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The Xbox 360 Report Card
We're halfway through the year, and probably halfway through the Xbox 360's lifespan. Does our console make the grade? It's time for the midterm examination.
Software (First-Party)
Microsoft deployed its digital Death Star to maximum effect in September, unleashing Halo 3 upon the world. Eight million copies later, it is the current king of the platform and indeed of the entire industry — at least until Grand Theft Auto IV gets a holiday season under its belt.
And despite its vanilla title, Mass Effect was an intergalactic home run, with its BioWare pedigree and word-of-mouth buzz blasting it to seven-figure sales. The trilogy is now a first-party pillar with which to buttress the platform.
Of course, Gears of War was every bit the Halo successor Microsoft wanted it to be, moving 5 million copies at a time when the console’s installed base was nowhere near what it is now — or what it will be when the sequel lands this fall. And Ninja Gaiden II was also a wise first-party pickup to please the hardcore.
Unfortunately, Shadowrun was botched by the powers that be and Blue Dragon needlessly tanked (though lessons were learned and Lost Odyssey fared far better). But all told, the first-party portfolio has been stellar — despite a Viva Piñata: Party Animals or two.
Grade: A
Software (Third-Party)
Having clearly come to understand that strong third-party support means major success — the Wii may move more hardware, but the industry’s power players make exponentially more money on 360 — Microsoft has cuddled up with EA, Rockstar, and all of the other key publishers in the industry and received a lot of love.
Dead Rising, Saints Row, Lost Planet, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion have been timed or full-blown third-party exclusives that all became million-sellers, while the 360 has been the beneficiary of receiving the superior versions of most multiplatform titles, thanks either to additional content (e.g., GTA IV’s exclusive downloadable episodes) or simply because its larger installed base meant that the 360 version was developed as the lead SKU from which all others were ported. Translation: the 360 version looks and runs the best (see: most of the Unreal Engine 3–powered titles).
Grade: A+
Hardware
Progress? Yes. But we’re still not satisfied. The Core SKU has been replaced by the far-less-useless Arcade Pack, the DVD drives and fans are quieter and more reliable than ever, and HDMI has been embraced. But – oops! – the HD DVD drive is now worthless (ours stopped working anyway), the Falcon motherboards are only a step in the right direction and not a fire-and-forget solution (wait for Jasper), and the baseline system is still well above $300 after 2.5 years!
Furthermore, even though Microsoft knew they’d have arguably the strongest holiday lineup in history, they failed to supply enough consoles to the retail channels, leaving many stores sold out and many a little Billy balling his eyes out on Christmas morning. The poor forecasting lingered into early 2008, when the PlayStation 3 topped the 360 on the sales charts for both January and February while more Falcons slowly floated over from China.
Oh, and whatever happened to faceplates?
Grade: C+
Xbox Live
The crown jewel of Microsoft’s competitive advantage, Xbox Live has been the publisher’s best gaming achievement since the service was launched. From Friends lists to the mostly effortless matchmaking, no one does online gaming better. Yet.
The PS3’s Home service, though delayed with comical frequency, could be the next evolutionary step. So while we luv-luv-luv Xbox Live, we’re starting to wonder what it’s done for us lately? As of this writing, the spring dashboard update hadn’t hit, so barring miracles there, Microsoft’s been serving up only minor iterations, rather than major, Home-like innovations. Searching through Marketplace is still an inexcusable chore, and while the holiday-outage carnage has abated, we’d like Microsoft to invest in even better reliability. Without a hard drive in every 360, it could very well be that Microsoft can only do so much to improve the dashboard. We’re sure they’re toiling feverishly on the next version of Xbox Live for the next console, but this generation is far from over and we hope they continue to make bold strides while it lasts.
Grade: B+
Xbox Live Marketplace
You want options? With more than 9,000 pieces of content — gamer pictures, HD movies, DLC, Xbox Live Arcade games, and more — Marketplace looks healthy. Weekly XBLA downloads have stayed fairly regular, and while Video Marketplace isn’t yet a one-stop shop for videos — Universal Studios is still holding out, and understandably, Sony probably always will — it certainly has a wealth of quality content (mixed in with direct-to-video stinkers). Plus, those pokey download times have improved since launch.
We’re wary of Marketplace becoming a wasteland of Yaris-style promotional garbage, but the free promo goodies have generally been, well, good. Hey, we like gamer pics, trailers, and entire TV-show episodes for free. When it comes to cash concerns, the consumers speak when DLC prices seem unreasonable and the market really has dictated what is “fair.” The interface has been improved but still feels clunky, and some DRM problems have tarnished the sexy appeal of buying disc-free games. There’s room to grow, but overall, Microsoft has gotten this big step right.
Grade: B+
Marketing & Advertising
Microsoft is oddly bipolar in this department. When they have a triple-A title like Halo 3 or Gears of War to launch, the company displays an amazing ability to pull out all the stops and insert its product in every single aspect of the pop-culture zeitgeist. But the rest of the time, Redmond seems almost…silent. The 360 has a lot to be proud of aside from Marcus and Master Chief. Where are the hilarious Xbox 360 TV commercials that actually demand to be watched and rehashed at the water cooler? Sony and Nintendo are dominating in this space, and they shouldn’t be. At least the in-store kiosks and community outreach led by the everyone-loves-him (and should!) Major Nelson are kicking some tail, but that’s a drop in what should be a much bigger bucket. Our suggestion: Pull everyone off the silly Game With Fame promotion and use them to find a way to start appealing to non-hardcore gamers. There’re loads of them, and they’ll make or break the 360 in the long run.
Grade: C+
Overall
We love our Xbox 360s in ways that are just skimming the rim of legality in most states, but this is a love affair that hasn’t been without its lumps. With the hardware failure rate entering the videogame-culture canon well enough to be lent multiple nicknames (“three red lights,” “Red Ring of Death,” and so on), Microsoft managed to rescue its quality-assurance image with its extended free-warranty repairs, but the message is still tangled out on the wires for those with boxes falling victim to the flaws in the system. Some technical issues are covered by the extended warranty, while others are not — which left many gamers wondering which fate they would be handed when their 360 went belly-up during the triple-A mega-storm of the holiday season.
But record numbers of us didn’t give up on our white box. Instead, we waited patiently for its triumphant return from the repair center, and in some cases, even went out and bought a brand-spanking-new 360. Why? Because the games held up and continue to hold up. When first-party hardware manufacturers wave the banners at a system launch, they’re always talking the big talk about how their machine can do this or that. But in the end, it’s always the software. It’s the quality, the quantity, and the variety of it. Microsoft and its bevy of eager third parties have delivered and promise to keep delivering well past the GTA IVs, Halo 3s, and BioShocks. And that — along with remaining consistent in the online-gaming space with Xbox Live and the ridiculous ability of Achievements to tap into our basest, most competitive natures — has kept Xbox 360 near and dear to our gaming hearts. Honestly, without the hardware snafus, the 360 would be an unquestionable “A” or “A+” in our books. Next year, Microsoft!
Grade: B+
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eqdrummer06
July 23, 2008 at 7:20pm
the best thing about the 360 is xbox live. sony's "free online gaming" is crap. its slow as hell. i've had my 360 since dec 07 and havent had any problems with it. marketplace was set up by an idiot though. i'm ready to see the new dashboard in the fall.
DrDenNet
June 27, 2008 at 4:07am
I'm not a "hardcore" gamer, but I am fairly dedicated and have been playing (both consoles and pc games) since the first home Pong game. In my house, we (3 of us) started with a single XBL account, but, we eventually had to get 2 more to keep everyone satisfied (mostly me). I know I'm not the only gamer out there with a family that enjoys XBL games and my kids have been gaming for years (and are pretty good themselves). Any chance for a family multi-pack account in the future? Also, looks like the kids are gonna be here throughout college, so am probably gonna need at least 2 systems for the 720 (or whatever the next-gen xbox is called). I refuse to get a console that sounds too much like a bodily function (um, sounds like a Nintendo) - am not really into cutesy kinda games. I refuse to get one that is overpriced due to drive format and brand name (Sony, get over yourselves, the PS2 is still kicking the PS3's butt - yeah, you have a great chip inside - so what? get some games for it!!!) with no titles, so it obviously leaves us with the 360 - there really is something for all of us there. Although our console gets loads of game time and is one of the early-non hdmi (had to add an adapter) model's, we've been lucky with no RROD and only one or two support questions (I didn't speak to Bob in India, but what sounded like a young guy gamer in Toronto who knew his stuff). Exclusive content is cool and it gives MS bragging rights, but in all honesty, I don't care if it's available on both since XBL has such a large population (hey, anyone out there into Quake Wars?!?! - awesome game) that's another plus for them. I like that when multiplatform games do come out, that they be for the 360 or even pc's first. Was kinda sad to see the apparent demise of Games for Windows cheeves since Halo2 rocked on Vista and am sure others would have as well. So for now, for us and our friends, the 360 is definitely an A+ (and for those not certain, get off your old tv's and play it on a 42" or larger plasma or lcd - you'll see).
J22
June 25, 2008 at 2:55pm
No matter what happens i will always choose the xbox 360 over every other console. U have my vote microsoft.
heinkel90
June 24, 2008 at 2:32pm
See I prefer Microsoft because with everything I've bought from them they taken responsibility. Xbox Live was down for two days and they said oops and gave out a free arcade game. My 360 got the red lights I sent it in and got it back a week later. They've been accountable with their mistakes with me and that's why I'll always use xbox's
bigjayshade
June 24, 2008 at 6:12am
I recieved the "red rings of death" twice in the two years Ive owned it. I know many people that have had RRD twice. Microsoft doesnt even give you a new machine, they give you a refurbished one. They dont care for your business. I hate talking to someone in India named "bob" (you know thats not his name). Microsoft has been trying to sweep this issue under the rug. They know they have a problem and wont fix it because they are hoping that the warranty will wear out. Sony's machine has crap for games but the hardware is solid. Xbox 360 has the best games but the Hardware is crap. Wii is for kids... I think Im retiring from gaming.
CrazyUncleRex
June 21, 2008 at 3:53pm
My console is a lemon. I don't want to even think of buying a new one let alone getting more memory for it. Grade c-
Dizzle84
June 20, 2008 at 1:55pm
Never mind the HD-DVD dying out, what about the absurdly over-priced Hard Drive? A lot of people who have the 20 gig hard drive (who love demos and downloading content) aren't going to pay $199 CAD plus taxes for 120 gigs of space. For that much I might as well get a terrabyte for my computer. Hardware has FAILED in spectacular fashion in my opinion. Other than that, It's solid grades across the board for the 360. It has made strides (stability and HDMI now included), but it is starting to show its age.
scrub175
June 20, 2008 at 12:30pm
Why does MS have to advertise when EA runs a commercial and then displays xbox 360 at the end? I think your grades are in line with my expectations of this great system. I'd give XBL an A, nah never mind not after the Christmas fiasco.
wique
June 20, 2008 at 10:14am
Agreed everything y'all have said makes sense especially about the Marketing and Advertising, but i happen to like what they have been doing with the Halo 3 And Lost Odyssey commercials even Ninja Gaiden 2's ad makes me want to go play it everytime i see it, but i'm what you would catogorize as a Hardcore Gamer and they need to do better to attract non-hardcore fans of gaming. As Stupid to me as the ad for nintendo's games look that is what works and playstation's ads looks like their is something for everybody. Microsoft's ad that i remember ad Mass Effect, Halo 3, and Bioshock in it and lets be honest those games aren't for everyone.
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