eventually deciding that releasing buggy games and “patching it later” was the best option, and being nickled and dimed to death in DLC and microtransactions. Still, the benefits have made for some incredible gaming experiences and set the stage for how gaming would really evolve over the past 15 years. Some aspects of the Xbox Live service would even be copied by Sony down the line ( read, Achievements, in the form of Trophy’s on the PlayStation), that’s how much influence it had on gaming.
Of course it wasn’t all roses. The Xbox 360, in its original form, had some serious problems. Debate still rages even today as to the exact cause of these issues, but what eventually became known as the “Red Ring of Death” would dominate discussion about the system and haunt it its entire life, even long after system re-designs generally resolved the issue.
It’s worth noting here that many electronic devices of the era also had issues, of note the PlayStation 3 also had a lesser, but still reasonably high rate of failure.
The system also, in my view, might be the system which brought gaming to become something truly “normal” for, again, better or worse, additionally pulling at Japan’s dominance of gaming over the previous 20 years. The cultural impact of the system, quite simply, was pretty massive; I could probably write a whole entry on that alone, but I’d need some time for that.
The irony about me writing this is that at the time, while I was excited that we were entering a new phase of gaming I wasn’t really excited for the system itself. I wasn’t an Xbox fan, and was waiting for the PlayStation 3. Of course, as I’ve mentioned previously, I would neither get a PS3 or an Xbox 360 until nearly a decade later, in 2015 finally picking up a used Xbox 360 which still sits nearby as I type this, ready and waiting for me to fire it up and play a game.
Being so late to the system I experienced it in the twilight years of its life — the Xbox One had already been out for over a year at this point and Xbox 360 releases were finally starting to dry up. Still, playing all these games I had missed out on, like Borderlands to mention just one, was a real treat. Sure, I could have played it on PC, but I didn’t, so, that’s that. Games are cheap, and plentiful, and I’ve built up quite the Xbox 360 collection. Games I spent not much on that I can play whenever.
I even have the HD-DVD player for the Xbox 360, as yes, that was a thing that existed and it’s honestly a format I enjoy collecting films in. That’s another story, of course, but it must be mentioned.
Lastly, one more thing that must be mentioned is the fact that the Xbox 360 still isn’t truly “dead.” Even though the Xbox Series X/S have been released, the old hardware still recieves the occasional update and still connects fine to the Xbox Live service. Depending on the game, you can still, in theory, play it online with people right this very second — at the very least, your activity online can still be seen by friends (just look at my account and “HD-DVD player” coming up sometimes) as well as communications being available. The system hasn’t been cut off from the rest of the Xbox family and, likely, won’t be for a long time, which is just amazing.
15 years strong, for a piece of hardware I didn’t think much of originally, but grew to adore. Happy birthday, Xbox 360!
