20 Years Ago, the Xbox 360 Changed Gaming Forever

It has been 20 years since the release of the Xbox 360, a console that would change gaming forever. In 2001, Microsoft made a splashy debut in the gaming scene with the original Xbox. Although Microsoft had dipped its toes into the gaming industry before this with PC software, the original Xbox would be a bold and definitive commitment to trying to compete with the likes of PlayStation and Nintendo. For a brief time, Microsoft likely also expected to compete with Sega as well, but the Dreamcast was killed earlier in 2001 and opened the door for a new gaming giant.

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Xbox made waves with killer apps like Halo and continued to make a name for itself with other great exclusive games and of course, Xbox Live. Ultimately, Xbox wasn’t able to go totally toe to toe with PlayStation 2, given Sony had a year-long head start and had timed exclusivity over some incredibly important games like the three mainline Grand Theft Auto titles released during that generation. However, the tides turned rather significantly with the Xbox 360’s release on November 22nd, 2005, allowing Microsoft’s brand to become a household name during the late 2000s and early 2010s.

How Xbox 360 Defined Modern Gaming As We Know It

Xbox 360’s biggest innovation was how it rocketed online gaming forward. Building off of the original Xbox, Xbox Live was a day-one feature, allowing players to play games online with each other. However, unlike the original Xbox, every game had some kind of feature related to Xbox Live. Xbox Live was no longer just about playing with others, but having an online ecosystem. All of that began with the introduction of a feature known as “achievements”, something that would eventually go on to become a staple in gaming.

Whenever players completed a specific challenge in a game, they’d unlock an achievement that would earn them points and allow them to display their accomplishment on their profile. It not only rewarded players for their efforts and challenged them to do more outside-the-box feats, but also added a bit of competition among players. This would become an integral part of Xbox’s identity and lead to a niche group of players known as achievement hunters who sought to get as many in-game achievements as possible.

Steam and PlayStation would add similar concepts in the following years, with the latter labeling their version as “trophies”. Xbox would also continue to expand its take on achievements by allowing you to earn them on select PC titles and even mobile games, but it was by far one of the most fun additions at the time.

One of the other defining day one Xbox Live features for Xbox 360 was a wholly digital marketplace. This marketplace had free game demos for Xbox 360 games, negating the need for things like demo discs, as well as profile pictures, dashboard themes, game add-ons, and much more. Indie games also got a nice spotlight, as independent developers could release their games for cheap on Xbox 360 through this storefront.

This marketplace even led to some big, bold moves, such as when Xbox executive Peter Moore famously announced Grand Theft Auto IV on stage at E3 with a tattoo of the game’s logo on his arm. Moore promised that players would be able to enjoy episodic content for the game, available as a timed exclusive for the console through Xbox Live. This was the company’s way of striking back at PlayStation for having such a strong hold over Rockstar’s games during the PS2 era, and Microsoft reportedly offered up $50 million for that lucrative GTA 4 deal.

Similarly, Xbox helped usher in Call of Duty’s golden age by having timed exclusive DLCs, also available through the Xbox Marketplace. Two of the biggest franchises in gaming bolstered not just the console, but also this innovative new approach to distributing content to players. Microsoft also showed it wasn’t messing around by investing such large sums of money in these deals.

While it would take a few years for Xbox to eventually allow you the ability to purchase full retail games, Xbox 360 launched with downloadable Xbox Live Arcade titles. These were smaller, cheaper games that players could download straight to their console. It was revolutionary, and this wasn’t limited to just games. In 2006, Xbox launched the ability to buy movies and TV shows through its marketplace, eventually amassing one of the largest digital film/TV libraries out there. Initially, you were limited to lower resolutions and had to download everything, but by 2009, things were upgraded to support 1080p and video streaming.

In 2008, Xbox made the bombshell announcement that it was also bringing Netflix to Xbox 360. This meant people could stream Netflix’s library straight from their console, something that blew a lot of minds at the time. Not only did you not have to download these films, but you also didn’t have to wait for Netflix to mail you a disc in their signature red envelope. It was Microsoft’s big attempt to prove that Xbox could be more than just a game console, it could be your entire entertainment center in one box.

That same year, Xbox added a game-changing new feature known as party chat. For the first time on a console, players could talk to each other whether or not they were playing the same game. It was a chance to be social with your friends without having to be in the same game lobbies. It’s hard to imagine gaming on a console without this feature now, especially since PlayStation would eventually adopt this idea for its own consoles.

Xbox 360’s iteration of Xbox Live paved the way for all of the things we consider the norm now when it comes to online console gaming. Party chat, achievements, and a massive marketplace for games and more. It was all interconnected, and Microsoft spent the whole generation experimenting with what the future of console gaming could be.

Not only could you watch movies and listen to music through Xbox Live, but you could also browse social media like Facebook and Twitter, or even something more goofy, like order a pizza through a Pizza Hut app located on the console itself. Of course, some of these ideas became pretty useless with the rise of smartphones, but it showed there was an effort to make your console the one-stop shop for all of your online needs.

Ultimately, the Xbox 360 is one of the most important devices of all time because of everything it gave us. Not only did it propel online gaming forward, but it redefined our living rooms. It was this magnificent all-in-one system. 20 years later, Xbox is sort of on the ropes with rising hardware prices, game cancellations, and studio closures, but maybe there’s a chance that it can win audiences back over next generation with yet another innovative idea that reminds us of the glory days of Xbox 360.

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