With the Xbox 360 officially being done, I thought now would be the perfect time to share my story of how I was introduced to the console, and what it means to me. I actually owe a lot to the 360, as it opened so many doors to me, but it's something I rarely bring up when discussing the console. For me the Xbox 360 was more than Microsoft's second go around, and instead, it was actually the answer to everything I could have ever wanted at the time.
So without further ado, here's my story of how I got my Xbox 360, and why Sonic 06 is to blame.
Christmas of 2006:
The Christmas of 2006 was a crazy one. The Nintendo Wii was coming out, and everyone and their moms were trying to get their hands on one. (Seriously, my entire family was looking for me.) Back then there still wasn't quite as high of a demand for games like there is today, but the Wii was a console for "everyone," and that drew in a lot of attention. On the other hand the Xbox 360 was climbing in popularity among gamers after a first great year, and buzz around the newly released PlayStation 3 was a mixed bag.
As I said, that year was pretty crazy, but I personally only cared about one thing. Sonic 2006.
I know, I know, this is dumb to say, but it's mostly true. While the Wii was truly the thing I wanted most in the world at the time, the newly released Sonic 06 was my new obsession. While it was listed as being an Xbox 360 and PlayStaiton 3 game, I had hope that it would eventually come to the Nintendo Wii as well. Along with everything else the Wii offered, I had no reason to not want it, and I was willing to wait however long it took for Sonic to arrive on it. Sonic Adventure was my favorite Dream Cast game, and 06 looked like my long awaited follow up. Heck, at one point my mom asked me if I changed my mind and wanted a 360 over the Wii, but I of course said no, and had one of the best Christmases that I can remember. (Such a good year.)
That being said, Sonic 06 remained on my mind, and would continue to be for years to come.
Dreaming of Sonic 06:
While it became more and more obvious that the Wii version was never going to happen, I found other ways to occupy my time. I watched the entire story of the game on YouTube, I made music AMVs for the new theme songs, and I began working on creating a Silver the Hedgehog fangame!
I sloppily threw together a Silver sprite, used previous Sonic resources I had access to and created my first set of levels for the game. I then went on to post at SEGA's official forums to see if anyone would to help me out, as I programmed Silver's ESP powers myself, and released a demo to the public. Little did I know this event alone would change my life forever.
Not long after posting the Silver game, I got an MSN Messenger request from someone with scribbles in their name. I had no idea what I was seeing, or who this guy was, and part of me though it might've been a virus bot. Well against my better judgment I accepted the invite anyway, and that's how I began talking to one of my best friends "GlacialLeaf." He contacted me looking for Silver the Hedgehog sprites, and then 16 years flew by in the blink of an eye.
The Bakery and the Summer of 2008:
For years my uncle had worked at a well known bakery within this area. He was one of their top bakers, and it quickly became a dream of his to own his own shop. After many years of planning, his dreams finally became a reality in the Summer of 2008. He bought a building next to his parent's house to act as a storefront, and constructed the actual "bakery" onto the side of it. I'll never forget the day when me and my cousins (not his kids) were swimming in my grandpa's pool, and my uncle walked over and asked us if we wanted a job. We all of course said yes, and that was that.
While "work" began as simply helping get things ready (painting the walls, putting together shelves, etc), I eventually found myself working up front and managing the store on the weekends. It was weird working with the public, but it forced me to come out of my shell and it is how I met a lot of really cool people. Sadly the bakery closed when my uncle unexpectedly passed away in 2013, but the five years I spent there were pretty great. Even now I miss the "good old days" at the bakery, but I always knew I couldn't stay there forever... I just didn't expect my exit to be because of his death.
Buying the Xbox 360:
Anyway, having a job for the first time in my life also meant that I was getting legit paid for the first time as well! I saved up my first few week's paycheck, and set my sights on getting what I really wanted... Sonic 06!
Yes, by this point I knew how "bad" the game was. I watched all the glitches, and even did research on how to avoid them. I knew about the 360's famous RROD, but I was planning on being extra careful, and thought I would only play it once in awhile. Friends of mine tried to tell me how wrong I was as they kept hyping up games like Halo 3 and Call of Duty, but I didn't listen. For me I assumed the 360 would be something I'd play off and on, and mainly use it for my new favorite game. Sure, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in other games, but Sonic was still my main focus. Anything else was just extra, and games like Portal and the Orange Box were just a nice bonus that would come later.
I found my Xbox 360 at Walmart. I put together all the money I had saved from working, and I asked my dad if he would take me there to buy it. I didn't have a car of my own at the time, and for me the closest Walmart was a twenty minute drive away. Thankfully my dad agreed though, and we headed off to pick it up. I still remember that it was a Friday night, and I can clearly picture the two of us walking over to the gaming section to buy the console. As for Sonic 06? It was in the center area in a discount bin, so I was able to get that for next to nothing.
The only down side to buying the 360 at that moment was that a price drop was about to take place, and I had no idea. I bought the 360 Pro Model which came with 20 GB of storage, while soon the 60 GB console would be the same price. It honestly didn't matter to me though, as I was just happy to finally have a 360!
And then everything began.
 |
| (Photo from 2009 shortly after buying my first HD TV) |
First Games:
I won't lie, I actually did like Sonic 06. Despite all it's problems, it's still a game I can have fun with to this day. Is it perfect? No. Is it filled with glitches? Oh yeah. But do I still have fun with it? I really do. I don't regret getting an Xbox 360 for Sonic, but thinking it's the only reason to get one was dumb on my part. Instead what happened was I now had money to buy things, and nothing else to spend it on! So every trip to Walmart I took, I would use some of that money to try out new games.
Skate? I heard really good things about it at school, and now I was finally able to try it out! Halo 3? I loved playing Halo 1 and 2 on my cousin's original Xbox, so why wouldn't I get 3? (Turns out my friend's hype wasn't for nothing.) Thanks to wanting more games on the 360, I dove head first into a completely new world of gaming.
Up until that point I really had limited myself. I enjoyed Nintendo games, and Sonic games, and loved a lot of what Capcom put out, but I didn't really give too many T or M rated games a chance. Those games were mainly on Xbox, and since I didn't have the console, I didn't play those games! The 360 impressed me though, and it made me want to finally give them a chance. Of course there was also the fact that I was now older, but the main reason simply was because now I could play them... And I loved every minute of it.
Xbox Live:
Xbox Live was also a crazy new experience for me. Up until then me and my friends had been playing Free to Play games on PC, but there was just something different about actually playing on Xbox Live. It was a whole community I was now a part of, and, despite how toxic it could become, it was so much fun. It was the first time I used voice chat in games, and the first time I got to "call" friends I had met online.
Jumping into parties and experiencing games like the Phantasy Star Universe demo with them is something I'll never forget, but all those nights we spent playing Halo (and later on Call of Duty) are memories I'll always treasure. The down side is I didn't have a router at home and had bad internet, so I did have to disconnect my PC every time I wanted to play, but it was fine; I was just glad that playing online was even an option.
The biggest issue I faced though was my download speed, and that sadly put me behind a lot of my friends. New Halo Map Pack came out? I had the money to buy it, but that 400 MB download meant I'd have to come back in about eight or nine hours. So I'd leave my 360 turned on, and head off to Best Buy to see what else I could get. (So much for "only playing an hour or two" to prevent the RROD right?) One such trip is how I discovered Lost Planet, which became another favorite of mine, and other trips lead me to buy games like Assassin's Creed.
So many great games I got to jump into and try, and all of them eventually lead me to become the gamer I am today. These are series I got introduced to simply because I wanted to use my 360 more, and ultimately they ended up becoming some of my all time favorites.
Saying Goodbye to the Xbox 360:
While it's really sad to say goodbye to the 360 now, for good, I actually had to say goodbye to mine in 2012. I thankfully never got the RROD, but my disc drive tray didn't survive how much use it got. Instead of getting a new 360, I switched over to my PlayStation 3 for new games. I figured I'd just buy the next Xbox once it came out (which is what I did), and in the mean time the PS3 could hold me over. Sure I missed playing my favorites like Halo Reach, but I had plenty to keep me busy in the meantime.
Once the Xbox One came out I was able to get my Xbox 360 games back, but by then I had other ways to access the same games. Halo? Master Chief Collection. Assassin's Creed? I have it everywhere else. It really only became a select few games that I needed the 360 version to play, with everything else moving on as the times changed.
The last time I started up my Xbox 360 was actually New Years Day in 2016, and that was to startup my old copies of ROCKBAND so I could start transferring my not backed up content over to Xbox One. It's kinda sad thinking that that will most likely be the last time I ever turn the thing on, but it had such a good run.
The Xbox 360 will always be special to me, and I'll always treasure the memories.
Post a Comment