XboxMASS 2008 Year in Review
It’s been quite an eventful year for the Xbox 360, and we here and XboxMASS are taking a time-out over the Christmas Holidays. However, before our break, we’d thought we’d run down our favorite and not so favorite things on Microsoft’s entertainment centre.
Xbox LIVE
Xbox LIVE continues to be the trend-setter for online entertainment and media distribution. Although the video component in Canada is pretty bare bones compared to its US cousin, the recent addition of Netflix has been a boon to the Xbox 360’s already pretty impressive movie library. With the ability to stream tens of thousands of movies at any time of the day, the Xbox 360 practically rivals Blockbuster. Indeed, Blockbuster is already planning the launch of their own set-top box to stream movie rentals to customer’s homes. How’s that for flattery?
New Xbox Experience
Despite the Xbox 360’s bi-annual dashboard updates, the blade menu system, while initially quite impressive, was beginning to show its age. The NXE update demolished the blade system altogether and replaced it with the rather slick looking, graphic intensive menu system we have today. It also introduced avatars and community games.
While the NXE look is very welcome and largely a success, there’s a few things that need work. First of all, make avatars more relevant. Right now you can do pretty much nothing more than play doll, and that’s kind of weird. We know stuff is coming down the pipe in the next several months, but it can’t come soon enough. Secondly, we thought NXE was supposed to be better organized… While the new interface is beautiful and slick, it is oddly hardly any easier to find anything. In future updates, we’d like to see the content presented in an even more intuitive manner.
Community Games
Sweetness. The XNA development platform that allows average folk to develop simple games for the Xbox 360 has reached fruition, and games from independent (sometimes one-man) studios are available for play in the Community Games section. This grassroots, homegrown style of gaming is really a bit of a revelation in the biz, albeit with the caveat that some of these games are crap. If there’s one thing that needs to improve, it’s the screening process through which some of these games make it onto the service.
The Games
The games really speak for themselves, and we have our own separate Game of the Year story up right now, but we’ll list the ones we’ve enjoyed all around for the sake of posterity. Here are the highlights:
- Grand Theft Auto IV
- Ninja Gaiden II
- Braid
- Castle Crashers
- Fable 2
- Gears of War 2
- Rock Band 2
- Prince of Persia
- Soul Calibur
- Mega Man 9
- Duke Nukem 3D
- Rez HD
- and others we’re too lazy to go back and check for…
2009 Wish List
Oh yes, there are improvements we’d like to see in 2009. But really, there’s only one major sticking point that irks us: the lack of variety.
We’ve heard the criticisms that the Xbox 360 is a videogame system built around first-person shooters and action games. Well, here’s the truth: it is. As much as we like our stereotypically hyper-masculine leads, our blood and guts, and especially our guns, it doesn’t hurt to mix things up a little. Last year one of the best times I had was with Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii. It was light-hearted and joyful fun. Why can’t we get some of that on the Xbox 360?
For that matter, even the PS3, as beleaguered as it may be, offers up some of the most unique and compelling software I’ve seen in ages, mostly courtesy of its online downloadable content. The content gurus at Microsoft that shape the direction of the content really need to take the bull by the horns and steer it towards the gate least travelled, so to speak.
We want games that can’t be easily categorized along with Halo 3: ODST. We want something whimsical and artsy along with F.E.A.R. 2. We want something - actually, a few things - that are original in content and a labour of love for those who created them, and we’d like than sans guns. Given that 2009 is looking a lot like a blank slate right now, we’re hoping our wishes might find plenty of space to fit.
peachey @ December 23, 2008