+Mystic MVC Posted December 30, 2009 MVC Share Posted December 30, 2009 Vital statsReleased in 2005, $399 pricetag, 20GB HDD, DVD drive, 34 million+ sold. History There were many reasons to doubt the Xbox 360 upon its launch. It wasn't Microsoft's fault, they'd made a good first effort with the Xbox, and Halo was clearly a juggernaut, but the PS2's overwhelming success made Sony look nigh invincible in the space. Once the specs started pouring in for the PS3 like 1080p games, Blu-ray, and PSX / PS2 backwards compatibility, the Xbox 360 was starting to sound like the Dreamcast of its generation. But then it wasn't. It beat the Wii and PS3 to market by a full year, managed to keep a price point that was significantly lower than the PS3, and as previously promised PS3 exclusives started to migrate to the increasingly intrenched 360 it was clear that Microsoft had pulled off a major coupe. If it had merely been a cheaper, earlier version of the PS3 it might've eventually fallen by the wayside, but Microsoft's audacious approach to charging people to play online with Xbox Live Gold actually ended up as the console's greatest strength, and a key to its staying power. Editor's take You don't remember a console for the chips inside or the case design, but the games you played. For me those games were Gears of War and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I bought the 360 in 2006, and always felt a little out of step with what my friends were playing -- particularly as the catalog has ballooned in 2008 and 2009. But these two games forged the perfect intersection with my Xbox Live friends list. I spent untold hours hopping from match to match with a group of peers, shouting cries of despair into my wired headset as I continually fulfilled my role as "the weakest link" on my team. Those two games were everything I'd ever tried to emulate growing up with a game of laser tag, a pair of walkie talkies or an elaborately constructed Lego battlefield, and I got to share them in real time with real people thanks to technologies so complicated and market forces so beyond me that I'd really prefer not to even think about them. - Paul Miller Honorable mentions * Sony PlayStation 2 - If you're going by sheer sales, the PS2 is the clear winner of the decade. The console not only dominated living rooms and popular imagination in a way only recently matched by Nintendo's Wii, but the depth, breadth and quality of its catalog is one to be envied by every console since the SNES. We went with the Xbox 360 for its innovation in online play, but we still have a nice backlog of PS2 titles to play through -- perhaps enough to get us through the next decade. * Nintendo Wii - Its low-end graphics and dearth of fully realized 3rd party titles has made it the bane of the self-styled "core gamer," but the implications of Nintendo's revolutionary motion-controlled gaming are hard to overstate. The fact that Microsoft and Sony are scrambling to build their own motion control answers to Nintendo's juggernaut should be proof enough that we've only seen the start of Wii-style gameplay... and Wii-style injuries. Engadget Looking back on MS's foray into gaming, who would have thought that just into the second generation of consoles, MS would be right alongside of Sony actually competing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fhpuqrgrpgvirzhpujbj Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 Sadly I never played a PS2 (I had an Xbox and a Gamecube during that era). I definitely enjoy my 360 though. I don't mind paying for live if it helps filter out some people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MR_Candyman Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 I hate paying for live gold, so I don't. The unfortunate thing is to go into the forza marketplace you need to have a gold membership, grrr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sethos Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 Well deserved (Y) I agree, it's amazing how fast Microsoft turned that ship around, the Xbox wasn't a flop but it wasn't the massive box office hit as it could have been and now, the second generation of console they release and they are doing quite okay - Especially looking at the competition, into their third generation and they aren't even doing any better, especially considering their second generation was a massive success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Star Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 We went with the Xbox 360 for its innovation in online play, but we still have a nice backlog of PS2 titles to play through -- perhaps enough to get us through the next decade. :rolleyes: PS2 should have gotten that spot due to the fact that its the number one selling console and still is selling today to thousands of people a week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thealexweb Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 Why is the iPhone on that list, why its still debatable whether its a smartphone or not. It brought nothing new to the table. Android should really be there in its place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sethos Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 :rolleyes:PS2 should have gotten that spot due to the fact that its the number one selling console and still is selling today to thousands of people a week! Not really, there's more to it than just sales and the 360 had a lot more to offer this decade than the PS2 had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts