My Collection - Part 6 - Xbox 360- The 3 Lights of Death Strikes Back

9:27 PM on 08.16.2017 (server time)0

Let me be crystal clear, I loved the Xbox 360 when it launched, the initial launch titles, the controller and (specially for us here down south) the PRICE. It was a magnificent console that we ,poor plebeians ,could have and whose games were varied enough to please ,pretty much, everyone.

Imagine me, a vicarious young lad, walking the street in the prowl for my new console ( which I paid with hard earned money from my first job) , all seemed fine, with Gears of War and Dead Rising I tought our relathionsip would last forever. Until I discovered that the damn thing stoped working after 3 months of use....if only I knew the terror of the 3 lights and what awaited me... many sleepless nights would have been avoided.

My first 360 lived exactly 3 months before it was striken by the 3 RLOD (red lights of death) an overheating problem in the motherboard solders that send many consoles to the cemetery, at the time there was NO support from Microsoft in Brazil and I lost all the money I invested in the console ( something in the line of 299 dollars - at the time 6 months of saved up cash).

I was furious.

I remember screaming and beating the crap of that damn white box, "You took my money and you pay me with this ?" branded a young naive Jiraiya "Damn you Microsoft, you did it, you blew it up ,you Maniacs, goddamn you all to hell !".

True reenactment of my pain

One year later Microsoft finally had official support in Brazil and I decided to bind my luck yet again, there were Halos to play and the PS3 was still far too pricey for poor me to afford, the delusions of my first 360 remained tucked in a deep atrium of my soul but I pushed onwards. "What was there to lose ? Microsoft said they shall replace it now (if anything happens in the initial 2 year at least) !".

9 months in and many hours of gaming were had, I was happy, I could finally be with the cool kids and play the games that were all the rage amongst my friends , Street Fighter 4 was just around the corner, I ended up getting a used copy from a friend that disliked it. All was set and many punchs and kicks were supposed to fly .... but destiny is unforgivable and after half hour of gameplay the 3RLoD were there tauting me. Another console bites the dust and to Microsoft I had to call.

"It shall be simple " I tought to myself trying to convice me that in a couple of weeks all would be solved, but it was not so, first of the Microsoft callcenter for Brazil did not have people that spoke Portuguese natively , they made me speak with a spanish lady ( easy to say I could barely get anything she said), after 45 minutes of agony pretending I was debuging the issue with her I finally heard the words I was waiting for "We shall send someone to pick the console up" (this is an aproximation since my spanish is pretty rusted), I did not ask how long it would take, that alone was a victory I would savor for the day.

It took 6 months before I saw a new Xbox 360 console. I was heartbroken.

Me pretending to play Street Fighter IV with my papermade Xbox 360

Almost 2 years were spent with this kind of back and forth before Microsoft completely addressed the issues with their console and even with that the fear of losing it all never left my poor heart. This is the main reason for my xbox 360 collection being so weak compared to the PS3 even though most multiplatform games were better in the 360 and the prices were lower around here. I was extremely afraid of losing the console and being unable to play at all for long periods of time.

That terrified me to no end. Thus I only really started to buy games for the 360 almost at the end of its life.

I enjoy collecting games, statues and action figures and with this blog series I shall share the current state of my collection, system by system , figure by figure, butt by butt.

Today I show you my Xbox 360 game collection !

I consider this almost nothing, like a miserable little pile of secrets

Crackdown , Deadrising and Deadspace broke my mind when they came out, the Xbox 360 had a impressive array of titles right of the batch and it seemed like there was no other console read to beat it, if only he didn't beat himself with hardware issues....

Blue Dragon is a hidden gem ( many missed it, use backwards compatibility my friends its a nice game) , Akai Katana is there just to point out that I hate the fact that this console had region protection and that I can't simple buy and play the Cave Collection ( one day you shall be mine).

Bayonetta Xbox 360 version was superior, and it was a damn great game ! Alpha Protocol is a nice change of pace from modern RPGs and I find its history interesting.

HA! Hidden OG Xbox title there ! Fable it is, such a great game , Gears of War became a staple for the console and the gaming world, I liked the 2 one the most.

Lost Odyssey is the greatest JRPG I played in the 360 , it's a shame this game is not well know , its really good. Niinja Gaiden II is a great action romp , the difficulty never bothered me much. Lost Planet had much promise. Halo Reach is the pinnacle of the Halo experience for me, if you had to choose one Halo to play that is it. Gears Of War Judgment is not very good.

Mass Effect blew my socks off, I had played lots of RPGs on the PC at that time but I never though they could implement something like that on a console, I was wrong, shame the third one is crap at the end, like finishing a full course meal with shit for dessert.

That Otomedius came with a pillow and a artbook (my wife never let me use it though), Red Faction Guerrilla has some crazy destruction physics. Agarest War had some nice Waifus.

Tales of Vesperia (only Tales of this gen I don't have at the PS3) is a nice game with a dark protagonist ( damn I loved the protagonist), EXTRA Sneakers sneaked in here (gained that shit when I bought my first 360).