Stuff To Love: Xbox 360 Games

When the Microsoft Xbox 360 first came out, I had no plans to get one. You see, I am an old school PC Gamer and Nintendo fan. I love classic games. Don't get me wrong – I also like the first person shooters. I played Wolfenstein, Descent, Soldier of Fortune 2, Rogue Spear, and in more recent years games like Call of Duty and Half-Life, to name a few. Nonetheless, I felt like many of the big video game manufacturers were making the same games over and over and over again. There didn't seem to be the variety anymore. The only difference was that the graphics got more intense (this, by the way, I have since found to be a major factor in favor of the Xbox 360 games) and the game play got more complicated. Elegance had been left behind. I couldn't fathom wanting to play Xbox 360 games frequently enough to really justify buying the system.

One day, out of sheer curiosity, I popped into a local game store just to "check out" the Xbox 360 and particularly, the Xbox 360 games. That day began to slowly change my mind! I tried out the new Xbox 360 games system, and quite a few games. As you might expect, I started out with a first person shooter game. It was actually even more fun than I had anticipated. I forgot how cool they were, and with a new level of realism, it was so much better. I could play cooperatively, player versus player, or solo. I switched between cooperative play and player versus player. It was nice, but it still didn't seem enough to justify buying the system. If all Xbox 360 games were just like that, I couldn't see myself wanting to play them very often. I still wanted to see some variety, knowing that the system would have to be fun for both me and my 2 teenagers.

To my surprise, the games weren't all the same. Don't get me wrong. There isn't that same innovation that a lot of video game makers were showing early on. If you look at early Nintendo games – and even modern Nintendo games to some degree – you see a wonderful variety. There was Punch Out, Contra, Tetris, Street Fighter, Super Mario Bros. – you get the idea. They weren't that violent because the emphasis wasn't on realism, blood, or gore. The emphasis was on fantasy – on creating a world unlike the one you live in. This system might not be as elegant, but some Xbox 360 games do have that same element of transport. Some of their strategy and role-playing games (Oblivion, for example) in particular take you to a place that could never exist in the real world - a fantastic land worth devoting hours of your time to. You can't ask more of a game system than that.

Needless to say, I gave into the temptation and now own not one Xbox 360 system - but two complete systems, and of course a ton of Xbox 360 games. Each Xbox 360 game system is hooked up to its own widescreen tv (I hate split-screen play), so by using an Xbox 360 feature called System Link, my teenagers and I can play games full screen to full screen, either locally or online via Xbox 360 Live. It really is a blast - and I am so very happy I took the plunge and purchased an Xbox 360 system and the many Xbox 360 games. Oh - and i also spent less than $200 to purchase the HD-DVD drive accessory, so now we watch lots of HD Dvd's at home using the Xbox 360 game system. If you haven't yet considered it, you really should check out the new Xbox 360 games system!

The Xbox 360 games video system works great as a video player, too, and combined with some of the best games and hd-dvds around it's pretty tough to beat. You can also go online to find lots and lots of really great reviews about which games are the best Xbox 360 games (and some great Xbox 360 games cheat too - if you're into that).

By the way, if you're a pet owner, be sure to check out my Squidoo blog at http://www.squidoo.com/petinfohub.