5 Clever Uses For Your Old Xbox 360

Today, the Xbox may have fallen off in the console race, but the fact remains that console gaming wouldn’t have been the same without Xbox, specifically the Xbox 360. The digital gaming ecosystem and online multiplayer we enjoy so much today is in part thanks to the Xbox 360 taking the plunge in 2005. It proved back then how well the online factor augments console gaming — and rightfully so. Now, it’s a retired old soldier, but it doesn’t have to sit on the shelf. If you still have the Xbox 360 somewhere, dust it off, as the homebrew support and multimedia capabilities are still worthwhile.

Microsoft tried to challenge the PS2 with the original Xbox, but failed. However, the Xbox 360 sure gave the PS3 a run for its money in the early days. Between the amazing game library, rich online features, entertainment options, and the Kinect, it was the whole package. And today, you can jailbreak it to unlock even more creative stuff to do. The only problem is, the Xbox 360 is one stubborn piece of tech. Unlike other consoles, it requires mod chips and soldering to break down; a laborious and frankly risky thing to do. However, there are still plenty of ways to make use of an old 360 console.

Up until a few months ago, Xbox 360 jailbreak, both JTAG and RGH, required you to open up the console and tinker. However, the entire modding community was taken aback when suddenly an exploit called ABadUpdate surfaced. It promised a non-persistent jailbreak with just a USB and a copy of “Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland” or “Rock Band Blitz.” Apparently, an update exploit was discovered in these two games that enabled the console to run unsigned apps (dashboard version 17559).

It may seem too good to be true, but it actually works! After 20 long years, props to Microsoft’s security system. Anyway, if you’re curious, the process is pretty simple. You need to format a USB to FAT32, download the necessary files from the GitHub page, place a CFW like Aurora in the USB, and load up one of the two games to begin the process. However, do note that it takes some time, and has a lower success rate (20 minutes, 30% success rate). It’s all because unlike a permanent solder, this is a software-only exploit, which may fail to trigger sometimes.

Now, the question is, if it isn’t surefire and lasting, what’s the point even? Well, for starters, it was proof of concept, and as expected, development followed. As of writing this piece, a new exploit called ABadAvatar is available, which builds upon this discovery, and has much better chances. It doesn’t even need the above games. All you have to do is put the new exploit files on your USB, and a patched Avatar will be created on your Xbox that initiates the jailbreak (Don’t log into this profile, just stay on the “select profile” screen). Well, it’s still not persistent, but at least the Xbox 360 avoids a surgery.

Xbox consoles always give backwards compatibility a lot of thought, and that’s commendable. When the Xbox 360 launched, it supported quite a few Xbox (original) games, and the trend has since continued. If you have an Xbox Series X today, you can still play Xbox 360 games on it, and that makes it superior to the PS5, which only supports PS4 games. Anyway, what you may not have noticed is that some Xbox 360 games just slipped through the cracks.

Why? A couple of factors are responsible, actually. Microsoft brought forward as many games as possible, but the licensing and agreements — you know, all the legal stuff — didn’t work out for every single Xbox 360 game. Then, you have the games that got delisted, and are now lost in the desert of time. Well, you may still have some of those in your cupboard, like “Ninja Blade” and “Full Auto,” and if so, hold on to these rare collector’s pieces.

This may be the single biggest reason for keeping the old console around: play the games no longer available on modern systems. Plus, the Xbox 360 modding community has made a lot of effort in preserving many of these games, and a jailbreak will let you access that database. Fan-made ports of games are available as homebrew apps which your modded console can now run. In any case, boot up the old console, and enjoy the vehicle-crushing action of “Blur” once more.

Beyond gaming, the Xbox 360 was marketed as a home entertainment system, and it pretty much delivered on that claim. It supported HD DVD playback (though you need the external accessory for this), many popular video and audio codecs, and even allowed streaming via a PC. Plus, it packed a whole library of multimedia apps and popular streaming services like Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime, etc. Well, all these are defunct now, but the native playback support isn’t going anywhere.

If you have some movies or videos lying around, it’s time to boot up the old Xbox 360 and have a watch party. However, a more impressive use of the Xbox 360 today is via its DLNA server capabilities. That’s right, if you have a home server like Plex set up with all your entertainment files, the Xbox 360 can still access and play them, no codec conversion needed. Though you might already be familiar with the Plex support, so let’s discuss how you can run the alternative called Emby on it today.

Emby isn’t natively supported on the Xbox 360, but we have a pretty nifty workaround. Since the Xbox 360 still integrates the Windows Media Center, this is what we’ll manipulate to our advantage. Emby can be installed as a WMC extension on your PC. Then, you can access WMC from your Xbox 360, and indirectly, get access to your Emby server. Pretty crafty, right? The console’s own codec support restrictions still apply, but it’s pretty cool you can still do this stuff with the old console.

In addition to keeping the Xbox 360 around for the exclusives, it can also become your premier retro emulation device if configured correctly. As expected, it requires a jailbreak, but we already got that out of the way, so let’s discuss the emulation. The Xbox 360 can emulate a lot of different platforms, some of which might come across as a surprise. For starters, you have your RetroArch, a staple for every retro gaming enthusiast out there.

RetroArch can be installed as an XeX executable on the Xbox 360 via USB, which means it launches just like a native Xbox 360 app (assuming you already have a homebrew file exploration software like XeXMenu), and then houses all sorts of emulators. Game Boy, GBA, MAME, SNES, and Sega Genesis are some of the options you’ll find here. Next up, an Xbox 360 can also run a fork of DOSBox, which lets you play the good old DOS games. It even has a PS1 and PSP emulator, but these don’t perform all that well, so it’s better to avoid them.

The most shocking of all is the existence of an Adobe Flash emulator. That’s right, an Xbox 360 can play the flash games no longer playable on a PC as Adobe unfortunately discontinued the flash player. How did this happen? Well, when the “Hexic HD” demo was released for the Xbox 360, it was discovered that this is actually an SWF file that runs on a flash emulator. Homebrew took this to the next level by adopting that emulator, and changing the SWF file to any flash game you want to play. Neat, isn’t it?

Okay, this may seem crazy, but bear with us. The Kinect was Microsoft’s most creative invention, albeit not too useful for gaming, which led to its eventual demise. However, the depth-sensing technology behind it had some pretty wild implications, and that’s all the hackers needed to know. That and, believe it or not, the $3,000 bounty for breaking into this curious piece of tech.

After it was hacked, the Kinect found all sorts of uses, none of which involved playing games. We’re talking about simulated interactive experiences, medical diagnoses, and yes, even ghost hunting. So how is all this possible? Well, this rectangular brick is so much more than a camera – it’s two cameras. Jokes aside, this combination of two cameras senses humans based on motion and depth to construct a 3-D image rather than just taking a photo of what’s in front of it.

The RGB and Infrared cameras didn’t rely on light to detect human movements. Subsequently, the depth sensing and image reconstruction often caused it to detect humans when none were there in the room. An advanced technology in its early phases was bound to have some hiccups, right? Or was this more than just a coincidence? Because of this, a Kinect is still used in ghost-busting equipment for some fairly graphic results. If you have a spare lying around, it’s time to get creative. Whatever you decide, the Xbox 360 is a pretty good guinea pig for some cool experiments.