I went to a Gamestop the other day, and they had a little section for pre-owned games for older systems (think Xbox360, PS2, DS, etc). I was perusing and grabbed some games, but I noticed something, the cases that have the XBOX360 games have a giant “RETRO GAMING” on it in the centre. So I am like wtf, I grew up with the XBOX360, what the hell do they mean “retro”.
So I went and asked like friends and other people if the XBOX360 is retro now, and basically everyone was like “yeah”. I was talking to my EX about it and she was like “the xbox came out in 2005/6. There is more time between us and the xbox360 than there was between the xbox and the SNES when the xbox came out. Was the SNES “retro” when the xbox360 came out?”
I am like not ready, not willing to accept the XBOX360 as retro. Because that is saying my thing that I grew up with is “retro” or “old” now and im not ready to accept that because im not ready to be old.
its old but it isn’t retro at least not yet. Most xbox 360 games have modern game design none of them have that “retro” feel. Its an old system but none of the games feel old. Now the OG xbox being considered retro makes me feel like a dinosaur.
It is not retro. It is “Modern,” like how art from the 50s and 60s is called “Modern Art.”
Here is an easy chart:
1st Console Gen (Magnavox Odyssey) : Historic
2nd Console Gen (ColecoVision) : Antique
3rd Console Gen (NES) : Vintage
4th Console Gen (SNES) : Retro
5th Console Gen (N64) : Classic
6th Console Gen (XBOX) : Renaissance
7th Console Gen (X360) : Modern
8th Console Gen (XBOX ONE) : Post-Modern
9th Console Gen (XBOX SERIES) : Contemporary
Well done
We are not old, we are retro
I’m downright vintage.
Here here! stomps cane
Just you wait until you reach a point where you think “I used to feel old when I was in my 20’ties. Now I’m really old.”
t. Am 41 years old.
Imagine what 60 must feel like.
More like the same thing.
At 80’s however will be like “Damn, I used to talk with randoms about my age and making such a big deal in my 20’ties. And now I’m in my 80’ties and I could die in any moment.”
At 100’ties will be like “Ah, fu-”
I feel like the “retroness” comes down to more the gameplay than the passage of time. Despite coming out 20 years ago, 360 games have a lot of similarities to modern games. Contrast that to the SNES, which had a much different limitations and approach to game design.
Yes and no. I only play the 360 (because of money, not choice) and the very specific brand of action games they had are not a thing today. The mechanics and presentation are “retro” in the sense that they are from a different era.
There are many that share similarities but the more you play from this era today the more you notice how much things have changed.
Yeah, maybe we need a different word to describe the games and systems that we think of when we say “retro”. Because when I think of ‘retro’ games, I’m thinking of Super Mario Bros and the OG Doom and shit like that, not Halo or whatever. I’m thinking of the time before consoles were mostly just pre-built PCs in a fancy looking box.
I just bought one last year.
It’s not retro. It’s in that sweet spot where it’s irrelevant enough to be dirt cheap.
We’ll need to wait another 10-20 years before the kids who grew up with the xbox360 have enough time and disposable income to buy and play all the games they loved in their youth.
The people born when this machine was released have finished school, learned to drive and potentially even started their own families.
I’m with you, retro is when they were still counting bits
I never had an XBOX or PS2. I went over to my friend’s house and he’d let me take a controller. I’m surprised this is considered retro now and I’m a little sad since I never got to play it.
Now I have Steam games I can’t find time or joy to play and with no one to play them with.
I’m surprised this is considered retro now and I’m a little sad since I never got to play it.
The good news is PS2 emulation is pretty solid. Xbox is less so, but luckily most games in the generation were also available on PS2.
I think using emulation as the benchmark for what makes a console retro can be a useful rule of thumb. By that metric I don’t think the 360 is retro yet as emulation isn’t quite mainstream or functional for the majority of titles. It’s probably getting close though.
Emulation has nothing to do with it, Saturn emulation is not great still and it’s an old system, original xbox as well. All the while PS3 emulation is pretty good now and PS3 is newer than the 360. Hell, Nintendo Switch even got an emulator in the middle of its life cycle, does that make it retro?
It’s still a reasonable rule, with a few outliers. For the switch specifically, you could make a reasonable argument it was retro on launch, with cartridges and massively underpowered hardware.
“Massively underpowered” switch hardware is much more powerful than the 360 as well, with games like Skyrim, RDR, Bayonetta, all running much better than they ever did on 360 or PS3. So if that’s retro…
Much better performance is a bit of an exaggeration. Switch games are running at similar fps and resolutions to 360 games.
360 is AAA slop, I refuse to recognize that thing as retro.
If it can be emulated on a steam deck, it’s retro
The switch is retro?
Its hardware is, the switch is garbage
I am also often upset, confused and scared by the passage of time
Downvote for making me think about it
zero downvotes
Gamestop needs to go back to when their cases looked like thisI miss those styles, so much stuff has a corporate sanitized look and feel these days
