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[SirUltimos]

The blades were a legitimately great UI back in the day, but I can see why it needed an update. Navigating the amount of content that's on the system now would be damn near impossible with the blades. Stylistically I still think the blades were far and away the best menu the console had, but functionally it just wouldn't have worked.

 

[SwiftDeath]

Yes coherent design. I personally never liked the looks of the original design but the slim is a great great console design both in looks and function. Box for that one sucked though

 

[stay gold]

Man, even though I jumped back to PlayStation, I miss the early days of the 360.

Same. MS were on top form during the first half of last gen.

 

[WJD]

Is it okay to feel nostalgic about something that only came out 9 years ago?

Cause I do. Brilliant console.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

While the 360 has always been an ugly system, the blades were glorious. Glorious, I tell ya!

 

[MegaBusta]

Oh god I'm nostalgiaing over the blades what is wrong with me it was only

Spoiler

9 years ago

 

[Fattony12000]

 

[Ol No Bones]

At first look the X1 was so disappointing and once I got the thing it looks great. I got the PS4 and thinking it looked great and now I think it looks cheap. The X1 UI is growing on me but I still have a few frustrations about party and game invites being slower than the 360 in my opinion. I think the aesthetic appeal of the X1 surpasses the Xbox 360 in 2014 but damn that 360 looked so fresh in 2005. It felt amazing bringing that thing home. I wish I could find the box. The PS3 looked amazing as well.

 

[titusandronicus]

The blades were a legitimately great UI back in the day, but I can see why it needed an update. Navigating the amount of content that's on the system now would be damn near impossible with the blades. Stylistically I still think the blades were far and away the best menu the console had, but functionally it just wouldn't have worked.

You could have had the blades as the main menu, then something more usable when you wanted to navigate through lists of XBLA titles, music etc.

 

[HardRojo]

I'm about to get a Slim one (not the latest ugly model) for my fighting games Can't wait to finally jump in and then next year I'll get an Xbox One.

 

[The Maverick]

360 was amazing in its time. Everything was so well done, from the boxes to the revolutionary Blades UI. Coming from the PS2 made it seem like a whole new world. Accessories, controllers, the box itself were all consistent. Xbox was the place to be. People even stuck through the red rings.

And then Kinect happened. Now the Xbox One is like the anti-360.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

The build construction of the OG 360 always felt a bit flimsy to me. Also you guys actually like the blades UI? I mean it was functional but it wasn't exactly feature rich or visually pleasing.

 

[The Maverick]

The build construction of the OG 360 always felt a bit flimsy to me. Also you guys actually like the blades UI? I mean it was functional but it wasn't exactly feature rich or visually pleasing.

Coming from the PS2 UI, it was kind of like seeing light for the first time. Of course now we recognize how disorganized it is. But it was huge at the time.

 

[Mass Effect]

Blades 4ever! Still maintain that it was the best UI the 360 ever had. Back in the good times of the 360.

 

[Barkley's Justice]

I think the original 360 was influenced by the Dreamcast. But Microsoft (or their agency) certainly expanded upon that.

 

[GamerJM]

Are these for Europe or something? We got much less interesting bundle boxart for those bundles here in the US.

 

[TheSeks]

but the blades were horrible, bye.

NOPE.avi

Better than the "NXE" and "Win8XP" dashboards they added.

The build construction of the OG 360 always felt a bit flimsy to me. Also you guys actually like the blades UI? I mean it was functional

Exactly why it's better than the "NXE" and "Win8XP" dashboards by a good green country mile.

Call me when MS hires a UI department that makes things worth a damn.

 

[BFIB]

My favorite system until Kinect was introduced.

 

[Syphon Filter]

That style is nice, also reminds me of great things like Gears of War and Halo 3.

 

[Pyrochaos]

My favorite system until Kinect was introduced.

Was PS2 your favorite system until Guitar Hero was introduced?

 

[jem0208]

I agree regarding everything but the dashboard.

I couldn't stand the Blades dashboard, it was just clunky. However I don't like the current dash either. I think the X1 has a much better designed OS than the 360.

 

[Harlock]

Before Kinect, before the dark times.

 

[Dragonborn]

The good old times. The first 3 or 4 years of the 360 were some of the best ( sans the whole red ring fiasco)

Then Kinect happened and Xbox took a nosedive from which it seems it won't recover for a while longer. So sad

 

[Havel]

2005-2009 360 was amazing.

What the hell happened?

 

[BFIB]

Was PS2 your favorite system until Guitar Hero was introduced?

Sony did not restructure their core structure of the system, and what their system is aimed for with Guitar Hero. MS did with Kinect, and to some, its their biggest issue with the One.

 

[DUFFMCWALIN]

He said cool not gaudy as fuck.

 

[Pyrochaos]

Sony did not restructure their core structure of the system, and what their system is aimed for with Guitar Hero. MS did with Kinect, and to some, its their biggest issue with the One.

Well for the 360 it was mainly a peripheral, with voice command options for any serious game. Most people who played ME3, or Skyrim never touched the kinect stuff.

The PS3 is just as guilty as the 360 for trying to steal some of the Wii's motion control success.

 

[Dragonborn]

Well for the 360 it was mainly a peripheral, with voice command options for any serious game. Most people who played ME3, or Skyrim never touched the kinect stuff.

The PS3 is just as guilty as the 360 for trying to steal some of the Wii's motion control success.

Yea but at the very least the Move was actually pretty cool for real games. Kinect is great tech but it's useless for games

 

[AlexBasch]

I won't deny my love for this console when I bought it in 2008. PS3 had no presence in my country, was expensive as fuck and you couldn't buy anything from the store.

MS in the other hand, advertised it well, the MSP cards were cheap and everywhere, Gears was insanely popular in here and it was around the year FIFA became the monster that it is now.

Chrismas 2008 was fucking magic for me.

 

[To Far Away Times]

The blades is and was the best console UI ever.

The 360 had a very nice design in the beginning. In a lot of ways it almost felt like a Sega system.

 

[chepu]

Sometimes I feel like the only one who liked the NXE.

I bought an X360 two Years ago, and was really bummed to update to the Metro style

I mean, its not like it was Terrible or something, and it had that "videogame feeling".

 

[Bgamer90]

2005-2009 360 was amazing.

What the hell happened?

MS had to market the system to people outside of core gamers.

So pretty much the same thing that has happened with any successful console during the last 2-3 years of its life. It's just that Kinect was far more successful than any of the late "mainstream/casual gaming attempts" that Sony, Nintendo, and Sega made for their past consoles/systems.

 

[silver.tongue]

I love the Elite.
I think the Slim looks Ok.
I fcking hate the new one that was made to be similar to the xbone.

 

[SonyToo!™]

I didn't get a 360 until the slim, never did like the original (although the black version looks ok), it looked tacky as fuck to my eyes, the black slim was an improvement in almost every way. Still I do understand the nostalgia from gamers in this thread, pre Kinnect MS was more like SEGA, sadly I only got to witness the tail end of that before they went full metro.

 

[see5harp]

Sometimes I feel like the only one who liked the NXE.

I bought an X360 two Years ago, and was really bummed to update to the Metro style

I mean, its not like it was Terrible or something, and it had that "videogame feeling".

NXE was, by far, the best UI and featureset that the 360 ever had. The blades were fine but there was nothing that was not also part of NXE (plus new stuff like parties).

 

[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

Sometimes I feel like the only one who liked the NXE.

I bought an X360 two Years ago, and was really bummed to update to the Metro style

I mean, its not like it was Terrible or something, and it had that "videogame feeling".

I completely forgot about what NXE looked like... damn, that was so much better than what we have now. Good lord did MS shit the bed.

 

[Tawpgun]

I was just thinking how GOOD the 360 looks as a console. Nice thread.

RIP Blades. so much nostalgia.

 

[AgentOtaku]

What a great console the 360 was. I was willing to forgive Microsoft 3 broken consoles. Rebought the 360 3 times (Premium, Elite and Slim).
And then they just dropped it for Kinect. What a shame. I feel like if MS just had continued the way they were going the first few years they would be on top now.

Agreed

ADORED my 360 for the first couple years. Then I just eventually became an unabashed Sony nut :/
Still want to rebuy one in the future for posterity and fav franchises

 

[Threi]

Sometimes I feel like the only one who liked the NXE.

I bought an X360 two Years ago, and was really bummed to update to the Metro style

I mean, its not like it was Terrible or something, and it had that "videogame feeling".

Original NXE was the best Xbox 360 UI, hands down.

Blades was a crappy mess of a UI and it was good on MS for getting rid of it (or rather just sticking it into the guide sub-menu)

 

[AlexBasch]

By the time I got the Xbox the NXE was already in place, but yeah, I still miss that slick dashboard. ):

 

[AgentOtaku]

I have a lot of nostalgia for the early days of the 360. I was working in retail at the time and I remember flipping out when we got the accessories and systems in for the first time ready for launch day.

I remember being offered bribes cash in hand on the shop floor by more than one person wanting me to "put one aside" for them if we got any more in, obviously couldn't accept though. The demand for those things was pretty damn high at launch.

n.

I remember being honestly pissed I couldn't get one during late '05.
I kept calling the local Walmart when I lived in Anchorage and they eventually had a few the morning I finished a mid-shift. Said "fuck sleep" and sped across the city to get one.
Lots of nostalgia coming over me now actually (that or caffeine). How did MS fuck up the language so badly?

 

[Whitechocolatekrispies]

Xbox 360 was a pretty damn great launch console. Playstation 3 was a great end of life console. But man in the first few years the Xbox 360 sure as shit destroyed the market.

The taking of exclusives was a blood bath for Sony.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

The build construction of the OG 360 always felt a bit flimsy to me. Also you guys actually like the blades UI? I mean it was functional but it wasn't exactly feature rich or visually pleasing.

It was the only interface not cluttered with needless bullshit. And no avatars!

 

[Malcolm9]

Like some have already mentioned, the first few years for the 360 were fantastic, especially with games like Fable, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Condemned and Crackdown.

I had a great time playing online, and people were pretty decent with how they acted online, shame that's all gone these days!.

I veered away from the 360 after picking up a PS3 in 2008 and never looked back after that. I did pick one up again a year ago but hardly touched it, it was a good console but MS have just steered their vision in a direction I don't like.

The blade UI at the time was great.

 

[Glorified G]

I disagree almost across the board. I think a lot of people hold the 360 on a pedestal because it was their first console or the at least the first one that turned them into hardcore gamers.

It's basically the NES and SNES for younger gamers. As someone in their early 30s (20s back then), I disliked pretty much everything about the 360 (even though I had one).

The 360 felt very Sega to me. It appealed to the jocks and the casual gamers. The system itself was huge for the time and didn't look appealing to me. The disc tray was cheap and the system had overheating problems. The dashboard was fine but requiring XBL Gold to do pretty much anything was a slap in the face to someone that grew up with free PC gaming.

I'll give them credit for having a comfortable controller but they also created the asymmetrical/symmetrical analog stick debate and the d-pad is one of the worst in history. If you grew up with d-pads, there's no way you can regard the 360 pad so highly. If the 360 was your first system then you probably didn't care.

It was definitely a good gaming system from a internal hardware perspective and it really had a lot of great games but I think it's nostalgia talking for a lot of people when they talk about how great it is.

I disagree, and this is someone that was gaming long before 360. The criticism of the system being held in high regard because it was someone first foray into gaming could be considered for pretty much any popular console (PS1-PS2, SNES, N64, etc.). The main reason why 360 was so great was timing, Sony's fuck up, affordable hardware, best 3rd party support for the time, unrivaled online ecosystem, (party chat, XBLA), great controller and incredible diverse library. Jocks and casuals can get their dudebro on, as can JRPG fans, or people who prefer smaller experiences with XBLA.

Outside of RROD and subscription online(personal pet peeve, but PS4 proven that very few care), you can make a pretty good argument that it was the best console ever.

 

[CambriaRising]

I love the Elite.
I think the Slim looks Ok.
I fcking hate the new one that was made to be similar to the xbone.

I have an E model, I actually like the modernized look of it a lot. I think it looks better than the Xbox One.

 

[tim_pkmn89]

Are these for Europe or something? We got much less interesting bundle boxart for those bundles here in the US.

These are the backs of the bundle boxes.

 

[jem0208]

Sometimes I feel like the only one who liked the NXE.

I bought an X360 two Years ago, and was really bummed to update to the Metro style

I mean, its not like it was Terrible or something, and it had that "videogame feeling".

My favourite was NXE as well. It was really easy to use and everything was well organised.

 

[Draconian]

Are these for Europe or something? We got much less interesting bundle boxart for those bundles here in the US.

Huh? I bought the US Wind Waker HD bundle and have the exact same box.

 

[Gandie]

I remember getting the 360 in February of 2007. It was a bundle with PGR 3 and Kameo. I vividly recall opening the box and hooking it up to my parents' TV, than trying out the games that came with it. It was my first console (PC only up to this point) and that is why the experience of unboxing it seems so close in my mind.
I LOVED that system and still do. The box itself, standing out between all those black boxes (VCR, DVD player) underneath a black TV. And of course the UI, the best console UI I had ever used.

Seeing the packaging really brings me back. Of course it all went bad with my first RROD (of three), but that's a whole different story.