Xbox Collectors: Where are they?

[Manhattan Sports Club]

I've always had a tremendous amount of difficulty selling my Xbox stuff secondhand either online or in real life. Stuff can be had that's dirt cheap, which is a good thing, but the inherent nature of Xbox's user base and market are centered around generic, flavor-of-the-moment stuff. I knew this even when I got an original Xbox years ago. Xbox doesn't seem to have the kind of backing that NintendoAge or Sega-16 do for instance, and sites like XboxAddict are laughable in comparison. I want to try and look past stereotypes but unfortunately a lot of what I've always thought about Xbox's followers tend to ring true more often than not. They tend not to appreciate the classic stuff that Xbox had to offer and go for whats trending at the moment. I have met very few hardcore Xbox collectors or enthusiasts online. I am no enemy of western video games; I like Xbox's versions of Beyond Good and Evil, Psychonauts, Voodoo Vince, and even Rayman 3, but a lot of my favorites tend to be Japanese because of they cater to my tastes aesthetically among other things. So for the most part I can kind of understand some of the aversion people in my shoes might have against the system as a whole. I really can't tell most Xbox games apart and as much as I struggle to keep from judging people it seems, as I said, that my prejudices may not be entirely ill-founded. Regardless, I'd like to hear from any Xbox enthusiasts (not just the original but 360 and One as well) that can offer an indepth explanation for why Xbox is their favorite system and most importantly, why, if at all, do they keep revisiting a lot of the old games that people have long since forgotten for the system or overlook for their current offerings like Halo.

[Flojomojo]

I can think of a few reasons Xbox stuff is cheap.

- you hit on the biggest reason, which is that it's a living room pc, with generic stuff that was either popular at the time (and has since been replaced with superior sequels or forgotten)

- many of its "only on Xbox" titles were also on pc

- most of its catalog is western (not Japanese) fare

- many of its third party things were at least okay on GameCube, ps2, pc, or all three

- the whole system was cracked wide open and is easily pirated. I would think that many of the biggest Xbox fans have large hard drives full of every game they would want and have little need for original disks.

I can think of a few cool Xbox exclusives not seen elsewhere, like steel battalion and panzer dragoon orta, but so much of the system is forgettable crap. Like every game system!

[Tanooki]

I think most just don't care. It's a western system that was pandered quite strongly to people with a disposable and move along time mind set when it was ticking. It was about dragging people through a narrower set of hard pushed genres that got yearly re-runs causing people to entirely not care about the one game before it. When you then throw in the fact with the fact MS threw the original under the bus cold turkey for the 360 that didn't help things at all. IF you factor in the thing being an awesome warez box which you can throw far more storage at buying seems silly. MS never really focused on much stuff themselves as compared to Nintendo and Sony they make little on their own, so much of what they had when you exclude Halo, Forza and Gears is slim, so you have less memorable moments people will just want to jump back to. They have no Mario, no Uncharted, no Zelda, no LittleBigPlanet, Mario Kart, Mod Nation Racers, and so on people will go back for. MS designed a one and done system, and the 360 was the same despite getting more variety. Yet if you throw in the fact they sold a broken box that took much of its life to actually fix through many revisions, that doesn't exactly inspire people to buy a system and hope it keeps working so they can revisit the old stuff either. Even the one is falling victim to that, and that their biggest launch era title they lied and said was exclusive came out in finer form on the PC (Titanfall.)

[Leo_A]

There are a lot of modern classics available there. So their loss...

[Gamevet]

3 of my favorite racing games of that generation of consoles were on the Xbox. Those titles were Burnout 3: Takedown, Burnout: Revenge and Outrun 2.


My PC wasn't all that great in 2005. Knights of the Old Republic ran better on Xbox and even now, I have a hard time getting the game to run on PC without it crashing. My 1st time playing Half-Life 2 was on the Xbox, because the PC version would have never ran well on my computer back then.

Here are some of my favorites from the Xbox:

Panzer Dragoon Orta
Sega GT
Crimson Skies
Jet Set Radio Future
Gunvalkyrie
Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller
Air Force Delta
Jade Empire
Fable
Forza Motorsports
Project Gotham Racing 1 & 2
Shenmue II (the textures seemed a little better on the DC)
TRON 2.0
Knights of the Old Republic
Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords

[Leo_A]

The Xbox also had a lot of solid 3rd party support. While it was easy to often overlook the scores of PS2 ports back then, they often were much more HD ready than the PS2 originals.

Instead of being stuck with 4:3 and/or 480i, typically the Xbox versions of such titles were progressive scan and 16:9 enabled and adapt much better to the types of televisions so many of us play on these days compared to back in the early 2000's.

16:9 and particularly 480p were much more rare to see on the PS2.

[Gamevet]

The Xbox also had a lot of solid 3rd party support. While it was easy to often overlook the scores of PS2 ports back then, they often were much more HD ready than the PS2 originals.

Instead of being stuck with 4:3 and/or 480i, typically the Xbox versions of such titles were progressive scan and 16:9 enabled and adapt much better to the types of televisions so many of us play on these days compared to back in the early 2000's.

16:9 and particularly 480p were much more rare to see on the PS2.

I have a Sony KV-32HS420 CRT that I'd bought in late 2004. It was and still is the perfect television for the Xbox in 480p, as well as the Gamecube. I mostly bought Xbox and Gamecube 3rd party titles over the PS2 versions, because of the superior video output. A lot of PS2 games weren't even 480i.

[Gameguy]

People don't care about the Xbox now, but just give it another 10 years. I remember thinking the same way about the PS1 and just about everyone else thought the same way too. Now people are collecting the games, still plenty of worthless titles just like every system has, but plenty more are now desirable. I remember seeing PS1 games brand new in stores priced at $1 each and not selling. Now people want them, I have a feeling the Xbox will end up the same.

Personally I don't see much value in the console as the best games are available on other platforms so why bother keeping a big, bulky, fragile system around. It's not something I'm interested in and I generally avoid the games I see for it unless I know it's a good title, so many I pass on for $1 each at yard sales. Sadly Xbox games seem to be the most common I come across now.

[sfchakan]

Snatch up all of the niche and cool Xbox titles now while they're worth practically nothing.

Obviously, Shenmue II being the exception for a while until the excitement dies down.

[Atarileaf]

Snatch up all of the niche and cool Xbox titles now while they're worth practically nothing.

I've been contemplating this myself. A local pawn shop has all xbox games for 2 bucks each. I really enjoyed Midtown Madness 3 when I originally had an xbox and I believe it's a console exclusive.

[Leo_A]

I've been contemplating this myself. A local pawn shop has all xbox games for 2 bucks each. I really enjoyed Midtown Madness 3 when I originally had an xbox and I believe it's a console exclusive.

The pair of RalliSport Challenge and Project Gotham Racing entries, especially the second release of each series, are more excellent 1st party Microsoft Game Studios exclusives that involve racing. And they published the beloved Outrun 2 release from Sega here in North America, even though I'd personally consider that 3rd party.

One that is right up your alley is Atari Anthology. Even if you already own this for the PS2, this one actually does 1080i here. It's one of only a handful of HD Xbox releases, which especially benefits the vector arcade classics in the arcade portion of this collection.

As an extra bonus, it's also emulated on the Xbox 360 and is one of the rare titles that runs beautifully in that often lackluster emulator. The only emulation issue of note that I ever noticed is a thin black vertical line running through the scans for 2600 manuals and such in the extras section, which is hardly even worth mentioning.

And it of course retains its HD capabilities on the 360, rather than doing something foolish like reverting to 480p prior to being upscaled by the 360 to your selected HD resolution. Handy if one keeps their original Xbox connected to a nice SD CRT, but wants to play the vector arcade classics on their HDTV with their crisp straight lines, rather than the stair stepping effect you'd see on something such as a PS1 collection.

[Gamevet]

Conker's Bad Fur Day: Reloaded on the Xbox has become quite expensive. I remember seeing it at a store for years, with a price of $30. I waited for the longest time, to see if the price would drop, but someone ended up buying it.

[Manhattan Sports Club]

As a person who has never managed to fully embrace or get into PC gaming as a whole, I'd say the Xbox certainly served its purpose in providing a practical alternative to having a beefy PC. Sure, you may not get all the bells and whistles, but I was never a big fan of investing too much to have all this little trinkets as long as the game was still playable. Then again, PC games tend to be generic and not exactly the most appealing fare for this gamer's tastes. But as usual, I try to maintain an open mind and explore new territories when possible.

[Leo_A]

Conker's Bad Fur Day: Reloaded on the Xbox has become quite expensive. I remember seeing it at a store for years, with a price of $30. I waited for the longest time, to see if the price would drop, but someone ended up buying it.

It's not of any help for collectors, but I have a feeling that this is the version of the game that's featured on Rare Replay, if anyone just wants to play it.

[The 1 2 P]

I've always had a tremendous amount of difficulty selling my Xbox stuff secondhand either online or in real life. Stuff can be had that's dirt cheap, which is a good thing, but the inherent nature of Xbox's user base and market are centered around generic, flavor-of-the-moment stuff. I knew this even when I got an original Xbox years ago. Xbox doesn't seem to have the kind of backing that NintendoAge or Sega-16 do for instance, and sites like XboxAddict are laughable in comparison. I want to try and look past stereotypes but unfortunately a lot of what I've always thought about Xbox's followers tend to ring true more often than not. They tend not to appreciate the classic stuff that Xbox had to offer and go for whats trending at the moment. I have met very few hardcore Xbox collectors or enthusiasts online. I am no enemy of western video games; I like Xbox's versions of Beyond Good and Evil, Psychonauts, Voodoo Vince, and even Rayman 3, but a lot of my favorites tend to be Japanese because of they cater to my tastes aesthetically among other things. So for the most part I can kind of understand some of the aversion people in my shoes might have against the system as a whole. I really can't tell most Xbox games apart and as much as I struggle to keep from judging people it seems, as I said, that my prejudices may not be entirely ill-founded. Regardless, I'd like to hear from any Xbox enthusiasts (not just the original but 360 and One as well) that can offer an indepth explanation for why Xbox is their favorite system and most importantly, why, if at all, do they keep revisiting a lot of the old games that people have long since forgotten for the system or overlook for their current offerings like Halo.

Compared to other systems the Xbox doesn't have that many hardcore collector's and thats great but it's also kind of a double edged sword. It's great because I have less competition to win items I want but it also means there's less of a market of people selling the items I want. I have a near complete original Xbox demo collection(retail, trade, magazine, etc) but finding others with unique items I don't already own has been quite challenging. I also have a variety of other rare Xbox merchandise, including a debug system.

The system itself was one of best for it's time, more powerful than the PS2 and better exclusives and total library than the Gamecube. What really made it the system to play back then was online multiplayer but even when you look pass that there are several great exclusives such as the Otogi games, Ninja Gaiden games, KOTOR games, Halo games(obviously) and the already mentioned Burnout games. And if you wanted to play the best Star Wars games that were on console that gen you had to have an Xbox. I have a sizable collection of Xbox games but have recently started selling off many of my collection(not just Xbox) so my total quantity has shrunk quite a bit. But I still collect for it when I happen to see something I don't already own.

[Leo_A]

And if you wanted to play the best Star Wars games that were on console that gen you had to have an Xbox.

Don't forget the GameCube's pair of Rogue Squadron releases.

While not as innovative as the BioWare RPG's that I suspect you primarily are thinking of on the Xbox, they're definitely high quality releases that are loved by many fans.

[The 1 2 P]

True the Rogue Squadron games were also highly praised but Xbox had more than the KOTOR games. There was also Republic Commando(a good FPS squad based game), and the two Jedi Knight games, although I'm partial to Jedi Knight Jedi Academy because of the two endings from the single player and the very intense 8 person lightsaber combat from Xbox Live multiplayer which had to be experienced to be believed. Most of the other games were multi-platform such as the Battlefront and Starfigher games but when you compare console exclusives between each system the Xbox definitely came out on top for Star Wars games.

Interesting side note, the Rogue Squadron games were supposed to be ported to the original Xbox in one super awesome collection but the project died out before being released. I'll see if I can go find a link.

EDIT: And here it is. Warning: this link is really depressing for those who owned an original Xbox: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/can.../1100-6422908/

[Leo_A]

I didn't read the link, but the latter 2/3's of that remake was later resurrected for the Wii and eventually finished, but never published (The original Rogue Squadron disappeared when the project was revived).

[Tanooki]

True the Rogue Squadron games were also highly praised but Xbox had more than the KOTOR games. There was also Republic Commando(a good FPS squad based game), and the two Jedi Knight games, although I'm partial to Jedi Knight Jedi Academy because of the two endings from the single player and the very intense 8 person lightsaber combat from Xbox Live multiplayer which had to be experienced to be believed. Most of the other games were multi-platform such as the Battlefront and Starfigher games but when you compare console exclusives between each system the Xbox definitely came out on top for Star Wars games.

Interesting side note, the Rogue Squadron games were supposed to be ported to the original Xbox in one super awesome collection but the project died out before being released. I'll see if I can go find a link.

EDIT: And here it is. Warning: this link is really depressing for those who owned an original Xbox: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/can.../1100-6422908/

Yet the KOTOR games got superior PC releases, and recently re-releases months ago (if that) on GOG so no more problems and on ios/android devices too. Rogue is and has been bound to the Cube so it's exclusive while KOTOR really never was. And on the other comment, saying the xbox has the best exclusives of that period is a bit of a stretch even if it is just opinion.

Leo is right and it's sad, RS2+3 were going to hit the Wii, I think they were more or less done since conversion wasn't much of an issue, yet it got shelved. It's probably a star wars gamers NES earthbound sized white whale to get if it ever surfaces.

[Gamevet]

Yet the KOTOR games got superior PC releases, and recently re-releases months ago (if that) on GOG so no more problems and on ios/android devices too. Rogue is and has been bound to the Cube so it's exclusive while KOTOR really never was. And on the other comment, saying the xbox has the best exclusives of that period is a bit of a stretch even if it is just opinion.

Leo is right and it's sad, RS2+3 were going to hit the Wii, I think they were more or less done since conversion wasn't much of an issue, yet it got shelved. It's probably a star wars gamers NES earthbound sized white whale to get if it ever surfaces.

I have a legit copy of KOTOR for the PC. It ran like crap on my PC (2003) with a 2 Ghz Celeron CPU, 756 MB of RAM and an FX-5200 Ultra. I tried building a PC in 2010 with the option for Windows XP, or Windows 7, and KOTOR constantly crashed with both operating systems. I even tried the patch that was supposed to fix the crashing problem.