Was the original Xbox the best Microsoft console?

[nuckles87]

After the Gamecube disappointed me and since I was biased against the PS2 for fanboy reasons, the original Xbox was my favorite console of that gen after the Dreamcast croaked. I have many fond memories of it.

But....no, Xbox 360 was better. If you want to argue in terms of purely the hardware, the Xbox was definitely more technically impressive for its generation than 360 was. It had the best graphics, hard drive, built in broadband and a DVD player all in the same box, something Dreamcast, PS2, and Gamecube couldn't say. They all had some of these elements, but the Xbox was the only one with all of them. And when the games USED all of these different functions together? No games on any other system came close.

But the Xbox's library was small compared to PS2. It was lacking in many genres, most infamously the JRPG. In the end it really was just a Halo playing machine that just so happened to have some awesome SEGA titles (like Panzer Dragoon Orta and Jet Set Radio Future) and quality PC ports PS2 could only dream of pulling off.

Xbox 360 took everything its predecessor did and made it better. Universal custom soundtracks, a fully fleshed out digital store, drastically improved online infrastructure and stuff like cross-gaming chat, wireless controllers, and a MUCH bigger, MUCH more diverse library with far more quality titles and exclusives that also includes most of the games that made the original Xbox awesome thanks to backwards compatibility. In the end the 360 benefits from much better technology and a lifespan that lasted twice as long. The original Xbox is cool, but to say it's better is to look at it through nostalgia goggles, I think.

Yes, Xbox 360 can also be associated with early DRM, pay to play models, and DLC (hell, the horse armor DLC for Oblivion...) but I don't think that can negate all of the great things it did.