{"id":1383,"date":"2025-03-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/?p=1383"},"modified":"2025-03-27T12:35:04","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T12:35:04","slug":"video-game-makers-should-bring-back-the-best-feature-of-the-xbox-360-readers-feature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.nichesitetool.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/23\/video-game-makers-should-bring-back-the-best-feature-of-the-xbox-360-readers-feature\/","title":{"rendered":"Video game makers should bring back the best feature of the Xbox 360 \u2013 Reader\u2019s Feature"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Xbox\t<\/div>
Not every Xbox 360 innovation caught on (Microsoft)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A reader calls for one of the more forgotten aspects of the Xbox<\/a> 360 era to be brought back, and help gamers get a better idea of what a game\u2019s like before they buy it.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any real answer to what is the best generation of video game consoles. It all depends on not only your age but what you were doing at that time in your life. The Xbox 360<\/a> era was a very happy time for me, so maybe that influences my positive feelings about, but I think there\u2019s more to it than that.<\/p>\n

The release of the Xbox 360 feels like the start of the modern era, in terms of digital downloads and online, and while that was always inevitable it only happened as soon as it did thanks to Microsoft<\/a>. Which together with things like achievements is the sort of innovation that\u2019s been so lacking from them lately, especially in terms of things that Sony<\/a> are then forced to adopt themselves to keep up.<\/p>\n

Backwards compatibility<\/a> is the only similar things since then, but there is one feature of the Xbox 360 that I sorely miss and which I find no one seems to talk about. Perhaps they\u2019ve forgotten but back in the day it was a rule from Microsoft that every game, no matter what it was, had to have a demo. I miss that and I wish they\u2019d bring it back.<\/p>\n

The reason that Microsoft changed the rules behind demos is that publishers found that if people played a demo they were actually less likely to buy the game. I don\u2019t think they ever explained why that was, but I think the assumption was that with games people were on the fence about, or couldn\u2019t really afford, they felt they\u2019d already played it to some degree and so it was skippable.<\/p>\n

I kind of get that but it still seems a bit strange to me, since surely people would\u2019ve liked some of the games they demoed, enough to buy the whole thing. Although I guess we\u2019re talking averages here.<\/p>\n

By the end of the Xbox 360\u2019s life the rule had been taken away and demos were up to a publisher and most chose not to do them. The thing is, that was 15 years ago now and a lot has changed about gaming. There are less big name games overall and we learn very little about them before they\u2019re released. Some aren\u2019t properly announced until a few months until they\u2019re out and they often get little or no hands-on previews from websites.<\/p>\n

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