Xbox 360 Appreciation Thread

[earlymodernsteve]

8 hours ago, Dr Nookie said:

Castle Crashers is great fun - I’ve played loads with both kids. 
There’s cartoony violence - which you’ll have to judge is appropriate or not. Some heads do roll, but it’s all done with great humour. Terrific game.

This is one of the games being delisted this week, isn't it? Worth getting it if so.

[JamesC]

2 hours ago, MattyP said:

Picked some more racers up today which I never got around to playing back in the day. Split Second and Test Drive Unlimited 2.

 

Also picked up a near mint copy of PGR4.

 

The whole lot cost less than £8. There seems to be a real drought of these type of games on recent consoles so just getting a little collection of them together to enjoy on the 360. Some are even BC on the Xbox One which is handy.

 

Think it made me realise in the thread on the main discussion group that some games will eventually be delisted from the digital stores so just picking up some discs while they are still around and accessible for a reasonable price.

Split Second is amazing.  Blur is another great one that's worth a look if you don't have it. 

One I rarely hear mentioned is F1 Race Stars which is a really fun kart racer from Code masters. 

[MattyP]

17 minutes ago, JamesC said:

Split Second is amazing.  Blur is another great one that's worth a look if you don't have it. 

One I rarely hear mentioned is F1 Race Stars which is a really fun kart racer from Code masters. 

Yes have blur, PGR3 and 4, Sega Rally (Revo), Need For Speed Shift 2 (love the legends DLC on that!), Forza 3 & 4 (two of the best in the series IMHO). Plenty to play to be honest. 

 

I am actually loving my time with the 360 TBH and personally I think it was my favourite console just before gaming went a bit crazy building monetisation strategies into seemingly almost every release. 

 

Such a variety of great gaming to be had. MS were firing on all cylinders with the 360 IMHO with a great range of full price games and arcade games too. 

 

Seems a lot of MS's franchisee lost their way a bit post 360.... Gears finished the story arc on 3 and after that not really sure what is happening in 4 and 5. Same with Halo. They shamefully dropped PGR series in favour of Forza Horizon - different games completely and miss the tight focus of these with the city based circuits. 

 

Also if I'm honest do prefer the 360 pad to anything else well OK the D-Pad was a bit rubbish but still find it really comfy to play on with long sessions.

[JamesC]

Yeah, the 360 is definitely a contender for my favourite ever console. Certainly top 3.

[SeanR]

ooh, so close!

 

[MattyP]

15 minutes ago, SeanR said:

ooh, so close!

 

I did like the Dreamcast but difficult one that Dreamcast did lots of innovative things and had some amazing games in its short lifespan. I mean PGR series came from MSR. Shenmue was a staggering achievement don't think I've ever been so immersed in another world since - felt like I was living in a virtual Japan at the time!  It goes on....Also the VMUs and online out of the box it was definitely ahead of its time.

 

But yeah think DC and 360 are my favourite consoles. MS also gave me the opportunity to play and experience Radiant Silvergun without paying extortionate money for the Saturn version. So Kudos for that! (I'm still rubbish at it though!)

[Vimster]

16 hours ago, MattyP said:

Picked some more racers up today which I never got around to playing back in the day. Split Second and Test Drive Unlimited 2.

 

Also picked up a near mint copy of PGR4.

 

The whole lot cost less than £8. There seems to be a real drought of these type of games on recent consoles so just getting a little collection of them together to enjoy on the 360. Some are even BC on the Xbox One which is handy.

 

Think it made me realise in the thread on the main discussion group that some games will eventually be delisted from the digital stores so just picking up some discs while they are still around and accessible for a reasonable price.

Modern consoles would benefit from a tight circuit-based racer like PGR4, preferably with the same variety of events. Forza Horizon 5 was a massive disappointment, too close a retread to 4, the sprawling nature of it put me right off too. I know FH has fast travel (which you have to pay for with in-game currency) but just picking events off a menu can't be beaten for simplicity and ease of play. 

 

Having said that, I tried playing TDU2 on the PS3 a couple of years back and found that time hadn't been kind to it. The 30fps was not great, but the open world felt really archaic after the likes of FH and The Crew, plus the whole lifestyle thing was hilariously cheap and nasty. Mind you, that may be entertaining to some. 

[Shimmyhill]

Any 360 experts here… mine is playing up, after 3 days of updating it (and everything seems slow, maybe it just was?) I can’t actually get it to do anything as it just freezes, im talking in menus etc as ive not managed to download a game to it yet  

 

Its one of the newer slim ones, has a small amount of HDD space on it and no extra drive - I thought it was meant to be a reliable model and yet its the first 360 ive ever had die  

 

As for the 360, its either best ever or second, between it and the SNES for me and pretty much interchangeable! 

[Nick R]

1 minute ago, Shimmyhill said:

Any 360 experts here… mine is playing up, after 3 days of updating it (and everything seems slow, maybe it just was?) I can’t actually get it to do anything as it just freezes, im talking in menus etc as ive not managed to download a game to it yet  

 

Its one of the newer slim ones, has a small amount of HDD space on it and no extra drive - I thought it was meant to be a reliable model and yet its the first 360 ive ever had die  

 

As for the 360, its either best ever or second, between it and the SNES for me and pretty much interchangeable! 

 

One thing you can try to help diagnose the problem: remove the internal HDD (very easy on the Slim), maybe also plug in and format a USB memory stick, and see how it runs.

 

If it works OK like that, it suggests that the issue is with the hard disk drive.

 

That's what I had to do: five years ago, my 360 refused to boot, just stuck on the logo screen while making a worrying clicking sound. Removed the HDD and plugged in a USB stick, and it worked fine. I was able to get a new (bigger!) replacement official 360 HDD - not sure how easy they are to get these days.

[Shimmyhill]

1 hour ago, Nick R said:

 

One thing you can try to help diagnose the problem: remove the internal HDD (very easy on the Slim), maybe also plug in and format a USB memory stick, and see how it runs.

 

If it works OK like that, it suggests that the issue is with the hard disk drive.

 

That's what I had to do: five years ago, my 360 refused to boot, just stuck on the logo screen while making a worrying clicking sound. Removed the HDD and plugged in a USB stick, and it worked fine. I was able to get a new (bigger!) replacement official 360 HDD - not sure how easy they are to get these days.

 

Is that the 4gb one, thats removable? 

[MattyP]

1 hour ago, Shimmyhill said:

 

Is that the 4gb one, thats removable? 

Think you can use any USB 2.0 memory stick (upto a max of 2TB). MS patched the firmware a while back to allow this. Although you will need to completely format the stick you want to use as it puts 360 partitions etc on it. 

 

https://support.xbox.com/en-GB/help/xbox-360/accessories/using-usb-flash-drive#:~:text=You can format and use,terabytes (TB) of content.

 

[Shimmyhill]

Good news….

 

 

It appears my console is knackered, I went into Norwich to have a look at the cracking litlte retro game shop I discovered recently and he sold me a 360 slim with 250gb HDD on its own so with my pad, psu and cables im up and running - this one zips along and doesn’t crash, its also shiny and in very good condition with a 6 month warranty!

 

My word Outrun is so good on this, worth still owing the console for this alone  Ohh, and it looks flicking stunning on an OLED!.

 

 

[Bangaio]

I’ve just sold my series s and plugged the 360 back in. I’m going to miss flight simulator (although I’ve been playing that on of since the 1980s so it’s time to let go) and not a lot else. The 360 is just so good and I can hammer outrun, pgr4 and blur all day long. If I miss anything I still have gamepass streaming so all good on that front! 
 

I don’t know how Microsoft managed to loose the magic feeling you get with the 360 but it’s such a purer system despite having loads of fluff installed on it. 

[acidbearboy]

Just having a little sort out of 360 stuff. Got a couple of AV cables in the for free thread. Is there any use for a wired headset or chat pad outside of Xbox Live?

[JamesC]

On 18/02/2023 at 16:21, acidbearboy said:

Just having a little sort out of 360 stuff. Got a couple of AV cables in the for free thread. Is there any use for a wired headset or chat pad outside of Xbox Live?

A headset can be used for issuing commands to your squad in Binary Domain. 

[JamesC]

I had a day off yesterday and got pretty much addicted to playing Captain America on the 360.

I picked up this game on a whim at a games event this weekend. I thought it might be quite fun but probably a bit clunky.

It's absolutely brilliant! I'm really having an amazing time with it.

It's very fast paced, full of action and very light on cut scenes. The story is a rollicking WW2 adventure and the whole thing does an amazing job of capturing those old Cap comics (it does a better job than the film in all honesty). The film actors all reprise their roles though, so the voice acting is top-notch.

Looking at some old reveiews, this seems to have scored a 6/10 pretty much across the board. I think it's been seriously underrated though, with points knocked off for no online multiplayer and bizarrely from IGN 'a lack of cinematic experience' (which I guess means not enough cut scenes?).

The game doesn't really do anything new but it's all very solid. The combat is really fun and I particularly like the nifty little acrobatic platforming bits, which really help sell Cap as a Super Soldier.

It's obvious the designers had a lot of love for the character and while I suspect it may have been made on a tight budget, as a single player adventure that's able to be finished over a weekend (I'm 11 missions in out of 18, playing for about 5 or 6 hours) this has a huge fun factor.

[Dr Nookie]

I think the amazing thing about the 360 is the games are obscenely cheap and it looks good enough still that you don’t have to make excuses for it. 
I play Halo 3 co-op with my son, or the 1v1 maps and it’s fantastic.  It also fits on the shelf under the telly which an X wouldn’t (we’d need that as don’t have a dvd player). 
i think I’ll still be playing it in 5 years. 

[Skull Commander]

I have been on a bit of a gangster film run at the moment and forgot that Mafia 2 was given some time ago on games with gold. It still looks remarkably good today (even if the gameplay is a bit thin). Makes you actually realise that gaming as a whole hasn't really made much advancements since the 360 era imo.

[Dr Nookie]

Tell you what, with all this talk I think I’m gonna go a pick up some 360 games this weekend. 

[strider]

Nice. Just find the 2005 Most Wanted for £1 in a charity shop! Amazed to see what it actually goes for.

[MattyP]

1 hour ago, strider said:

Nice. Just find the 2005 Most Wanted for £1 in a charity shop! Amazed to see what it actually goes for.

Good game that! Runs at 60fps too from what I remember!

[Hodge]

Been having a 360 revival over the past few months. 360 + Series S covers most bases for me especially when it comes to Sega's catalogue.

 

Invested in the 360 force feedback wheel with Wheel stand pro recently and Daytona USA plays awesome on this, love the FF effects. Picked Sega Rally Revo up again and with the Force feedback wheel, transforms this game. Gives your arms a work out when you set feedback to strong. Forgot how tough this game was to.

 

Also tried it with PGR4 which takes some getting used to after being so used to the pad. Still plays great though. Hydro thunder is another that surprisingly has force feedback which works well and is great for a quick bash 

 

Picked up Forza 4 again which is probably my personal fav out the series. Again plays great with force feedback.

 

Only one i was surprised that didn't have FF was Outrun 2 Online. Regardless still plays good with the wheel.

 

Managed to pick up Soul calibur IV to for a couple quid today which made me chuckle having the addition of Yoda. It's either alot more difficult than 1 or Im just bad at it now.

 

For me the 360 is still the greatest console of all time, such a varied library of games.

 

I got given a kinect sensor to recently, might have to spark it back up for Child of Eden 😁

[MagicalDrop]

I'm thinking of getting a 360 steering wheel for exactly those games. Is there a recommended one that actually clamps to a desk?

[Hodge]

You will want this one.  Force feedback wheels were very ltd for 360.  And trying to run 360 titles with FF via Series S/X backward compatibility is a no go either.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_Wireless_Racing_Wheel

 

CEX is your best bet if you cant find one local.

 

 

 

[Gabe]

1 hour ago, Hodge said:

You will want this one.  Force feedback wheels were very ltd for 360.  And trying to run 360 titles with FF via Series S/X backward compatibility is a no go either.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_Wireless_Racing_Wheel

 

I had that, even though I don't like racing games and had absolutely no need for it; more money than sense back then, clearly. I think I tried it once to see if it worked, but never used it again, and dumped it when I moved house a few years ago.

 

It was a nice bit of kit though, the wheel & base had a nice sturdiness to it.

[MagicalDrop]

2 hours ago, Hodge said:

You will want this one.  Force feedback wheels were very ltd for 360.  And trying to run 360 titles with FF via Series S/X backward compatibility is a no go either.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_Wireless_Racing_Wheel

 

CEX is your best bet if you cant find one local.

 

 

 

Thanks for this, there seems to be a few on FB Marketplace but none with the clamp. Which is the essential bit really. 

[acidbearboy]

Managed to bag a new and sealed copy of Ridge Racer Unbounded for £2.80 delivered. Got 5 or 6 sealed games for the Xbox 360 now but none of them seem particularly valuable. 

[Hodge]

2 hours ago, MagicalDrop said:

Thanks for this, there seems to be a few on FB Marketplace but none with the clamp. Which is the essential bit really. 

Yeah, got mine from CEX for £20 which included the clamp but had to buy psu of ebay seperate.

 

Depending on your setup and usage, these are well worth the money and motivates you more to use it as your not having to set it up and put it away all the time.  With the Wheel stand it just folds up and can tuck it away in the cupboard or corner of a room in a few seconds. You don`t need the clamp for it either.  But again depends on how much you plan on using it really if its worth the outlay.

 

https://wheelstandpro.com/product/wheel-stand-pro-for-microsoft-wireless-racing-wheel-for-xbox-360-v2/?region=uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MattyP]

3 hours ago, acidbearboy said:

Managed to bag a new and sealed copy of Ridge Racer Unbounded for £2.80 delivered. Got 5 or 6 sealed games for the Xbox 360 now but none of them seem particularly valuable. 

Interesting game but found it a bit hardgoing lots of in circuit short cuts etc. Certainly very different to a regular Ridge Racer release that's for sure! 

[acidbearboy]

Yeah I was curious to try it despite the mixed reviews. I don’t think I ever saw a copy in the wild during my 360 days.  Seemed rude not to buy it at that price.