Help - New 360 owner

[wshbrngr]

OK, today I came into posession of a RROD 360.

I fixed it this afternoon and it is now humming like a champ. I had already fixed some for family members in the past, so I figured I could fix this one.
(If anyone is curious, I use the 'replace the x-clamps w/5mm screws' method, which has worked everytime.)

Problem is, I am no fan of x-box, I have always been a Nintendo/Playstation gamer.
As a confirmed CAG, the idea of paying to play online just seems wrong to me.

The people I know that have 360's seem to only play HALO (online, of course)

My question for you x-boxers out there is:
Are there any good offline games, and if so.... suggestions......

I also got an original x-box this week, so it's been a good week for gaming over here 
(I have been playing Conker - I love that little guy)

[Ragnarok2103]

deadspace, bioshock, fallout, lost odyssey. those are just what i can think of off the top of my head. i know most of those are available for ps3, but i don't know if you have one as you didnt specify 360 exclusives.

[wshbrngr]

Thanks for the quick response, I am just looking to see if there are any worth playing offline.

Most everything (including the PS3 games) tend to be online oriented.  I have looked at what is recommended as the top x-box games and they mostly seem to be online played games. I don't mind playing the PS3 online as it doesn't cost anything extra.

P.S.
I am an old guy, my first game system was an Atari 2600 (when it was state of the art and $299.00)
I tend to prefer shumps or arcade type games.

[Doom]

While paying for LIVE is terrible, I don't think paying $30 a year is that bad. Wait for a deal to pop up: AFAIK Best Buy has one right now. (US? I can't remember where each staff member lives)

Qubed - $20 - Rez HD (trippy shmup like game), E4 (music based shmup I guess) Lumines Live! (Tetris like thing)
Namco Museum Virtual Arcade - $20 - 30 Namco games, 8 of which have achievements. Remakes (Pac-Man CE) and old games (Pac-Man) alike.
The Secret of Monkey Island: SE - $15 - You know what this is I hope. Play it in old school SCUMM or new school prettyness.
Hexic HD - $0 - Comes on all hard drives. If you didn't get it, no huge loss. Free puzzle game.
Burnout Paradise or Forza 3 - $20 or $45 - Burnout is my choice because it's cheaper and more fun. Burnout is the arcadey kick ass game, while Forza is the stuffy more mature version with real cars, anti locking brakes, tuning, etc.
The Orange Box - $15 - Get it for PC, but if not, 360 is the next best option.
Fallout 3 - $20 - huge RPG. You might not like it, which is why I put this at the bottom.

Check out this page on CAG. Free premium themes, games, etc. The games aren't good but the themes are decent. There's even a shmup in there.

I'd advise you to get either a 120GB or 60GB hard drive, depending on how serious you are. If you want to play Xbox games on your 360, you need an official hard drive at MS rates. But with your OG Xbox, that won't be necessary. Look on Ebay. General rule: Hong Kong sells the hacked ones, everywhere else could be legit, but it depends. You should be able to get a legit 120GB for $65, and hacked or lower capacities for less.

The real purpose of the hard drive is installing games. Turns the 360 from a jet engine to a fan running on low settings and reduces RRoD. So depending on how often you hop around games, you could keep 2 or 3 installed. (I have all of mine installed on my 120) 20 is cramped, 60 should be good for a few games, and I have 40GB free on my 120.

Also, if you want demos but don't want to pay for gold, you have a few options. There are 3 1 month XBL trials per console, 1 per profile. That might get you by a few times. Also, shady webites + DVD's = demos! I doubt anyone gets banned from XBL from that, but MS did just finish banning...



1 million people from XBL.

[the7k]

The first few games I'd get for an Xbox 360 would be Dead Rising, Earth Defense Force 2017 and Lost Odyssey - all of which are offline games.

[Strong and Nerdy (formerly tmntfreak7)]

I would have to recommend Mass Effect, that game is amazing.

[sheep2001]

having both PS3 and 360, and coming from a similar vintage to you (i think) i haven't found any must haves for online play on 360 that warrant a subscription, ad to be honest, it's my PS3 that sees most use.  That's not to say there aren't some fantastic offline games - as stated above, Dead rising is alot of fun, as are the burnouts and PGR's.  Not forgetting Crackdown.  I am not a fan of first person shooters, so Halo and GOW don't really do it for me, so i wouldn't warrant signing up for live for these types of games - but most people seem to love them.

[KaiserWAVE]

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men and Mirrors Edge are two games I can highly recommend. Both are very compelling. Kane & Lynch feels like playing through a Michael Mann movie.

And if you have any interest at all in metal music or classic rock then please, for the love of good, get Brütal Legend! It's not a very long game, but if you like Conker you'll like the humor in Brütal Legend. It's a fun ride to play through the story.

[wshbrngr]

While paying for LIVE is terrible, I don't think paying $30 a year is that bad. Wait for a deal to pop up: AFAIK Best Buy has one right now. (US? I can't remember where each staff member lives)

You sound like my grandson....  XBL is really cheap for him, his parents pay for it.  (no offense)

Actually, My main opposition to paying to play online is that I travel from home a lot, depending on the weather. Last year I was physically at my house about 12 weeks, and that was spread out over the entire year. The travel kind of sucks... but hey, I'm getting paid. My delema would be: Buy a 3 month subscription, the next day, get called away for 3 months. 

While paying for LIVE is terrible, I don't think paying $30 a year is that bad. Wait for a deal to pop up: AFAIK Best Buy has one right now. (US? I can't remember where each staff member lives)

Qubed - $20 - Rez HD (trippy shmup like game), E4 (music based shmup I guess) Lumines Live! (Tetris like thing)
Namco Museum Virtual Arcade - $20 - 30 Namco games, 8 of which have achievements. Remakes (Pac-Man CE) and old games (Pac-Man) alike.
The Secret of Monkey Island: SE - $15 - You know what this is I hope. Play it in old school SCUMM or new school prettyness.
Hexic HD - $0 - Comes on all hard drives. If you didn't get it, no huge loss. Free puzzle game.
Burnout Paradise or Forza 3 - $20 or $45 - Burnout is my choice because it's cheaper and more fun. Burnout is the arcadey kick ass game, while Forza is the stuffy more mature version with real cars, anti locking brakes, tuning, etc.
The Orange Box - $15 - Get it for PC, but if not, 360 is the next best option.
Fallout 3 - $20 - huge RPG. You might not like it, which is why I put this at the bottom.

These are really good suggestions, (especially in red) thanks.
Unfortunately I did not get a HDD. I got the console only, I believe everything was stripped to put on a working console.
I have The Orange Box and Burnout Paradise for the PS3.
I do remember The Secret of Monkey Island (back in the day), I don't remember if I ever found out what the secret was or not 

I have been reading about the XBL bans..... 
The only mod I did to this console was replace the x-clamps to get it working. 

[Doom]

You sound like my grandson....  XBL is really cheap for him, his parents pay for it.  (no offense)

Technically my parents don't pay for anything besides gifts, but without a job the money comes from somewhere.

I 100% recommend the first two. I put them at the top for a reason. Qubed is actually 3 XBLA games.

Metacritic Scores for

    * Qubed (XX)
    * Every Extend Extra Extreme (78)
    * Lumines Live! (77)
    * Rez HD (89)

LUMINES LIVE! - Standard Edition (12 skins). Additional Premium Downloadable Content Included: Advance Challenge Pack, Rockin' Holiday Pack, VS CPU Pack, Puzzle/Mission Pack Puzzle, Tokyo Club Mix Pack, Heavenly Star Skin, Breeze Skin.

According to the DLC listing on the Microsoft website, the only DLC not included is "Booster Pack". ($7.50/600)

The individual games would cost $30/2400 space bucks, not counting the deals of the week. If you were to purchase all of the content in this pack, (before Nov. 14, when two skins stop being free) it would cost $78.75/6300 space bucks. If you decide to buy the booster pack that Atari decided they wouldn't include*, you would still only pay $27.49 with this pack.

*Bastards, there's more than enough room! They could include every theme and gamerpicture for all three games and still be like 6 GB short of filling the disc! Still a great deal.

Namco Museum has 9 XBLA games, with 200 achievement points each:
Galaga Legions, Pac-Man Championship Edition, Mr Driller Online, Pac-Man, Galaga, Xevious, New Ralley X, Dig Dug and Ms Pac-Man.

And the following hastily ported games: No leaderboards or achievements, more like how they were originally.

Baraduke, Bosconian, Dig Dug II, Dig Dug Arrangement, Dragon Buster, Dragon Spirt, Galaga '88, Galaga Arrangement, Galaxian, Grobda, King & Ballon, Mappy, Metro-Cross, Motos, Pac & Pal, Pac-Man Arrangement, Pac-Mania, Pole Position, Pole Position II, Rally X, Rolling Thunder, Sky Kid, Sky Kid Deluxe, Super Pac-Man, and The Tower of Druaga.

Along the same lines are two games I haven't played. Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection and XBLA Unplugged.

Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection:
Read the list at amazon, it's a little big. There's a lot there, but the developers purposefully made it so you can't play Knuckles in Sonic 2, Sonic 1 and Knuckles (blue sphere), or S3&K. In an unrelated event,  a few months after they made this they released the XBLA game Sonic and Knuckles! Now you can lock on with your already purchased wastes of money Sonic 1, 2, and 3!

XBLA unplugged:
5 XBLA games, all with achivements. Geo Wars is a shmup too.
1 month of live (retail $8)
Bejeweled 2 (retail $10)
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved (retail $5)
Hardwood Backgammon (retail $5)
Outpost Kaloki X (retail $10)
Wik and the Fable of Souls (retail $10)
Texas Hold 'em (retail $10)

So many edits, so little time. Sign up for XBL silver. It's free, and that way you can track your achivements and when they were earned.

[tiktektak]

If you're a SHMUP fan I suggest you try Death Smiles or Otomedius Gorgeous! Hmmm on second thought I think those games could be JP only and may not be region free.....

[wshbrngr]

You sound like my grandson....  XBL is really cheap for him, his parents pay for it.  (no offense)

Technically my parents don't pay for anything besides gifts, but without a job the money comes from somewhere.

I meant absolutely no offense, your comment just made me laugh out loud as that was exactly what he said.
He is 13, so his parents pay for everything.

We were discussing the 360 and he wanted to know why I had a PS3, and I told him one reason was the free online play.
They have a 360 at their house, I don't think he is impressed with the PS3. 

You have given me some good game suggestions.... I really appreciate it.