Special Edition Xbox 360s

Now, this may be a little different to the sort of stuff I usually do, but that's kind of why I'm doing this. I've had this blog for nearly a year, and whilst I've started many articles and projects, I've only actually published 10. For me, given how much I like to write, how much I can write once I get started, and how many ideas I have for things I could write and would like to write: that is disgusting. So I'm going to start writing things that aren't just reviews, as I was originally meant to. I'm going to look at things, report on things, analyse things, and basically just talk about things, putting my opinions up onto the big wide world of webbiness.Or the internet if you want to be boring. If you're boring you can leave. Bye bye. Shoo.

So today, as my first random bloggy thingy, I'm going to look at different types of Special Edition Xbox 360s, and discuss (probably at great length) whether or not they are good, bad, have a purpose, etc. probably with myself, as I doubt anyone else will join in with this discussion.

So to begin with, pretty much everyone you speak to will know what an Xbox 360 is. From the elderly who may complain it's 'one of them infernal contraptions the young whippersnappers play'; to the young who will know it only as 'ekbok'; people will know what it is. Some will boldly proclaim that they are by far inferior to PS3s, their console of choice. Some will say that they are but pitiful (yet extraordinarily powerful) pieces of hardware that baulk in the face of the glory days of companies like Nintendo, Sega and Atari. And most people will have one. Whether it's their console of choice, something they pick-up for half an hour every now and then, or whatever. It could mean anything to them, and they could have any level of affinity to it, but whatever it means to you, whatever it doesn't, and however annoyed you're getting at my constant rambling and seeming dislike of getting to the point: you know what it is.

But what is it? "The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. As of March 31, 2011, there are over 53.6 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide." This is the first paragraph on the Wikipedia page (link provided). It's a multi-million selling multi-media goldmine. You can watch movies on it. You can watch HD DVD's (a format that died out almost as soon as they appeared) on it with an additional piece of hardware. You can listen to music. You can find a seemingly never-ending archive of video content for all of your favourite games (for the 360 of course). And of course, you can play games on it. Most people will only use it for the last one, but it can do a vast array of things, much like the Playstation 3 can (before people go calling me a fanboy. I play PS3 too, but this is an article about 360, so trolls can GTFO).

What though, does the Xbox 360 mean to Video Game collectors? That greatly depends on what type of collector they are. Obviously the 360 doesn't have much rarity or retro appeal, because as previously stated, it's sold over 53.6 million units, and it's a current-gen system, so you can't call it that old. Collector's who enjoy collecting large libraries of (sometimes) quality games, are well provided for with the 360, as there are currently at least 813 games (not all good), for the system (yes 624 of which are multi-platform, I've told you trolls to leave) and that number will only continue to grow in the coming years. Yes it's rumoured that some devs already have a prototype of Microsoft's next console and that it's only a matter of time before that (effectively) blows everything that the 360 has done out of the water; but that doesn't mean there isn't life left in the system. There are still plenty of quality AAA and niche/indie games on the way.

What about, collector's who enjoy getting all different variants of a system, especially special editions? Well I can hardly imagine that there are that many people willing to shell out over £300 every time Microsoft decides that they want to cash-in on a popular franchise by attaching a licensed special edition console to it, but if there are they have certainly been well provided for in the years since Xbox 360's release - now moreso than ever (hence the reason that I'm doing this blog).

To begin with, it wasn't really so bad. There was the Arcade Edition, and the Pro Edition. Arcade was for the casual, or the retro gamer. You got a few free arcade games, and 256MB of internal memory (probably not even enough to download say, one Black Ops map pack). Then there was the Pro version, for those who actually wanted to enjoy the thing and not shell extra for a hard drive should they have the audacity to say, want to play games on the bloody thing.

 Then, there was a tie-in console for Halo 3. Pretty awesome! It was all cool and Spartan-y and you could impress all your friends by going "LOOK AT MY AWESOME XBOX! I HAVE THE X-BOX FACTOR! AWWWWWWWW YEEEEEEEEEEAH!", and they'd probably like, run away from your superior nerdinessXbox for the special people that wanted one, and nobody else had to care.

 

Inbetween this and the next major release came a special edition that I actually only found out about when researching for this article. Apparently a couple of months before the Elite, Microsoft released a small batch of only 100 Yellow The Simpsons Movie 360s, obviously to tie-in with the movie. Due to their limited quantity, these consoles actually are collectible, and even if you have an Xbox, tracking down one of these guys could well be worth your while. Also, if you get one, give one to me. I'll love you forever!

Then, there was the Xbox Elite. That was cool, because you had 3 options. Your terrible bundle. Your bundle for the gamers. And then your bundle for the gamers. A superior bundle, with an even bigger hard drive, and a black colour to reflect your superiority. Sadly though, most of these superior people already had a Pro Xbox, and couldn't really buy one of these. Fair enough for newcomers who appreciated how superior this bundle is, but what good does it do? A large proportion of the target audience for this console, already had an Xbox, and as such this was a
pretty much pointless upgrade.

They released four special edition spins on the elite. Two that were major new consoles, and two that were just helpful if you wanted to buy the console just for a specific game. One of two. Both of which you can get on the PS3. One of which is actually superior on the PS3 (yep, you guessed it. If any of the trolls are still hanging around hoping to flame something, I just called something on the PS3 superior to something on the 360. Oooooooh burn).

So there was a Final Fantasy XIII bundle. I think it had a logo somewhere on the console, but no major aesthetic differences like the full-body spartan cover of the Halo 3 one. So other than a superior 250GB hard drive and an apparently awesome game (I still haven't gotten around to playing it yet), there's nothing all that special about shelling out the money for this bundle. And to be honest, people that would be that bothered about buying a console just for Final Fantasy, would have either already had an Xbox by that point, or would have been sat at home happily playing it on their PS3s on launch day. Sorry Xbox fanboys, but unless Nintendo can somehow miraculously win back the Final Fantasy franchise with the Wii-U, it belongs on the Playstation. If you want proof, try playing VII, VIII and IX.

Then there was a Splinter Cell Conviction bundle. I do not know why. It wasn't a major exclusive release or anything. Final Fantasy XIII  marked the first time the series appeared on the Xbox, so I can see how a bundle for that game could be justified, but why this? I mean, it was originally going to be an Xbox exclusive, but it still ended up on PS3. Were they maybe working on this to celebrate the fact that it was exclusive and then by the time it wasn't any more it was too late to do anything about it? I don't know (basically I can't be bothered to look deep enough into it to figure out why this could be. I wasn't meant to even go off on this much of a tangent, because I still have a lot more to write).  Basically this is just about the same as the FFXIII one.

However there were two elite consoles that weren't just consoles bundled with games. They were actual fully-fledged aesthetically awesome suped-up branded Xbox 360s. The first of which was Resident Evil 5. I don't know why they went to so much effort with this one. Maybe because it's Capcom? (who've majorly screwed up recently, expect that to be the subject of another blog). My guess is because they expected the game to take off in the same way that Resident Evil 4 did. They expected it to fly off the shelves, and be so super special awesome mega chocolaty fudge-coated ultra special that it would convince people playing the PS3 version to buy it along with an awesome new specially licensed Xbox 360. From what I've heard, the game was actually pretty mediocre (I haven't played it), and did all the worse because of it. Resi 4 was probably ashamed of its offspring. At least the console looked nice.

Then, of course. How could they not big-up this game to the extreme. It was controversial (ish), it was awesome (but tedious after a while), and it literally did sell by the bucket load. Why shouldn't Modern Warfare 2 get a special edition console to go with it. To be honest, this one was actually probably a wise decision. Whilst the people who would actually buy one of these consoles probably already had a Halo 3 one or something like that, they probably went out and bought one anyway, just to support the sheer epicosity, and bolster the popularity (and ego) of the Call of Duty franchise (and it's creators). I guess, if people had actually looked into it at the time (I don't know if they did, so don't quote me), they'd have seen this coming. To be honest, the people who hadn't probably saw this coming.

Then it started to get out of hand. With the release of the mega special Xbox 360 'slim', that was given away to every single person that attended the E3 Press Conference (probably to make Microsoft look 'nice' or 'kind', and to increase the popularity of the console before most people even new it existed), that supposedly got rid of the cursed 'Red Ring of Death', the special editions started to spiral out of control.

There was a Halo Reach one, which was slightly pointless, but it was all pretty and metallic and Halo-y. Sadly though, with the number of consoles now available, it didn't have the same capacity for screaming "LOOK AT MY AWESOME XBOX! I HAVE THE X-BOX FACTOR! AWWWWWWWW YEEEEEEEEEEAH!" Hanging our heads in dismay at our shared nerdiness, we can now move along onto pastures new. Or Xbox's of different aesthetic properties. Or whatever.

Then there was nothing for a while. Until now. Look it up on Amazon or something. The number of special editions on there way. Why?

There's a Gears of War 3 one. Sure it looks awesome. The console and controllers are all awesome and red and black and bloody and they feature the series logo, and it's awesome.

Then there's a Star Wars one. I'm not going to lie, I want that one so badly. It has an R2-D2 inspired console covering and a C3PO controller, and thus it wins. Epically. It even makes the bleepy bloopy noises when you turn it on and open the disk drive and stuff. It's very, VERY cool.

And of course, how could the recently announced Modern Warfare 3 console not exist? It was a given really, and it was that that led me to write this article. Why so many within such a short period of time? It was only when I saw this announced that I sat up and took notice. Why? The Gears one is due on the 20th of September. The CoD one is probably due November 8th alongside the game. The Star Wars one may be held back to meet the release date of the Kinect game, but it may also be released ahead of time, and re-packaged with the game and Kinect when that time comes.

What is the point? The 360 is evidently nearing the end of its life-cycle, and pretty much everyone who wants an Xbox 360, has an Xbox 360, and if they don't, they're either not allowed one, or they can't afford one, and no matter how many pretty new special edition consoles you release, it's not going to change anything. All you're striving to do is piss off your loyal customers who've been there since day one. Because the main bulk of the target audience of these consoles has had an Xbox 360 for over 6 years. They're all pretty much the same. Gears of War. CoD. Halo. It's all the same type of people who'll buy these games, and will subsequently want the console. Sure they're pretty, but how about a more diverse range? The Star Wars one is definitely a step in the right direction, because it holds appeal for younger people too.

Whilst all these shiny, and often colourful new consoles are lots of fun Microsoft, they're ridiculously unnecessary, especially seeing as they're all so similar. All of these special consoles are being brought out in order to catch the eye of the same people, and whilst I'm not insulting you for trying; I'm insulting you for not going about it right. There are too many. They're coming too thick and too fast. And they aren't diverse enough. It would be like if Nintendo started bringing out special edition Wii's. There'd be a Mario one. How about Mario Kart? Maybe an Animal Crossing one. Monkey Ball? Sure there's Zelda, and Metroid, and Madworld, and The Conduit, but at the end of the day, they'd be pretty much the same thing, over and over, and they'd be aimed at the same people, and these people wouldn't, and probably couldn't buy them.

How about one for Kinectimals or Viva Pinata? How about a more detailed Final Fantasy one, or some other JRPG like Blue Dragon? If you can actually get the series back. How about something different, like L.A. Noire? How about Katamari? How about Deus Ex? You have plenty of options Microsoft. If you really do feel the need to bring out loads and loads of new special edition consoles which really aren't that necessary, why not put some more effort into making them more varied, rather than bringing out the same bundles with the same sorts of games, aimed at the same people.

As a special treat for reading this entire thing, you get a virtual gold star, and a pat on the head. Maybe you can go make yourself a cup of coffee (or your preferred hot beverage) and sit and gaze in awe at this pretty Final Fantasy XIII picture.