My Life as a Gamer: Xbox 360

March 2007 was a momentous month for me. I had just turned 19 and I moved into a new house for university. My first piece of furniture was an Xbox 360. It had “fallen off the back of a truck” and it’s still the 360 I have and play till this day. I bought it from a guy at a market with Kameo and Project Gotham Racing 3 included. I went home to my partner’s house, hooked it up to her TV and played PGR3 all afternoon with her housemates (she was at work).

Project Gotham Racing 3

Mass Effect 2

 

 

 

 

 

I remember saying that day, “how can graphics get any better?”, much the same as I had said nearly a decade earlier. How naive.

The Xbox 360 has had a long life cycle. When I look back the console has never felt dated. Games like Mass Effect 2, Portal 2 and Halo 4 have helped to continually bolster the consoles success, while adding to the console’s reputation as one of the best, if not the best, platform for online gaming. Yes, I’m an online gamer. Goofy headset and all.

Join me next time when I finally buy a gaming laptop.

My Life as a Gamer: Xbox

For Christmas 2002 our parents bought us an Xbox. Losing our shit ensued. I think at this stage in life my parents had more or less accepted that I was always going to love video games, although I was truly taken aback that they went out and bought one. What followed was me waking up before school to sneak in time playing Project Gotham Racing and Halo.

Project Gotham Racing

Halo

 

 

 

 

 

Halo and Halo 2 are the epitome of what makes videogames great. To enter such an immersive environment, topped off with seamless level design and enthralling combat, is a credit to Bungie. The Halo universe has expanded beyond the video games and into books, movies, TV shows and even music. Halo is now a multibillion dollar empire akin to the likes of Star Wars or James Bond. Not bad for a developer that up until the year 2000 was developing Macintosh games.

After getting the Xbox my Dad joined in for a while. I think it was more to understand my addiction than to try and enjoy it. He and I would stay up at night to play racing games with the steering wheels and pedal peripherals he had bought. I really enjoyed it and although it only lasted for a brief while, I’ll always be thankful for him playing along. And yes I always won.

The last game I bought for the Xbox was Need for Speed: Carbon in 2006. I remember asking my Mum to buy it for me and specifically requesting she got the Xbox version and not accidentally buy the 360 version. For me the original Xbox embedded the gamer ethos into my teens and formed the link between me as a kid gamer and me playing games into my 20’s.

Next week I head off to university and buy myself an Xbox 360.