You might have noticed something in your Xbox 360 interface called Xbox Community Games and, as I did, not paid it much attention. But there's a surprising amount of innovative gameplay to be had in this overlooked corner of the Xbox Live Experience! Here's some help getting started in the world of Community Games.
What are community games?
Community games are games created independantly by much smaller companies, or often individuals. They're indie games that are made and reviewed by the Xbox Live community. You can download trial versions of each game via Xbox Live. If you want to buy the game, they're paid for with Xbox live points. They range from 100 points, up to the same level pricing as Xbox Arcade games.
Aren't the games CRAP?
I thought that after trying a few of them. But you'll be AMAZED at the quality of some of these games. Seriously. There are a lot of games on Community, with some real stinkers, but some of the games far surpass what's available on Xbox Live Arcade - and indeed many full-price titles. There's innovation, ideas and FRESH thinking that you won't find anywhere else. Some of the best games cost next to nothing for the full version.
How do you find the best games?
Fortunatelty, there's at least two REALLY good places where you can find out about the best Xbox Community games. The first being XNPlay - http://www.xnplay.co.uk/ This site ranks the best games on there, and it's easy to build up a little list of which ones you're interested in. This is where I started out.
The other essential bookmark is Nick The Dude's youtube reviews of the best games. Especially helpful is his top 21 Community Games.
That should be enough to get you started downloading some of these FANTASTIC, low price games. I guarantee you're in for a great time with these games, whatever kind of game floats your boat.
If you're looking to get into Guitar Hero, then this bundle is a great place to start. It includes a high quality wireless guitar controller, and the Guitar Hero: World Tour Game. Whether you're going to play alone, or want to start your own Guitar Hero Band, this is the place to start.
The wireless controller is a lot easier to use than the wired version, and has a touch sensitive slide bar and increased accuracy over previous versions. Play along with some of the greatest rock songs ever written, compose and record your music, or go online and battle other bands.
It has to be said that the tracks on guitar Hero world tour are some of the best rock songs ever written. There's tracks from Bon Jovi, to 30 Seconds From Mars, all fantastic fun to play along with. The difficulty level starts off really easy, but there's plenty of challenge here as your skill improves. The gameplay is instantly enjoyable and whatever kind of games you've played in the past, you'll really love Guitar Hero World Tour.
There's never been a better time to jump into the world of Guitar Hero on yor Xbox 360. This X-Plorer wired controller comes with the awesome Guitar Hero 2, and has recently been reduced by a whopping £30.
Guitar Hero 2 comes with 60 of the best tracks to rock along with, including Van Halen, the Foo Fighters, and many more. And you can download more via Xbox Live.
The X-Plorer guitar controller feels fantastic in your hands, and has all the features you'd expect from a real guitar. The buttons have a solid, quality feel when you press them and this controller is rated 5/5 by Amazon users.
If you've never played guitar hero before, this is a great way to get in on the action. You will spend hours on this game - it's seriously that good. This is a fantastic controller & guitar hero game package at a budget price. Get yours today.
Long before there was analog controllers or your fancy motion sensitive controls, you had to use good old fashioned joysticks to pummel the opposition into submission. As you can see from the pic, those days are here again. The incredibly lengthy titles Mad Catz Xbox 360 Street Fighter IV controller offers a true arcade style experience and accuracy of attack moves not possible with the standard Xbox 360 controllers.
Apart from the other cool stuff it does, this arcade style fight stick looks nothing short of spectacular, with fully licensed Street Fighter 4 artwork and characters. But onto the tech stuff. Because this joystick is a case of ancient meets modern...
The joystick can function as a full analog stick or be switched to take control of the D-Pad. There's lots of options here and the stick is completely compatible with all the Xbox Live Arcade games. So if you fancy playing Double Dragon as it should be played, you can do it in style with this fight stick. It's got 8 buttons that feel an absolute dream to hammer. And there's a port for your Xbox Live headset. In short, this just the best arcade 360 joystick you'll find anywhere. Get yours today.
If you've ever used the non-keyboard of typing on the Xbox, it's a bit like typing on a keyboard from the other side of the room, using a broom handle. Enter the Xbox 360 Messenger Kit, the official mini-keyboard that will save you hours of frustration typing messages on your Xbox 360.
The Messenger Kit offers a super-easy way to input text to the Xbox console. It's an essential accessory if you're planning to spend any time sending text messages to friends online. (You may be surprised how often you will want to do this once you start building up contacts. It's a bit like text messaging but more fun as it's on screen).
The keyboard will also come in handy for typing text into the 360 during games, which things like RPGs require. Although I wouldn't recommend you buy one just for that, as it's not something you spend a lot of time with. The keyboard snaps securely onto the bottom of either the wired or wireless controller, and provides a fast, easy way to type, without interrupting your game play.
With all this talk of economic doom and gloom, some folks might appreciate a cheap xbox 360 deal. And I have to say that this is a little depressing. This is the same system I've got, only mine cost a total of around £500 (probably a bit more actually). Although this was a good few years back. But anyway, here's what £120 will buy you with this seriously pocket friendly Xbox Bundle.
Xbox 360 console
Wireless controller
Xbox headset
20gb hard drive
Comonent HD cable (to connect to HDTV)
The reason it's so cheap is probably due to 2 DRAWBACKS - although they're really minor things. The first being that this Xbox 360 hasn't got an HDMI port in the back. I don't really miss this and I use the component cable that comes free with this console.
The image is exactly the same as it is with HDMI cable so that's not really a problem for me. The other issue here is the hard drive size. The newer HDs are obviously a fair bit larger, at 120 gb. But I've got to be honest and say I've NEVER hit a full message with mine. You download demos, play them and then delete them. It works much the same as sky plus - where you delete crap after you've watched it. To me these things are minor but you'll have to weight them up for yourself.
If you've been waiting to get an Xbox 360 though, don't wait any more! These things are seriously amazing. I'll be playing on mine later tonight and it's always the best part of any day. :-) I don't consider myself a real hardcore gamer but this console has been the best thing I've bought to date. And mine cost a silly £500+.
I'm a huge fan of RTS games, but the problem is that I work on a PC all day long and don't especially want to come home and play on one too. So I have a 360 because they're a fantastic powerful console with amazing games and graphics.
I LOVE RTS (real time strateg) games. There's something really exciting about building up a base, managing a huge army, and then wiping out your opponent from the face of the earth. And the Xbox has had some pretty amazing strategy games for it. The best ones I've played are, in order of preference:
1) Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
2) Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath
3) The Battle For Middle Earth 2
These games seriously kick ass. I mean I've played them through a number of times, on the hardest settings. It's a lot of fun because each play through is totally different. But I wish there were mode RTS games for the 360 that were at this level.
I was really disappointed with Command & Conquer: Red Alert. It really isn't in the same league as the above games. The weapons, structures and vehicles feel very weak and the soundtrack and graphics are pretty dire by today's standards. And the other RTS games that have come out have been pretty lame.
I got Civilization Revolutions and traded it in. It was so dumbed down it was unbelievable.
The Xbox 360 does an AMAZING job at running RTS games. And the joypad has easily been adapted to do nearly as good job as the PC mouse. But we really need some more serious RTS games. I'd like to see something more advanced and less combat focused too - where you have to build up a civilisation or something.
Hopefully there'll be a new C&C game proper out soon.
If you're planning to go online with your Xbox 360 then you're in for a real treat. I just can't tell you how much fun lies ahead once you get connected. Don't think it's just all about shooting your mates in first person shooters. There's a WORLD of stuff you can do. And the Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter is one of the easiest options to getting connected.
Unlike the PS3, the Xbox 360 doesn't come with a network adapter built in, to get it online. This was likely done to keep the initial cost down but it's kind of a pain in the arse. The official network adapter (and I've not seen and cheaper knock-off versions yet) is pretty expensive but, in my opinion, easily worth the cash - not only for the fun you'll have but for the hassle you'll save too.
I wasted a lot of time trying to get my Xbox to talk to routers and also to this other hub I had. It got really frustrating and I eventually gave in and bought the wireless network adapter. It cost about £60 and it's come down a fair bit. It snaps on the back of the Xbox and doesn't take any fitting or fannying about. Very easy and well worth the cash.
Once it's on, and presuming you've got the Xbox 360 Hard Drive, you're ready for some serious fun. I'd recommend spending some time playing around with Xbox live arcade, downloading all the free demos, and also grabbing free demos of all the old and new games that you're interested in. You'll likely find a whole wealth of stuff you'll enjoy.
Not sure when this game is coming out in the UK but I'll post an update when it's announced. I have to say I'm really looking forward to playing this game IF it gets good reviews and has some depth to it.
Obviously the Prototype trailer makes this game look totally amazing. But there have been many games that looked stunning, only to be a boring playthrough or lack depth.
What will make this game truly stand out is if it has a very compelling story, great voice acting, and convincing free-roaming world. This game reminds me more of Superman Returns or the Spiderman games. While flying around those cities at speed was fun, they were actually pretty dull, with not much to do.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure this game is going to be really cool. I just want it to go the extra mile and have some serious replay value in it too. I like the sound of the way you can learn new abilities. And it would be cool if there's some mild RPG elements thrown in. But I'm really excited about playing Prototype in the UK this year.
I wrote not so long ago about how cool the Xbox 360 Play n Charge kits are. Well there's now something out that might rival it. The Charge Station is similar to the Nintendo Wii docking stations that have been around for ages, that charge up the remotes when not in use.
This kit adds a battery pack to your 360 control and when not in use, you just place it back on the charging station. When you're ready to start kicking some ass on COD again, or your game of choice, the controller is charged and ready to go.
Unlike the other kit, this charger works from the mains. The good thing about this is that with the play and charge kit, the Xbox has to be powered on before it will charge. With the Charge Station, it'll charge 24/7.
Unfortunately it only comes in WHITE at the moment so owners of a black 360 will have to wait.
If you've ever used the non-keyboard of typing on the Xbox, it's a bit like typing on a keyboard from the other side of the room, using a broom handle. Enter the Xbox 360 Messenger Kit, the official mini-keyboard that will save you hours of frustration typing messages on your Xbox 360.
With all this talk of economic doom and gloom, some folks might appreciate a 
I'm a huge fan of RTS games, but the problem is that I work on a PC all day long and don't especially want to come home and play on one too. So I have a 360 because they're a fantastic powerful console with amazing games and graphics.
Not sure when this game is coming out in the UK but I'll post an update when it's announced. I have to say I'm really looking forward to playing this game IF it gets good reviews and has some depth to it.
I wrote not so long ago about how cool the Xbox 360 