The Xbox is a sixth generation video game console produced by Microsoft Corporation. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market, and competed directly with Sony's PlayStation 2, and the Nintendo GameCube. It was first released on November 15, 2001 in North America; February 22, 2002 in Japan; and on March 14, 2002 in Europe. The Australian launch came on April 26 of the same year. It is the predecessor to Microsoft's Xbox 360 console. The Xbox was Microsoft's first product that ventured into the console arena, after having collaborated with Sega in porting Windows CE to the Dreamcast console. Notable launch titles for the console included Halo: Combat Evolved, Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding, Dead or Alive 3, Project Gotham Racing, and Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee.

History

Development

The Xbox was initially developed within Microsoft by a small team which included game developer Seamus Blackley. Microsoft repeatedly delayed the console, which finally emerged at the end of 1999 following interviews of Bill Gates. Gates said that a gaming/multimedia device was essential for multimedia convergence in the new times of digital entertainment. On March 10, 2000 the "X-box Project" was officially confirmed by Microsoft with a press release.

According to the book Smartbomb, by Heather Chaplin and Aaron Ruby, the remarkable success of the upstart Sony PlayStation worried Microsoft in late 1990s. The growing video game market seemed to threaten the PC market which Microsoft had dominated and relied upon for most of its revenues. Additionally, a venture into the gaming console market would also diversify Microsoft's product line, which up to that time had been heavily concentrated into software.

According to Dean Takahashi's book, Opening the Xbox, the Xbox was originally going to be called "DirectX-box", to show the extensive use of DirectX within the console's technology.^[2] "Xbox" was the final name decided by marketing, but the console still retains some hints towards DirectX, most notably the "X"-shaped logo, which DirectX is famous for, along with the "X" shape on the top of the system.

As time progressed, Microsoft's J Allard was responsible for the hardware and system software development. Ed Fries was responsible for all game development on the platform. Mitch Koch was responsible for sales and marketing and all three reported to Robbie Bach. This team was also primarily responsible for Microsoft's follow-up product, the Xbox 360.

The system has been discontinued as of November 13, 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Price history

Of note is the high European launch price. As with many games consoles (for example, the contemporary PlayStation 2), the Xbox was launched with a price in GBP equal to its US price in USD (in this case, $/£299), and this price then converted using the GBP-Euro exchange rate for the rest of Europe. Ignoring the GBP-USD exchange rate in this way creates a near 100% mark-up for Europe.

With a price-dropped PlayStation 2 and a comparatively inexpensive GameCube as competition, many users were naturally reluctant to invest in the console. Microsoft countered with a £100 price drop (and its equivalent in the rest of Europe) on April 26, 2002, just a month and 12 days after its initial launch in the UK. To avoid frustrating early adopters, they offered any two current games and an extra controller for free to any purchaser who could provide a sales receipt showing the original higher price.

By September 15, 2005, Microsoft reported a four billion dollar loss in selling the Xbox gaming system.^[3]

Xbox 360

nVidia ceased production of the Xbox's GPU in August 2005, which marked the end of Xbox production and the quick release of the Xbox 360 on November 22, 2005.

When equipped with a removable hard drive add-on, the Xbox 360 supports a limited number of the Xbox's game library through emulation. Emulation adds support for anti-aliasing as well as upscaling of the still standard definition image. These emulators are periodically updated to add compatibility for older games and are available for free through Xbox Live or as a file download to be burned to a CD/DVD from the Xbox web site. As the architectures are entirely different between Xbox and Xbox 360, software emulation is the only viable option for compatibility without including processors from the original Xbox.

Hardware and accessories

Hardware

Xbox drives

Xbox was the first console to incorporate a hard disk drive, used primarily for storing game saves compressed in ZIP archives and content downloaded from Xbox Live. This eliminated the need for separate memory cards (although some older consoles, such as the TurboCD, Sega CD and Sega Saturn had featured built-in battery backup memory prior to this). Most of the games also use the hard drive as a disk cache, for faster game loading times. Some games support "custom soundtracks", another unusual feature allowed by the hard drive. An Xbox owner can rip music from standard audio CDs to the hard drive and play their custom soundtrack, in addition to the original soundtrack of Xbox games that support the feature.

Although the Xbox is based on commodity PC hardware and runs a stripped-down version of the Windows 2000 kernel using APIs based largely on DirectX 8.1, it incorporates changes optimized for gaming and multimedia uses as well as restrictions designed to prevent uses not approved by Microsoft. The Xbox does not use Windows CE due to Microsoft internal politics at the time, as well as limited support in Windows CE for DirectX.^{[citation needed]}

The Xbox itself is much, much larger and heavier than its contemporaries. This is largely due to a bulky tray-loading DVD-ROM drive and the standard-size 3.5 inch hard drive. Because of this, the Xbox has found itself a target of mild derision, as gamers poke fun at it for things like a warning in the Xbox manual that a falling Xbox "could cause serious injury" to a small child or pet. However, the Xbox has also pioneered safety features, such as breakaway cables for the controllers to prevent the console from being yanked from the shelf.

The original game controller design, which was particularly large, was similarly often criticized since it was ill-suited to those with small hands and caused cramping in the hands of some users. In response to these criticisms, a smaller controller was introduced for the Japanese Xbox launch. This Japanese controller (which was briefly imported by even mainstream video game store chains, such as GameStop) was subsequently released in other markets as the "Xbox Controller S", and currently all Xbox consoles come with a "Controller S", while the original controller (known as Controller "0", "The Duke", or "The Hamburger") was quietly discontinued.

Several internal hardware revisions have been made in an ongoing battle to discourage modding (hackers continually updated modchip designs in attempt to defeat them), to cut manufacturing costs, and to provide a more reliable DVD-ROM drive (some of the early units' drives gave Disc Reading Errors due to the unreliable Thomson DVD-ROM drives used). Later generation of Xbox units that used the Thomson TGM-600 DVD-ROM drives and the Philips VAD6011 DVD-ROM drives were still vulnerable to failure that rendered the consoles either unable to read newer discs or caused them to halt the console with an error code usually indicating a PIO/DMA identification failure, respectively. These units would not be covered under the extended warranty.

In 2002, Microsoft and nVidia entered arbitration over a dispute on the pricing of nVidia's chips for the Xbox.^[4] nVidia's filing with the SEC indicated that Microsoft was seeking a US$13 million discount on shipments for nVidia's fiscal year 2002. Additionally, Microsoft alleged violations of the agreement the two companies entered, sought reduced chipset pricing, and sought to ensure that nVidia fulfil Microsoft's chipset orders without limits on quantity. The matter was settled on February 6, 2003, and no terms of the settlement were released.^[5]

Technical specifications

Official accessories

Audio/video connectors

Numerous unofficial third-party cables and breakout boxes exist that provide combinations of outputs not found in these official video packages; however, with the exception of a few component-to-VGA converters and custom-built VGA boxes, the four official video packages represent all of the Xbox's possible outputs. This output selectivity is made possible by the Xbox's SCART-like AVIP port.

Networking

Multimedia

Controllers and removable storage

The original Duke controller and Controller S

The Xbox controller features two analog sticks, a directional pad, two analog triggers, a Back button, a Start button, two accessory slots and six 4-bit analog action buttons (A/Green, B/Red, X/Blue, Y/Yellow, Black, and White).

An 8 MB removable solid state memory card can be plugged into the controllers, onto which game saves (zip archives in reality) can either be copied from the hard drive when in the Xbox dashboard's memory manager or saved during a game. Note that some recent games (e.g., Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball) do not support this accessory as a cheat prevention measure and that some games may work differently with this. This system has been defeated by the Xbox hacking community, who have developed tools to modify savegames to work in a different console, though some unique technical information concerning the recipient Xbox must be known. It is also possible to save an Xbox Live account on a memory unit, making it possible to share it with another Xbox owner, assuming both have access to Xbox Live.

Games

 

Halo: Combat Evolved proved to be a great success for the game industry and Microsoft Game StudiosT

The Xbox launched in North America on November 15, 2001. The greatest success of the Xbox's launch titles was Halo: Combat Evolved which was critically well received^[9] and was the best-selling Xbox game of the year for 4 years running. Halo still remains one of the console's standout titles, and its sequel, Halo 2, became the Xbox's best-selling title. It had a long reign as the most played game on the Xbox Live service, until November 13, 2006, when the Xbox 360 title Gears of War claimed the top spot. Other successful launch titles included NFL Fever 2002, Project Gotham Racing and Dead or Alive 3.^[10][11][12] However, the failure of several first-party games (including Fuzion Frenzy^[13] and Azurik: Rise of Perathia^[14]) damaged the initial public reputation of the Xbox. Although the console enjoyed strong third party support from its inception, many early Xbox games did not take full advantage of its powerful hardware, with few additional features or graphical improvements to distinguish them from the PS2 version, thus negating one of the Xbox's main selling points. Lastly, Sony countered the Xbox for a short time by temporarily securing PlayStation 2 exclusives for highly anticipated games such as the Grand Theft Auto series and Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (although they were later ported to the Xbox and are no longer exclusive), and the still exclusive Gran Turismo series.

In 2002 and 2003, several releases helped the Xbox to gain momentum and distinguish itself from the PS2. The Xbox Live online service was launched in late 2002 alongside pilot titles MotoGP, MechAssault and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon. Several best-selling and critically acclaimed titles for the Xbox were published, such as Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Ninja Gaiden and LucasArts' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Take-Two Interactive's exclusivity deal with Sony was amended to allow Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and its sequels to be published on the Xbox. In addition, many other publishers got into the trend of releasing the Xbox version alongside the PS2 version, instead of delaying it for months.

In 2004, Halo 2 set records as the highest-grossing release in entertainment history making over $125 million in its first day,^[15] as well as being a successful killer app for the online service. That year, Microsoft and Electronic Arts reached a deal that would see the latter's popular titles enabled on Xbox Live.

The last released game for the Xbox was Madden 2008, in August 2007

Xbox Live

Ninja Gaiden was released in 2004 to much critical acclaim.

The Xbox has an online multiplayer gaming service called Xbox Live. Originally, it was planned to use the MSN Gaming Zone for Xbox games that was supposed to support online multiplayer gaming, allowing both users of Windows and Xbox play together; however this never happened because MSN Gaming Zone was not accurate enough for the Xbox. Arcade games similar to those games offered on MSN Games are playable on the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade. The ability to connect to Windows computers in a game that uses Xbox Live (which is not possible using Xbox Live) is also being incorporated by the release of Games for Windows - Live.

On November 15, 2002, Microsoft launched its Xbox Live online gaming service, allowing subscribers to play online Xbox games with (or against) other subscribers all around the world and download new content for their games to the system's hard drive. This online service works exclusively with a broadband Internet connection. Approximately 250,000 subscribers had signed up within two months of Xbox Live's launch.^[16] In July 2004, Microsoft announced that Xbox Live had reached one million subscribers, and a year later, in July 2005, that membership had reached two million. An Xbox Live Gold subscription (which affords the user the most features of any membership) currently costs US$50 a year (roughly US$4 a month). Recently, competitive leagues have been created, namely playing Halo 2. Leagues include prizes and sponsorships.

Xbox Modding

Xbox motherboard with installed modchip

The popularity of the Xbox inspired efforts to circumvent the built-in hardware and software security mechanisms, a practice informally known as modding. The Xbox BIOS was dumped a few months after release, and hacked so it would skip digital signature checks and media flags, allowing unsigned code, Xbox game backups, etc to be run. This is due to flaws in the Xbox's security.^[17] Modding an Xbox in any manner will void its warranty, as it may require disassembly of the console. Having a modified Xbox will also disallow it from accessing Xbox Live as it contravenes the Xbox Live Terms of Use,^[18] unless using a softmod with a multiboot and Shadow C configuration such as Ndure.

Four main methods exist of modding the Xbox:

Beyond gaming, a modded Xbox can be used as a media center with the Xbox Media Center.^[25]

There are also distributions of Linux developed specifically for the Xbox, including those based on Gentoo, Debian (see also Xebian), Damn Small Linux, and Dyne:bolic.

Alternative operating systems: Xbox Linux is a project that ported Linux to the Xbox. FreeBSD has also been ported to Xbox.

UK advertising controversy

In 2002 the Independent Television Commission (ITC) banned a television advertisement for the Xbox in the United Kingdom after responses from certain members of the public deemed it distasteful. It depicted a mother giving birth to a child who was fired like a projectile through the hospital window and who flew through the air. As he flew he aged rapidly before landing in a ready-dug grave. The advert ended with the slogan "Life is short. Play more." Complaints came from recent mothers including one whose child was stillborn.^[26]

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