Long ago in the mists of time where lies the year 2002, I
happened to be at a relative’s house for a Christmas family get together. My
cousins were all upstairs, playing four player on Halo: Combat Evolved on the
Microsoft Xbox. Being a PC player living in the middle of nowhere with terrible
internet access, I rarely got the chance to play with more than one other
person (and that was only if the network between our two computers was in a
good mood).
I’d played console multiplayer plenty of times in before
on Nintendo 64s, Playstations, SNES’ and NES’, but never owned one as parental
logic dictated I didn’t need one as I had a computer. At 16 as I was that year,
I had my own money to buy a games console and took advantage of the slightly
clueless Woolworths to get an Xbox with three games (Blinx: The Time Sweeper
(which was rubbish), Sega GT 2002 (which was ok) and Jet Set Radio Future
(which was awesome)).
Through Halo, Crimson Skies, Ninja Gaiden, Project Gotham
Racing, Rallisport Challenge, Amped, Conker Live & Reloaded (a good port if
you only play the single player), Dead or Alive Ultimate, Jade Empire,
MechAssault, Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus (a pretty cool beat ‘em up), Splinter
Cell and Unreal Championship 2, I came to love Microsoft’s black block and with
the Xbox 360 bringing fantastic games such as Kameo: Elements of Power, Lost
Odyssey, Mass Effect, Gears of War and Shadow Complex to name but a few, it
seemed the X marked the spot for greatness.
Fast forward to 2013 with the release of the Xbox One and
I’ve only got one major thought in my mind: What on earth happened?
