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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - The Xbox 360 was remarkable as a successor

Typically, when you find success with your first hit product, you build on it and make it better. That's exactly what the Microsoft Corporation did with the Xbox's sequel, the Xbox 360. While the original Xbox didn't touch the PlayStation 2's 150+ million units sold, it still did quite well for Microsoft's first platform, sitting at a solid 24 million units sold, carried largely by the success of Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequel. With the next generation on the horizon, Microsoft aimed to get a head-start by launching first in 2005. The Xbox 360 was first shown to the world on MTV in 2005, followed by a more detailed reveal at E3 that year. HD was a rising new technology at the time, and Microsoft aimed to use Video Games as a vehicle to drive adoption. Thus, the 360 was designed with High-Definition displays in mind. Packing in powerful technology for its time, the Xbox 360 was positioned as the flagship console for HD gaming. Of course all that power means nothing if you can't use it, and much like its predecessor, Microsoft made the 360 as easy as possible for developers to make games for it.

What made the Xbox 360 such a great console at first, was the fact that Microsoft built on the foundations of the original Xbox, and simply made it better. Getting the system out early allowed Microsoft to gain a head-start in securing big 3rd party support. As with the original Xbox, Dead or Alive was a headline launch title with Dead or Alive 4, serving as a graphical showpiece for what the HD era will bring. The early days of the 360 were filled with top-notch exclusives, and superior versions of third party titles such as Gears of War, Dead Rising, Fable II, Mass Effect, the Aforementioned DoA 4, Ninja Gaiden II, Assassin's Creed, Halo 3, The Last Remnant, Final Fantasy XI, Skate, Blue Dragon, and many more. Aside from games, Microsoft also led the way in services. Xbox Live, the online gaming network that revolutionized online multiplayer, was further developed on the Xbox 360. With new additions like achievements, cross-game chat, and the Xbox Live Marketplace allowing for downloadable game content and The Xbox Live Arcade, a service that at the time, was a leading distributor in games from independent developers.

Getting the console out early however, came at a hefty price. The unconventional design of the Xbox 360 created the Red Ring of Death. A system error that plagued nearly 30% of all original models. It got so bad that Microsoft began offering extended warranties, and spent large amounts of money trying to fix the problem.

But aside from that, for its time, the Xbox 360 was THE platform to get if you wanted a main console. Sony's PlayStation 3 stumbled in its early days with its overly-complex architecture, terrible messaging, and high price, and Nintendo decided to ditch the main console race altogether, and instead targeted an undeserved non-gamer audience with the motion controlled Wii, which ended up outselling both Sony and Microsoft's consoles in the end. But the 360 was the best console of its generation as a major gaming platform. That is, until new Xbox management at Microsoft proceeded to sabotage it with a decline in compelling exclusives, and attempt to mimic Nintendo's strategy with Xbox Live Avatars, and the Kinect peripheral, which while successful at first, ultimately ended up as a short-lived fad, all while Sony was catching up rapidly both in sales and mind-share. This culminated into the disastrous pre-launch of the Xbox One, which seeked to demand tighter control on how users can play games, as well as a shady mandatory Kinect requirement with potential spying worries.

Sure the RRoD was unfortunate, and the console's reputation deteriorated later in its life, but it still amazes me how much Microsoft got right with the Xbox 360. It took the philosophy that powered the Xbox, and simply did it better, and with great games, exclusives, services, and an iconic controller, Microsoft helped lead the way in modern gaming.
 


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TheMisterManGuy said:
Typically, when you find success with your first hit product, you build on it and make it better. That's exactly what the Microsoft Corporation did with the Xbox's sequel, the Xbox 360. While the original Xbox didn't touch the PlayStation 2's 150+ million units sold, it still did quite well for Microsoft's first platform, sitting at a solid 24 million units sold, carried largely by the success of Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequel. With the next generation on the horizon, Microsoft aimed to get a head-start by launching first in 2005. The Xbox 360 was first shown to the world on MTV in 2005, followed by a more detailed reveal at E3 that year. HD was a rising new technology at the time, and Microsoft aimed to use Video Games as a vehicle to drive adoption. Thus, the 360 was designed with High-Definition displays in mind. Packing in powerful technology for its time, the Xbox 360 was positioned as the flagship console for HD gaming. Of course all that power means nothing if you can't use it, and much like its predecessor, Microsoft made the 360 as easy as possible for developers to make games for it.

What made the Xbox 360 such a great console at first, was the fact that Microsoft built on the foundations of the original Xbox, and simply made it better. Getting the system out early allowed Microsoft to gain a head-start in securing big 3rd party support. As with the original Xbox, Dead or Alive was a headline launch title with Dead or Alive 4, serving as a graphical showpiece for what the HD era will bring. The early days of the 360 were filled with top-notch exclusives, and superior versions of third party titles such as Gears of War, Dead Rising, Fable II, Mass Effect, the Aforementioned DoA 4, Ninja Gaiden II, Assassin's Creed, Halo 3, The Last Remnant, Final Fantasy XI, Skate, Blue Dragon, and many more. Aside from games, Microsoft also led the way in services. Xbox Live, the online gaming network that revolutionized online multiplayer, was further developed on the Xbox 360. With new additions like achievements, cross-game chat, and the Xbox Live Marketplace allowing for downloadable game content and The Xbox Live Arcade, a service that at the time, was a leading distributor in games from independent developers.

Getting the console out early however, came at a hefty price. The unconventional design of the Xbox 360 created the Red Ring of Death. A system error that plagued nearly 30% of all original models. It got so bad that Microsoft began offering extended warranties, and spent large amounts of money trying to fix the problem.

But aside from that, for its time, the Xbox 360 was THE platform to get if you wanted a main console. Sony's PlayStation 3 stumbled in its early days with its overly-complex architecture, terrible messaging, and high price, and Nintendo decided to ditch the main console race altogether, and instead targeted an undeserved non-gamer audience with the motion controlled Wii, which ended up outselling both Sony and Microsoft's consoles in the end. But the 360 was the best console of its generation as a major gaming platform. That is, until new Xbox management at Microsoft proceeded to sabotage it with a decline in compelling exclusives, and attempt to mimic Nintendo's strategy with Xbox Live Avatars, and the Kinect peripheral, which while successful at first, ultimately ended up as a short-lived fad, all while Sony was catching up rapidly both in sales and mind-share. This culminated into the disastrous pre-launch of the Xbox One, which seeked to demand tighter control on how users can play games, as well as a shady mandatory Kinect requirement with potential spying worries.

Sure the RRoD was unfortunate, and the console's reputation deteriorated later in its life, but it still amazes me how much Microsoft got right with the Xbox 360. It took the philosophy that powered the Xbox, and simply did it better, and with great games, exclusives, services, and an iconic controller, Microsoft helped lead the way in modern gaming.
 

Honestly, 360 exclusive was never that great at the beginning because they were timed and went to ps3 for the most part due to Xbox 360 coming out first. What made 360 great was xbox live, price, controller and graphics/performance for 3rd party games were the best in regards to console.

xbox one x is kind of reliving what made 360 great in my opinion outside of price. 

Last edited by Snoopy - on 16 July 2019

I went ps1 - ps2 - x360. The early x360 was incredible, with a string of amazing games and a special mention has to go to Lost Odyssey.
I suffered the rrod getting out of vault 101 and had to rush out to buy an arcade, though much credit to MS, they fixed my other 360 within 3 weeks.
The release of Killzone 2 finally forced me to buy the PS3.



Maaaaaan, I didn't even like the Xbox brand. The only reason I bought was because the PS3 was too expensive and I had to replace my PS1 and PS2 multiple times (had to replace my 360 too--rrod, ya know). It wound up being my absolute favorite console of all time.

So much greatness that I had never experienced. Online play, downloadable games, friends lists, Achievements, Netflix, and of course a healthy library of great games.



I purchased 2 360's day one for myself and my brother. The online experience was top notch. Both our devices eventually experienced the RROD, my brother's happened early on and got the free fix, mine happened 3 years in and I just bought a new one when it conked out. The split screen on Halo 3 I enjoyed with my son and youngest brother (both new gamers I was in the process of training) which was some of the best gaming I've ever had. The 360 will always have a special place in my memories. The original Xbox was also a great device for me, but I didn't do any LAN.



...to avoid getting banned for inactivity, I may have to resort to comments that are of a lower overall quality and or beneath my moral standards.

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Bought one at release, got rrod, got fixed, rrod again, switched to ps3 as main console and cancelled XBL gold. I did get a new replacement after the second rrod, but that one failed as well.

I did get the HD-DVD drive with it, but it soon became clear blu-ray was winning the war. That was the final nail in the coffin for my 360 days. I did still use it for exclusives like Alan Wake, Halo 4 and Forza Horizon. Yet I would not risk multiplats in a system that might fail again any second.

It had the power, lacked stamina, both in hardware and worthwhile exclusives. By the time Kinect came out the system was pretty much idling for me while ps3 was firing on all cylinders.