Ninja Gaiden Black for the original xbox is a hell of a game. You can actually download it over xbl if you want. One of the best action games I've played. For some dumb fun, buy Earth Defense Force 2017. It's a 3rd person shooter, and just mindless shooting, killing giant ants and robots and such. Not for everyone, but I loved it.

If achievements are made well, they can definitely add to a game, but most of them are a waste of time. Don't know why your undies are so bunched up over something so meaningless. Maybe a new hobby is in order for you : )

I think the enjoyment you get from playing guitar is on a different level than playing a video game. To anyone that plays guitar, they'll probably say that playing guitar is more fulfilling than playing Guitar Hero, even if they love playing Guitar Hero. To me this seems to be the source of the original poster's frustration. I don't hold it against anyone if they love playing Guitar Hero. I played it once, and got hooked for a few songs, but that was it. It's a cool game, but not really my thing.

What I think would be awesome is a game where you plug an actual guitar into your computer or gamesystem, and it teaches you how to play the song with chords or fingerings. Maybe a rhythm guitar part and a solo part, but everything else done just like Guitar Hero. That would be pretty amazing. Steeper learning curve, but probably worth it. My frustration with Guitar Hero was that I didn't have the buttons memorized, and I'd hit yellow instead of blue. It would have been easier for me to read chords because I can play them without looking at the fretboard. Just my two cents.

By the way, this is a pretty funny argument.

What's the deal with the poor quality of many XBOX 360 games? Tenchu Z looks horrible, that new zombies game must be a mess, and the list can go on and on. The developers spend all of their time and money on these games, and what we get is more crap. It just amazes me that most companies don't realize that gameplay is the most important thing in any game. I know it can be hard to follow through on a great idea, but there are more crappy games than good ones.

One game every developer should play is Earth Defense Force 2017. I know there are people out there that can't stand this game, but there are quite a few of us that absolutely love it. The graphics aren't great, your character looks boring, some of the physics and level designs are wonky, but the game is incredibly FUN. It probably took less money to make than any other 360 game, but it's better than most. I'm not saying every company needs to churn out budget games, but EDF 2017 is a great example of a game being really fun withouthaving much technical merit.