Xbox Is Dead. Long Live the Xbox!

I finally did it. Everything related to the Xbox 360 has been packed up and prepared to sell so I can get some money toward the Xbox One. It seems strange since nothing is really changing, but I was sad to dismantle everything and pack it up. My 360 has been the host for some of my greatest gaming moments. I'm taking a trip down memory lane tonight and you're welcome to join me.


I barely remember the early days of my 360. Transitioning from the original didn't seem like a huge deal at the time, likely because it was competing against Warcraft for my affections. Looking at the launch titles, I don't even remember what I first played on the system. I'm guessing Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, but whatever impression the console's launch left me with was obviously lukewarm.

Over the next 2 years I was pretty average in my gaming. I played a bunch of single-player action games, a few RPGs, and whatever else looked good while browsing Gamestop, but nothing really stuck. Again, this may be attributed to my commitment to Warcraft, which took centerstage for my entertainment for a good 2 years.

Then 2006 rolled around, and one of the greatest games I'd ever played on Xbox continued its story on 360. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind was an unsung hero of the Xbox, offering a huge world, a rich story, and enough meat to keep you pushing past all the bugs and freezes that plagued the game. When I heard that Oblivion was going to be the 4th entry in The Elder Scrolls series, I'm pretty sure I jumped for joy. In the months preceding the game's release I started devouring every bit of info I could, including finally reading the Game Informers I'd been receiving for years as part of my Gamestop membership. Since then I've read every issue of Game Informer, and that magazine is the only reason why I don't want to see media completely moved to digital.

When Oblivion finally dropped I knew what to expect, but I had no idea what I was getting in to. Gone were the muddy, depressing colors of Morrowind's barren landscape and in its place was a gorgeous setting with personality tucked in to every corner. As I created my character I was overwhelmed with options, but the assassin career sounded fun with its emphasis on stealth - a true fit for someone who loves going Sam Fisher on everyone.

The story sucked me in right to the end. I so badly wanted to see a dragon in a video game, and Oblivion made my day. Fighting dragons wouldn't happen for a few more years, but that's coming up. I played and replayed that game so many times, making new characters and continually finding new areas to explore. Oblivion was the first open-world game to show how it's done, and since then it's rare to find a game that can even try standing in its shadow.

2007 was the year of change. I got married in November, I was getting to the end of college... there was a lot of stuff happening!

• Assassin's Creed blew my mind with its story and gameplay, finally cementing in my mind an adoration for stealth gameplay that circumvents using brute force. Plus the character's outfit and movements were simply amazing at the time, making you feel hardcore by association. I don't know if I'd cared about my characters looks before this point, but now if I'm stuck looking at a character through an entire game they'd better be worth looking at!
• Crackdown, for whatever reason, gave me a love of ragdoll physics that I hadn't experienced since playing Psi Ops on Xbox. Using explosives to send things careening across the map, watching enemies fall from huge heights, and just going nuts with a rocket launcher and a group of cars had me spending so much time accomplishing nothing that I actually forgot I hadn't beaten the it when I moved on to other games. Crackdown also seemed to be the turning point for games having a more parkour/go-anywhere level design and I love the game for it.
• Guitar Hero 2 was the first game I ever played for the sake of getting a higher score. Most games I'd play for the experience, but something about GH2 made me want to practice for hours until the entire world felt like it was scrolling like the game's notes. Although it isn't a major part of my gaming anymore, it did give me a healthier appreciation for trying to be the best at something that really doesn't matter.
• Turok taught me that you can't play a series forever. The game had originally released for Nintendo 64, and since then every game has gotten more outlandishly awful. Cyber dinos and an incoherent story should have been my cue to leave, but it wasn't until I played this atrocity that I realized I could cut ties with a game series and not regret it. Sure that was the last game they made, but I stand by my epiphany!
• Bioshock. Ohhhhh Bioshock. I'd played games for their story before, but I never devoured every bit of info in the game that could better help me understand the world. From the moment I arrived in Rapture, I was blown away by what had been created. Before this I'd always had a broad view of a game - sure there were things to read, listen to, and look at, but that's for those weirdos who read all 300 books in an Elder Scrolls game. And while some games still waste my time with extra fluff, I've always tried investing my time in learning about a game's world to see if the creators care enough about it to make it come alive outside of fighting the boss.
• Halo 3 made me hate gamers. I mean to the point where I almost stopped playing online altogether. Before playing this game online I'd always believed the gaming community was healthy and respectful. There were a few jerks in my experiences, but nothing too horrible. But after a week of playing Halo 3 I was completely done with the game.
  
  Little kids were swearing and using disgusting language that they barely understood. Grown men (I lump anyone 16+ in this) were picking empty fights online and threatening to come to someone's house as though it somehow made them not pathetic. And then the teabagging...
  
  At first I thought it was some fluke, because little kids ran rampant in the game. But every time I'd get killed, I'd have some moron dangling his virtual junk over my corpse. I could mute immature players, but I was stuck to deal with that immaturity during every match. I don't do immaturity, and all the stupid crap I'd seen in the span of 7 days finally became too much. I removed the game, sold it the next day, and have never looked back.
  
  If there's one thing you guys have heard me talk about more than anything else, it's the importance of the gaming community. We live and die by people wanting to play games with us, and the Halo community represented the ugliest side of people I'd ever seen. People weren't taking part in a friendly competition, they were out to act like children and forget that the people they were playing against were... well, people. I know people hate the internet because it removes the social ramifications of acting like a jerk, but I'd never seen thousands of people willing to harass others for their own enjoyment.
  
  I've been called a baby for this stance, but it's not about having my feelings hurt. I'm an adult who behaves like an adult no matter where I'm at. At such, I find 0 pleasure or tolerance in dealing with people whose behavior reminds me of toddlers who trash a house simply because no adults are around to tell them no. Halo 3 gave me my first real glimpse in to how people really are, and it was nothing short of sad to see.
  
  So when you see me go on and on about community, you can blame Halo 3.
• Let's end this year on a happier note, shall we? Call of Duty Modern Warfare released this year. I bought it with the money I made returning Halo because I was itching for a shooter. I played the campaign and it was pretty neat, and then I saw an option for multiplayer. The only multiplayer I'd ever known was Halo and Splinter Cell, so I was a bit curious to see what it was like.
  
  At about 4 a.m. I realized I was hooked. Games were fast paced, the guns handled like I wanted them to, and people didn't take an eternity to kill. I was outfoxing people, taking out snipers, and calling in attack helicopters like a madman. The community was also a breath of fresh air, and I found people I could actually talk to during the game. Sure there were some of "those people," but I've found that most of them actually get silenced pretty quickly by everyone else in the room.
  
  As more and more CoDs released, I found myself loving the competition. I'd do well some games, I'd fail in others. I was always able to improve myself, and the game clicked with me that I never felt like I had a skill cap. Then I started finding channels on YouTube dedicated to Call of Duty gameplay, and I blazed beyond my solo ventures because I could see how the pros did it. Fun fact: a Call of Duty ballistic knife montage is also where I discovered dubstep.
  
  Partway through Modern Warfare 2 is when I learned about HUPIT (Helping Unite Players Into Teams) Gaming. WoodysGamerTag, another mature gamer, started the site to help people find like-minded teammates for online games by creating a "dating profile" (as my wife insists on calling it). The best part was the option for "mature gamers only." While my definition is a bit loftier than most people's, I was finally able to find a group of friends who worked together and were enjoyable to talk to.
  
  This is where I met my good buddy Tony, and later a few of his friends who welcomed me in to their fold. Tony is the best player I've ever known, and gaming with him and the Late Night Crew (as we jokingly called ourselves) forever changed how I played games. Before then I'd play like a Viking, charging in and trying to get a body count before being gunned down. Effective, but limited. Then I started learning about running lanes, taking my time, using the right attachments and killstreaks, and everything else that made me a better objective player.
  
  CoD also let me get closer to my brother-in-law. I don't know how many nights we'd sit there and decimate people while talking about everything. I always grow closer to people by doing something while we bond, and CODdling (as he insisted on calling it) quickly turned him in to my best friend.
  
  Modern Warfare really ignited my love of playing games with others. I had always been a lone wolf, even in multiplayer games, but now I can't imagine not having someone to chat with as we work together to secure a win. It's also the saddest part about Xbox One, because I don't know many people who are getting one. Back to HUPIT, I suppose!

After 2007 there weren't any huge changes. I started to really appreciate AAA titles because of my limited time. Before I'd grab whatever had sweet cover art, but now I was valuing my time and money and really researching games before I bought them. I started finding my preferred genres too - rather than trying to be a renaissance gamer I started focusing on games that made me excited to game. Stealth, shooters, RPGs, and most action games soon started filling my library of games.

Gaming online also cemented my online persona as Face Stabbity. One night my friends admitted to me that they had no idea what my name was. We had Tony, Connor, Daniel, Frank, and... Stabbity. I hadn't really noticed since people online always called me Face or Stabbity, but it was funny that that's just who I was to everyone. Since then it's become my handle on almost any online game and forum that doesn't deal with Privateer Press. I keep trying to move away from the name because I made it when I was a teenager, but despite its somewhat immature connotations I've finally just had to embrace it.

When the Netflix app released on Xbox, it soon stopped being a gaming console. I'd still play it on occasion, but it was a great reason to get rid of cable and watch a movie or TV series. This was a good way to transition from being a hardcore gamer to just a gamer. I had more and more games that I'd buy and barely play because I didn't have time, but during those times when I had 30 free minutes I didn't have much to do besides try to play a game that needed a couple hours if I wanted to make any progress.

In hindsight, my last gaming experience on my Xbox 360 seems rather fitting. My brother-in-law was home on leave, and so we spent an entire day playing Splinter Cell in both the coop mission and demolishing everyone in the competitive multiplayer. It seems like we should have CODdled, but it really epitomized everything I loved about the years I spent playing it. I played a series I love next to a coop partner who didn't know the meaning of stealth, leading to some pretty hilarious moments. Then we went online and used amazing teamwork to blow everyone else out of the water. There was none of the frustration sometimes brought on by CoD, and instead it was a great day and an appropriate sendoff.

The 360 really turned me in to the gamer I am. Despite gaming all my life I'd never really found my groove in gaming, and instead just played with really appreciating the finer points of a game. It's sad to see it go, but at the same time I can't wait to play the system that will inevitably turn my own kids in to gamers as well.

Ah, those bittersweet moments.


See you tomorrow!