OK, I didn’t buy it to play - looks like there is a good chance I’ll be writing software for the XBox and so I figured I had better have one.
But since I have one anyway, tell me about your favorite games.
Forgot to mention: Got a Kinect too.
For the 360?
Shooters:
Gears of War
Halo series
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Red Dead Redemption
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1-3
Rainbow Six: Vegas 1 & 2
Crackdown
RPGs:
Last Odyssey
Fable 2 & 3
Mass Effect 2 & 3
Dragon’s Dogma
Dark Souls
Fallout 3
The Witcher 2
Action RPGs:
Bioshock
Darksiders 1&2
Assassin’s Creed 2 series
Grand Theft Auto IV (with expansion packs)
Batman: Arkham Asylym & Arkham City
Borderlands 2!
And what’s with missing Mass Effect 1? It’s a trilogy!
I’d suggest looking for Game of the Year editions of some older, popular titles, such as Arkham Asylum, Bordlerlands, and Fallout 3.
Metacritic is helpful. Here’s their top all time best reviewed Xbox 360 titles: Best Xbox 360 Video Games of All Time - Metacritic
Portal portal portal portal and portal 2
Second Black Ops.
My bad, brain fart, I got the PS3 and 360 exclusivity reversed.
I’d second this, the xbox has had a long generation, you can pick up some great older games incredibly cheap.
As for a recommendation, i’d go for Bioshock.
+1 for Fallout 3, it blew my mind how great it was and I don’t usually have enough time for RPG’s.
Should I have played the earlier Fallouts, or will it be OK just to get Fallout 3?
No, theres no need. You can even pick it up dirt cheap with all the expansions in the blue light special bin at just about any Walmart or Best Buy.
Mass Effect is releasing all three on one disc for both the 360 and PS3, should be out by Christmas.
You don’t need to play the first two to enjoy the third one. However, you should play the first two to enjoy the first two. They’re really excellent games. PC only, though, and long out of print, but you can pick them up for six bucks each at Good Old Games.
Portal (+ P2) and Red Dead Redemption are the Xbox games I’ve had the most fun with.
If you’re a sports fan, Fight Night: Champion is an excellent boxing game – I spend a lot of time just fighting one-off exhibitions against the AI, because the mechanics are great enough to draw me back even after I’ve worn out the various campaigns. And the NHL games are generally great – hockey is just a sport that makes for good games, IMO. Even if you barely watch any hockey at all (I don’t), it’s worth it to spend $13 on a version that’s a couple years old.
+1 for Fallout 3, and Dragon Age: Origins is a comparable game in terms of both style and quality.
Halo 3 and both Bioshocks are essential (to the extent that shoot-'em-up video games can be).
Portal and Portal 2 are probably the biggest no-brainers.
I don’t know, it depends: what do you like?
I always like to talk up Xbox Live Arcade games, myself. A list of worth items (all with free demos, mind):
Geometry Wars 2
Castle Crashers
Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown
Jet Set Radio
From Dust
Skullgirls
Hard Corps: Uprising
Pacman Championship Edition: DX
Bastion
Guardian Heroes
Ikaruga
Radiant Silvergun
Clash of Heroes (aka "Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes)
Outland
ilomilo
Snoopy: Flying Ace
Shadow Complex
And also some Xbox Live Indie Games:
Escape Goat
Protect Me Knight (aka まもって騎士)
Miner Dig Deep
I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1
But as you can tell, that’s something of a scatter-shot, since it’s hard to recommend games without knowing what games a person might like. (It’s kinda like saying “I just got a Blu Ray player, what movies should I get?”)