14th Nov 2007
Can you believe how much our little boy has grown? The years have just flown by. It seems just yesterday that Xbox Live was taking its fledgling stumbles into the online console gaming world, but half a decade of additions and refinemenents later, Microsoft’s community has grown into a nigh-legendary and highly influential modern institution of videogaming. There’s no doubt that cake, lemonade and spurious vomiting are to be had later, but for now Microsoft is doing a few other things to celebrate the community’s birthday on November 15th.
From the big day until November 17th, Xbox Live Arcade game Carcassonne will be available for free download, but the really interesting news is Microsoft’s new Live service, Xbox Originals. Arriving as part of the December 4th dashboard update, it will offer up (you guessed it) titles released on the original Xbox for download. The early lineup is understandably limited, but there are a few gems amongst its seven-strong rosta.
Halo | Microsoft | 2001
While not the final word in FPS some would tell you it is, Halo refined (and possibly de fined) the mechanics of the genre for consoles, launched the Xbox empire, and began a rabid fandom which still shakes Xbox Live in the days of the game’s second sequel. Where Goldeneye broke the ground, Halo built the path,ensuring a long and healthy life on consoles for a genre long thought the property of the PC.
