I haven't played my XBOX 360 in 17 days!

[Anthony1]

***WARNING*** this is another "Swimming in Lake Me" Production.




It's kinda shocking, really. I got a XBOX 360 on launch day, I've pretty much played it every single day from that time into early to mid February, but I haven't played the thing in 17 days. I will admit that 5 of those days I was out of town. But that still doesn't explain the other 12 days I didn't play it. In fact, I still haven't played it, but I plan on finally firing it up again some time later this evening.


Anyways, you might be wondering... "Dude, who gives a frick? So you haven't played it in 17 days, like any of us really give a damn?".


Well, I can understand that, but I just find it kinda interesting that I haven't played it in so long. I can tell you the reason why. The reason why is that I'm still a retrogamer. Despite jumping on the next-gen bandwagon with reckless abandon, I'm still a retro guy. I went retro in the spring of 2003, and my retrogaming has varied in terms of bouncing back and forth from various systems, sometimes playing current gen, then going back to retro, then back to current gen, etc, etc. I've bounced back n forth so many times it's ridiculous, but with the arrival of the 360 launch, I actually thought that maybe I would end my career as a retrogamer. I really thought it was over. Early on, the 360 had totally consumed me.


For some reason however, I went on a little 5 day trip, came back, and didn't have the desire to hook up my 360. It was disconnected, in my closet, and I just didn't have the desire to go through the process of hooking it up. I was telling Nijiska about this last night. I've had Full Auto sitting on my desk for like 5 days, and I still hadn't played the thing. (got it from gameznfliks as a rental)


It's not like I'm trying to talk bad about the 360, it's an amazing system, but I just was kinda shocked by the fact that I could go without it for so long, and that I don't have this tremendous need to play it constantly. At least right now I don't. Maybe when Fight Night 3 arrives in my mailbox tomorrow or Thursday, I'll get back into it. I know I'll definitely get back into it to a degree with the release of Ghost Recon and FarCry. I'm almost more interested in FarCry after seeing those amazing ocean waves.



I love the 360, but I still love Retro, and I'm glad that I didn't convert completely over to next gen and abandon my retro habbits. For a brief time, I only did posts in the Modern Gaming area, and then I slowly got back to the Classic area, and now I spend way more time over there.

[PDorr3]

I am the same way, I got my system on dec 17th and I played it EVERYDAY (can you tell by my gamerpoints) until recently, I am probably up to 6-7 days now without playing it. Maybe because I basicaly beat all of the games I own, but still.... I discovered the greatness of other games on systems like GBA and PS2, which in have been neglected in the past months because of the 360, although I do see much 360 playing next month :) *oblivion*

[pacmanhat]

I was this way, too. And then school related stuff REALLY started to kick in, and now it's relegated pretty much to just weekends (this may also be part of why I'm beginning to prefer doing other things besides just DOA4 online, but I digress). I have to say, though, that even with my limited schedule I have never experienced a system whose experience drew me in like the 360 does. It's the best innovation in console gaming since the switch to disc-based games, if not even earlier.

[-hellvin-]

hmm..I havent loaded mine since the 7th or something. Why? Don't care. It's failed me on every single thing I was looking foward to from it, and with Oblivion coming out soon, all my game time will be put into the PC and poor mr 360 will be getting no attention. It doesn't even work with the internet anymore since my wireless network has been having difficulties.

[DonMarco]

I play with my 360 a lot mostly because it's the only thing connected to my new TV. I'm too lazy to get behind it again and finish/start connecting the PS2, GameCube, etc. I will do so before the new Shadow Hearts game comes out next week.

I'm really not looking foward to anything on the 360 for a good while. Anything I'd be willing to spend $60 on, at least.

[Fighter17]

I was playing my PS2 for months when I purchase it back in 01. Today, after not playing for it for six months, I just said "Meh." Now and days I'm just playing the Sega systems (Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast), and buying a lot of games for it (much to my dad's dismay).

[nik]

I haven't felt the "need" to play anything in a long time..

[le geek]

Good post Anthony!

Heh, I never WENT retro. I just kept my Video Computer System. But yeah I'll find myself playing a bunch of PS2 stuff, and then I'll get tired of 3D games and fire up the Turbo or even the 5200. :)

Cheers,
Ben

[Oobgarm]

There's just a lull in good gaming for the 360. In the meantime, you're meandering through older stuff. Nothing to worry about. I'm doing that myself currently.

[slip81]

Wow, it sounds like most of you wisely spent $400+ on something that doesn't get that much use two and a half months after release.

I'm curious (and I'm not trying to be inflamitory, so don't barrage me with senseless posts), but everyone here knew what games were going to be released for the system months in advance, and most of us also knew the releases for the first six months or so, and it seems to be the concensus that the 360 doesn't get play because the games don't really warrent it: so I'm wondering, why spend so much at the outset if you know that games won't have lasting power, why not just wait for more games/lower price?

To get slightly back to topic, I don't own a 360, but if I did, I think I'd be in the same boat as the rest of you, not playing the thing and dissapointed with the game selection. To me the 360 launch seems like it was one of all fluff, very powerful system capable of amazing graphics and sound (as well as other things), but all the original games still seem like embelished tech demos, and the ports seem like just graphical upgrades that don't warrent the extra $10-20 for a purchase.

[tholly]

i played mine the other day for like 15 minutes....other than that i havent been playing it too much at all since i beat marble blast ultra.....nothing has seemed to be able to get me as addicted to the system as that game was....and now, with 200 / 200 achievements in it, i havent nothing else to strive for.....

[Oobgarm]

Wow, it sounds like most of you wisely spent $400+ on something that doesn't get that much use two and a half months after release.

I'm curious (and I'm not trying to be inflamitory, so don't barrage me with senseless posts), but everyone here knew what games were going to be released for the system months in advance, and most of us also knew the releases for the first six months or so, and it seems to be the concensus that the 360 doesn't get play because the games don't really warrent it: so I'm wondering, why spend so much at the outset if you know that games won't have lasting power, why not just wait for more games/lower price?

To get slightly back to topic, I don't own a 360, but if I did, I think I'd be in the same boat as the rest of you, not playing the thing and dissapointed with the game selection. To me the 360 launch seems like it was one of all fluff, very powerful system capable of amazing graphics and sound (as well as other things), but all the original games still seem like embelished tech demos, and the ports seem like just graphical upgrades that don't warrent the extra $10-20 for a purchase.

I got one since I was intrigued by the initial launch games, and what I played didn't disappoint me. The downloadable games came to me as a surprise, since I wasn't expecting them to really be anything special. Plus, I still have a couple of games to play on the system, I just haven't gotten in the mood to play them yet. I'm not disappointed or sadden by the lack of games personally. There's a few coming out here and there that will satiate me until the big guns are unveiled.

So why did I not wait? I dunno...I wanted to play what came out at the outset, and I wanted to be part of the launch experience. I don't think I misspent my money at all. I've easily gotten $400 worth of enjoyment out of it.

[heybtbm]

All this discussion will be pointless after Ghost Recon, Oblivion and SFII are released in the next few weeks.

Is there a soul here who isn't interested in at least one of those titles?

[Leo_A]

Yep, such as myself.

[tholly]

All this discussion will be pointless after Ghost Recon, Oblivion and SFII are released in the next few weeks.

Is there a soul here who isn't interested in at least one of those titles?


yea...i couldnt care less about any of those 3 games.....

[hezeuschrist]

I have 5 games, and I've played through 4 of them... and then I got Dragon Quest VIII.

I really wanted to play through Condemned before Oblivion came out, but that's going to have to wait.

It doesn't bother me at all that I haven't got much play out of it, I've had enough to make being part of the launch experience worthwhile. It took me back to a few genres I haven't played in a while and I found the fresh experiences insanely enjoyable. I've got the system now and I've got plenty to play between releases so it doesn't bother me in the least that I'll have a good few months between releases.

For me it's always way more fun to be part of a "here and now" of a game, something I kinda missed with DQ8. Everyone enjoys talking about whatever they're playing at the moment and that was one of the main reasons I really wanted the 360 at launch.

[Captain Wrong]

***WARNING*** this is another "Swimming in Lake Me" Production.

Then why not try starting a blog? That's what blogs are for. :D

[ClubNinja]

All this discussion will be pointless after Ghost Recon, Oblivion and SFII are released in the next few weeks.

Is there a soul here who isn't interested in at least one of those titles?


yea...i couldnt care less about any of those 3 games.....

Ditto.

Call me when Marble Blast Ultra 2 comes out.

[tholly]

All this discussion will be pointless after Ghost Recon, Oblivion and SFII are released in the next few weeks.

Is there a soul here who isn't interested in at least one of those titles?


yea...i couldnt care less about any of those 3 games.....

Ditto.

Call me when Marble Blast Ultra 2 comes out.


i would be very very excited if i were to hear news of a sequel or even an expansion pack to MBU....

[jdc]

I was head over heels in love with my Xbox. I'm even more in love with my 360.....despite the wait for software.

What a surprise it was to poke around on the "desktop" and find that little gem called Hexic HD tucked away on the harddrive. I'm trying to land the 150,000 points in Marathon mode and it's definitely keeping me busy between digging ever deeper into the 3 racing games that I bought. The lure and sheer fun of scoring more achievement points has me playing game genres that I never thought that I'd try.

Boring? If anything, it's my Dreamcast that been crying the blues since I brought the new 360 home! I played Phantasy Star regularly on the DC.....but even that is coming to the 360 soon.

And yeah.......Oblivion will own my time for at least the next few years, just as Morrowind did before it.

[zerohero]

Glad I waited, only SFII live, and Gears of War intrest me at this point. There are a few new titles that I read in the latest EGM that look intresting.... but not enough to warrent my $400 g's...

[GrayFox]

I don't care if people here aren't excited for Ghost Recon.

I'm buying that next Wednesday for sure. The multiplayer looks to be so damn flexible, and the co-op? Thanks, I appreciate it guys. After hearing a lot of rather negative things about Elder Scrolls, I got a feeling I'm gonna be playing this for a good amount of time.

Then I have SF2 on Live to fall back on.

Njiska, we shall rock Recon. If you pick it up that is. We'll rock SF2 for sure though.

[Anthony1]

Look, I don't want anybody to get it twisted. The 360 ain't no joke, and it's an extremely impressive piece of kit mate. My post was more about just slipping back into retrogaming after jumping the next gen bandwagon with reckless abandon. I jumped on the 360 like no other. I sold two XBOX systems that I had, my slimline PS2 and my GameCube. Got rid of everything current gen that I had. I went totally 360. I had two GameFly accounts, bought 3 games, and had like 9 360 games at one time, and I've actually played every single 360 game in existence. I jumped all over that thing.



Believe me, it was an impressive as hell ride too! I enjoyed the heck out of it. So I was in no way trying to clown the 360 and talk smack about it, and try to say that it sucks or anything. The 360 is killer. It's just that I was in a situation where I thought I might go Next-Gen all the way and maybe my 3 year infatuation with retrogames was coming to an end. That bothered me, but secretly, I was begining to worry about it. So actually jumping off the bandwagon for a few weeks, and going back to the retrolove's, that was kinda nice actually. It's just a strange thing overall.

[hezeuschrist]

After hearing a lot of rather negative things about Elder Scrolls

Really? Aside from distant low res textures, what have you heard negative about it?

[EricRyan34]

The only thing I have been playing lately is the old Resident Evil games, going straight through RE1-CV


I will play the 360 soon though!