The Xbox 360 just had it’s 20th anniversary. I’m not sure how I feel about it as a console today as most of the games are available on pc with only a few exclusives. I guess most of the nostalgia will be from playing online, which I never got the chance to do.
Basically everyone had a microphone because they came with the console. People actually spoke in the lobbies, party chat was rare and discord wasnt a thing yet. There was an excitement around it because its all fairly new, and pro gamer / content creator / videogame influencer etc didnt exist as career paths. Most vocal people were still racist x-phobic slur-slinging hate-jockeys, but everybody was there purely to have fun.
Lots of tiny tiny differences that by themselves are inconsequential, but added up to something big.
After a match you could press a button to play again with the same people. You’d make friends by meeting together in game and deciding to party up