July 29th will be a very sad day for many gamers as the xbox 360 marketplace will be shutting down for good. Microsoft insists any game or DLC bought you can still re download at any time but buying any games, dlc, themes, even avatar stuff will be gone forever. It’s been mentioned in the past that there is a high percentage of content that will be deemed unplayable as most games aren’t backward compatible and only a handful have been ported to newer consoles and PC along with some games having a remaster.
It’s hardly surprising that this day was coming as most of us have moved onto newer consoles and onto a new era however with gamers like myself this isn’t always the case as I love playing retro games still today and I actually don’t play a lot of new games which come out as most of the games I currently play are 10-15 years old , some even 20! Now we know pretty much all of the 360 game servers have shut down which is quite sad as for games like halo and call of duty having over a million players at one time truly was such a magical time with memories and having fun…or rage quiting as you get 360 no scoped by someone who’s balls haven’t dropped yet.
I’ve been on the last hunt for games that I won’t be able to get as the prices are either mega cheep or the fact a physical copy will set you back a fair bit, not only that but a load of dlc’s are also free and and loads aren’t available anywhere else. For example I’ve mananged to buy on xbox Birds of steel for a few quid as it’s on sale ( the dlc is full price boo) But for a physical copy it’s around £30! For the Og fans this is the first version of war thunder that’s on pc! The other major downside is a lot of games with licences have been delisted, so games like transformers, driver san fransicso, forza motorsport / horizion! anything with a licence has already been taken down sadly.
Just like the fate of playstation 3 store which shut down back in 2020 & the nintentdo Wii shop closed back in 2019 this era of gaming has pretty much ended and it hurts. One story which is even older is about the original xbox servers shutting down for good back in 2010. and that’s the noble 14. Fourteen players battled on halo 2 for as long a possible because so long as people were still in the game after the servers closed you could still play, slowly the last 14 dropped to just one person and that was that. The good news is after 14 years and with the help of some mods you can atually play the original xbox live servers! You can watch the video below about the noble 14.
I’ve not even begun talking about my experience this shutdown as it’s the final nail in th 360’s online coffin. Xbox live was my first experience with online which began back in november 2008 after buying that wireless dongle for half price, bought xbox live for half price and I still remember playing online for the first time ever which was Grand theft auto 4. Playing with real people, messing about online and actually speaking to other players for the first time ever is still a pretty surreal moment. See when people go oh it’s just a game get a grip, the same people who yell at thier tv when football is on and thier team looses, yeah the irony aha!
I still tell people to this day that gaming as a whole peaked between 2008-2014. This time was golden there are so many memories playing with friends both online and people who are friends in real life. The memories made , the ups the downs, the teamwork in Halo , call of duty, battlefield bad company 2 & 3 messing around in Gta IV ( V was also awesome when it came before the dlc came out) I’ve played loads of games online all the time with friends and strangers and there was no harm done, a lot of trash talking by angry players and the odd session where you get targeted in games but it was fun, Online gaming today is way to different, it could be because a lot of us are getting older and life ah finds a way or the fact that some games just don’t hit like they used too, i’m looking at you call of duty!
Either we are fueled by nostalgia or the feeling to be young again to just play our favourite games which some aren’t the same and some still hit that sweet fun spot. I mean with the amount of games getting a remster to some it’s a cashgrab to people like me it’s great. Games getting a major graphical revamp like destroy all humans, mafia, red faction, even Halo ( apparently) At least some games are still playable today without having to break the bank too much. As much as nintento trying to keep thier classic games alive the having to pay for an online subscription to play these ported games on the switch isn’t the right way to do it!
This is also a reason why i’ve done a gaming channel, not only because it’s someting i’ve always wanted to do, but to document as many games as possible as there’s so many games I’ve loved growing up as a kid to my teens to now. Some games are still so fun to play today and it brings me joy. I’m not the best player don’t get me wrong but i’m having fun and that should be the only major thing for gaming. Just have fun!
Here’s a link to my gaming channel. I’d love to know gaming stories from you lot!
Banana Jazz 
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