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Recently, we got hold of a launch Xbox 360 that had never been powered on before. First, we unboxed it for your viewing pleasure and now we're putting it to good use. See the original "Blades" dashboard on the original launch firmware, before we dive into the first part of our extensive look at EVERY launch game for Microsoft's greatest console.

00:00 - Introduction
01:47 - The Beginnings of Xbox 360
03:04 - The Blades - Freshly Captured for You
08:43 - Chapter 1 - First Party Games
11:46 - Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo
17:03 - Every Party
19:40 - Chapter 2 - Ridge Racer 6
21:57 - Tetris: The Grand Master Ace
24:34 - Chapter 3 - PC Ports/Call of Duty 2
33:32 - Quake 4
37:52 - Condemned
42:14 - Need for Speed: Most Wanted
47:56 - Outro for Part 1

 

[Signalis]

Glad the thumbnail doesn't look like mugshots of convicted pedophiles.

 

[HRK69]

Glad the thumbnail doesn't look like mugshots of convicted pedophiles.

It always motivates me to book a dentist appointment

 

[Drew1440]

If Microsoft ever release a 'classic' version of the 360, I hope it uses the Blades dashboard.

 

[Senua]

PGR3 was my fav launch title, so fucking good

Glad the thumbnail doesn't look like mugshots of convicted pedophiles.

It always motivates me to book a dentist appointment

 

[kevboard]

the blueprint for every modern console.

the Xbox 360 was the last revolutionary console... we have plateaued ever since then.

downloadable games, achievements, cross-game party chat, background downloads while playing games, background music playback, a sidebar that can be called up at any time to invite friends, start a chat or look up your achievements or background downloads...

if you took a launch day Xbox 360, gave it modern hardware and keep everything else the same, it would still not feel out of place in the modern era.

 

[Det]

the blueprint for every modern console.

the Xbox 360 was the last revolutionary console... we have plateaued ever since then.

downloadable games, achievements, cross-game party chat, background downloads while playing games, background music playback, a sidebar that can be called up at any time to invite friends, start a chat or look up your achievements or background downloads...

if you took a launch day Xbox 360, gave it modern hardware and keep everything else the same, it would still not feel out of place in the modern era.

This will be a rhetoric used by Xbox widows for the next 40 years.

 

[kevboard]

This will be a rhetoric used by Xbox widows for the next 40 years.

it's simply... the truth.
it literally introduced nearly everything modern consoles still do in nearly the exact form they still do it.

I know you apparently have been touched inappropriately by Microsoft as a kid, given the posts I've seen by you, but even someone with M.D.S. should be able to agree that consoles have not evolved much beyond the Xbox 360, and are just faster versions of it... although, the PS4 and Xbox One were much slower in some ways actually. but at least current gen consoles run decently quick again.

 

[Det]

it's simply... the truth.
it literally introduced nearly everything modern consoles still do in nearly the exact form they still do it.

I know you apparently have been touched inappropriately by Microsoft as a kid, given the posts I've seen by you, but even someone with M.D.S. should be able to agree that consoles have not evolved much beyond the Xbox 360, and are just faster versions of it... although, the PS4 and Xbox One were much slower in some ways actually. but at least current gen consoles run decently quick again.

The cancer that created online P2P, the console is the server, paid.

And this jingoistic rhetoric that normalized paid online P2P. Xbox created it, and its trained fanboys transformed it into a "glorious future."

 

[kevboard]

The cancer that created online P2P, the console is the server, paid.

what do peer-to-peer connections have to do with this?

if you incorrectly use P2P to mean pay to play, well that was introduced with the original Xbox not the 360.

 

[Sticks]

 

[Det]

what do peer-to-peer connections have to do with this?

if you incorrectly use P2P to mean pay to play, well that was introduced with the original Xbox not the 360.

The cancer that created online P2P, the console is the server, paid.

And this jingoistic rhetoric that normalized paid online P2P. Xbox created it, and its trained fanboys transformed it into a "glorious future."

Then they say you're cult followers who just repeat the script without thinking, and you don't know where that came from...
It vomits "supreme Xbox live" and can't understand P2P in the context of a network.

 

[Darsxx82]

First a thread reminiscing about the Master System and now this one about Digital Foundry with the Xbox 360... Too many nostalgic moments during the Christmas season when I'm more sensitive

 

[Witchilich]

the blueprint for every modern console.

the Xbox 360 was the last revolutionary console... we have plateaued ever since then.

downloadable games, achievements, cross-game party chat, background downloads while playing games, background music playback, a sidebar that can be called up at any time to invite friends, start a chat or look up your achievements or background downloads...

if you took a launch day Xbox 360, gave it modern hardware and keep everything else the same, it would still not feel out of place in the modern era.

the blueprint for every modern console.

the Atari Jaguar was the last revolutionary console... we have plateaued ever since then.

downloadable games, achievements, cross-game party chat, background downloads while playing games, background music playback, a sidebar that can be called up at any time to invite friends, start a chat or look up your achievements or background downloads...

if you took a launch day Atari Jaguar, gave it modern hardware and keep everything else the same, it would still not feel out of place in the modern era.

 

[Panajev2001a]

​

Recently, we got hold of a launch Xbox 360 that had never been powered on before. First, we unboxed it for your viewing pleasure and now we're putting it to good use. See the original "Blades" dashboard on the original launch firmware, before we dive into the first part of our extensive look at EVERY launch game for Microsoft's greatest console.

00:00 - Introduction
01:47 - The Beginnings of Xbox 360
03:04 - The Blades - Freshly Captured for You
08:43 - Chapter 1 - First Party Games
11:46 - Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo
17:03 - Every Party
19:40 - Chapter 2 - Ridge Racer 6
21:57 - Tetris: The Grand Master Ace
24:34 - Chapter 3 - PC Ports/Call of Duty 2
33:32 - Quake 4
37:52 - Condemned
42:14 - Need for Speed: Most Wanted
47:56 - Outro for Part 1

One of the best launches by a long mile. Could have been a great victory if they had worried more about quality control before launch and, as a user, if they actually did make storage mandatory with every console and user replaceable. Built-in WiFi and maybe HDMI would have not hurt either, having to pay 79€ Euros for the WiFi adapter was a bit much. Knowing something like Oblivion was going to come out, games like Gears and Condemned, and the Jeff Minter music visualiser (golden) were big sellers for me.
BC was a bit of a hit and miss as even a big sellers like Halo / Halo 2 had glitches.

 

[kevboard]

the blueprint for every modern console.

the Atari Jaguar was the last revolutionary console... we have plateaued ever since then.

downloadable games, achievements, cross-game party chat, background downloads while playing games, background music playback, a sidebar that can be called up at any time to invite friends, start a chat or look up your achievements or background downloads...

if you took a launch day Atari Jaguar, gave it modern hardware and keep everything else the same, it would still not feel out of place in the modern era.

the 360 matches the 64bits of the Jaguar! and it has 360 in the name, so it's clearly 360 times better than the Jaguar!

 

[hououinkyouma00]

I'm

This will be a rhetoric used by Xbox widows for the next 40 years.

Heres the thing kevboard may be a fanboy (unless I'm mixing him up with someone else but I don't think I am) but what he's saying isn't wrong.

Ultimately I think Microsoft have done more negative things to the industry then positive but I don't see any lies in the post. These are all things outside of maybe the music thing that are standard and will stay standard going forward.

Negatives don't erase positives whether you want them to or not.

 

[adamsapple]

The cancer that created online P2P, the console is the server, paid.

And this jingoistic rhetoric that normalized paid online P2P. Xbox created it, and its trained fanboys transformed it into a "glorious future."

Then they say you're cult followers who just repeat the script without thinking, and you don't know where that came from...
It vomits "supreme Xbox live" and can't understand P2P in the context of a network.

Yeah, we get it, you're very edgy..

 

[Calverz]

The 360 was amazing back in the day. And it still is.

 

[kevboard]

I'm

Heres the thing kevboard may be a fanboy (unless I'm mixing him up with someone else but I don't think I am) but what he's saying isn't wrong.

Ultimately I think Microsoft have done more negative things to the industry then positive but I don't see any lies in the post. These are all things outside of maybe the music thing that are standard and will stay standard going forward.

Negatives don't erase positives whether you want them to or not.

I am not a fanboy. speaking the truth is however apparently often considered being a fanboy on here.

hence how Digital Foundry is constantly either Nintendo haters or Nintendo shills, depending on which retard is offended by the most recent video of theirs.

I too have been called a Nintendo fanboy here, then the next week after I was a Nintendo hater because Nintendo fanboys get an aneurysm whenever the truth is spoken out loud, that the Switch 2 is only a bit more powerful than the PS4...

 

[hououinkyouma00]

I am not a fanboy. speaking the truth is however apparently often considered being a fanboy on here.

hence how Digital Foundry is constantly either Nintendo haters or Nintendo shills, depending on which retard is offended by the most recent video of theirs.

I too have been called a Nintendo fanboy here, then the next week after I was a Nintendo hater because Nintendo fanboys get an aneurysm whenever the truth is spoken out loud, that the Switch 2 is only a bit more powerful than the PS4...

As I said I could be mistaken.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

I got one in late 2012, and still used and liked it way more than the PS3 I got at the start of the same year. I feel like I spent more time downloading updates on my PS3 than playing games.

Kameo proved to me, without a doubt, that giving Rare to MS was one of the savviest decisions Nintendo ever made.

360 deserves love just for having so many Cave shooters. It's a crime that Mushihimesama Futari was console-esclusive for it, and only released in Japan too.

 

[Sephimoth]

I do love Johns vids and DF Retro (I wish he'd do more), but do find it funny when his voice cracks on random words

 

[LordCBH]

The Blades are one of the best console interfaces of all time, and every interface MS has done since was significantly worse. I'll never understand why they had to monkey with it for what feels like every year. I'll never forgive them for selling paid themes and then making them utterly useless by completely changing the dash. Scumbags.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

I do love Johns vids and DF Retro (I wish he'd do more), but do find it funny when his voice cracks on random words

John really is the best part of DF by far. His DF Retro videos are always great and I watch them even when it's a game I don't care about which is rare.

 

[Chukhopops]

Buying a 360 and plugging into a brand new 720p LCD projector with the YUV cable was one of the last "holy shit" moments in terms of technology advances.

I wouldn't say things have plateaued since then but the gap coming from the GameCube was simply gigantic.

Although most launch games were kinda mid (except NFS MW) and the console really took a few months to take off.

 

[adamsapple]

Buying a 360 and plugging into a brand new 720p LCD projector with the YUV cable was one of the last "holy shit" moments in terms of technology advances.

I appreciated that it supported unconventional inputs like VGA, connecting it to a PC monitor was a very cheap way to get HD over our then-480p TV.

Games like Dead Rising really made it damn near impossible to play in SD.

 

[Physiognomonics]

It was a beast and had great games at the beginning.

 

[Disco Dave]

I do love Johns vids and DF Retro (I wish he'd do more), but do find it funny when his voice cracks on random words

I liked Johns DF Retro videos until the Hogwarts Legacy incident. Fucking coward hiding behind pathetic excuses like "children's bullshit" and he doesn't like open world games just to appease his purple forum mates.

Haven't watched a DF video since.

 

[Witchilich]

Yeah, we get it, you're very edgy..

There is nothing wrong with blaming Microsoft for popularizing paying to play online.

 

[kruis]

Buying a 360 and plugging into a brand new 720p LCD projector with the YUV cable was one of the last "holy shit" moments in terms of technology advances.

I wouldn't say things have plateaued since then but the gap coming from the GameCube was simply gigantic.

Although most launch games were kinda mid (except NFS MW) and the console really took a few months to take off.

My first thought when I booted up my launch Xbox 360 with Gotham Racing was: WTF is happening? Is my Xbox 360 going to explode?

The sheer noise coming from the DVD player when running a game from disc was absolutely ridiculous. That was not a good first impression at all.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Never knew there was a Tetris launch game. Had to google it and it was a Japanese region only game.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

I bought a new in box Xbox 360 a couple months back, not so much because of the 20th anniversary, but because it's been sooooo long since I've played any of its games and because I'm sick of the shoddy remasters. As I've said in other threads, it'll never be my favorite console of all time or anywhere near it, but it's a system that did, for all of its low-powered hardware faults, have a lot of genuinely great games.

The one I bought was the 4gb version of the Xbox 360 Slim. It's way more reliable than the original model (including the Jaspers and the like), doesn't lose any of the USB ports like the E model does, and the 4gb model comes in matte plastic instead of that godawful gloss that Microsoft was obsessed with at the time. Throw in a bigger hard drive and you've got the best version of the system to own. I've got it running at 720p, piped into a Retrotink 4K, and it really does look massively sharper than it ever did on LCD HDTVs at the time. I think you can make an argument for using a CRT filter with the 360, since it did launch at the tail end of that era. That also goes a long way towards making the games look better.

It's been a fun ride so far - there's quite a few games that I never played back in the day, or that I felt deserved another chance, so I've been spending a lot of time just rediscovering shit. And it's been really fun.

 

[DonJimbo]

the 360 such an amazing console sadly ms ruined everything afterwards

 

[Zathalus]

Fond memories of this thing. Truly felt like a leap forward in the functionality a console has compared to before.

 

[Sticks]

I liked Johns DF Retro videos until the Hogwarts Legacy incident. Fucking coward hiding behind pathetic excuses like "children's bullshit" and he doesn't like open world games just to appease his purple forum mates.

Haven't watched a DF video since.

But he loves Metroid Prime 4

 

[daninthemix]

He was pretty harsh on Kameo and COD2. Too harsh, actually.

 

[Det]

Yeah, we get it, you're very edgy..

Yeah, imagine being an idiot defending paywalls even for watching YouTube on Xbox 360, not to mention online, for an entire generation.
You guys need to learn to stop with the retarded hyperbole, the dreams of a "glorious past" with the Xbox 360, and other nonsense from fundamentalist cults.

This retarded talk of an Xbox 360 "revolution" is nowhere near true when the competition offered free online play.

Today, thanks to Xbox fanboys defending this, and Microsoft; even Nintendo charges for online play.
You buy a video game console and still have to rent the rest of it (MP), thanks to Xbox and the "revolutionary" defenders of paid online play.

 

[adamsapple]

Today, thanks to Xbox fanboys defending this, and Microsoft; even Nintendo charges for online play.

Xbox fanboys defending it led to Sony and Nintendo opting to use paid online services?

Damn, these Xbox fanboys sound pretty almighty to force other corporations with bigger market share to bend their knees.

He was pretty harsh on Kameo and COD2. Too harsh, actually.

CoD 2 on console was a damn near revolution back in the day.

 

[calistan]

There is nothing wrong with blaming Microsoft for popularizing paying to play online.

When you look at how the Xbox 360 worked online compared to other consoles, it was pretty clear that you were actually getting something for the money. It was very different from its rivals.

The sender bears the cost of online data, so anything that took major bandwidth or development work was off the menu for other consoles in the early days. Demos, parties, cross-game invites, etc. Now they've all caught up, but they all require you to pay for it.

 

[Fbh]

Pretty crazy how much COD evolved visually during that gen, all while improving performance too

 

[MrCunningham]

Using a unboxed 2005 launch model Xbox 360, just makes me think... wouldn't it have been funny if it RROD'd for John?

 

[PlayStaytion]

Siding with Xbox again, Brother Ewww!!!

 

[Witchilich]

When you look at how the Xbox 360 worked online compared to other consoles, it was pretty clear that you were actually getting something for the money. It was very different from its rivals.

The sender bears the cost of online data, so anything that took major bandwidth or development work was off the menu for other consoles in the early days. Demos, parties, cross-game invites, etc. Now they've all caught up, but they all require you to pay for it.

And yet Steam does not charge you for playing online.

 

[calistan]

And yet Steam does not charge you for playing online.

That's a fact, but Steam isn't selling you subsidised hardware. I was simply pointing out that there was a huge difference in quality, at the time, between the paid service on Xbox and the free ones on PS3 and Wii.

We'll see if anything changes on the consoles if/when Steam appears as an alternative storefront.

 

[nowhat]

I liked Johns DF Retro videos until the Hogwarts Legacy incident. Fucking coward hiding behind pathetic excuses like "children's bullshit" and he doesn't like open world games just to appease his purple forum mates.

Haven't watched a DF video since.

I find it very funny how Hogwarts Legacy has become this some litmus test for wokeness or lack thereof...

...when the actual game is, by the usual metrics, woke as fuck. Hell, one of the main NPCs is trans and there a whole subquest line about it. But hey. Keep on culture warring.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

First a thread reminiscing about the Master System and now this one about Digital Foundry with the Xbox 360... Too many nostalgic moments during the Christmas season when I'm more sensitive

Where is this master system thread

 

[Darsxx82]

Where is this master system thread

Analysis Retro Hardware  Thread 'Sega Master System at 40..The origins, what went well, and what didn't..'

Saturday at 11:40 AM

An interesting look at the history of the Sega Master System which celebrated its 40th birthday recently...

• RAIDEN1
• Replies: 61
• Forum: Gaming Discussion

• 
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[Disco Dave]

I find it very funny how Hogwarts Legacy has become this some litmus test for wokeness or lack thereof...

...when the actual game is, by the usual metrics, woke as fuck. Hell, one of the main NPCs is trans and there a whole subquest line about it. But hey. Keep on culture warring.

Okay, big picture time.

Did John Linneman play children's games before his Hogwarts Legacy outburst? Yes.

Has John Linneman covered children's games since his Hogwarts Legacy outburst? Yes.

Did John Linneman play open world games before his Hogwarts Legacy outburst? Yes.

Has John Linneman covered open world games since his Hogwarts Legacy outburst? Yes.

Did John say he doesn't like either to avoid covering Hogwarts Legacy? Yes.

But hey. Im the culture warrior, amiright?

 

[nowhat]

Okay, big picture time.

Did John Linneman play children's games before his Hogwarts Legacy outburst? Yes.

Has John Linneman covered children's games since his Hogwarts Legacy outburst? Yes.

Did John Linneman play open world games before his Hogwarts Legacy outburst? Yes.

Has John Linneman covered open world games since his Hogwarts Legacy outburst? Yes.

Did John say he doesn't like either to avoid covering Hogwarts Legacy? Yes.

But hey. Im the culture warrior, amiright?

Ok, bigger picture time. Has John covered every game ever? No. Do I give a fuck? No. Has he said some things on Ex-Twitter that I may disagree with? Maybe, I don't follow Twitter, but again, zero fucks given.

If he makes an interesting video, like this was, I'll watch it. I really don't care for the drama. And just to reiterate, Hogwarts Legacy is the funniest hill to die on for the anti-wokers. FFS, the game gives you two body type options and everyone refers to you as "them". The fact that people are still so up and arms about the game is really mind-boggling.