#(because yes of course my game designer little brother has both a massive homebrew setting and often designs dungeons off his own ideas)

[regallibellbright]

Both my brother and father are frequent GMs for the ttrpgers in our social circle. They also each play in the other’s game.

This leads to fun situations like a week or two ago when my brother brought up giant undersea scorpions being a thing that exists in casual conversation.

Dad: That’s coming up in a game.

Bro: (His girlfriend, who plays in Bro’s) already forbade them.

Mom: *laughing* I love that you both went straight there. You and she just knew he’d do that.

Me: Who do you think he learned from? And who plays in his games and therefore KNOWS exactly what he’d do?

Bro is, I believe, the one who suggested to Dad back when we were still kids the phrase “carnivorous crickets,” before realizing he was giving the GM ideas. Horrifying arthropods are in fact part of his GMing style.

So anyway, Dad’s the GM tonight, Bro’s visiting his girlfriend, so I just heard the alarm go off and Dad go “time to go kill some adventurers.”

I told him to have fun.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #360

Top Ten Favourite Things About the Xbox 360

Well wouldja lookit that. Three hundred and sixty of these silly top tens (tops ten?). I actually had a whole other list lined up, one that chimed with some relatively-recent news, but I've decided to bump it as I feel the synchronicity of 360 cannot go unnoticed. Sadly because the next two weeks are earmarked for other date-relevant lists, this means my once-contemporary tenner will be old news by the time all of you (both of you) get to read it.

But wait! What is this synchronicity of which I speak, that means “three sixty” must be secured for a specific ten of tops? Could it be erstwhile ITV post production facility, threesixty media, whose services I utilised for a decade whilst at CITV?

No, it’s the Xbox. It even says so at the top of the page.

Yes, the Xbox 360. In many ways probably my favourite console. Sure, it had its faults - I went through three of them due to red-ring meltdowns, and the beast was noisier than a rhino in a blender – but it was gorgeous, and for a little while there totally represented gaming for me.

Yeah, there was lots to love, and the protracted nature of the last console generation meant that it saw a lot of evolution in its lifetime. And, really, gaming in general changed quite a bit in the noughties, and the Xbox 360 was at the forefront of that in a lot of ways. Resurgent indie gaming, online, casual, micropayments, DLC, achievements, annual release schedules for triple-A franchises... the list goes on. Microsoft didn’t lead the way in all of those areas, but for most of the last generation they were light on their feet and quick to exploit shifting trends, and the 360 strongly benefited as a result (also Sony faceplanted pre-launch with the tone and price of the PlayStation 3, which also benefited Xbox hugely; how weird that the tables turned so utterly come the launches of PS4 and Xbox One). It felt like a landmark generation and the 360 was a landmark console and I loved it.

Anyway, here are my favourite things about it. Ten of then, not three hundred and sixty. That’d be daft.

The Look: at a time when the prevailing trend for consoles seemed to be fairly inoffensive black or grey lumps (the delightfully purple GameCube notwithstanding), Xbox 360 bucked the trend with a sleek and sexy white design, complete with subtle curves that echoed throughout the interface, and a natty chrome trim to the disc tray. It was different, it felt new, it felt simultaneously cool and friendly. It was more of a piece with Apple’s then-recent iMac redesign than anything you’d expect from as utilitarian a company as Microsoft. It made the 360 stand out from the crowd, and also helped differentiate it from the huge black number that was (eventually) the PS3.

The Controller: Halo: Combat Evolved was the original Xbox launch game, and it sold a lot of Xboxes. It was really the first game that made first-person shooters really work on console. Part of this was down to the beautifully handled sticks and triggers of the original Xbox pad. The controller was subsequently redesigned and evolved into what became the 360 pad: better trigger placement; shoulder buttons; even nicer sticks; a much-improved d-pad; and the famous Guide button, that with a press brought up a nifty UI overlay that allowed for chatting, achievement checking, and all manner of things, across all games. It was probably the best game controller of all time, and although it’s been refined and, I’d argue, improved by the Xbox One controller, there’s something revolutionary about the 360 design that always makes it feel stand-out.

Achievements: ah, yes. I mentioned them in passing just now, but really, the concept of cross-title points and awards might not necessarily have been Microsoft’s (I’m hazy on the details) but their implementation was a game-changer. Suddenly people were clamouring to find secrets, to beat the top scores, to better themselves in the games, because there was now a tangible reward, an icon, bragging rights associated with it. It fostered competition and – in the best cases – encouraged repeated playthroughs. I know that, for me, I set myself goals in certain games based on the achievements. It’s something to work towards beyond “just” playing the game, and it’s something I still do to this day, even after the lustre of Gamerscore glory has faded somewhat with time.

Gamertags: of course, Achievements would be nothing without your associated Gamertag. Obviously the idea of having a “handle” online was not new, but I know that when I played Quake III Arena or Counter-Strike on PC, I didn’t always keep to the same tag (I usually did, mind, as “britesparc” had been my default online identity for a while). But a persistent username, across all titles, with an associated score, rewards, settings (I’m still baffled as to how and why the Xbox One lost the ability to set a default controller preference for all games across your profile – now I have to invert look on each individual title, and it’s a massive pain!). This would be a strategy eventually adopted across the whole industry, and although I guess it’s fair to say that Steam had already sort-of got there, and even Microsoft themselves (as Gamertags were necessary in the early, OG Xbox-days of Xbox Live), your profile’s implementation on Xbox 360 was a massive step-up.

Xbox Live: what is an Xbox without Xbox Live? Again, it’s something that premiered on the original Xbox (although I never took advantage of it; I don’t think I had a broadband connection back then, to be honest) but it really came to fruition with the 360. A fully-integrated online environment with matchmaking and voice-chat built into the console itself, it offered the best of PC gaming in a convenient form-factor that slid under the telly. I played online much more on my 360 than on the PC, simply because it was a lot easier and more user-friendly. And that’s before we begin to factor in the creative decisions made when you knew your audience was always online: downloading patches, DLC, online-only games, a digital storefront… the fact that you automatically got access to all of that with the free “Silver” subscription was like a gateway drug to the actual “Gold” multiplayer bonus. The decision to charge for multiplayer access, whereas it was free on PS3, was a touch controversial, but the money was funnelled into better, faster matchmaking services, meaning the 360 became the go-to console for online gaming. Eventually Sony, and even Nintendo, followed suit.

Xbox Live Arcade: speaking of downloading… the idea of small, indie downloadable games – games that weren’t the usual full-3D physics-fests filled with explosions coloured lights and deformable terrain – was quietly revolutionary. Sure, the indie movement was already in full swing on PC, but here it was delivered, curated, advertised, cheap to purchase and ready to enjoy in bite-size chunks, on your telly-box. At the time I just wasn’t really aware of the scale of indie, retro, and homebrew gaming efforts, and it totally blew me away. It gave new developers a fantastic opportunity to showcase their wares, and – eventually – it offered a new lease of life to older games. Braid probably remains the big XBLA success story – both critically adored and financially hugely successful – but from ‘Splosion Man to Trials HD to Limbo to Castle Crashers, it was a jumping-off point for a bevvy of new franchises and developers. The fact that Hexic HD came pre-installed was a masterstroke: a brilliant game, of course, but also a terrific proof-of-concept for just what XBLA was.

Keeping it Casual: Microsoft, as usual, had its eye on Sony, and in many ways the 360 stole the PlayStation 2’s crown. What Microsoft didn’t bank on, however, was a resurgent Nintendo, who had one of their biggest successes ever with the Wii. It brought new audiences into the gaming fold (I’m still overjoyed at the memory of how angry my brother got when our dad totally trounced him at Bowling in Wii Sports; “But he doesn’t even like games!”). Microsoft leant into this, and whilst it’s arguable that they went too far and began to take their core audience for granted, they did a great job in making the Xbox 360 family-friendly. From some genuinely very good and user-friendly content settings to the raft of all-ages XBLA titles, right from the start the 360 was a good all-round console for the whole family. Games like Scene It? and Lips attempted to do for Xbox what Buzz! and SingStar did for PlayStation. But it was when they went full-tilt after the Wii market that they scored their biggest success and sowed the seeds for their biggest failure: Kinect. Billed as revolutionary, in truth it was mostly a very fun gimmick that struggled to fit inside mainstream gaming (nowhere near as comprehensively as Nintendo’s motion control did, at least); but all the same it was impressive tech for what it was, and some Kinect games – notably Rare’s Kinect Sports, but also Dance Central and the child-focused Sesame Street TV – did great things with the camera and were fun to play. I’d say that Microsoft’s commitment to casual and family gaming continues, but to be honest I feel like it’s become entrenched industry-wide now, and that remains a very good thing.

The Games: I guess this should be the top reason, shouldn’t it? But all consoles have good games. However, the 360 had some absolute belters. Halo 3 is probably, on balance, the best Halo. Fable II is one of my favourite games of all time. Crackdown is a delightful and wildly original blast. From solid blockbusters like the Gears of War trilogy to delightful curios like Viva Pinata, the depth of the Xbox 360’s library is phenomenal. And that’s before we get to the multi-format games like the Mass Effect trilogy, BioShock, the first two Batman: Arkham games, Red Dead Redemption, and many more… most of which performed better or felt otherwise “definitive” on Microsoft’s machine. The last generation was just incredible in terms of solid-gold masterpieces, and that’s before we mention the exclusives on other platforms (hello, Super Mario Galaxy). Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, there were some great games on the Xbox 360.

The Apps: as the 360 aged, more and more non-game applications became available for it. there were flirtations with things like Twitter, but really it was the media apps – Netflix, Amazon Video, Sky Go – that established the machine as a viable home entertainment hub. During its lifespan, the 360 went from “games machine” to “centre of the living room” as we evolved from consumers of scheduled entertainment to people who could pick and choose their media. As broadband speeds increased (during the time I had a 360 we went from a 1mb connection to 20mb) streaming became commonplace, and I seem to recall that by the time of the Xbox One’s release more people were using the 360 to watch Netflix than to play games. Amazing, really, when you think how noisy the bloody thing was. All the same, the non-game content on the 360 was a harbinger of things to come and a flower in Microsoft’s cap. Too bad that, like with Kinect, they misread the tea leaves and bet the farm on a gesture-controlled multimedia future.

The Evolution: the Xbox 360 in 2005 was markedly different from the Xbox 360 in 2013, when its successor console was released. Not just physically, although two hardware revisions meant it looked very different too; but software-wise, operationally, it was practically a new machine. The beloved “blades” interface – the UI mirroring the curves of the machine – had been replaced by the so-called “New Xbox Experience”, which brought friend management and multimedia apps to the foreground, as well as showcasing the new Xbox Avatars. These Avatars were somewhat controversial, but gave the 360 a refreshing and friendly kick up the bum, adding a degree of spice to games where you could now play “as you” (A Kingdom for Keflings, Joyride Turbo, etc), as well as offering new unlockable rewards or purchasable items in the form of Avatar clothes or accessories. The interface would then be further refined one more time before the console’s retirement, but this evolution was representative of Microsoft’s philosophy with Xbox at the time. they entered the generation as an also-ran; the OG Xbox was certainly powerful, and surprised many with the quality of its games, but it was almost a proof-of-concept console. They wanted the 360 to win, and although the broadside of the Wii meant it never managed to be market leader, it still – just about – beat PS3 into second place. They did this by changing with the times, nimbly adapting to an evolving market; offering increased casual focus, new control methods, peripherals, multimedia functionality… Microsoft did a great job of continuing to make the 360 feel relevant, to feel like an essential console, despite the technical superiority of the PS3 or the absolute juggernaut that was the Wii. Again, it’s true that their ability to divine the market abandoned them come the design and release of the Xbox One, but throughout its life the Xbox 360 remained a fantastic, ever-changing yet thoroughly constant console.

So there we go. Ten reasons why, to this day, I adore the Xbox 360. My relationship with console gaming came of age, and really it’s that generation where I moved from being a PC gamer to a console gamer (apart from Civilization, pretty much). So bravo, 360; we may never see your like again.