The Official Xbox Website Has Received An Early 2000s Makeover

Oh man, the original xbox. I first discovered Morrowind on that console, and it redefined my understanding on what a game can be. Jade empire literally caused me a tummy ache in frustration. Fable made me fall hard in love with the fantasy genre. Halo gave me goosebumps and set the standard on what I wanted out of a FPS. Buffy the vampire game will always forever cement itself as a golden moment in gaming haha.

This is a nice dose of nostalgia

I remember, back then , I had sold my PS2 to buy an Xbox. And I loved my PS2. I don't know for the USA, but here, in Europe, everybody considered this as a foolish move. Playstation was everything, nobody knew a thing about the Xbox brand.

But I've read a review in a videogame magazine, about a game that just... blew my mind. The review, I mean. I've read that article again and again and again. I used to dream about that game.

The game was Halo.

It was described as "the most beautifull FPS ever" and the review was just... extatic. I had to see it for myself. Back then, no youtube, no streaming of whatever. Just a review, on paper. A text, some photos. And I had to figure the rest of it. To imagine how it would surely look like.

So I sold my PS2, and all of my games. I had just enought to buy an Xbox, with Halo. This big, big console. With this big, big controller.

And I remember... When I launched that game for the first time. The title screen. That... ring. In space. With... land on it ? Wh... what ? And that... music ! It was just...

I stood in front onf that title screen for, maybe, half an hour. I didn't want to press start. Not right away. I wanted to enjoy the feeling, the questions...

Then I pressed start.

The rest is history.

Can't wait for Infinite, damn it ! XD

@Bobobiwan That was super wholesome. As a PS2 owner myself, I was immediately jealous when I got exposed to Halo at my friend's house. I knew it was a big deal beforehand, but just watching someone else play it floored me. It wouldn't be until the 360 that I got my own mits on the series.

@FriendlyOctopus Wow. Insane how close our experiences are.

Just take out Jade Empire and replace it with KOTOR showing me quality writing in video game form.

While Jurassic Park Operation Genesis showed me the joys of park simulators. Especially when dinosaurs are involved.

Otogi Myth of Demons and MechAssault/2 showed me the absolute bliss of leveling entire maps.

While Halo 2 really solidified what a console can do with online.

@SplooshDmg That game list..... Replace "Xbox" with "PC", add about 70 or so expletives, slurs, and epithets. Scatter some shards of broken fiberglass and a scarred up hammer, and that really takes me back to a good time.....

@Bobobiwan "Back then?" PS was everything? Sounds like last week in the UK

I love this site redesign. I love how with this, the fridge, the WOLOLO-Os, MS just really, really, really GETS its audience, The nerdery, the geekdom, the memes, the pathetic lack of life of its core market. It feels like they truly understand us!

Not like PS with it's slick, bland, classy luxury brand consumer goods presentation and Nintendo with its......white-gloved middle finger wagging in the air. Xbox is our people!

@themightyant Yeah, Gears of War, on 360, was a real shock, too. It really, really made a HUGE difference between its way of doing things and everything else.

Graphically wise, it just still... holds up. In 2021, this title is still gorgeous. And I'm not even mentionning the remaster on Xbox One.

What a masterpiece.

Talking about that, I'm discovering Gears 5 right now, for the very first time, on my Series X. And I'm litterally blown away by how clever and beautifull this game is.

@SplooshDmg I think it's a mix of Balmer's ball and chain, the idea that Xbox was a subsidiary of Windows before, which made no sense, and made the culture revolve around "how can Xbox development benefit Active Directory?" But also just the single change in leader. We went from Matrick with his "how do we capture consumer entertainment marketshare" EA-type mindset of corporate suits monetizing the entertainment media to Phil "the gamer" who brought in and promoted other "gamers" who understand the product and the market because they're customers themselves. That's really the KEY difference. Iwata, a gamer, a game developer, and perennial inner child GOT the market, and his Nintendo was special. Kaz "Riiiiiidge Raaacerrrr" Hirai got the product, got the market, and had Shu and Shaun, gamers, running product.....and they all got product. The product culture really changes dramatically withe the leader. The day Phil retires and they put Bobby McBobberson from Regional Acquisitions in the chair, Xbox becomes Xbone again with slick ads for trendy kitchen appliance appeal.

Right now Xbox is run by gamer nerds, for gamer nerds, which is where we gamer nerds have always known gaming to be. They're inclusive, but they abandoned the dudebro 360 and went for the PC nerd that wants a console now. PS is luxury goods for luxury people, and discerning mass media consumers everywhere. So, TL;DR: Normies. Nintendo is for....you know I can't even figure out their product positioning. J-Disney? iOS players that want more + Old skool loyalists? People that want a handheld and Sony abandoned them? Young adults in key 18-32 markets who game at swanky Brooklyn rooftop parties? I love my Nintendo games and my Switch but they're a harder market to figure out exactly who the market is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-_T7E360Zo

I bought an Xbox as a "why not" because I was bored with my PS2 and Gamecube (lol wtf MS making a console). It's been my primary console ever since. 4 generations and counting.

Be cool if there was an og Xbox or Xbox 360 theme for my Xbox one

@SplooshDmg I never quite understand the PS remarks about " "gamer" Phil" as a pejorative. Like, how is it a bad thing that the guy running the company actually uses and likes his product and those of competitors? Is "Spreadsheet" Jim somehow a preferable option precisely because he doesn't know how to make "God of War Guy" "hit things?" Will they reject Shu Yoshida because he has an XSX and a Steam Deck and gloats about it? Or Shaun "Vib-Ribbon #1 Fan" Layden? Meahwhile Phil is a pretender that pretends to play games for internet points...who happened, as previous Studios head, to help Insomniac make games? Such a weird argument I've always thought. Like, even if you bleed blue, and hate the digital focus of Team Green, I would think you'd look over and say "well the guy that runs it sure lives and breathes gaming, wish our guy was like that..."

I don't know about Sarah being groomed for it. I didn't really know much about her or see much of her until this past year or so. Before that it was mostly all about the Booty. And Hryb. But you might be right. I didn't think much of her at first, she seemed very corporate....exactly what I'd expect from old MS. But she's growing on me. She bought a Dreamcast. That counts for like 8 Ryans + a Kimishima or two. But she has to add at least 3 Laydens and a Yoshida to get a Phil equivalency. I think that's how the math works anyway. She doesn't have that Phil charisma, though. That's part of what makes Phil work so well. He's nerdy, he's engaged, but he also has presence and charisma that I just don't get from her (yet?) (or Booty, for that matter.)

Nintendo.... I don't think it's possible to outgrow Nintendo. Anyone that says they did is lying to themselves. And is debt free. That's how they get us. Their "BIG" games are terrible, mobile, insipid, and empty. I love AC, but the new AC is one of the worst games I've played in years. IDGAF about Smash. Pokemon. Kart. People love it. I play like an hour and I'm done.

Wait.......your name is "Sploosh"....you gotta love at least Splatoon? Seriously that game is the only online shooter that hooked me since Quake 1. Splatoon matters. Metroid Dread is great. Not perfect. But if you like the format, a really good game that's over before you want it to be. The EMMIs detract from and don't add to the game. They're annoying RNG deaths incarnate. And the final boss is BS. But the game itself is like Super Metroid HD. The mario and zelda mainline games remain tight, etc. FE, Xenoblade etc are great. Then there's the 3rd party games like SMTV etc you can't get elsewhere. There's a lot of what feels like low budget filler they produce these days, but there's enough big titles that I think I could much more easily give up PS totally than Nintendo. From PS I've got Ratchet.....aaand.....hopefully something else that interests me eventually. Some 3rd party exclusives or semi-exclusives. I'll play the big moviegames eventually, but I'm not glued to them. Nintendo though, I'm not missing a Xenoblade or SMT game for anything. Rune factory 5, too (4 is coming to XB....loved that game on 3DS. It's like Harvest Crossing: Diablo + Waifus. It's weird and wonderful for it.)

Glad to ruin your work day! WOLOLO

@SplooshDmg But I thought getting Xbox executives from EA was such a great strategy before....

"I don't like Zelda and I've played almost all of them."

I'd laugh at that "I hate this....let me try the next one!" but I've done that exact same thing with Fromsoft games.....

That's funny, though, I always assumed your name was Splatoon related. I'm a massive Atlus fan, personally, so any release from them ends up near the top of my list of game priorities. I just end up loving whatever they do. Persona is the reason I'll never be able to ever leave the PS ecosystem. Though I still haven't actually played P5 for some reason. XB is really missing that Atlus and Falcom love.

I'm with you on Nocturne though. It's like Undertale, Pokemon, Smash. The fans are obnoxious and the game is tremendously overrated. It's a good game, yes. But it's oooooollllldddd. It plays oooooolllldddd. And JRPGs had some problematic design back then. It was cool, but it would be cooler with different gameplay. The battles are way too redundant, exploration is way too inhibited, and the dungeons are just single-texture labyrinths that go on way too long and mandate protracting the experience by endless battling through walking in circles. Really old school Wizardry era design that doesn't hold up as well as True Fans(TM) think it does. I'm a massive Atlus fan, bought Nocturne HD on Switch....played it for like 4 hours, and it's like "ok, I'm done...."

XC1 had a more interesting story than 2, but 2 was a much better game. Gameplay in 1 was, honestly, awful. Stand there, select icons from the bottom..... It was like an MMO. Monolith has serious problems in their sidequests (garbage that never even tells you what to do) bloated baggage of overly complex systems (HM slaves/blades) and lack of telling you adequately how any of it actually works. But combat was actually interesting in the second outing. Too bad Switch killed the visuals.

For me, though, RPGs are probably the #1 thing that sells the system. For Switch it's....well, it's probably the lead JRPG system out there. For Xbox, it's the lead WRPG system out there. For PS......it's the same games as Switch except at at least 20FPS or more and LoD sliders above 0. Plus Persona.

Bethesda, Atlus, Falcom, Obsidian, Bamco, Squeenix, RGG/Sega, Fable.....do other games exist? RDR2, "Press A to sTupID?"

For me, though Switch is a dedicated handheld. I'll do Botw2 on the big screen, but that's probably it. When I get big screen time I don't really want to see 2013 graphics when I have a PS5 and an XSX sitting there. I used to use it more before XSX/PS5. Well, ok, Splatoon will pull me back to the big screen on it, too. I hate that I love it.

@SplooshDmg Nobody really knows what the deal is with Persona. Nobody's ever heard of any formal exclusivity, but then you had Jimbo saying that Persona is "very important to them." Sony saying something is "very important" to them is like the Gatti's saying something is "very important" to them. Or the Yamauchi's.

Always found it weird that Playstation gets the cutesy school drama life sim RPG exclusively while Nintendo gets the grimdark, serious SMT mainline. Though SMTV seems to merge the styles a lot. RGG bringing everything to XB does tell us Sega has an interest in the XB market, so I'm not sure when they start dragging Atlus over. Atlus XB history is....depressing.

For NIS I think it was desperation more than anything. They were half bankrupt and I know the future of the series was on the rocks with pretty bad PS sales.

Ironically I'm the inverse. When I was younger, D&D games and Fallout were the cat's meow. Now that I'm older a lot of JRPGs just seem more zen somehow. Maybe it's the light-heartedness of them. Lots of cringe, though, sure. Not into the tedious grind of many of them though, either.

Oh, yeah, docked, the Switch is utter garbage unless it's an exclusive in which case there's just no choice. Other than for the exclusives there's less than zero reason to ever buy a Switch for docked use. As a handheld....it's honestly still pretty slick though. Truthfully, it never leaves home, but I have a ton of "lemme just play 5 minutes while I can" that I'll just pick up Switch rather than sitting down and firing up the 4k display for a 5 minute burst. I've tried to use xCloud for that, and it works, but putting a phone in a clamp, and since there's no Quick Resume on xCloud, by the time I go into the game through the menus and load it up, it's time to put it down. Put it down for a minute, and you have to load it up again. Switch I just pick it up, do a few RPG battles, put it down, pick it up.......it works nicely. If I didn't do that I'd probably never get any gaming in!

I actively avoid social anything (I wouldn't play splatoon if it had voice chat... ), and I never understood achievement hunting at all.....but......no argument that the store is dreadful and the prices are unsavory. Sony looks cheap and consumer friendly next to Nintendo, and that's a feat. I like about 45% of Nintendo's games, but the ones I like, I love. Switch is a dreadful home console in 2021 (wasn't bad in 2017), but it's still an awesome handheld a lot cheaper than the Deck. Nintendo's software prices and policies can go eff themselves though.

Same with you on Horizon and GoW. I do like them. I even like them a lot (contrary to what most Push Square commenters probably think of me), but I don't LOVE them....and they're never high priority to play, they're always on the backburner. Horizon is basically AC: Origins with robosaurs. I like AC Origins. I like robosaurs. I like Horizon. But it will always sit behind P5, Starfield, Psychonauts, BotW, and Arise for me, and I wouldn't buy a console to play AC: Robosaur.

@SplooshDmg We'll never know what that comment meant behind closed doors, but it can't mean "we like having that game just like we like having Overcooked, good game, glad fans enjoy it." There's something kind of threatening/binding about it.

True about Index Corp, though IIRC it wasn't a simple matter of noncompetitiveness like NIS but some kind of embezzlement/ponzi scheme run by the former CEO that ripped the bottom out of the company despite actually being profitable otherwise. Atlus was successful the whole while, it was the parent company that went down because of malfeasance by the CEO.

Doubly agree on Sucker Punch being really at the top of Sony's "fun to play" list. Really like those guys a lot. Guerilla I honestly never thought much of. Killzone was bland AF. It was like "Gray Gears with Space Nazis". Terrible. Shadowfall was a step forward for fun, but a really generic game. So Horizon kind of stands out as Guerilla actually having an identity. But it doesn't stand up to SP. And yeah, Insomniac used to be AMAZING. And R&C is still an absolute blast. But, yeah, after the Wolverine announcement it's clear they're the Disney factory, now, the same way Raven is now a CoD factory. There's no hope of anything I care about coming from them other than maybe more R&C.

I'm STILL not being dragged back to the PC morass though. For $500 I'll get my phallic white monolith and spare the GeForce for someone else that wants to mine crypto.

@SplooshDmg He definitely loves the sound of his own voice. I think soon he'll appear on the SoPs in a silk robe and a cognac glass telling us all about how much he appreciates each and everyone one of his backer.....custom....players.

I do remember the Index CEO admitting guilt at the time. Kind of rare circumstances for Japan. Here in the state's we'd give him a $8M bonus for getting away with it so long and a one time transfer to an executive position of equal or lesser value. Like Donny, but with better hair.

Yeah, KZ was always a tech demo at best. Good tech. Good performance. Better cutscenes. But really bland gameplay and world. Very cookie cutter.

I really don't get the current fascination with comic heroes. It's better than zombies, I guess. And Sony's doing the right thing for business by chasing it....the public eats it up, people WILL buy consoles for whichever has the most Marvel. I just don't get why that's true. Spiderman is one of the most dull open world games I've ever started to play and not finish. There's just....nothing there. It's very pretty. Very open. Movement feels very good. But the story is boring, the characters are boring, the events are irritatingly over the top in comic fashion, the gameplay is Arkham copypasta, and there's really nothing to DO in the open world. It's empty. SP did so much better a superhero game with inFamous, a generation prior. And most of the open parts of Spidey just copied that.

Nononono, never touching PC gaming as long as I have a choice. Been there, did that, at 4:00am too much. Though $1200 can't buy you much compared to the consoles... The good GPUs alone are like $600 now.