A digital artist recently shared a nostalgic piece harkening back to the era of the Xbox 360. The impressive drawing pays tribute to the seventh-generation console and will bring a feeling of nostalgia to anyone who owned one during its early 2010s heyday.
Microsoft initially revealed the Xbox 360 in May 2005, with the console launching that November. The console retailed in multiple configurations, with the upgraded Xbox 360 S and Xbox 360 E launching in 2010 and 2013. Early Xbox 360s suffered from hardware limitations and technical problems, such as the infamous Red Ring of Death, and lifetime sales fell behind the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii. However, the Xbox 360 was still a massive commercial success for Microsoft and boasted an impressive library of great games.
Titled "Simpler Times," digital artist Amadeus Chavez's painting pays tribute to the console and the feelings he and many other fans still have for the Xbox 360. It shows a matte black Xbox 360 and a matching controller sitting on a table with a trio of the 360's iconic green game boxes between them. The box art is clearly visible on two of them, with the artist expertly recreating the artwork for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and the still-popular Grand Theft Auto 5. A third game is obscured beneath the box for Black Ops 2. An open Coca-Cola can completes the scene and helps to capture the feeling of the moment.
Chavez drew "Simpler Times" using the Procreate app on iPad but clearly worked hard to give it a painted feel. The details on the console and box art are also quite impressive. For example, if one looks closely, one can see the Xbox logo in the disk tray and the green quarter circle showing that the console has one controller connected. Meanwhile, Chavez not only accurately recreated the box art for GTA 5 and Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, but also included tiny details like the games' region codes and warning that GTA 5 requires an external storage device.
Interestingly, this isn't the first time Amadeus Chavez drew a nostalgic throwback to the consoles of yesteryear. In September 2020, the artist shared a similar drawing titled "My Childhood." It depicts a similar scene of a black PlayStation 2 with the disk for Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas visible beneath the open lid. The box rests nearby, with a small stack of other games beside it. "Simpler Times" thus serves as a sequel, with the series chronicling the artist's life through the consoles and games he was playing.