The Xbox 360 was my first console of this generation which I purchased back in the summer of 2006 with a copy of Call of Duty 2. It was great, Oblivion blew my mind and I truly gained an appreciation of the potential of the “next generation” with the release of Gears of War which quickly became my favorite franchise in terms of multiplayer.

I picked up a PS3 shortly around the time of Killzone 2’s release but the Xbox 360 continued to be my go to console. I enjoyed the Halo and Mass Effect franchises (even though I now played the latter on PC) and just about any of the top 3rd party titles on that system, it was great. Gold, at the time, was a great service that I vastly preferred over PSN and I can still remember the countless hours playing with friends either in Gears of War 1, 2, and recently 3. I loved that console so much that despite going through 7 goddamn consoles, yes 7, I still stuck with it. Although to be fair, 5 of them red ringed, the other could no longer read discs, and the 120 gig Elite I used to have was fine but I swapped it out for a 250 gig 360 S when they first came out. Oh and there's an HD-DVD player somewhere around here. Yeah I enjoyed playing on that system that much.

Now for the downhill slope. Most of this I can blame on getting a new desktop which has taken over as the go to thing to play games on apart from the occasional great console exclusive, I honestly have a hard time going back to the 360 because its slow, clunky interface’s age is even more apparent now than ever before. The other thing to blame is being back at college again which means that my free time has dramatically decreased. I can no longer play multiplayer games as much as I would like to so I tend to put that free time into single player experiences that I really want to have. Speaking of single player experiences worth having, the solid exclusives for this system kinda have dried up, Halo 4 is the only thing I can think of that recently forced me to remember my 360's existence apart from Gears 3. It's mostly a third party system now which is unfortunate for me cuz my PC has taken that role now and does a better job at it for obvious reasons.

Now the one lifeline that has been keeping me clinging to this old machine has been Gears of War 3, that game is my 2012’s 2011 GoTY. I love that multiplayer to death; it’s just so much fun to blow away guys with powerful sounding weapons and watch them blow up into chunks. Unfortunately the online community has quickly descended into shit; there are not as many people playing it to the point that it’s easy to find games where there are just too many bots. It’s fucking depressing to see my favorite online game starting to become a ghost town. The other thing that has slowly begun to rip me away from my love of this game’s MP is Team Fortress 2, some of my friends made the shift to PC and we all go on TF 2 now which is just easy drop in/drop out multiplayer fun.

Looking back, the 360 has given me countless great moments in video games. I don’t regret owning the thing, but now I think it’s time to sell this console and everything else with it. I don’t see any reason to hold onto the machine apart from the upcoming Gears of War: Judgment which I already know I won’t like more than Gears of War 3. 3 is the pinnacle of that franchise and Judgment doesn't look like the leap that 1 to 2 to 3 were. Don’t get me wrong, my fanatical love for the franchise won’t allow me to pass it up but I won’t be sticking with it as long as I did with 3. Once that is done I think I’ll be ready to call it quits, wrap that 360 up, and get rid of it. As for my PS3, I’ll be keeping that one because I need to play Ni no Kuni. Looking back, I realize that I like the exclusives more on that system than on the 360 and I still have to play Beyond and Last of Us.

The Xbox 360 was my first console of this generation which I purchased back in the summer of 2006 with a copy of Call of Duty 2. It was great, Oblivion blew my mind and I truly gained an appreciation of the potential of the “next generation” with the release of Gears of War which quickly became my favorite franchise in terms of multiplayer.

I picked up a PS3 shortly around the time of Killzone 2’s release but the Xbox 360 continued to be my go to console. I enjoyed the Halo and Mass Effect franchises (even though I now played the latter on PC) and just about any of the top 3rd party titles on that system, it was great. Gold, at the time, was a great service that I vastly preferred over PSN and I can still remember the countless hours playing with friends either in Gears of War 1, 2, and recently 3. I loved that console so much that despite going through 7 goddamn consoles, yes 7, I still stuck with it. Although to be fair, 5 of them red ringed, the other could no longer read discs, and the 120 gig Elite I used to have was fine but I swapped it out for a 250 gig 360 S when they first came out. Oh and there's an HD-DVD player somewhere around here. Yeah I enjoyed playing on that system that much.

Now for the downhill slope. Most of this I can blame on getting a new desktop which has taken over as the go to thing to play games on apart from the occasional great console exclusive, I honestly have a hard time going back to the 360 because its slow, clunky interface’s age is even more apparent now than ever before. The other thing to blame is being back at college again which means that my free time has dramatically decreased. I can no longer play multiplayer games as much as I would like to so I tend to put that free time into single player experiences that I really want to have. Speaking of single player experiences worth having, the solid exclusives for this system kinda have dried up, Halo 4 is the only thing I can think of that recently forced me to remember my 360's existence apart from Gears 3. It's mostly a third party system now which is unfortunate for me cuz my PC has taken that role now and does a better job at it for obvious reasons.

Now the one lifeline that has been keeping me clinging to this old machine has been Gears of War 3, that game is my 2012’s 2011 GoTY. I love that multiplayer to death; it’s just so much fun to blow away guys with powerful sounding weapons and watch them blow up into chunks. Unfortunately the online community has quickly descended into shit; there are not as many people playing it to the point that it’s easy to find games where there are just too many bots. It’s fucking depressing to see my favorite online game starting to become a ghost town. The other thing that has slowly begun to rip me away from my love of this game’s MP is Team Fortress 2, some of my friends made the shift to PC and we all go on TF 2 now which is just easy drop in/drop out multiplayer fun.

Looking back, the 360 has given me countless great moments in video games. I don’t regret owning the thing, but now I think it’s time to sell this console and everything else with it. I don’t see any reason to hold onto the machine apart from the upcoming Gears of War: Judgment which I already know I won’t like more than Gears of War 3. 3 is the pinnacle of that franchise and Judgment doesn't look like the leap that 1 to 2 to 3 were. Don’t get me wrong, my fanatical love for the franchise won’t allow me to pass it up but I won’t be sticking with it as long as I did with 3. Once that is done I think I’ll be ready to call it quits, wrap that 360 up, and get rid of it. As for my PS3, I’ll be keeping that one because I need to play Ni no Kuni. Looking back, I realize that I like the exclusives more on that system than on the 360 and I still have to play Beyond and Last of Us.

I am in a similar situation. I have a relatively sizable list of games that I already own but have never played (Bayonetta, Banjo-Kazooie N&B, Asura's Wrath, among others), and that's the only thing that's keeping me from selling my Xbox 360 and putting that money into, I don't know, upgrading my 3DS to an XL. Were it not for the Wii U, I think I would be completely done with consoles during the next gen.

I agree with you to some extent. I think the PS3 now has better exclusives, but I still find the whole experience of the 360 better and most of the time multiplatform games have an edge on it. I'd have to say that this generation of gaming is all about multiplatform and I think that's why the 360 excelled in this generation. I still use my PS3, but only for exclusives, and it has some good ones.

That, and I hate the PS3 controller... and love my achievements.

It still baffles me when I hear people say a number like 7 Xboxes. I don't know. I know of so many people who have an Xbox and none of them have ever red-ringed. The only red ring I've encountered in my life was mine own, and that was only because I let my cousin borrow it and I didn't take the disk out of the console before I moved it. I turned it upside down and everything, put it in my bag, and then when i turned it on this terrible noise came out and red ringed.

I've had my 360 since launch day (well not the launch console but..ya know) I've sunk so much time and money into the economy that I can't fathom doing this myself but.. good luck duder.

I wish I had the option, but as a well documented dirty, console peasant, I still cling to my severely dated PS3 and 360 for all of my gaming. My PS3 more so because it's my leading console of choice, and because there's so many stellar exclusives available for it. As for Judgment, I'm hoping that that'll be the Gears game I finally start to take a little more seriously from a competitive standpoint. Like you said, there's an awful lot of bots populating the lobbies in Gears 3 and everyone else was simply far beyond my skill level.

Judgment is apparently being made to be more... accessible? I understand a lot of people aren't very happy with how the multiplayer is shaping up, but since I've never spent that much time with Gears multiplayer to begin with, it's tough for me to really tell the difference. Blind-firing looks like it's a helluva lot more deadly, though, even with a regular Lancer. Even I can admit that looks a little distressing. OverRun looks fantastic, though, but I'm a little worried that it's supposedly replacing both Beast mode and Horde mode. I could live without Beast, but Horde is a staple of the franchise, so it's gonna suck if they're really going to shovel it for this new one. Still, with the way the campaign's being worked around, including its S3 ''AI Director'' equivalent, all of the requisite addictive qualities of adding scorings to chapters, and all of the unlockables and so forth, I'm sure I'm going to have a lot of fun with Judgment all the same solely from a single-player/cooperative point of view. Just like every other Gears game -- God Bless this series <3

@JoeyRavn: Yeah I can see myself having a Wii U if Nintendo gets to releasing some great exclusives, I'm also thinking about a PS4 because of Sony's track record of having a lot of great first party titles but I wouldn't get it at launch.

@xyzygy said:

It still baffles me when I hear people say a number like 7 Xboxes. I don't know. I know of so many people who have an Xbox and none of them have ever red-ringed. The only red ring I've encountered in my life was mine own, and that was only because I let my cousin borrow it and I didn't take the disk out of the console before I moved it. I turned it upside down and everything, put it in my bag, and then when i turned it on this terrible noise came out and red ringed.

It happens, one of the Xboxs I had replaced by them red ringed in a fucking month after I just got it back. I can't believe I was that lenient back then.

@Demoskinos said:

I've had my 360 since launch day (well not the launch console but..ya know) I've sunk so much time and money into the economy that I can't fathom doing this myself but.. good luck duder.

So have I, I have a crazy amount of arcade titles plus games on demand stuff, I'm just over them because I got the experiences that I needed out of them. I'll probably only miss the random Geometry Wars 2 playthrough.

@Yummylee: Yeah the dedicated Gears guys are not to be fucked with and I would still watch out cuz those skills will still easily translate to the new game. I haven't kept up with news on the multiplayer so I have no idea about what the changes are. The only thing I heard is that the sawed off will have 2 shots instead of 1 which sounds kinda fucked and defeats the purpose of that gun. If the changes are really in favor of broadening the market then I'll most likely end up leaving it even sooner. And yeah, OverRun does look cool.

Guys can someone answer this , is beyond two souls a ps3 exclusive ?

It's published by SCE,so yes.

Yeah. I haven't turned my Xbox 360 on for about six months. :/

I enjoyed my 20 gig premium 360 for the short year and a half it worked before shitting the bed. Hopefully this fall, or whenever xbox 3 comes out Microsoft doesn't rush the shit out of it, and prevents this from happening again,

http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2009/08/19/survey-xbox-360-failure-rate-is-54-2/

I traded mine in 4 months ago for $150 in steam credit, and combined with all of the steam sales, that $150 has bought me many games. I still have a ps3 for netflix/blu-rays/ and apparently Ni No Kuni now, but I do 99% of my gaming on the PC.

I use my 360 now as a DVD player after I switched over to PC. Just lay in bed and watch Spirited Away.

You forgot to mention how paying for online multiplayer on a modern game console is a complete joke of an idea nowadays.

Nice blog, that last image and caption genuinely made me lol. Yeah, PC gaming and the better graphics, framerate, load times, prices, variety of games, and pure digital distribution it brings has made my 360 all but worthless. My PS3 only gets slightly more attention.

@Colourful_Hippie said:

His pants are so baggy.

Can't say I agree with the ps3 having better exclusives. Now, I do love my metal gear solid 4. One of my favorite moments this generation. But a good 80% of the first party games are so soulless. Killzone 2-3 look great, but they don't have a story that makes you care about it. Or a memorable soundtrack. Resistence 1-3 had terrible, rushed single player maps. The multiplayer would be the only reason to keep playing. Uncharted 2 was great. 3 and 1 had nothing memorable about them, other than the idiotic forced QTEs in 3. Rachet & clank never clicked.

The 360 is just so better rounded. If you don't have a reasonably powered pc, this is the system to own. For sure. Almost every multiplatform game is better on it. Now unlike competitors, I can't think of anything microsoft has taken away in functionality. But, until the newest slim, 360s broke. Alot. I'm on my 3rd. My launch system lasted until my playthrough of modern warfare 1 at launch. 2nd system lasted until crysis 2. But if you have a decently powered pc, its a tougher keep.

The main thing is, do you want to play the amazing exclusives already released and years past again? If so, the 360 certainly is better. After 2008, 1st party microsoft exclusives kindof just stopped. I don't see the new consoles later in the year playing ps3/360 games. The ps3 can barely emulate ps2 games without basically a ps2 in it. Even the 360 struggles on some games. The rumored based on ati 6670/7670 chipsets the new systems are supposed to use, are barely powerful enough to play battlefield 3 on pc if that says anything.

Word. I've slowly made the transition back to PC gaming since, now that I think about it, a few terrible dashboard updates ago. I barely use the damn thing now.

I can't even remember the last time I bought a game on 360. I have a Gamefly account which I tend to use to get 360 games, but I can't imagine ever buying a 360 game again. I could see buying The Last of Us or The Last Guardian if it ever comes out, but outside of renting a couple games a month for it I'm pretty much over the system.

I've had mine since 2007 and I definitely understand where you're coming from. I'm almost as sad to stop playing that thing as I was to slow down on playing the PS2, but let's be fair here: I'll never really *stop* playing the PS2 in the same way that I don't really *stop* digging into the SNES library from time to time.

The 360, though, had a good run. It's kind of fucked up now and I really don't like the direction that MS has taken it, but man that thing was great in its heyday. Halo 3 was for me what Gears of War 3 is to you - I sunk hundreds of hours into that game's multiplayer and co-op. I had a group of friends, mostly through high school, that I played with and we did some crazy shit in there. It was fantastic. Sadly, I don't really get into multiplayer games anymore, mostly because I don't have any friends that play PC games a whole lot.

But yes, PC games have largely replaced my Xbox with the exception of Forza Horizon. I liked Halo 4... but I don't want to go back to it. I don't want to pay for Gold, either.

I also recently got a new computer that can play games Sooo smooth, and ever since I've just looked at my 360 (which is where I buy almost all my games) and just never want to use it.

I understand now! PC Gaming is the one true master race!

@Snail said:

You forgot to mention how paying for online multiplayer on a modern game console is a complete joke of an idea nowadays.

You're right.

@thechronodarkness said:

The rumored based on ati 6670/7670 chipsets the new systems are supposed to use, are barely powerful enough to play battlefield 3 on pc if that says anything.

You're thinking the wrong way, comparing the new machines directly to PC in terms of specs isn't right. Those machines are built from the ground up just for playing games, there's no overhead from Windows, and the connections between the CPU, GPU, RAM are all streamlined to work a lot faster. It's not like they were going to throw a 660 ti in those things, the cost to mass produce those products (with high PC video cards) at reasonable rates is impossible. Those new machines will be plenty strong, the PC will just continue to be better like it always has been except that this time those consoles' architectures are closer to PC's than they have ever been so better, easier to make PC ports will continue to be more prevalent.

@Sticky_Pennies said:

Yeah. I haven't turned my Xbox 360 on for about six months. :/

Yeah I only realized how useless my 360 has become when I brought this thing with me when I moved for college. It's still disconnected somewhere in a box.

@vikingdeath1: Welcome to the fold.

@believer258: I understand where you are coming from, I really do not invest a lot of time into multiplayer games because I have friends who play on PC. Playing with random people can suck, especially in MOBA style games. :/ That is slowly changing with my friend building his rig next month and maybe my younger brother will get into it as well. Of course, I am certain there are groups out there who you can make quick friends of! ^w^

I bought a 360 in September for cheap just to play some odd games I missed out on being an owner of everything not Xbox. It was neat the first couple weeks but I realized I did not miss much. The best 360 exclusives eventually came to other platforms, I bought Halo Anniversary and was bored as hell (I guess I was late on the Halo train but to me there is nothing impressive about it coming off PC shooters), and the interface along with Gold is a joke. It's basically my odd JRPGs that never came anywhere else machine, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey etc.

I'm still keeping my 360 because....I put way too much time and money into that white lunchbox. Best of luck,man

Well, I agree that the PS3 has more exclusives but I can't say it has better ones. For me, Gears, Halo and Fable top most of Sony's stuff. What Sony is great for is things like 3D Dot Game Heroes, Quantic Dreams' games, and unique digital releases like Unfinished Swan and Journey. Basically, stuff Microsoft wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole.

As for the 360, I think most would agree it's winding down... even MS themselves. It has, what... one exclusive this year? It's pretty clear where most of the effort is being put. That said, I'll still use mine a fair bit this year for multiplatform games.

When it comes to exclusives this year, I'm actually most excited for the Wii U. That's where most of my gaming budget will be going this year until the new consoles.

I haven't turned on my 360 since Fez, and before that.... its dormancy was even longer.

Sorry Bill, I just don't swing that way.

Sold my Xbox after never playing it when the PS3 Launched.

Playstation just has the legacy and 3rd Party Support.

No offence to Gears or Halo but you need more than Indie games to keep me playing.

Don't sell!!! Hang on to the memories. Go ahead and sell some games if you want but I've always regretted selling systems. Of course not everyone will feel this way but it's common to want to have them later on.

My Xbox has turned strictly into my FIFA Box, it pretty much just comes down to graphics though, next gen I will be right back on board.

@Solh0und said:

I'm still keeping my 360 because....I put way too much time and money into that white lunchbox. Best of luck,man

I'm pretty invested too but it just comes down to feeling if I got my moneys worth and that I got the experiences that I want out of those games. I did so I feel OK saying bye.

@rentfn said:

Don't sell!!! Hang on to the memories. Go ahead and sell some games if you want but I've always regretted selling systems. Of course not everyone will feel this way but it's common to want to have them later on.

Meh, I'll be lying if I said that I wouldn't get the urge to revisit games but it's just not worth having the hardware laying around doing nothing. I'm not the type of person who clings onto stuff when I feel like I got what I wanted out of those games. I used to be but I guess I changed.

hey man i suggest you jus stick with the xbox man the live service is the bomb

I ready to be done with Video Games, I've played nothing new since getting Halo 4 and ive already played the FUCKING SHIT OUT OF Reach and HALO in general. I really dislike PC gaming since i have a shit PC setup. I ready to take up another useless hobby as i sit here waiting to die.

I'm really enjoying the current embrace of the PC after the last 5 years of rejection and abuse.

I too loved my 360 and got full use out of it in those early years. Great times, it successfully blended and popularised online gaming on a console to the point no-one expects a new console game to come without a multiplayer option anymore. The exclusives were unbeatable between mass effect, halo, gears, bioshock etc.

But yeh, at this point i can't look at the dashboard without disgust. Those early years were great and i think they could of continued on even greater for at least another few if they hadn't take that full hard turn towards the casual game market and stopped encouraging any sort of new exclusive hardcore titles. It was by that time Sony finally got some of it's arrogance under control and turn their shit around as they caught up with the standard of online services and quality and quantity of exclusives that Microsoft offered from the start.

edit - I noticed some of you saying how much better sony is for exclusives etc etc. Make no mistake the ps3 was a an expensive joke in those first 3 years, who knows if sony had, had a stronger start the 360's fate could of been completely different, the 360 came in as the absolute underdog against the behemoth that was the playstation brand. Times change, and this industry has an EXTREMELY short memory.

@pakalolobro420 said:

hey man i suggest you jus stick with the xbox man the live service is the bomb

No.

@ChinaDontCare said:

I ready to be done with Video Games, I've played nothing new since getting Halo 4 and ive already played the FUCKING SHIT OUT OF Reach and HALO in general. I really dislike PC gaming since i have a shit PC setup. I ready to take up another useless hobby as i sit here waiting to die.

Hating on PC gaming just cuz you don't have the proper setup...makes sense. Also doing drugs is a great way to kill time till you die.

@Rowr: Remember when Dave was the only holdout for propping up PC gaming several years back?

I love how much they "liked" the PC back then, times sure have changed.

Since PC versions have improved so much, I only plug my 360 in for 3 or 4 times a year. I'd recommend against selling it though. You'll probably be sad that you did a few years down the line.

@Colourful_Hippie said:

Although to be fair, 5 of them red ringed, the other could no longer read discs, and the 120 gig Elite I used to have was fine but I swapped it out for a 250 gig 360 S when they first came out. Oh and there's an HD-DVD player somewhere around here. Yeah I enjoyed playing on that system that much.

My head hurts

I traded in my 360 for a Vita so I can play Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Persona 4 Golden.

I regret nothing.

My Xbox isn't even hooked up at the moment. Been playing PC and PS3 exclusively for a while with DmC on my PC, and Ni no Kuni on my PS3 at the moment.

Same, I've been playing my ps3 and pc a whole lot more console wise. Heck I've been playing my psp more cause I realized I never finished Final Fantasy Crisis Core and I remember really enjoying that game a few years ago. Last time I turned on my xbox 360 was when I was watching my nephew and he wanted to play fruit ninja hd and kinect party for the kinect.

To each their own. :) I love the hell out of my 360 and am way more invested in the infrastructure than I am of Sony. I own a PS3 but it just serves as a Blu-Ray player aside from the handful of exclusives to the system that appeal to me. No regrets, but won't do it again next cycle. I do wish I had the know-how to put together a nice gaming PC though to have it as an option.

@Snail: Especially when they're just plastering ads all over the place anyway.

I bought a PC to compete with the 360 in 2005. Best decision I ever made. I finally bought a 360 in 2008. Video Games.

Still play it all the time. Backlog ensures I'll probably hold off on anything next gen for a while, to boot. All my friends play on the XBox, so that's where I'm happy to stay.

Agree the PS3 has definitely put out a better product, but only in the last 2 years or so. In a 7 year console life cycle, the final 2 years doesn't cut it.

Don't really care about PC gaming the least bit - I have a pretty decent PC but playing stuff like Sleeping Dogs doesn't interest me regardless of how pretty it may look. The only PC stuff I always am up for is the Valve Half-Life family of releases, so that'll give you an idea of how frequently I'm excited for PC games. I value friends in the same network and, yeah, achievements more than graphics, I guess...to each their own. I do throw on an occasional weird indie game just to change things up a bit (Wizorb, Abobo's Big Adventure, Barkley Gaiden, etc), that's about it.

@KaneRobot said:

Still play it all the time. Backlog ensures I'll probably hold off on anything next gen for a while, to boot. Don't care the least bit about PC gaming.

hey man pc gamn is prtty cool you can get 60 fps in 1080 p which i cant lie sounds bomb. i love the 360 but the pc seems lik the shit in a way. i cant afford one tho working on gettn that paper then maybe get a pc one day.

Bought my 360 about 5 years late and I'm still pretty happy with it. Mostly because it's where my friends are... I do play a lot more games on Steam these days... but I tend to have my 360 running netflix while I do that...so yeah...the magic isn't gone yet...

@pakalolobro420 said:

hey man pc gamn is prtty cool you can get 60 fps in 1080 p which i cant lie sounds bomb

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYMN

@KaneRobot said:

@pakalolobro420 said:

hey man pc gamn is prtty cool you can get 60 fps in 1080 p which i cant lie sounds bomb

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYMN

im sensn some of that sarcasm but hey i saw in motion it looks bomb no lie.

While you do need to go with the consoles where your friends are at, you might not want to sell it just on the off chance of wanting the next one & transferring your stuff from the existing 360 to the new one (if that's an option).

I didn't renew xbox live for the first time in about 5 years this past fall. After listening to the bomb crew talk about how gross gold memberships are, I figured I could just use my PS3 for my Netflix and Amazon instant needs. Buying a gaming PC also helped I guess

The exact same thing has happened to me over the last year. My group of friends and I have all upgraded or bought new PCs within the last year, and many of us, including myself, have cancelled Xbox Live gold. I just didn't see the value anymore when I can play for free on PS3 or PC and still get most of the same features. I still buy some console only multiplats for 360 if they don't have multiplayer (because I prefer the controller) but the number of games that fall into that category is pretty small. PS3 has far more quality exclusives, and my friends and I have all but decided we are going with PS4s out the gate next gen, and I was only one of us that even had a PS3.